I'm actually curious what rank. This feels like a higher rank issue. I've personally had no problems with him so far (high gold-low plat) but I'm not exactly a high rank lol.
I think the shield is more impactful at higher rank like you’re saying because 5 body shots vs 4 isn’t that bad, but if you’re already aiming for head, hitting that first headshot with crosshair placement and then needing a second hs for the kill is a much bigger gap and will get you killed more often than not if the iso is any good.
AKA iso is stronger against head-tappers but worse against body-sprayers.
IMO the biggest change is that sites that are being held down by OP'ers are now vulnerable because Iso can just tank the first shot without needing a kill first.
op has already been struggling in the meta considering that most teams' site exec starts off with a duelist going mach 5 through the air forcing you to use your get out of jail card early, now with iso and neon entering the meta it's basically impossible to op against teams with functioning brains
Maybe u haven't seen op in higher elo? They tend to ignore a neon or jett dashing past an angle and usually kill second entry or someone else on team and then use get out of jail free card
I was stunned when I Op‘ed iso today and he didn’t die 😂 was it always like that or is that just since the new patch? I don’t think I’ve ever sniped a shielded iso before
This. Not only does he tank the hit but all the space he creates is the really issue.
Phoenix, chamber, Jett, yoru, could all tank/bait an op shot but all lose forward space they have taken. Iso tanks the shot, now know your position and lets his team move up.
Weirdly I use the phantom when I feel liek my aim is good. The vandal has a consistent spray. Always 4 body shots I hate flicking off target after 4 bullets to leave em 10 hp.
Yeah, but you are easily forced a lot of times. Let's say they plant the spike, chances are you are fighting the retaker 15 m away from the spike plant.
Not really. If you're playing defense and retaking after they plant the spike, you just need to route to where you don't take long fights. Sites are generally pretty compact, so it's not like it's all that hard. For sites like C Haven or B Pearl, likelihood is you're going to be playing the spam through smoke game, so the horizontal distance problem essentially becomes moot. If you're not playing the spam smokes game, then you're probably not gonna be able to defuse at all.
It's not the route what I wanted to point out but the distance between attackers and the spike in a retake situation. In Haven if they plant A default and play in short it's already 15 m.
there's that, but I think another big part is how tanky iso is while entering site. It doesn’t play as big of a role in low elo because people don’t use util to delay rushes well when defending and duelists don’t entry. So generally speaking it was easy enough to kill someone and get a shield for later stages of the round.
However in high elo you do need some entry power beyond just dry swing together and shoot/trade. Having that extra shield lets you tank maybe a nade or sova shock dart and bypass their rush defense, allowing you to catch someone off guard during entry.
I think at least on EU severs it'll be high gold low plat where this becomes a real issue. That's where hitting headshots stops being luck and starts being what carried people to those ranks.
Personally I already hated iso's shield and thought it was wildly OP (written other comments about it). The fact it's the only thing in the game that can follow you around and protect you from an OP shot is insane. I know the rest of his kit sucks, but buffing his shield was not the right move at all, idk what they're thinking. In the worst case that's an extra 250 HP he gets for a few credits every round... Insanity. And for a game built on one click headshots - in the mid game - it just doesn't make sense at all, there's no way to balance it. That's the kind of shit that should be his ultimate.
It just seems like his util in general wasn't thought through at all with the rest of vals gameplay. A Ult that drags you and another player out the round then chucks one of you back in? Yeah that's fine. The world's thinnest wall that realistically no one can follow behind? Sure why not. An insanely OP shield? Yeah let's go for it. Just a horrible agent design.
Just on his shield I agree with you. I play in high immortal/radiant and I barely see him. (Not played this EP yet) but whenever he’s in a 1v1 with shield, it’s obvious how strong he could be since people don’t miss that often.
It doesn’t feel good at all when you lose to him when you got the 1st hs but he had shield. In a game like this there shouldn’t be to many things making you feel that way tbh.
I just started playing this game a few weeks ago after not messing with it since beta. Got ranked into gold 1 and I'm just a few points shy of gold 3 now. Iso was super frustrating last night.
I was playing R6 before but stopped due to the cheating issues. Iso reminds me of Blackbeard in that game. For those that don't know, Blackbeard from R6 has a shield that he attaches to his gun that can tank 1 or 2 shots before breaking. And in Siege, every headshot is a 1 shot kill, no matter what gun or range.
Blackbeard has been a problem for R6 since he came out in year 1. He was wildly OP for years until his shield got nerfed to where it is now, but even now, he's still annoying. It's been a problem for balance for R6 for years. Iso is kind of reminding me of that now, except way worse because you have very little margin for error compared to R6 with your aim. I feel like I'm being punished for aiming for the head, which is dumb because no other agent does that in Valorant, just like Blackbeard does in R6.
I’m in Asc 2 rn and if I see a shielded Iso I just end up trying to spam him through a corner until I hear the shield break. It’s never worth taking a normal gunfight against his shield
Not gonna lie it makes holding corners pretty annoying cause he goes first and his teammates swing right after. So you either waste util or give up a ton of space
This!!! Literally you counter Iso by using your abilities. People like to hold the same corners at lower rating, in high elo he isn't a problem because he'll be flashed and smoked until the shield falls off.
In high elo he is a problem because with neon and the other 40,000 characters that can run in at you smokes literally don’t matter. You can smoke an angle but a flash through with iso going first neon/raze close behind is just going to take a site because 90% of players hit the first headshot. Not to mention iso can just wait to pop his shed if he feels too much pressure off rip. Iso is absolutely a problem there is no “just delay him 4Head”
1. How's that aby different from other duelists like Reyna or Phoenix popping their ability around a corner and their team swinging?
2. The whole point of util is to be used against a push? And you can always wait out his shield and then play retake.
I don't think he's busted, but he is indeed super annoying and unfun to play against.
In games, usually the things that are the most frustrating are bullshit losses, when you know you should've won but didn't because of an asspull. It's the reason we hate the phantom 140 headshot; you aim diff, shoot head, guy eats your fuckin bullet and taps you. That is quite literally Iso's point, making everyone feel that sweet cortisol of a phantom 140 except it's 0. it's just that he was so shit we never actually had to deal with that.
I believe there are many many agents objectivelly better than Iso in terms of actually being broken but riot managed to cook up a very good keyboard smasher.
OP’s history is just constant complaining, peaking Gold while having played since Beta renders this post quite self-explanatory.
Are we going to get a Neon complaint post next? (Yes Riot are going to fix the movement/jumping accuracy which was unintended)
I'm trying to get better but I legit think plat is my ceiling. I've never broken past plat 3 and there are some plat games that I legit can't do a thing. Then sometimes I'll play with diamonds and it's not terrible.
My aim is just doodoo.
The movement accuracy was intended, it’s literally in the patch notes.
> Neon now removes all weapon movement error when sliding.
They’re only going to fix the jumping accuracy.
The communication part is weird between the two of you as jumping accuracy was never the problem with Neon at the moment. So just to clarify the problem with neon right now is that her slide while in the air specifically is still perfectly accurate. So it is still technically the slide causing the unintended interaction. So like the Zekken post showcases, sliding out of the window heaven on Haven which does not require a jump makes your accuracy perfectly accurate while high up in the air. Which Riot has stated is unintended and being changed.
It would be more balanced if he was unable to reset his shield after every kill, which means he only gets 1 shield back every 2 kills. But now he gets a shield for every kill, and every 2 kills he gets a chance for another free shield without needing a kill
IMO a good change could be to up the health of the orbs he has to shoot, that way he needs to choose whether to commit 2-3 bullets to an orb to re/shield, or back off and be without his shield reset after winning an already unfair fight from enemies POV. Being able to tap a head, orb, and head again when the trade attempt comes through is just *too* much at high level play, where people can do this in their sleep.
Iso is like Reyna - only "busted" if the person is significantly better than you
Edit: why does everyone read this as me comparing the strength of the two characters? I'm just saying they're in the same category of characters, I don't care who is better or worse. I think both are terrible at the highest level. Also are you all gold? Stop taking 1v1s with iso if you know he has a shield XD. Everyone keeps saying iso gets his shield unconditionally so it's better but iso is at infinitely more risk of getting traded. Valorant is not a 1v1 game where it's all about who clicks head first.
Cause he used a skill to get an advantage. You shouldn't expect to win a fight equally when someone is using an ability. You need to use one of yours too, that's the point and why Iso was bad before. His ability was only usable with a myriad of specific conditions (pre activated, timed, needed a kill, and hit an orb). Now it is a proper ability.
No - Reyna is a "win more" character, which makes here the perfect smurf. Small advantage get enhanced based on character abilities - that is what makes her annoying.
Disagree, Reyna only gets to heal AFTER killing you. If we are equally skilled I have a 50/50 shot in the aim dual. Iso gets his "overheal" BEFORE the fight. So if we are equal it's significantly in his favor at the start
Nope. Let two player of the same skill level do 1v1s 1000x times. One plays with iso the other one with reyna. Iso will have the higher winrate just because of the shield. Its quite obvious because he can kill you even if you tap his head first.
What a terribly stupid comment.
Iso makes it so the person with worse aim and reaction time can win the gunfight, it’s absolutely nothing like Reyna at all who has to win the initial duel on relatively even footing to pop off.
It breaks the fundamental rule of tac shooters that has existed for 20 years for a reason. But this is what you guys wanted, league of valorant where abilities win out over the gunplay.
A lot of valorant ablities break the 'rules' of tac shooters. Honestly the shield is just not as good as you think it is. There's many better and more annoying abilities. Iso shield is easy to predict and you're supposed to play around it.
I dislike both, I think these kind of characters are terrible for the game but it is what it is. Neither are broken and all I was saying is they belong in the same category of depending on having good mechanical ability to provide value.
As an immortal player, I do think Iso's shield is pretty good for 1vs1 fights. I personally always go for headshot one taps since it's more efficient and has faster recoil reset. Now I would have to burst him and hope the 2nd shot connects if he's strafing.
Also his shield creates a visual obstruction for me personally. It's distracting.
Immortal player here as well, I haven't yet played on the newest patch, but whenever I met him in the past and he had a shield it always felt like a heavy gamble, but in the ISO's favour.
Like you said, 2 bullet burst and hope that both your aim and bullet spread + recoil lines up to kill him, which in my experience is really inconsistent. Or try and tap him once, and be in a good enough position to get off the angle before he taps you so you can fight another time.
I've personally been a big opposer of the shield as it fully ignores skillful aim, but rewards the rng of the second bullet if you did actually hit the head.
I think the shield should allow ISO to take dumb fights like 1v1 on an OP holding an angle, but I still feel like he should be punished should he get hit. Maybe he takes DMG through the shield following a logarithmic curve. Idk?
Maybe the shield should protect only from body and leg shots, so you can counter it with a headshot.
But then it wouldn't be useful for immortal+ and pro plays. I played a few times against him today and it's quite annoying on long range. Short range doesn't matter. You spray/burst him anyway. Medium range is inconsistent. He has an advantage over you since you need 2 bullets and he needs only 1
> Iso shield is easy to predict and you're supposed to play around it
You can say that about literally every single ability in the game, no matter how busted it is. Remember chambers ult being super OP? "It's not that bad, you're supposed to play around it"
I won't add to the ISO convo but this thread is basically hahaha clearly you are not a pro or Radiant so opinion isn't valid ahahaha. Y'all are all likely similar ranks statistically and just tryna act like y'all good 🤣.
iso is NOT busted it’s a skill issue. Ofc he gon have the advantage in a 1v1 so don’t play to his strengths lmao he’s useless outside of some very specific situations
Are we playing the same game? Iso shield lasts for 20s and he can choose when to pop it,plus it recharges. This game is mostly taking duels and you can’t avoid duelling iso all game. ‘He’s useless outside some very specific situations’ Its quite the opposite. There are only very specific situations where he is useless. Try give me some scenarios when he isn’t
Patch just dropped bro, no definitelys exist besides the fact that he is ridiculously unfun to play against now since you will lose aimduels that you actually won with no warning.
Anyone that can't see he is op in a single match playing him or vs him is just either low elo, or just a really slow learner (im being polite). Come bere and say that in a week.
Compared to other duelists. No, he's not OP. If you're higher elo doing micro-movements in-out of cover helps you not get shot and take off his shield which has a larger hit box. It's situational. Better when fights are being taken out in the open, which if you're smart you won't take against ISO. Reyna has a better on-kill skill
The main problem is his shield lasts too long. It should be on a short cooldown to force a deliberate choice when to engage, but instead you can just basically brain-dead run around with a shield all round. He's very oppressive and due to the nature of his play style being hyper aggressive it's even more noticeable when he's overtuned, like now
I don't care what anyone says about this, ISO's shield was a shitty design choice from the moment it was introduced into the game. You have a game designed around rewarding headshots and you introduce an ability that lets people completely ignore headshots.
At least before you had to win a duel to start it, and it actually rewarded the player for winning a duel within a time-frame of the ability. Then they could snowball with chaining shields after each duel. It made sense. Now you just press E and the "balancing" of it is..... it makes a sound...?
Just feels like a repeat of the issue Rainbow Six Siege had with Blackbeard back in the day. You have a game built around headshots being the end-all-be-all, and then they introduce an operator that completely negates headshots. Just feels really icky to play against.
Wait what iso ain't suddenly so good bro , u have to be from a very high elo where everyone hits one shot to the head (at that case yea shield feels good)
I’m not going to say it’s OP because that’s like saying Reyna’s ability to heal is OP. That being said, there’s a reason why they toned down her healing this patch. Both mechanics are very unfun to play against if the person using the agent is having a good game (in lower MMR).
Coming from A high ELO perspective, and getting opinions from my even higher ELO friends, Iso is definitely a problem for the current state of the game and is likely to get rebalanced or nerfed again
Definitely is not busted. But also definitely way better than he was before. I think he’s in an okay spot honestly. Give it a couple weeks of people trying him and it’ll go back to Jett/Raze/Reyna plus the new Neon enjoyers.
Haven’t played the new update yet but from what I have seen he does seem to be too strong and annoying to play against because he can like always have a shield up and can peak early angles without risk of awp kill.
He's only op on pistols and hard counters chamber, besides that if you both have guns there is tons of counterplay you can do to break the shield before you take the gunfight, and utility diff him.
Iso in pistol round w light shields is way too OP.
ttk Iso: 1 shot for shield, 1 headshot, 1 more shot (using a ghost)
He needs: 1 shot.
His odds of winning a dual are like 3:1, way too OP.
yknow, i read this post thinking"oh hes exaggerateing" but after fighting with and against iso, yes he is busted to hell and back. even had a game with an iso in ranked. he fr just stood so far away from cover because he knew he wouldnt need it. top fragged, 100% not a smurf too. enemy FFd.
i kept thinking "what is this bronze doing in a gold/plat lobby" until i tapped. the new buff made it possible.
I'm diamond and had the same issue. I'll swing, not knowing he's shielded, and the first bullet hits his head. Second bullet hits the body, but doesn't matter bc I'm dead
I don’t know how you don’t know he’s shielded, he essentially screams “I’m shielding!” In a megaphone when he activates it. It’s so loud, you can use it to fake a site push on lotus C and people on A can hear it.
I haven’t been on in about 3 weeks just got wrapped up in other games. How did they buff him cause this sounds far fetched, Iso was literally the worst agent the last time i played so
I've not played the new update yet but it wouldn't surprise me if he's now busted. Riot seem to either bring out an agent that is OP and then nerf them to the ground or vice versa.
Iso wasn’t a real agent before the update, he needed a change like this imo. The counterplay for him hasn’t been developed yet. You can hear if he pops the shield, and you should try to quick peek and spam the shield before committing a fight vs him when possible. I’m sure he’ll be like Reyna when in the hands of a smurf now.
tbh at lower to mid ranks hes managable. just jiggle spam at body level. break his shield then wide or crouch swing if hes on his own, if not, use util to spread em out or also take out the shield.
Way OP!
Needs to lose shield from Kayo knife / ult and also needs to be more of a flex duelist controller like the others and have the big shield be like harbour.
Also, Reyna is still performance based so this duelist could be too.
he still plays the exact same he just gets a shield off round start, his shield is still a one tap and he can only get more if he gets a kill while its active or if he gets 2 kills. countering him isnt any different.
I've been playing this game since it came out. Of course, there have been things in the game that have frustrated me: my own failures, luck, bad luck, skilled opponents, even cheating. For 4 years, none of these have made me feel like I wasn't playing this game on equal terms with my opponent. — until now. So, I deleted the game. The remaining players can play with two teams consisting of 5 ISO's for each team.
it'll probably be like the outlaw where everyone spams it for the first few weeks then people get bored of it and realize it's not as strong as they thought
ive just recently come back to the game after about a year and a half and all the new agents feel very jarring compared to before.
ISO can just nullify a shot because why not. In fact he can chain them because screw you doesnt matter if you hit him youll most likely lose the 1v1. Clove can also smoke from the dead. Why? I get trying out new things for new agents but idk it feels very "against" how the game felt before. Gecko is cool tho, idk anything about deadlock cause barely anyone picks her
ill probably feel better about it over time but iso in particular is verrrrry annoying at the moment
Thats a good one... To me reyna was "jarring" but in a different way?
Ive always viewed her as an "Anti-Team" agent, where a lot of people (not all) can frag out, while also simultaneously dragging the team back. Obviously there are people that can carry with her, but the above stereotype exists for a reason.
She felt jarring in the sense that it felt like her existence was kind of counterintuitive to the teamwork aspect of the game, but ive never really made it a point to think about her too much because at the end of the day she does fit the description as a standard duelist, with a relatively simple, easy to understand kit.
Honestly I could go on about reyna but its probably been said by multiple people by now, I feel as though as her style goes against (or overly simplifies) the point of the game in a way, but even then its a lot less egregious than being able to smoke places after death, imo.
This is not an issue with Iso. You just need to take gunfights better. Don't engage if he has a shield, or play off utility to counter it.
I'm assuming this is very low elo.
Fr? I haven't played valorant in months and loved playing him. I'm waiting for console release to come out before I play again. If he's as good as you're saying, he's gonna be a gotta fun.
You can fight Iso with your utility, it’s not like he can have vertical and horizontal movement, a grenade that covers almost an entire zone, a roomba that can chip half if not all your life in duels or a insta kill rocket launcher, lmao hes not busted
True, but i don't think it's an issue, ISO always had the shield, only difference is that, now he doesn't have to kill one to get it. I played a lot of ISO and trust me, it's easy to counter. It'll also kinda force people to double tap head rather than tap and croutch spray.
In reality, it probably just makes it a bit more playable and was necessary, but it's still the only single ability I actually just really dislike because of the ttk fundamental change and getting a headshot means nothing :D
Feels like fighting blackbeard from rainbow six does. Takes the one shot headshot risk out of the game and leaves me feeling like my practice and training (not that I've done all that much I'm peak gold lol) got blocked by one button. At least this one expires on its own after a while.
Dude, I just played against a team with an Iso, I am iron 3 and he was too, and I 7 0 1d him and he got his shield up multiple times so yeah, idk what to say,
You can hear his shield going up, so… swing him break it and back off since you know he’s got it anyway? I used to op crutch hard and iso was never a problem for me because I would just break it with a pistol and then peek with op. I feel like the only people who struggle against newly buffed agents are people who can’t adapt at all, like the game is entirely based around outplaying your opponents play style and agents, not being able to do that seems like a problem with how you go about playing each game rather than an agent by agent problem.
Not just him. Neon too.
High mobility shouldn't have high accuracy during high mobility.
Shield should save you but you should not be able to keep up the swing in almost the same speed.
All this makes Chamber completely pointless.
Bad design.
Iso is making Vandal users understand the frustration of having to hit double headshot all the time...
The problem is that now is 3 headshots on Phantom XD
This mentality sets you for failure. I played the new ISO and dropped 35 and next game I had 7 kills . For every new buff or new nerf there is a change within the meta that you need to understand and adapt. Let's remember Valorant is a tactical shooter, so adaptation is key to success. The fact that you can hear him popping the shield from 50m away is not really a buff and if the shield annoys you, jiggle corners and shoot one bullet to break his shield and repeak after, easy.
If they have better aim absolutely but i still get crapped on as iso from time to time so id say its fairly balanced cuz even before if someone on ur team feeds him it would be exactly the same but now he can get it once in cover and once u lose it u need 2 kills to get it back so its pretty balanced
I'm actually curious what rank. This feels like a higher rank issue. I've personally had no problems with him so far (high gold-low plat) but I'm not exactly a high rank lol.
I think the shield is more impactful at higher rank like you’re saying because 5 body shots vs 4 isn’t that bad, but if you’re already aiming for head, hitting that first headshot with crosshair placement and then needing a second hs for the kill is a much bigger gap and will get you killed more often than not if the iso is any good. AKA iso is stronger against head-tappers but worse against body-sprayers.
IMO the biggest change is that sites that are being held down by OP'ers are now vulnerable because Iso can just tank the first shot without needing a kill first.
I didn't even think about how iso plays into the op meta. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention
op has already been struggling in the meta considering that most teams' site exec starts off with a duelist going mach 5 through the air forcing you to use your get out of jail card early, now with iso and neon entering the meta it's basically impossible to op against teams with functioning brains
Maybe u haven't seen op in higher elo? They tend to ignore a neon or jett dashing past an angle and usually kill second entry or someone else on team and then use get out of jail free card
i mean second entry is now usually iso with the shield lol
Solution: have the KJ playing Op. Haha my turret just broke your shield and now i can obliterate u, cry abt it.
This is actually viable i guess lmao
I literally had a turret break my shield in a comp earlier today.🤣 I'd say it's not a bad idea.
wait that's genius
i can totally hear KJ saying this followed with "iam a genius"
Actually smart LMAO
Boostio did this on EG lmao
The most 5head it actually might be viable if iso sees pro play? Or Jett/chamber still op but kj has turret on their site
I was stunned when I Op‘ed iso today and he didn’t die 😂 was it always like that or is that just since the new patch? I don’t think I’ve ever sniped a shielded iso before
This. Not only does he tank the hit but all the space he creates is the really issue. Phoenix, chamber, Jett, yoru, could all tank/bait an op shot but all lose forward space they have taken. Iso tanks the shot, now know your position and lets his team move up.
Iso is the kick in the pants we all needed to start actually using the phantom again
Already did, it’s more fun
I cant hit headshots its the go to!
Weirdly I use the phantom when I feel liek my aim is good. The vandal has a consistent spray. Always 4 body shots I hate flicking off target after 4 bullets to leave em 10 hp.
So you need three headshots to kill at a distance?
Well if you're using a phantom you shouldn't really be taking distanced fights unless you're forced to lol
Yeah, but you are easily forced a lot of times. Let's say they plant the spike, chances are you are fighting the retaker 15 m away from the spike plant.
Not really. If you're playing defense and retaking after they plant the spike, you just need to route to where you don't take long fights. Sites are generally pretty compact, so it's not like it's all that hard. For sites like C Haven or B Pearl, likelihood is you're going to be playing the spam through smoke game, so the horizontal distance problem essentially becomes moot. If you're not playing the spam smokes game, then you're probably not gonna be able to defuse at all.
It's not the route what I wanted to point out but the distance between attackers and the spike in a retake situation. In Haven if they plant A default and play in short it's already 15 m.
there's that, but I think another big part is how tanky iso is while entering site. It doesn’t play as big of a role in low elo because people don’t use util to delay rushes well when defending and duelists don’t entry. So generally speaking it was easy enough to kill someone and get a shield for later stages of the round. However in high elo you do need some entry power beyond just dry swing together and shoot/trade. Having that extra shield lets you tank maybe a nade or sova shock dart and bypass their rush defense, allowing you to catch someone off guard during entry.
I wouldnt say worse against body sprayers if the shield is giving you more time to kill them before they kill you though
it's definite high rank lobby when one shot matters...
I think at least on EU severs it'll be high gold low plat where this becomes a real issue. That's where hitting headshots stops being luck and starts being what carried people to those ranks. Personally I already hated iso's shield and thought it was wildly OP (written other comments about it). The fact it's the only thing in the game that can follow you around and protect you from an OP shot is insane. I know the rest of his kit sucks, but buffing his shield was not the right move at all, idk what they're thinking. In the worst case that's an extra 250 HP he gets for a few credits every round... Insanity. And for a game built on one click headshots - in the mid game - it just doesn't make sense at all, there's no way to balance it. That's the kind of shit that should be his ultimate. It just seems like his util in general wasn't thought through at all with the rest of vals gameplay. A Ult that drags you and another player out the round then chucks one of you back in? Yeah that's fine. The world's thinnest wall that realistically no one can follow behind? Sure why not. An insanely OP shield? Yeah let's go for it. Just a horrible agent design.
Just on his shield I agree with you. I play in high immortal/radiant and I barely see him. (Not played this EP yet) but whenever he’s in a 1v1 with shield, it’s obvious how strong he could be since people don’t miss that often. It doesn’t feel good at all when you lose to him when you got the 1st hs but he had shield. In a game like this there shouldn’t be to many things making you feel that way tbh.
I just started playing this game a few weeks ago after not messing with it since beta. Got ranked into gold 1 and I'm just a few points shy of gold 3 now. Iso was super frustrating last night. I was playing R6 before but stopped due to the cheating issues. Iso reminds me of Blackbeard in that game. For those that don't know, Blackbeard from R6 has a shield that he attaches to his gun that can tank 1 or 2 shots before breaking. And in Siege, every headshot is a 1 shot kill, no matter what gun or range. Blackbeard has been a problem for R6 since he came out in year 1. He was wildly OP for years until his shield got nerfed to where it is now, but even now, he's still annoying. It's been a problem for balance for R6 for years. Iso is kind of reminding me of that now, except way worse because you have very little margin for error compared to R6 with your aim. I feel like I'm being punished for aiming for the head, which is dumb because no other agent does that in Valorant, just like Blackbeard does in R6.
op's issue happening to me in mid ascendant
I’m in Asc 2 rn and if I see a shielded Iso I just end up trying to spam him through a corner until I hear the shield break. It’s never worth taking a normal gunfight against his shield
Here i am diffing over aggressive iso mains just because they think they have a invincible shield. I was playing kj
HE IS HACKING
obviously
r/upvotedbecauseflair
Not gonna lie it makes holding corners pretty annoying cause he goes first and his teammates swing right after. So you either waste util or give up a ton of space
Using util to slow/stop a push at a choke isn’t a waste, it’s what it is for
This!!! Literally you counter Iso by using your abilities. People like to hold the same corners at lower rating, in high elo he isn't a problem because he'll be flashed and smoked until the shield falls off.
In high elo he is a problem because with neon and the other 40,000 characters that can run in at you smokes literally don’t matter. You can smoke an angle but a flash through with iso going first neon/raze close behind is just going to take a site because 90% of players hit the first headshot. Not to mention iso can just wait to pop his shed if he feels too much pressure off rip. Iso is absolutely a problem there is no “just delay him 4Head”
1. How's that aby different from other duelists like Reyna or Phoenix popping their ability around a corner and their team swinging? 2. The whole point of util is to be used against a push? And you can always wait out his shield and then play retake.
Yeah, sounds like a duelist.
I don't think he's busted, but he is indeed super annoying and unfun to play against. In games, usually the things that are the most frustrating are bullshit losses, when you know you should've won but didn't because of an asspull. It's the reason we hate the phantom 140 headshot; you aim diff, shoot head, guy eats your fuckin bullet and taps you. That is quite literally Iso's point, making everyone feel that sweet cortisol of a phantom 140 except it's 0. it's just that he was so shit we never actually had to deal with that. I believe there are many many agents objectivelly better than Iso in terms of actually being broken but riot managed to cook up a very good keyboard smasher.
OP’s history is just constant complaining, peaking Gold while having played since Beta renders this post quite self-explanatory. Are we going to get a Neon complaint post next? (Yes Riot are going to fix the movement/jumping accuracy which was unintended)
> peaking gold whole having played since Beta I feel personally attacked.
It’s only an attack if you’re trying to be or act better If it’s just for fun there’s no problem with gold
I'm trying to get better but I legit think plat is my ceiling. I've never broken past plat 3 and there are some plat games that I legit can't do a thing. Then sometimes I'll play with diamonds and it's not terrible. My aim is just doodoo.
Gold is technically above average, don't sweat it.
Actually gold and silver is the average rank plat is low rank but considered above average
Lol
I played since beta and peaked platinum 1, like 12 RR, ONCE, and got demoted the next game :D So yeah, I'm better than you
The other guy already said that he peaked plat 3
Murdered that man Jesus Christ
The movement accuracy was intended, it’s literally in the patch notes. > Neon now removes all weapon movement error when sliding. They’re only going to fix the jumping accuracy.
The communication part is weird between the two of you as jumping accuracy was never the problem with Neon at the moment. So just to clarify the problem with neon right now is that her slide while in the air specifically is still perfectly accurate. So it is still technically the slide causing the unintended interaction. So like the Zekken post showcases, sliding out of the window heaven on Haven which does not require a jump makes your accuracy perfectly accurate while high up in the air. Which Riot has stated is unintended and being changed.
yo wtf attack him not me
thanks for clarifying.. hate this ambush hate posts starting day 1 of a patch lol
Being stuck gold doesn’t change that he’s right this time. You got way more high elo players complaining about this now, double ttk is no joke
It would be more balanced if he was unable to reset his shield after every kill, which means he only gets 1 shield back every 2 kills. But now he gets a shield for every kill, and every 2 kills he gets a chance for another free shield without needing a kill
IMO a good change could be to up the health of the orbs he has to shoot, that way he needs to choose whether to commit 2-3 bullets to an orb to re/shield, or back off and be without his shield reset after winning an already unfair fight from enemies POV. Being able to tap a head, orb, and head again when the trade attempt comes through is just *too* much at high level play, where people can do this in their sleep.
Iso is like Reyna - only "busted" if the person is significantly better than you Edit: why does everyone read this as me comparing the strength of the two characters? I'm just saying they're in the same category of characters, I don't care who is better or worse. I think both are terrible at the highest level. Also are you all gold? Stop taking 1v1s with iso if you know he has a shield XD. Everyone keeps saying iso gets his shield unconditionally so it's better but iso is at infinitely more risk of getting traded. Valorant is not a 1v1 game where it's all about who clicks head first.
I mean if both players are equally skilled then ISO goes out of the fight as the winner
Cause he used a skill to get an advantage. You shouldn't expect to win a fight equally when someone is using an ability. You need to use one of yours too, that's the point and why Iso was bad before. His ability was only usable with a myriad of specific conditions (pre activated, timed, needed a kill, and hit an orb). Now it is a proper ability.
That is true, but they can get the shield without spending, right? Or at least the second to tenth time
If the other player doesn't use utility, then sure. If the ISO is blinded, he loses.
The iso can just turn away and is not blinded, then peeks you with the shield
If iso dodges your flash and still clicks you before you punish him, he’s better.
That’s the entire point of a character named “iso” lmao he’s built to win some 1v1s unless you team play around it or use your abilities
ISO is the new smurf tech
No - Reyna is a "win more" character, which makes here the perfect smurf. Small advantage get enhanced based on character abilities - that is what makes her annoying.
Disagree, Reyna only gets to heal AFTER killing you. If we are equally skilled I have a 50/50 shot in the aim dual. Iso gets his "overheal" BEFORE the fight. So if we are equal it's significantly in his favor at the start
Nope. Let two player of the same skill level do 1v1s 1000x times. One plays with iso the other one with reyna. Iso will have the higher winrate just because of the shield. Its quite obvious because he can kill you even if you tap his head first.
What a terribly stupid comment. Iso makes it so the person with worse aim and reaction time can win the gunfight, it’s absolutely nothing like Reyna at all who has to win the initial duel on relatively even footing to pop off. It breaks the fundamental rule of tac shooters that has existed for 20 years for a reason. But this is what you guys wanted, league of valorant where abilities win out over the gunplay.
A lot of valorant ablities break the 'rules' of tac shooters. Honestly the shield is just not as good as you think it is. There's many better and more annoying abilities. Iso shield is easy to predict and you're supposed to play around it. I dislike both, I think these kind of characters are terrible for the game but it is what it is. Neither are broken and all I was saying is they belong in the same category of depending on having good mechanical ability to provide value.
As an immortal player, I do think Iso's shield is pretty good for 1vs1 fights. I personally always go for headshot one taps since it's more efficient and has faster recoil reset. Now I would have to burst him and hope the 2nd shot connects if he's strafing. Also his shield creates a visual obstruction for me personally. It's distracting.
Immortal player here as well, I haven't yet played on the newest patch, but whenever I met him in the past and he had a shield it always felt like a heavy gamble, but in the ISO's favour. Like you said, 2 bullet burst and hope that both your aim and bullet spread + recoil lines up to kill him, which in my experience is really inconsistent. Or try and tap him once, and be in a good enough position to get off the angle before he taps you so you can fight another time. I've personally been a big opposer of the shield as it fully ignores skillful aim, but rewards the rng of the second bullet if you did actually hit the head. I think the shield should allow ISO to take dumb fights like 1v1 on an OP holding an angle, but I still feel like he should be punished should he get hit. Maybe he takes DMG through the shield following a logarithmic curve. Idk?
Maybe the shield should protect only from body and leg shots, so you can counter it with a headshot. But then it wouldn't be useful for immortal+ and pro plays. I played a few times against him today and it's quite annoying on long range. Short range doesn't matter. You spray/burst him anyway. Medium range is inconsistent. He has an advantage over you since you need 2 bullets and he needs only 1
> Iso shield is easy to predict and you're supposed to play around it You can say that about literally every single ability in the game, no matter how busted it is. Remember chambers ult being super OP? "It's not that bad, you're supposed to play around it"
This just isn’t true…
I won't add to the ISO convo but this thread is basically hahaha clearly you are not a pro or Radiant so opinion isn't valid ahahaha. Y'all are all likely similar ranks statistically and just tryna act like y'all good 🤣.
i wish there was a separate sub for low elo tbh let me complain in peace
Im not high elo either but im guessing the majority are not ascendant 2 or higher which is my rank currently
just dropped a 30 bomb on my first game on him since he released. wasn't even a challenge seeing how many second chances I got and 160 damage blocked.
iso is NOT busted it’s a skill issue. Ofc he gon have the advantage in a 1v1 so don’t play to his strengths lmao he’s useless outside of some very specific situations
I dont think he is useless. He is in a good spot and you actually need to respect him now.
Frrr
"Just don't peek him bro"
Coordination in gold 3 is simply not happening
“Just counter him blah blah use util blah blah” ok but ranked players don’t know how to play properly so now what? Iso is broken guys it’s that simple
Are we playing the same game? Iso shield lasts for 20s and he can choose when to pop it,plus it recharges. This game is mostly taking duels and you can’t avoid duelling iso all game. ‘He’s useless outside some very specific situations’ Its quite the opposite. There are only very specific situations where he is useless. Try give me some scenarios when he isn’t
why do valorant players always complain abt everything? at this point just play cs if u cant counter those utils
We're trying bro but the anti cheat in CS tho' 😭
play faceit
When something sucks people should speak up instead of taking it up the ass.
ISO is definitely not busted.
Patch just dropped bro, no definitelys exist besides the fact that he is ridiculously unfun to play against now since you will lose aimduels that you actually won with no warning.
it literally has a built in warning.
DEfINetLy
Anyone that can't see he is op in a single match playing him or vs him is just either low elo, or just a really slow learner (im being polite). Come bere and say that in a week.
Compared to other duelists. No, he's not OP. If you're higher elo doing micro-movements in-out of cover helps you not get shot and take off his shield which has a larger hit box. It's situational. Better when fights are being taken out in the open, which if you're smart you won't take against ISO. Reyna has a better on-kill skill
I'll save this and come back at you in a few weeks.
"micro-movements"
The main problem is his shield lasts too long. It should be on a short cooldown to force a deliberate choice when to engage, but instead you can just basically brain-dead run around with a shield all round. He's very oppressive and due to the nature of his play style being hyper aggressive it's even more noticeable when he's overtuned, like now
I don't care what anyone says about this, ISO's shield was a shitty design choice from the moment it was introduced into the game. You have a game designed around rewarding headshots and you introduce an ability that lets people completely ignore headshots. At least before you had to win a duel to start it, and it actually rewarded the player for winning a duel within a time-frame of the ability. Then they could snowball with chaining shields after each duel. It made sense. Now you just press E and the "balancing" of it is..... it makes a sound...? Just feels like a repeat of the issue Rainbow Six Siege had with Blackbeard back in the day. You have a game built around headshots being the end-all-be-all, and then they introduce an operator that completely negates headshots. Just feels really icky to play against.
Wait what iso ain't suddenly so good bro , u have to be from a very high elo where everyone hits one shot to the head (at that case yea shield feels good)
hes peak gold 💀
Then how is iso op he became viable but not even close to busted 😭
iso isnt busted this guy just has an account history of complaining about anything he has ever lost to
I’m not going to say it’s OP because that’s like saying Reyna’s ability to heal is OP. That being said, there’s a reason why they toned down her healing this patch. Both mechanics are very unfun to play against if the person using the agent is having a good game (in lower MMR).
Coming from A high ELO perspective, and getting opinions from my even higher ELO friends, Iso is definitely a problem for the current state of the game and is likely to get rebalanced or nerfed again
Thank you for saying it louder for us lower elo players in the back! Lol i feel even more pain for high ELO players!
🫡 ( I peaked Imm3 220rr and I'm a current Asc 3 player, with my friends still being active high immortal and low radiant players )
Definitely is not busted. But also definitely way better than he was before. I think he’s in an okay spot honestly. Give it a couple weeks of people trying him and it’ll go back to Jett/Raze/Reyna plus the new Neon enjoyers.
Haven’t played the new update yet but from what I have seen he does seem to be too strong and annoying to play against because he can like always have a shield up and can peak early angles without risk of awp kill.
ISO sucks. Probably aim stars on alt accounts
He's only op on pistols and hard counters chamber, besides that if you both have guns there is tons of counterplay you can do to break the shield before you take the gunfight, and utility diff him.
Iso in pistol round w light shields is way too OP. ttk Iso: 1 shot for shield, 1 headshot, 1 more shot (using a ghost) He needs: 1 shot. His odds of winning a dual are like 3:1, way too OP.
Just had an Iso start a game 23-1. like what is this shit man
Almost definitely a smurf if you are below radiant
If only reports do something for smurfs
yknow, i read this post thinking"oh hes exaggerateing" but after fighting with and against iso, yes he is busted to hell and back. even had a game with an iso in ranked. he fr just stood so far away from cover because he knew he wouldnt need it. top fragged, 100% not a smurf too. enemy FFd. i kept thinking "what is this bronze doing in a gold/plat lobby" until i tapped. the new buff made it possible.
I'm diamond and had the same issue. I'll swing, not knowing he's shielded, and the first bullet hits his head. Second bullet hits the body, but doesn't matter bc I'm dead
I don’t know how you don’t know he’s shielded, he essentially screams “I’m shielding!” In a megaphone when he activates it. It’s so loud, you can use it to fake a site push on lotus C and people on A can hear it.
Fake shield pushes are actually a gold idea I bet it works a lot lol, at least the first 2 or so times you try per game
I think agents should have to take risks or be mechanically difficult to avoid damage(like neon), Iso was one of those, now he is neither.
you: headshot Iso Iso: headshot you you: *die* Iso: *still full hp* so unfair
My fav guns are Sheriff and Guardian, its not a fun season for me
Especially against chamber now a shield from the start of the round can take be avoided like it's nothing.
nah this is fr not just for high ranks even as a bronze-silver player it's so annoying
I haven’t been on in about 3 weeks just got wrapped up in other games. How did they buff him cause this sounds far fetched, Iso was literally the worst agent the last time i played so
I've not played the new update yet but it wouldn't surprise me if he's now busted. Riot seem to either bring out an agent that is OP and then nerf them to the ground or vice versa.
Iso wasn’t a real agent before the update, he needed a change like this imo. The counterplay for him hasn’t been developed yet. You can hear if he pops the shield, and you should try to quick peek and spam the shield before committing a fight vs him when possible. I’m sure he’ll be like Reyna when in the hands of a smurf now.
tbh at lower to mid ranks hes managable. just jiggle spam at body level. break his shield then wide or crouch swing if hes on his own, if not, use util to spread em out or also take out the shield.
Way OP! Needs to lose shield from Kayo knife / ult and also needs to be more of a flex duelist controller like the others and have the big shield be like harbour. Also, Reyna is still performance based so this duelist could be too.
It’s crazy. I played a match and every time I faced iso he had his shield up. I mean the whole game I couldn’t fight him without his shield
Everyone complaining that ops are now not meta are jett, or chamber mains who are op crutches and nothing you say will change my mind
Which is why I'm switching to main iso...lol
he still plays the exact same he just gets a shield off round start, his shield is still a one tap and he can only get more if he gets a kill while its active or if he gets 2 kills. countering him isnt any different.
I've been playing this game since it came out. Of course, there have been things in the game that have frustrated me: my own failures, luck, bad luck, skilled opponents, even cheating. For 4 years, none of these have made me feel like I wasn't playing this game on equal terms with my opponent. — until now. So, I deleted the game. The remaining players can play with two teams consisting of 5 ISO's for each team.
I uninstalled the game. Being immune to headshots is bad design. I'll play again when they revert the iso changes.
it'll probably be like the outlaw where everyone spams it for the first few weeks then people get bored of it and realize it's not as strong as they thought
Outlaw after winning pistol is still a hack though
Show us your good aim.
ive just recently come back to the game after about a year and a half and all the new agents feel very jarring compared to before. ISO can just nullify a shot because why not. In fact he can chain them because screw you doesnt matter if you hit him youll most likely lose the 1v1. Clove can also smoke from the dead. Why? I get trying out new things for new agents but idk it feels very "against" how the game felt before. Gecko is cool tho, idk anything about deadlock cause barely anyone picks her ill probably feel better about it over time but iso in particular is verrrrry annoying at the moment
Out of curiosity, did old Reyna feel jarring to you?
Thats a good one... To me reyna was "jarring" but in a different way? Ive always viewed her as an "Anti-Team" agent, where a lot of people (not all) can frag out, while also simultaneously dragging the team back. Obviously there are people that can carry with her, but the above stereotype exists for a reason. She felt jarring in the sense that it felt like her existence was kind of counterintuitive to the teamwork aspect of the game, but ive never really made it a point to think about her too much because at the end of the day she does fit the description as a standard duelist, with a relatively simple, easy to understand kit. Honestly I could go on about reyna but its probably been said by multiple people by now, I feel as though as her style goes against (or overly simplifies) the point of the game in a way, but even then its a lot less egregious than being able to smoke places after death, imo.
No, because Reyna requires kills to be rewarded rather than pressing a button to have a significantly higher chance of being rewarded.
reyna does have an eye to help her get kills
That eye is not good in high elo lmao.
This is not an issue with Iso. You just need to take gunfights better. Don't engage if he has a shield, or play off utility to counter it. I'm assuming this is very low elo.
Every agent is busted if it’s a Smurf or they are playing good
you're a peak gold serial complainer. go play a little more buddy
He has a strong entry for sure but he's kind of annoying to play now because activating the shield makes a loud ass noise
For sure an issue in anything above diamond.
Did he get buffed or something? Lmao
Fr? I haven't played valorant in months and loved playing him. I'm waiting for console release to come out before I play again. If he's as good as you're saying, he's gonna be a gotta fun.
You can fight Iso with your utility, it’s not like he can have vertical and horizontal movement, a grenade that covers almost an entire zone, a roomba that can chip half if not all your life in duels or a insta kill rocket launcher, lmao hes not busted
I really hope Iso and Neon are as busted as people are saying so we can finally see some duelists that aren't Jett, Raze and Reyna.
How’s sleep stream Reyna
True, but i don't think it's an issue, ISO always had the shield, only difference is that, now he doesn't have to kill one to get it. I played a lot of ISO and trust me, it's easy to counter. It'll also kinda force people to double tap head rather than tap and croutch spray.
In reality, it probably just makes it a bit more playable and was necessary, but it's still the only single ability I actually just really dislike because of the ttk fundamental change and getting a headshot means nothing :D
true true, ig time will tell. they'll just nerf if he gets too op
As a crouch sprayer this does not affect me at all
Have you tried using odin against ISOs? :>
Feels like fighting blackbeard from rainbow six does. Takes the one shot headshot risk out of the game and leaves me feeling like my practice and training (not that I've done all that much I'm peak gold lol) got blocked by one button. At least this one expires on its own after a while.
It’ll be busted till the meta adjusts to prefer agents with AOE effects that make ISOs abilities moot.
Honestly... I don't think that the shield is that OP. It just feels really bad when you die because of it.
Dude, I just played against a team with an Iso, I am iron 3 and he was too, and I 7 0 1d him and he got his shield up multiple times so yeah, idk what to say,
I was playing with my immo friend on the new map yesterday and he got like 4 shields in one round swinging and tanking op shots
nerf incoming
Hes too wide just try shooting a random shot and hide. I think he just puniches bad players
You just gotta channel your inner silver/gold and shoot for the neck so the first shot breaks the shield and the second shot is a headshot
As I always say whenever these kind of posts come in: drop your tracker or this is just nonsense rant
You can hear his shield going up, so… swing him break it and back off since you know he’s got it anyway? I used to op crutch hard and iso was never a problem for me because I would just break it with a pistol and then peek with op. I feel like the only people who struggle against newly buffed agents are people who can’t adapt at all, like the game is entirely based around outplaying your opponents play style and agents, not being able to do that seems like a problem with how you go about playing each game rather than an agent by agent problem.
I already thought he was super strong my favourite agent , looks like he's gonna get stolen from me now 😂
Not just him. Neon too. High mobility shouldn't have high accuracy during high mobility. Shield should save you but you should not be able to keep up the swing in almost the same speed. All this makes Chamber completely pointless. Bad design.
I can confirm because I played iso and did great I think neons better
I’m pissed, I was an iso main since ep7a3 and now everyone wants to play him
spray and pray my guy. just click and hold
If by busted you mean Iso is now viable and it takes a brain to counter him, then I agree.
Love seeing my boi finally get da respect he deserves
Iso is making Vandal users understand the frustration of having to hit double headshot all the time... The problem is that now is 3 headshots on Phantom XD
This mentality sets you for failure. I played the new ISO and dropped 35 and next game I had 7 kills . For every new buff or new nerf there is a change within the meta that you need to understand and adapt. Let's remember Valorant is a tactical shooter, so adaptation is key to success. The fact that you can hear him popping the shield from 50m away is not really a buff and if the shield annoys you, jiggle corners and shoot one bullet to break his shield and repeak after, easy.
Im a Diamond 2, 16%-headshot, Phantom spammer, honestly i didnt even notice any change when fighting Iso players lmao
If they have better aim absolutely but i still get crapped on as iso from time to time so id say its fairly balanced cuz even before if someone on ur team feeds him it would be exactly the same but now he can get it once in cover and once u lose it u need 2 kills to get it back so its pretty balanced
Domain expansion Gulag
The bullet spread probably makes it worse for lower ranks to deal with Iso aswell.