Top 5 Valorant pros who can thrive with Neon buffs
Neon is one of the many Duelists in Valorant. Her abilities allow players to quickly enter into the site and create space for her team. She can also act as an Initiator by using her Relay Bolt to concuss enemies and get kills easily.
Even though Neon's abilities looked good on paper, she lacked compared to other Duelist counterparts, Raze and Jett. Hence, in patch 8.11, she got some interesting buffs. Neon's Relay Bolt was reduced to one, she was given two slides and an increased movement speed while strafing.
These changes have made her a lot more viable for both casual and professional matches. There have been many pros in the past that have played as Neon and found a decent amount of impact. Below is a list of five such Valorant pros who can thrive with these Neon buffs.
Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
The Valorant pros that can master Neon after the buffs
1) zekken
Zachary "zekken" Patrone is an American esports player who plays for Sentinels. He is the primary Duelist for his team but had also stepped into the role of Initiator Agents, Sova, and KAY/O in the first year of the franchised league.
zekken had previously stepped into the role of Neon with his former team, XSET. He mainly played this Agent on the maps, Pearl and Fracture. zekken was able to find a decent amount of success with Neon as they defeated the likes of Fnatic and EMEA's version of FPX (FunPlus Phoenix) during Valorant Champions 2022. With these buffs and his current Sentinels roster, he can go back to being Neon and wreak havoc again.
2) MiniBoo
The Lithuanian esports player, Dominykas "MiniBoo" Lukasevicius plays for Team Heretics. He is the primary Duelist who has played Agents like Jett, Raze, Neon, and even Yoru for his team. However, he also stepped into the role of the Initiator Agent, KAY/O in the past.
MiniBoo is currently one of the most popular Neon pros in VCT. He has been able to create a lot of highlight-worthy moments with the Agent and is among the few pros who still use her on the tier-one level. These Neon buffs are perfect for a young Valorant rookie like MiniBoo as he can be even more explosive than before.
3) f0rsakeN
Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto is an esports player from Indonesia who plays for Paper Rex. He is the flex player for his team as he can play a variety of Agents like Harbor, Breach, KAY/O, Skye, Cypher, etc., for his team.
While f0rsakeN shifted to a flex player in the past couple of years, he started out as the primary Duelist for his team. With the help of his partner in crime, Jinggg, f0rsakeN would destroy their opponents using double Duelist compositions. On Fracture, their team would heavily rely on the explosive Neon and Raze combos to get an early advantage against the enemies. With these Neon buffs in Valorant's patch 8.11, f0rsakeN can go back to playing the Agent and possibly have the same amount of impact.
4) Dep
The Japanese esports pro, Yuma "Dep" Hashimoto plays for the team, ZETA DIVISION. He fulfills the role of a Duelist for his team but has stepped in the role of the Sentinel Agent, Killjoy, and Controller Agents like Omen and Viper in the past.
ZETA DIVISION has had a lot of ups and downs in their recent matches. While the team has struggled to maintain consistency, Dep has always been able to top the scoreboard in each match. Like MiniBoo, he is among the few Valorant pros that still use Neon on certain maps. A mechanically consistent player like Dep can benefit heavily from these Neon buffs and push the boundaries for his team even further.
5) Rb
Goo "Rb" Sang-min is a South Korean esports player who currently plays for Titan Esports Club. He is the flex player for his team and has stepped into the role of multiple Agents like Gekko, Raze, Breach, and Viper depending on the map.
With his former team, DRX, Rb was among the top Neon pros in the Valorant's Pacific region. Unlike Paper Rex, Rb was able to find a lot of impact with the Agent as the sole Duelist. Rb's most recent usage of Neon was during VCT Masters Tokyo where he was quite impactful for his team. With patch 8.11, he can become the best Neon player with his new team in a new region.
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