Valorant

Hey, friends! Jo-Ellen here. Nice to see you again.

There’s not much time left in Act II so better make the most of it. Below, we’ve got an update to Omen, lots of Clove bug fixes, and more.

GENERAL UPDATES

• Interaction prompts have received an accessibility update, adding contrast to make them easier to read in-game. Prompt text has been simplified and weapon prompts no longer show skinline names.

AGENT UPDATES

OMEN

• Omen is now able to pick up the Spike and interact with other useables like doors while in the Shade form of From the Shadows (X) without having to cancel the ability. Our goal is to make these interactions more intuitive and clearly intended.

BUG FIXES

GENERAL

• Damage Display
  • We fixed a bug where fractional damage would represent the total damage taken incorrectly on the HUD. This bug resulted in issues like close range Classic body shots on armored targets appearing to deal 25 instead of 26 damage and Clove appearing to heal to 151 health with Pick-Me-Up (C) in some circumstances.
    • NOTE: this is purely a visual fix and the underlying gameplay around damage has not changed.

AGENTS

• Chamber
  • Fixed an exploit where Chamber could place Trademark (C) in unintended locations.
• Clove
  • Submitted a speculative fix for an issue where Clove’s corpse would sometimes remain upright after dying.
    • If you still see this in your match, please report it here: https://support-valorant.riotgames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new and choose “Technical Issues: Install, patch, lag, or crashes”.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove's Not Dead Yet (X) does not progress the “Use Your Ultimate” weekly mission and Match Details incorrectly reports 0 casts.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove’s Ruse (E) used after death does not report to the Match Details.
  • Fixed a bug where damage to Clove’s Pick-Me-Up (C) temporary health did not appear in Combat Report.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove’s aim direction would abruptly change when suppressed during Not Dead Yet (X). Thank you @FLOWSHIZZLETV, @FatalGlytch and @papashlomo for the testing and report.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove would sometimes resurrect without their primary weapon when using Not Dead Yet (X).
  • Fixed a bug where Clove’s head and arm hitboxes could be offset when aiming sharply up or down with Ruse (E) equipped.
    • Fixed the same bug that also applied while Clove was crouched with Ruse (E) equipped.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove’s Meddle (Q) used an incorrect ability icon in the Combat Report.
  • Submitted a speculative fix for Clove’s Pick-Me-Up (C) HUD sometimes showing > 150 total health values when taking fall damage as Clove activated the ability.
  • Fixed a bug where moving through the edges of Clove’s smoke would cause flickering vision rather than a smooth transition.
  • Fixed a bug where dead allies or observers spectating Clove would skip the death camera ceremony upon Clove’s death.
  • Fixed a bug where Clove’s Meddle (Q) could rarely cause a client-side hitch.

COSMETICS

• Weapon and Skins Audio
  • We had several reports of skins’ audio being bugged, which are now fixed:
    • Glitchpop Classic
    • Prime Classic
    • Cryostasis Classic
    • Gravitational Uranium Neuroblaster (G.U.N) Classic
    • Spectrum Classic
    • Elderflame Operator
    • Ion Sheriff (Note: This was already hotfixed during 8.05, but adding here so everyone is aware.)
  • We also had several other guns/skins reported as having audio issues (Standard/Default Phantom, Oni Phantom, Recon Phantom, etc.), but we verified these are actually working properly. If these guns or any other first person audio sounds different on headphones than it sounded before 8.05, it could be due to your speaker configuration in the VALORANT audio settings. This can happen if your USB headphones appear to Windows to be a surround sound device with multiple channels and you have opted into Auto-Detect in the VALORANT audio settings. If you are listening on headphones, have selected Auto-Detect, and do not have Spatial Audio enabled, your speaker configuration should appear as 2.0. If any other number of channels is shown, you can either set your VALORANT speaker configuration back to Stereo or enable Spatial Audio in Windows to fix this.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS

• Fixed an issue where Radio Commands Menu being bound to number keys caused a conflict when trying to activate commands.

PREMIER

• Fixed a bug where your status displayed in the roster list was sometimes too small to read.
• Fixed a bug where ties on the Standings were not broken correctly.

Hi, everyone! Alice here with some more patch notes.

This patch we’re releasing a brand new Agent, Clove. They’re the latest Controller to join our roster and hail from Scotland. We’re excited to see you all play them today, and also can’t wait to hear what you think of them, so be sure to let us know.

We also have a small update to Premier, voice indicators, and a few bug fixes. Welcome to Patch 8.05 and we hope you have fun defying death.

AGENT UPDATES

• Clove goes live!
  • Abilities:
    • Ruse (E): EQUIP to view the battlefield. FIRE to set the locations where Clove’s clouds will settle. ALT FIRE to confirm, launching clouds that block vision in the chosen areas. Clove can use this ability after death.
    • Meddle (Q): EQUIP a fragment of immortality essence. FIRE to throw the fragment, which erupts after a short delay and temporarily decays all targets caught inside.
    • Pick-me-up (C): INSTANTLY absorb the life force of a fallen enemy that Clove damaged or killed, gaining haste and temporary health.
    • Not Dead Yet (X): After dying, ACTIVATE to resurrect. Once resurrected, Clove must earn a kill or a damaging assist within a set time or they will die.
  • You can also learn more about Clove from our in devs in the Clove: Death is Only The Beginning article or on our Agents page.
  • Watch our newest Controller defy death below.

Hi, everyone! Alice here, and welcome to Episode 8 Act 2!

This patch we’ve got some updates to Premier just in time for the next Stage, so grab your squad and queue up! We also have some bug fixes across the board, including one to fix KAY/O’s ZERO/point (E), sometimes reporting inaccurate information.

MODES UPDATES

• Added character portraits and minimap icons for Training Bots in the Range.

PREMIER UPDATES

A new Stage of Premier starts! Here’s what’s new:

• No more enrollment! You can make a team and start playing at any time in the Stage.
• Provisional divisions are shown immediately upon team creation, update whenever the roster or Zone changes, and are locked in once your team plays your first match of the Stage.
• Teams can change their Zone anytime before they play their first match of the Stage.
• Weekly matches now have rematch protection, so you won’t face the same team twice in a Stage (unless you’ve been in queue a long time).
• You can only play 2 matches per week, so no jumping between teams as a free agent within the same week.
• Standings show Playoff results once Playoffs start and lock in 48 hours after Playoffs end.

ESPORTS FEATURES

Masters Madrid is right around the corner, and we have a few updates for the Esports Hub:

• As Kickoff concludes and teams secure their place at Masters Madrid, the Global Events tab of the Hub will unlock, letting you explore participating teams, schedules and the new format.
• You can check out the Swiss Bracket page for Groups and watch teams qualify for the Playoffs.

BUG FIXES

• Agent
  • Fixed known cases where KAY/O’s ZERO/point (E) would sometimes report inaccurate information. Please report any further instances.
  • Fixed a bug where if you were revived by Sage’s Resurrection (X), you would be nudged slightly at the end of the animation.
  • Fixed a bug where bullets could pass through the corners of Sage's Barrier Orb (C).

• Esports Features
  • Fixed a bug where the Esports Hub Schedule was not automatically taking you to the current day.
  • Fixed a visual bug in the Play In Groups Bracket that showed duplicate information.

• Gameplay Systems
  • Fixed a bug with abilities extending past the minimap widget such as Killjoy’s Lockdown (X).

• Premier
  • Fixed a bug where the start button wouldn’t update immediately if you’re in the lobby when an event starts.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Premier
  • A team creation deadline is sometimes displayed on the Premier hub. There is no longer a deadline for team creation - feel free to create at any time in the Stage!

Hello, friends! Jo-Ellen here.

We’ve got some Chamber updates in this patch as well as new Breach voice lines, and more. As always let us know what you think. Enjoy.

AGENT UPDATES

Breach

Chamber

Continuing with our recent focus of sharpening the strengths and weaknesses of the Sentinel role, this update aims to push Chamber’s ability to hold territory with his unique arsenal of weapons. The changes should provide you with more access to the Headhunter (Q) as a save or sidearm without draining your econ, and increase the clear strength of Chamber’s ultimate compared to the Operator.

ESPORTS FEATURE UPDATES

Teams Tab

• You can purchase bundles and support your favorite team from within Esports Hub.
• You can preview each Team Capsule Bundle on their respective team page.

PERFORMANCE UPDATES

• Streamlined the time from launch to the main menu appearing by removing stalls from that flow. This landed in Patch 8.02.

STORE UPDATES

Esports Store

• The Esports Store is live!
  • Support your favorite team with the VCT Team Capsules, accessible through a new Esports Store tab.
  • Teams will earn 50% of profits from their respective Capsules.
  • Each capsule contains a Classic, Gun Buddy, Player Card, and Spray.

BUG FIXES

Agent

• Fixed an issue where Agents would look like they were still nearsighted in 3rd person for a short period of time if they destroyed Reyna’s Leer (C) right after it became shootable.

Competitive

• Fixed an issue where in the end-of-game summary, kills per round was incorrectly rounding up.

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed an issue in the scoreboard tab with Ultimate Charges being covered by very long usernames.

Maps

• Sunset
  • Adjusted fence in A Elbow to fix an issue when shooting through the top section.
  • Fixed a bug where you could jump to the top of the phone booth in A Lobby.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Attackers to break Cypher’s Trapwires (C) in B Main from Mid.

Premier

• Fixed an issue in some regions where the Zone displayed in Standings did not match the one selected.

Hi, everyone! Jo-Ellen here.

We’ve got a light patch this time around. Check out some Viper related updates as well as the Esports Hub coming back online for the 2024 VCT Season below.

AGENT UPDATES

VIPER

• Viper’s Poison Cloud (Q) grenade has received an art update.

MISC.

• The visuals for our Decay debuff have been updated to be clearer and readily visible.

COSMETICS UPDATES

• The Snakebite Shorty has received an art update.

ESPORTS FEATURES

ESPORTS HUB

The Esports Hub is back for all of VCT 2024 with new and improved features!

• You can learn more about the full VCT format and follow along as our partnered teams compete in the four International Leagues, starting with VCT Kickoff.
  • Kickoff matches begin on February 16th with VCT Americas. VCT Pacific, EMEA and China will follow shortly after.
• As we progress throughout the season, global events like VCT Masters Madrid will unlock in the hub with even better tournament visualizations and brackets so you can keep up with all the action.
• Our live tag and filterable schedule page will let you know when matches are being played, and you can click out to the official streams directly from within the client.

BUG FIXES

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS

• Fixed an issue with killfeed not numbering correctly with area-of-effect abilities that kill multiple people.
• Fixed an issue with Auto Re-Enter Scope setting not updating properly.

PLAYER BEHAVIOR

• Fixed an issue where the links to the Terms of Service and Penalties and Bans FAQ were not localized to their respective regions.

Hey, friends! Jo-Ellen here.

January 2024 is almost over, but we’ve still got one more patch before we say goodbye to the first month of the new year. Below, you’ll see some Agent updates as well as one update to Breeze. Keep reading and I’ll see you all back in A Hall.

One last note: we’re always listening to your feedback so please let us know what you think.

MAP UPDATES

BREEZE

• A Hall reopened
  • We’re still observing and gathering feedback on the most recent Breeze changes. We’ve been satisfied with the simplifications to A Main, Mid and B Site. However, we’ve noticed that attacking can feel overly restrictive due to the changes in addition to the closure of A Hall. As a result, we’re reopening A Hall to give attackers more options while retaining the rest of the changes to the map.

AGENT UPDATES

SKYE

In the latter half of 2023, Skye became an increasingly dominant force within the Initiator role and began to clearly overshadow her peers in pick rate both in solo queue and coordinated play. Her core ability, Guiding Light (E), has been a main factor in her prominence, as it offers strong combat advantage, valuable recon and provided Skye with the only recharging flash amongst the Initiators. While we like Skye’s position having a mix of flash and recon and the diversity that can be brought to team comps, she’s lacked clear downsides to balance out this broad power.

These changes are centered around pushing Skye to be more intentional with Guiding Light (E). They should create a clearer opportunity cost when taking Skye in comps while also maintaining her uniquely powerful combination of combat advantage and recon within the Initiator role. We hope this update will land Skye in a spot where she is still viable in solo queue and coordinated play, but give room for other flash Agents to thrive. We'll be sure to keep a close eye to see if further changes are needed.

In the 6.07 patch, we removed the yellow warning indicators that appeared for people who were being chased by a close Seeker (X). We’re adding the indicators back in to make interactions with Seekers (X) more clear in chaotic engagements.

ISO

We’re updating Iso to push the agency and combat advantage that you get from Double Tap (E).

• The increase to energy orb duration provides a slightly larger time window to deal with threats around you and still get your shield.
• Increasing the buff and shield duration should give you slightly more time to find the right engagements to take.
• Reduction in the visual width of the Double Tap (E) shield should increase the combat advantage you have when entering space by providing enemies less telegraph that you are swinging around the corner.

We’ve reduced the cost of Contingency to better reflect the value we see it generating in game.

RAZE

With her Blast Pack (Q), Raze is often able to traverse a vast amount of space and suddenly become a threat to enemies. This audio update is meant to make it clearer when Raze is potentially Blast Packing (Q) into your area, especially when a lot of other action is going on at the same time.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

Projectile Jump Throw Normalization

We have implemented a feature to make jump throw lineup behavior more consistently reproducible. If you press the throw projectile input within 100 ms of jump start, the projectile will consistently have the same amount of velocity imparted from the thrower and as a result land consistently in the same location.

Most existing jump throw lineups should still behave as they have in the past while being more consistent in output. In some cases, some minor adjustments may need to be made.

HRTF

HRTF will now be enabled if ticked and using Stereo speaker configuration.

PERFORMANCE UPDATES

• Improved boot and match load times by optimizing file IO performance.

PLAYER BEHAVIOR UPDATES

• Added additional details to our behavioral messaging system in order to improve clarity and visibility into our Terms of Service and our Penalties and Bans FAQ.

BUG FIXES

AGENTS

• Gekko
  • Fixed a bug where occasionally Thrash's (X) explosion was blocked from affecting enemies due to corners of geometry.
• Iso
  • After eliminating practice bots in the Range, Iso’s energy orbs will now spawn. They will still not spawn in Shooting Tests.
• Reyna
  • After eliminating practice bots in the Range, Reyna’s Soul Orbs will now spawn. They will still not spawn in Shooting Tests.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS

• Fixed an issue when transitioning from inspect to scope using the Outlaw.
• Fixed bullet tracers with Chamber’s Tour De Force (X) and the Operator when penetrating through corners.
• Fixed a minimap visual issue where when you first load into a match, it showed a similar VFX to Omen’s From The Shadows (X).
• Fixed an issue where the Spike’s white circle indicator on the minimap did not appear when Spike was dropped on the edge of someone’s minimap.

MAPS

• Breeze
  • Fixed a bug where the A Hall Door was starting in the open position.
• Lotus
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on top of the crumbled pillar on C Site.
• Icebox
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on the container in B Green.
• Split
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on a vent in B Garage.

MODES

• Team Deathmatch
  • Fixed a bug where, if the Outlaw was picked up from a weapon spawner, it had no reserve ammunition.

PREMIER

• Fixed a bug that was causing Premier Standings to not load your zone/division the first time you click into it.
• Fixed a bug that was causing teams to not appear on the Standings tab right after their Season Match.

Greetings, friends! Still Jo-Ellen here.

Welcome to Episode 8 Act I and Patch 8.0. There’s lots in store in just the first patch of 2024 (Hello? New weapon?) so have at it and have fun. As always, send us your feedback—we’re always listening.

GENERAL UPDATES

• The Gun Buddy Carousel should now appear alphabetical by name. Hopefully, it is much easier to find what you want!

WEAPONS UPDATES

The Outlaw goes live!

• Introducing VALORANT’s first new weapon since launch, the Outlaw. A high impact, double-barreled sniper rifle built for do or die playmaking.
  • Semi-Automatic
  • Stay Zoomed
  • 2 slugs in a magazine
  • Longer reload when empty
    • The Outlaw uniquely has different reload timings when its reloading from empty vs. just reloading 1 shot
  • 2,400 credits
• Learn about our newest weapon in our Outlaw deep dive.
• Watch the Outlaw (and some familiar faces) in action below.

Howdy, all! Jo-Ellen here.

It’s the last patch for Episode 7 (and for 2023!). That means you’ve got a Battlepass to finish and some more ranks to climb before it all resets in the new year. But in the meantime, we’ve got Gekko and Skye updates, a new TDM map, and more below.

AGENT UPDATES

GEKKO

One of Gekko’s unique strengths is being able to reclaim his creatures. This change aims to make that process faster so you can reclaim them in more situations. In addition, we’re also increasing the reliability of Dizzy (E) to increase Gekko’s confidence when using the ability and to provide more incentive for him to engage with its reclaim.

SKYE

These changes are centered around pushing Skye to be more deliberate when using Trailblazer (Q):

• By locking the camera on Trailblazer when leaping, Skye has to be more thoughtful when making the choice to get extra distance with the leap vs fully clearing multiple angles without the leap.
• Enemies are now rewarded for successfully destroying Trailblazer mid-leap as it will cancel the concussion explosion.
• Making the concussion universal in terms of how it affects allies and enemies brings it in line with other abilities like Gekko’s Thrash. This requires more coordination and intentionality for Skye and her team to play around the Trailblazer successfully.

MAP UPDATES

• Our newest map, Drift, is joining our roster of Team Deathmatch maps! Drift features a long range mid, isolated side lanes and exciting ways to swap lanes.

PERFORMANCE UPDATES

• Raw Input Buffer
  • Beta tag removed
  • Default value changed from off to on
    • Existing setting values will not be impacted

PLAYER BEHAVIOR UPDATES

• Implemented Party Invite Codes so that party leaders will be able to generate invite codes that other people can use in-game to be able to join the same party.

BUG FIXES

• Agent
  • Fixed a bug where kills would not be awarded to you while controlling an ability. This affected Sova getting a kill with Shock Dart (Q) while controlling Owl Drone (C), Gekko’s Mosh (C) kills while controlling Thrash (X), and Cypher’s Trapwire (C) kills while controlling Spycam (E).
  • When KAY/O is downed during his NULL-CMD (X), the red portrait will now show for everyone in the game.

• Player Behavior
  • Fixed an issue where in rare cases, someone would spawn in the next round after being detected AFK, preventing the pistol round bonus for their teammates.

• Premier
  • Fixed an issue in Overtime Voting where "Waiting for Opponents" message appears behind the voting team.

Hey, everyone! Jo-Ellen here.

How are you liking Iso so far? Have you won all your 1v1s against him (or as him)? Below, we’ve got changes for Jett’s Blade Storm (X) and Deadlock’s GravNet (C) as well as Team Deathmatch only changes to Fade and Reyna. As always, let us know what you think. Enjoy!

AGENT UPDATES

Deadlock

GravNet (C) now requires anyone captured by it to manually remove the net in order to remove the effect. Before this, if you or the enemy were captured, you were able to remove it by moving out of the net radius or waiting for the effect to expire. We think this unlocks a unique power profile while making it a more interesting interaction on both sides, as enemies must put down their weapon and make a noise to deal with the debuff. In addition, we’ve made the ability more reliable for Deadlock to execute by increasing its radius while also ensuring that Agents like Jett and Raze can’t trivialize getting caught in it with their mobility.

• Anyone caught by GravNet will now be debuffed indefinitely until they remove it
• Anyone caught by GravNet will now be affected by increased gravity and a reduction in mobility (example: GravNet now reduces Jett’s Tailwind (E) distance)
• GravNet removal time increased 0.85s >>> 1.5s
• GravNet radius increased 6m >>> 8m

Jett

• Jett's third-person animations while Blade Storm (X) is equipped have been adjusted to help with combat clarity. It should now be easier to understand her movement when she’s running and when she’s throwing knives.

TEAM DEATHMATCH

• Reyna
  • Reyna's Leer (C) has proven specifically potent in the close confines of Team Deathmatch since it doesn't affect allies and Empress (X) lacking a time constraint if she's rolling has proven extremely powerful. These changes are meant to create more downtime between these power moments and push Reyna to prioritize orbs if she wants to try and take over with Empress.
    • Team Deathmatch only changes:
      • Leer (C) cooldown increased 44s >>> 51s
      • Empress (X) will charge 14% slower
• Fade
  • In Team Deathmatch, Fade’s utility can feel a little hard to use and capitalize off of. These changes aim to help her track down her enemies and close in on them.
  • Team Deathmatch only changes:
    • Prowler (C) cooldown decreased 44s >>> 36s
    • Seize (Q) cooldown decreased 51s >>> 48s

PERFORMANCE UPDATES

• Presets have been added to the stats page.

BUG FIXES

• General
  • Fixed a bug where reverb was not being applied reliably to some types of sounds, including gunshots and footsteps.
  • Fixed an issue where Viper’s Pit (X) did not correctly block vision for enemies on the minimap and megamap.
  • Fixed issues with Fade’s Prowler (C) passing through certain objects.

• Player Behavior
  • Fixed an issue where the report button text was cut-off for the Arabic language on the Player Report menu.

What’s up? Jo-Ellen here.

Happy last Act of the year and cheers to Iso’s release! Get out there and try out our newest Duelist (let us know what you think) and don’t forget: there’s a rank reset, fresh Battlepass, and a new Premier Stage.

Aside from all the new things released at the beginning of a new Act, we also have some Agent updates below.

GENERAL UPDATES

• We changed your loadout retrieval to reduce match load times. This primarily affects those on lower spec hardware.

AGENT UPDATES

ISO

• Iso goes live!
  • Learn about his abilities on our Agents page
  • Watch our newest Duelist hunt his latest targets below.