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When Ben Affleck appeared at the Valorous Champions 2023 event earlier this week to reveal something new, he made headlines in arguably the best and most unexpected way possible. Ben Affleck is an actor whose Hollywood career spans from Good Will Hunting to serving as the face of Batman in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe.
The actor didn’t simply drop by; he showed profound understanding of the game, effectively endorsing Valorant, a free-to-play tactical shooter developed by Riot Games that has been a mainstay in contemporary competitions.
It turns out that Affleck is a dedicated player who describes himself as a “promiscuous flex player,” maining characters like KAY/O and Raze, rather than merely a passing by casual observer.
Batman maining KAY/O in Valorant was not as surprising as knowing that Ben Affleck plays Valorant ngl pic.twitter.com/HeRVm3nKI4
Zentreon (@Zentreonthehero) August 27, 2023
Affleck demonstrated his familiarity with the game’s meta in a number of interviews and chats at the event, casually bringing up the substantial changes that came with the game’s most recent patch, 7.04. For those who are unfamiliar, Valorant is an arena where split-second decisions and deft skill shots are crucial. Players choose from a variety of agents, each with their own special skills, resulting in significant occurrences that can swing the competitive balance throughout patch upgrades.
Patch 7.04 accomplished that. A new map named Sunset was unveiled by Riot Games, apparently in honor of the studio’s home city of Los Angeles. Breeze, an existing map, was also modified to drastically alter the sightlines. Despite the fact that these were important enhancements, the main issue arose because of the modifications made to the characters, or agents as they are known in the game.
The majority of these changes were made to Jett, a character who frequently appeared in the S-tier on rankings of the most popular and effective agents. She is renowned for her speed and agility, however the upgrade slowed down everything in her ability kit. The mobility ability Tailwind takes longer to start up and doesn’t travel as far as it formerly did. Jett can no longer use Updraft twice; it can now only be used once. BladeStorm, her ultimate move, now costs eight points rather than seven. Riot justified these modifications as efforts to improve Jett, making it harder for her to get out of missteps and requiring more deliberate use of her skills.
Thanks for the reminder Love that for me @VALORANT pic.twitter.com/r8k3DWU5Mh
Shannon Williams (@ArrumieShannon) August 27, 2023
These developments have elicited a range of responses from the community. While some fans bemoaned the nerfing of Jett and thought it was too harsh, others rejoiced. The improvements, according to Riot’s community manager Jo-ellen “Riot Joellen” Aragon, are intended to keep Jett’s distinctive qualities while balancing her with other agents.
But Valorant’s widespread appeal is demonstrated by the fact that Batman himself is upset. When told his son mentioned he could be a Jett main, Affleck interjected with a laugh, “Yeah, but then they nerfed Jett, that’s the problem.” You don’t often hear an Oscar winner discuss character nerfs in video games. Even if Affleck is a KAY/O main, as he admitted, his presence adds an intriguing thread to the history of video games and competitions.
This kind of buzz is not something that can be created by just any celebrity attending a gaming event.Elon Musk was also present, but unlike Affleck, who was snapping pictures with the voice actresses who played different characters in Valorant, including Shannon Williams, the voice of Jett, Musk didn’t receive a warm reception. Affleck taking his son to an esports event is one thing, but realizing that he is a part of the gaming community is quite another.
However, this isn’t as unexpected as it would seem. The game Valorant requires a lot of skill and endurance. It is specifically designed to destroy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which will soon receive a successor in the form of CS2.
Ben Affleck can handle the challenges of Hollywood, thus he can easily handle the challenging gameplay of Valorant. Therefore, the next time you’re playing Valorant and someone beats you, it might just be the Dark Knight teaching you the ropes and demonstrating that the Caped Crusader has indeed put his cape away in favor of a mouse and keyboard.
Excuse us while he sobs about the hypothetical scenario that had Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman nerding out about their favorite video games on the big screen.