Are you ready for new melee animations & VFX on Riot’s 5v5 tactical shooter?
A Riot dev recently teased the idea of in-game Valorant melee skins receiving an animation rework soon, which follows community backlash on the default VFX of the EGO and Smite bundles.
Some players want the devs to tweak the design of these bundles, which appears to be a mere reskin, to make it worth the price.
Weapon cosmetics
Aside from new Agents and playable maps, new skins are also among the most-requested additions by players on Future Earth.
Since Valorant’s launch in June, weapon skins have been introduced to the game ranging from Select Select Edition up to Exclusive Edition. These weapon cosmetics have various designs, sizes, and prices.
As much as these skins are visually pleasing, the player community previously called out Riot for the ridiculously high price point of the Elderflame skin bundle (Ultra Edition) at 9,900 Valorant Points.
Meanwhile, the latest additions of the EGO and Smite bundles also received publich backlash— but this time, for different reasons.
Melee reskins
The EGO and Smite melees merely offer simple reskins of the default in-game melee, without any additional animation or video effect (VFX) available, which earned the ire of some Valorant players.
The EGO by OneTap collection, in particular, is a striking example of how it appears to be just a simple reskin of the default knife in the game.
One player took it to Reddit to express their hopes for the upcoming G.U.N skin bundle’s melee to have unique VFX. This allows the new skin to be better differentiated from its default form.
In a series of threads for their official response, a Riot dev delved on why a couple of bundles received custom animations while others didn’t necessarily warrant it.
“It’s a fine balance of how much of this we are able to modify versus completely restart. The more unique things we do, the longer they take, and the longer players may have to wait for it.”
“We’re definitely evaluating all of this though —just taking a look at where we put the majority of our efforts to see if there’s adjustments we can make.”
The dev also confirmed that Riot’s team is currently looking into ways to improve the inspect element of melee weapons and make it more unique, considering it offers the least possible impact on competitive gameplay.
“We’re definitely looking into ways for these to feel better in the future since its the most unrelated to gameplay and offers a unique opportunity space.”
Both the EGO by OneTap and upcoming G.U.N bundles have been categorized in ‘Premium Edition’ tier, which is expected to be nothing short of special from the default form. However, the latter notoriously appears as a complete reskin (and possibly an animation or VFX) of the melee.
Many players are expressing their desires for Riot to improve custom melee skin and potential VFX/animation offers— to make it worth the price.
Riot is already exploring their options with the Valorant community feedback in mind, so players may enjoy new melee animations & VFX in the hyped 5v5 tactical shooter soon.
What other weapon cosmetic suggestions do you have in mind for Valorant? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!
