Episode 4 brings the Ares meta with it

The highlight of Episode 4 Act 1 is Neon, Valorant’s newest W-key duelist. 

Players have been leveling up to unlock her, and she’ll sure be a classic insta-lock in ranked for months to come.

Something that flew under the radar, however, was the buff to the Ares and the subsequent nerf to the Spectre.

The former got a significant buff that removed the “spin up” time and increased its fire rate. The latter got a nerf to the recoil, making it less accurate.

damn ares meta?? pic.twitter.com/nA4no4jiYV

— LordAngelz (@DozyAngelz) January 11, 2022

Players took notice of this change, and immediately started picking up the Ares during their “force” round rather than the Spectre.

Now, instead of five Spectres, teams would have five Ares.

With the buffed fire rate and high bullet penetration, the Ares is probably now more powerful than the Spectre ever was.

Pro players are already calling for an Ares nerf, but I’m not so sure we’ll see it.

Riot may be content to let this play out for a week or so – if not longer. Remember, we’ve been in the Spectre meta almost since Valorant released. The devs could be fine with Ares having its time to shine in the meta.

In the meantime, be careful on easily-bangable spots around the map. B site on Ascent is gonna be a bloodbath.