As a sworn controller, I was appalled when Riot dropped a waterman who spoke my language. I was all in rooting for this guy to dominate, but after forcing him on my teammates for five months during FPS game adventures, I had to wave the white flag. It’s sad to say, but Harbor was probably the biggest flop Valorant controller history.
Remember the Valorant 2.06 patch? This update changed everything for controllers. Viper spent about four acts on the sidelines because her toolbox didn’t have a single creature, but then Riot put in the work, bringing her to the top of the pick ranking chart. Buff 2.06 was a turning point for the controller network, and history seems to be repeating itself.
Five months after launch, Harbor is a D-level agent at max. Having no niche and specialty, the water giant follows in the footsteps of the Viper. Except that his abilities are much more difficult to enhance. In its current form, Harbor is useless – maybe even worse than the pre-2.06 Viper.
What exactly is wrong with Harbour?
Each Valorant agent specializes in something. Players choose Reina for self-sufficiency, Reiss for movement tactics, and Gekko for Leader. So why would anyone choose the Harbor over the Viper or any other controller. Anyone can do what Harbor can do, and that’s a problem.
The real purpose of the controller is to slow down enemies and boost attack, two things Harbor’s toolkit simply isn’t designed for. Omen, Brimstone, Astra, Viper; all others can slow down the enemy’s movement; why not the harbor? It is not equipped with any ability to do the job effectively. His Cove isn’t exactly smoke, so even though players initially called him a hybrid, his pick rate wouldn’t look so bad if he was.
Harbor’s Cascade lasts for seven seconds and can only be used once per round. Of course, he can set it up at will, but the slow effect is of little use to anyone in ranged duels. By comparison, the Viper’s toxic shield sticks for 15 seconds and can be reused after an eight second cooldown. It also deals decoy damage, which is valuable at all matchup ranges.
The harbor was added to the smoke-free registry and it didn’t seem like a problem at the time. But the controller need smoke; The fall in popularity of Harbor confirms this. As a hybrid, his toolkit doesn’t really help the game. Even a single Viper-like smoke could be a much-needed lifeline for Havana.
Riot could easily make Harbor a viable choice by adding stun or slippery water slope to their toolkit instead of Cascade. The mobile wall helps create new angles, but it’s nothing to write home about. Finally, his Reckoning is the worst ultimate in Valorant. On a stormy battlefield, no one has time to look for ethereal lights, and as a result, the shaking happens too slowly.
Harbor is a hard agent to buff
Harbor is no longer a free agent, so there’s no way to protect his low pick rate. Only in competitive Valorant 1.1% of players play harbor Even Gekko’s election count is higher than his and he has barely been competing for a month. The stats show that Harbor is the worst agent in the current Valorant meta, and there’s not much Riot can do about it.
When Viper was struggling, all players had one idea: just add some more poison to her Toxic Screen. So, Riot has improved the smoke decay and wall hitbox a lot, and voila! You have received the highest level controller. The Viper was simple, but the Harbor toolkit is different. Even if Riot tries to improve him, Harbor could still end up in D-tier, similar to Yoru.
Harbor does no damage at all. His toolkit is slow, and it’s unlikely that increasing the slow will convince players to pick him up again. Cascade is also a simple ability that does nothing but create angles. His Cove could increase health, but it might be too risky and break Valorant’s skill cycle. His Reckoning, however, could do with a bit of work by changing how smallpox works.
Harbor missed the target, but Gecko broke the new agent curse in Valorant. It is worth trying the last one Valiant character (or any other agent besides Harbour), but if India’s best thief has stolen your heart, then maybe lock up one of the best sight in Valorant to make things a little easier.