If you logged into Valorant last week, queued for a ranked match, and couldn’t find Reyna in your agent select screen, you’re probably asking did they remove Reyna from Valorant. I’ve seen that question popping up all over Reddit, Twitter, and Valorant lobbies lately, so I dug through official patch notes, Riot dev comments, and tested the agent myself to get the full, accurate answer. It’s easy to see why the rumor spread fast: Reyna is one of the most picked, most polarizing agents in the game, with a dedicated fanbase of duelist mains who refuse to play anyone else. But before you panic and uninstall or switch main to Jett, let’s break down what’s actually happening with Reyna right now.
Did They Remove Reyna from Valorant? The Short, Official Answer
No, Riot Games has not removed Reyna from Valorant as of the latest patch. The rumor started after a small group of players encountered a bug in unrated and swiftplay lobbies that hid Reyna from the agent select menu, even if they had unlocked her. That bug only lasted for 48 hours before Riot rolled out a hotfix, so if you’re still seeing the issue, you just need to restart your game client to download the small update.
I tested this myself last Wednesday: I logged on, couldn’t find Reyna, restarted my PC, and she was back in her usual spot at the top of the duelist list. Riot also posted a short note on the official Valorant support account confirming the bug, and clarifying that there are no current plans to remove Reyna from the base agent roster. Reyna is still available to play in all game modes, including ranked, unrated, spike rush, and custom lobbies, for all players who have unlocked her.
Why The Reyna Removal Rumor Spread So Fast
Reyna has been a controversial agent since she launched back in Episode 2, so it’s no surprise that removal rumors gain traction every few months. She has one of the highest pick rates in low elo, where her self-heal and invisibility abilities let less experienced players carry matches even if they don’t have great team play. But higher elo players and pro teams often criticize her for being too “selfish” because none of her abilities benefit her teammates directly.
Over the past year, Riot has made small nerfs to Reyna to balance her across skill levels, and every time those nerfs are announced, a small subset of players start spreading false claims that she’s being removed entirely. The recent bug amplified that rumor tenfold, because thousands of players logged on and actually couldn’t select her for a couple of days. A lot of content creators also posted short clips on TikTok and YouTube Shorts showing her missing from their agent select, without adding context about the bug, which made the rumor reach even more people.
If you see any post claiming Reyna is being removed permanently, always check the date of the post and cross-reference it with official Riot patch notes before you believe it. Most of these rumors trace back to one of four common triggers:
- Minor balance nerfs to Reyna’s Devour or Dismiss abilities in scheduled patch updates
- Temporary agent bans in specific competitive tournament rulesets
- Bugs that hide Reyna from agent select or cause her abilities to malfunction
- Satire posts from Valorant meme accounts that are taken out of context
What Recent Changes Have Been Made To Reyna?
While Reyna hasn’t been removed, Riot did make a few small balance changes to her in the latest patch, which might have also contributed to the confusion. Let’s break down those changes so you know what to expect when you play her now. First, her Devour ability now only heals for 75% of the damage you deal to an enemy, down from 100% previously. That change was made to stop her from being able to fully heal after every kill, even if she only took 10 damage in a fight. Second, her Dismiss invisibility duration was reduced by 0.2 seconds, which makes it harder for her to escape tight situations after getting a kill.
Those changes are pretty minor, and most casual Reyna mains I’ve talked to say they barely notice the difference when they play. Riot has stated that these changes are intended to balance Reyna across all skill tiers, not to push her out of the meta or set the stage for a future removal. If you’re a Reyna main, you don’t need to completely change your playstyle to adapt to these changes: just make sure you don’t rely entirely on Devour to heal up during long rounds, and keep a couple of shield charges on you when you can. You can still use her Ultimate ability to get multiple Dismiss charges in a row, which makes her just as deadly in late-round clutch situations as she was before the patch. I’ve been playing Reyna almost exclusively since the patch dropped, and I’ve still been able to get 20+ kill games in Diamond lobbies without any major issues.
What To Do If You Can’t Select Reyna In Valorant
If you log into the game and still can’t find Reyna in your agent select screen, there are a few simple fixes you can try before you start worrying that she’s been removed. First, restart your game client entirely, don’t just minimize it and open it back up. Riot’s hotfix for the agent select bug requires a full restart to install, so that’s the most common fix for this issue. If restarting doesn’t work, check to make sure your game is updated to the latest version. You can do this by opening the Riot Client, clicking on Valorant, and checking for any pending updates in the top right corner.
If you’re still having issues, it’s possible that Reyna is temporarily banned in the specific game mode you’re trying to play. Sometimes Riot will disable specific agents for a few hours if they find a game-breaking bug that lets players exploit their abilities, but those bans are always announced on the official Valorant status page. Reyna has only been temporarily disabled twice in the game’s history, and both times she was restored within 24 hours after the bug was fixed. If none of these fixes work, you can submit a ticket to Riot support, and they’ll help you troubleshoot the issue with your account. I’ve had to do this once before when Omen was missing from my agent list, and they got back to me within an hour with a solution.
At the end of the day, if you’re still asking did they remove Reyna from Valorant, you can breathe a sigh of relief: she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The removal rumor was just a perfect storm of a widespread bug, ongoing conversations about agent balance, and out-of-context social media posts blowing up faster than official clarifications could reach most players. Reyna remains one of the most popular agents in the game, and Riot has repeatedly stated that they only remove agents from the roster if they are completely impossible to balance, which is not the case with Reyna right now. If you’re a Reyna main, keep grinding those ranked matches, and don’t let random social media rumors ruin your gameplay experience. Just make sure you follow official Valorant channels for accurate updates about agent changes, so you don’t get caught up in false rumors again in the future.
