Riot Games' “current thinking” is to not have agent bans in VALORANT

VALORANT senior game designer Trevor Romleski has discussed the possibility of a pick and ban system in Thursday's blog post. While Riot has considered a “draft phase for agents,” it appears the developers will stray away from a ban system for the time being. “We expect teams to have set plays and strategies that will require very specific agents,” Romleski said. “Banning an agent would invalidate that entire strategy, and we don’t want to discourage practice.” The Riot dev explained that a ban system often removes a player’s “star agent,” impeding them from showing off the skills they’ve cultivated from practice. To ensure that a ban phase isn’t necessary, Riot is holding itself accountable to creating a balanced and healthy meta. This would mean that no “agent-facilitated strategy” emerges from having a character that’s overpowered or oppressive. Since VALORANT is home to 11 unique agents, even banning two of them could adversely affect a match. Players who main a specific agent would be forced to use an uncomfortable pick and underperform. Source- Dot Esports

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