After just a week since VALORANT patch 4.0 revamped several underused weapons, patch 4.01 has unveiled an Ares nerf that complements the previous changes that made him much more powerful. Since the release of patch 4.0, there have been significant complaints from the community regarding Ares’ performance level. Many felt that the changes, which included an increased rate of fire and no flare, made the Ares overpowered compared to other guns in its price range.
“The Patch 4.0 changes to the Ares made the weapon noticeably more powerful, and we were glad to see it appear more often in the game,” the VALORANT developers wrote in the Blog post on patch 4.01. “However, [its] The general tuning made it too easy to control, and the lack of spin-up removed some of what made the weapon unique.”
What is the patch 4.01 Ares nerf?
With patch 4.01, the cost of the Ares has been increased from 1550 to 1600 to reflect the increase in usage and put it on par with the Spectre.
VALORANT developers have expressed that their goal with this nerf was to “make the weapon more difficult to control and bring back some of the character of the weapon.” To this end, the pitch recoil on the Ares has been increased. Pitch recoil refers to the vertical rotation of the weapon; In layman’s terms, this means you have to pull down more to control the gun while continuing to fire.
The spread of the Ares has also been changed. Previously, after 10 bullets, the spread went from 0.8 degrees to 0.7 degrees. Patch 4.01 changed this to go from 1.0 degrees to 0.7 degrees after 13 bullets. Additionally, the spread and recoil benefits you get from crouching have been reduced from 40% to 25%.
