Valorant

Hello! Jo-Ellen here. Thank you for all your feedback on Swiftplay. We’re happy to hear how much you love this mode. Additionally, we’ve got a Killjoy and Raze update—and even more bug fixes.

AGENT UPDATES

Killjoy

With Chamber’s recent balance and the increased reliability of Killjoy’s Lockdown ult, she has recently sprung up as the premier Sentinel Agent in the game. When we took on systemic damage and health interactions in Patch 5.12, we decided not to reduce Killjoy’s Turret health given her place in the ecosystem at the time. Given her place today, we are making the changes below.

Raze

We feel the duration of Boom Bot has led to a larger recon footprint than we felt was healthy, in regards to the ability’s secondary output. We are decreasing the amount of space the ability can cover in order to sharpen Boom Bot as a tool Raze and her team can use to follow up around angles.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

• Adjusted the Firing Error graph to use worst case error represented as degrees from the aim direction. The graph now reports the worst case error degrees of a possible bullet vector—before it didn't account for the generation of the actual error vector.
• Introduced a new setting “Operator (Hold)” which allows those of you in Toggle Mode to hold Secondary Fire to go to Level 2 zoom. (Pre-Patch 6.0 zoom behavior).
• Restored weapon zoom to pre-Patch 6.0 behavior when transitioning from weapon equip to Zoom/Aim Down Sights.

MODES UPDATES

Swiftplay

• Remember when we told you the Swiftplay Beta would end in January. We sorta lied. Everyone decided to just keep it on. Please keep sending us your feedback, though!

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Added Real Time Text Evaluation (NA only to start) to the Agent Select screen.

BUG FIXES

• Adjusted Sage, Neon, Jett, and Yoru’s hair heights to fit within our standardized vertical range
• AI (such as Skye’s Seekers [X]) will now travel through the crouch-only connection on Pearl near the Defender’s spawn area
• Fixed a bug where KAY/O would sometimes be able to move after being downed during NULL/cmd (X)
• Fixed a bug on Fracture where a player could fall off and die if two players ride the zipline at the same time. Thanks for the report on Reddit!
• Fixed a bug where disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times in a round could cause a door on any map to incorrectly appear open or shut.
• Fixed a bug where rapidly spamming the Marshall’s zoom button could cause the scope to get stuck cycling in and out.

Stinger balance, lots more bug fixes, and one welcome change to help when playing against high-ping.

The Gameplay Systems change should be subtle but it’s intended to minimize the impact another player’s networking conditions have on your game.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

When a player fires a shot, it takes time for the input to reach the server. To prevent you from needing to lead your shots, VALORANT implements server rewinding. When the server determines the outcome of a shot, it rewinds character positions around the bullet to match their locations at the time when the shot was initially fired. Finding the right limit for a max rewind amount is important for reducing cases of anyone feeling like they need to lead shots, or that they can still be shot after safely repositioning themselves.

When we launched the game, the max rewind value was set to 200 ms based on what we deemed as acceptable networking conditions (factoring in some amount of additional input/processing latency) to play VALORANT. Based on player data since launch, we’ve determined that this value is too high for the networking conditions experienced by most of you. —Kevin Lee, Software Engineer

• Adjusted max server rewind limit down to 140 ms from 200 ms.
  • If you only play in games where everyone’s ping is low, you shouldn’t even notice this change. In other cases, the impact from this change will be subtle, and most of you won’t notice the difference. That being said, we expect to see the following changes in gameplay patterns:
    • Playing against players with high ping should feel less like you’re getting shot after moving behind cover by a bullet fired earlier
    • Players playing with high ping may start to experience hit registration inaccuracy

• These behaviors already exist in VALORANT, but we are shifting the needle for what we consider “high ping” to be less generous. We hope that this change reduces the frustration players feel when playing against high ping players and continues to minimize the impact of networking conditions on gameplay.
• If you want to dive deeper into hit registration in VALORANT, check out our previous piece from 2020.
• For some more about one of the reasons that motivated this update, read our first Gameplay Consistency Update, and then our most recent update from last year.

WEAPON UPDATES

STINGER

We feel that the Stinger is overperforming at medium to long range engagements at its price point. Force buying Heavy Armor and Stingers on both round 2 and 3 was too effective and lacked the appropriate nuance and economic tradeoffs. We hope that players can occasionally still access this strategy granted they have the credits to do so.

• Cost increased 950 >>> 1100
• Damage fall-off changed:
  • Previously:
    • 27 damage per bullet (0 - 20m)
    • 25 damage per bullet (20m+)
  • Now:
    • 27 damage per bullet (0 - 15m)
    • 23 damage per bullet (15m+)

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Voice Evaluation Beta (North America/English-only)
  • Last year we began a background launch of the Riot Voice Evaluation (RVE) in North America. RVE will now move into a limited beta phase that will enhance our behavioral reports data collection capabilities and improve the impact of our comms related behavioral interventions.

BUGS

Agents

• Potentially fixed bug with KAY/O’s Zero/point (E) not showing the correct enemies that it has suppressed (please let us know if you see further issues here)
• Pathfinding has been improved on Raze’s Boom Bot (C) when chasing an enemy. It can now more consistently jump up small heights and will do so with smoother movement
• Fixed a bug with Boom Bot (C) getting stuck in a wall and rapidly shaking while making a loud noise. It will now bounce off the wall per usual
• Fixed a bug where Yoru’s Fakeout (C) could get stuck in mid-air in various locations
• Fixed bug where Cypher’s Neural Theft (X) would only reveal one time if he had been killed or the round had changed during a previous cast
• Fixed a bug where Cypher’s Neural Theft (X) reveals would be interrupted when he was killed after it had been deployed

Maps

• Players will no longer make footstep audio when dropping from Lotus B site platform to the fountain
• Lotus door volume has been lowered further (we lowered in 6.01 as well) during the rotation phase
• On Lotus, players next to each other while rotating door…rotates should feel smoother
• On Lotus, fixed an issue where players were spawning on the wrong side of barrier near C site if standing on rotating door at round end
• On Fracture, fixed a bug where the “Paul Delmann” badge could be stuck on the screen after Buy Phase ends

Weapons

• Fixed an issue where Frenzy and Bulldog reload audio is quieter than other weapons in third person

Social

• Fixed a bug that caused voice chat to no longer function when disconnected from the internet for less than 60 seconds
  • If the internet is disconnected for 60 seconds or less, you will be able to reconnect to voice chat without having to relaunch the game.

Hello! Jo-Ellen here. Patch Notes 6.01 is a short one and it's focused on Lotus (including bug fixes that you helped point out).

Also, how are you liking Lotus so far?

MAP UPDATES

Lotus

• The volume for the rotating doors has been reduced while rotating. Please let us know what you think.
• The Lotus-only queue has been removed.
• Lotus will now be included in the map rotation for Unrated and Competitive.

MODES UPDATES

Replication

Replication has been removed from Modes queue.

• Although we are shelving Replication temporarily, it is still available via the custom game option.

BUG FIXES

Agents

• Killjoy’s Nanoswarm (C) will no longer deal more damage to destructible objects than intended.

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed a bug where occasionally the third-person flashed visual indicator on an Agent’s head wasn’t in sync with the actual flash duration. (i.e. Omen’s Paranoia [Q], Phoenix’s Curveball [Q]).
• Fixed a bug where the Spike would be invisible and attempting to equip the Spike would fail after changing from Defender to Attacker in a Custom Game and picking up the Spike.
• Fixed a bug where you were unable to plant the Spike after reconnecting to a match where you died while disconnected.
• Fixed a bug that, while using the Marshall, prevented full reloading between shots if auto-scoping is enabled. Thanks for all the reports on this!

Maps

• Lotus
  • There are several bug fixes for Lotus. Thanks to everyone who reported issues! Here are a few highlights:
    • Boost exploit in the back of B Site has been removed.
    • You can no longer get yourself stuck in the rotating doors (we're pretty sure anyway, let us know if you find a way—also, you’re all very creative!)
    • Breach can now use abilities on both rotating doors.
    • The destructible door located at A Link now has working vision cones.
    • The Spike can no longer get lost in the back of A Site.
    • Fixed a broken Spike plant spot on A Site.

Jo-Ellen, here. Happy New Year, y’all—we’re starting off 2023 with Patch 6.0. Aside from our new map, Lotus (which you should definitely check out), the Araxys skinline, new Battlepass, and ranks being refreshed, we’ve still got some changes to the game in this patch we wanted to let you know about.

Read below on Split returning with some updates (where my Split lovers at?), a change to Ranked Rating (RR) gains and losses, and (what many players have been asking for) the ability to finally favorite variants.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

• Reworked the way guns process Zoom inputs for ADS and Scopes when using Toggle Zoom.
  • There should now be fewer cases that can lead to Zoom disagreements between the Client and Server under adverse network conditions like packet loss and ping jitter. Additionally, Zoom Inputs when using Toggle Zoom can now be buffered earlier than before and multiple zoom level transitions can be buffered at once.

MAP UPDATES

New Map: Lotus

• Lotus is a new 3-site map that offers a variety of rotation options. Unlock the secrets behind the doors of these ancient ruins.
• Please note that the Lotus only queue will only be playable in Swiftplay mode for one week and then goes into the competitive and Unrated map rotation in Patch 6.1.

Split

Split is returning with a few tweaks to make attacking a little easier.

• A main
  • First engagement area for Attackers has been widened and a small ledge added for mixups.

• A Main Box
  • Boost box next to the orb has been reduced to give Attackers a new position looking into A site.

• A Rafters:
  • The under-over area has been removed, making this much easier to deal with as an Attacker.

• A Tower:
  • The back section of the Tower has been flattened to make the fight to Ramps easier for both teams.

• Mid Bottom:
  • Players can now silently drop down Mid platform.
  • The trick-jump up onto Mid box has also been removed for simplicity.

• B Tower:
  • Defender side jump up box has been removed to simplify the space.

• B Rope Pocket:
  • The hard corner here has been smoothed out to make clearing the spot easier.

Map Rotation

• Please note that Breeze and Bind have now been removed from competitive and Unrated map rotation, but are still playable in all other modes.

Omen’s Dark Cover (E)

• Dark Cover placed inside walls will now fall to the height of nearby ground.
  • One-way smokes are a part of VALORANT, but they are difficult to play against and we want to keep them limited to intentional and understandable areas. We'll be keeping a close eye on how this impacts Omen's power levels.

Agent Utility

• Most Agent utility (except for molotovs which has not yet been implemented) will now damage the Lotus breakable door as well as the wall plates on Ascent and Haven.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

Overall, the changes below should make Ranked Rating gains and losses feel more consistent, and reduce the effect stomps have on your RR. We’ll keep a close eye on the data to make additional adjustments as necessary.

• Episode reset reminder: A new Episode means a ranked reset! Expect your placement rank to be lower than at the end of Episode 5, and good luck on your climb!
  • Context: Remember we reset each episode to kick off the start of a new ranked ladder. This is a chance for players to show off their skill in the new season, as well as reset players in the ladder who may no longer be active.
• For all players: Ranked Rating gains/losses will depend slightly more on Win/Loss, and slightly less on the exact round differential of the match.
  • Context: Players experience too wide of RR gains/losses from match to match based on the round differential (one win could give 12RR, and the next win could give 20RR). We’re making this change to reduce that swing of RR in gains and losses.
  • Winning is still the most important way to climb!
• For players whose ranks are far away from their MMR: RR gains will depend more on individual performance, instead of round differential. You should also see your rank and MMR converge faster.
  • Context: We received feedback that players felt like they would not be rewarded for a good game, or punished too harshly for a bad game during their ranked climb.
  • If a player's rank is below their actual MMR, they will be rewarded more for a good game. If a player's rank is above their MMR, they will not be harshly penalized if they lose, but perform well in that match.

PROGRESSION UPDATES

• Variant Favorites are here!
  • We’ve heard your feedback and added the ability to favorite specific variants of your gun skins (along with some UX/UI changes to better support that). Now, when you favorite a specific variant, only your favorited variants will enter the potential pool of weapons you can take into game if you’ve equipped the Random Favorite for that weapon type.
  • On release, your existing favorite weapon skins will now have all unlocked variants favorited to maintain consistency with current behavior.

BUG FIXES

Cosmetics

• Odin’s ammo belt will no longer visually pop into a vertical position when swapping gun buddies in the Model Viewer.

Maps

• Ascent
  • Fixed a bug when breaking the door at Market by using an ability on the wall to the side of it.

Agents

• Fixed a bug where Cypher’s Trapwire (C) could be placed through Sage’s Barrier Orb (C).
• Fixed objects like traps that were not being damaged if they are placed in molotov patches that are already active.
• Fixed bug where you could see Skye’s Seekers (X) on the minimap while they were still invisible if you had line of sight to their hidden location.
• Fixed a bug where suppression would not properly interrupt Fade’s Prowler (C) control.
• Fixed a bug where Viper was able to deactivate her ultimate, Viper’s Pit (X), while suppressed.
• Various gameplay damage interactions fixed:
  • Killjoy’s Lockdown (X) now properly takes damage from all abilities.
  • Fixed Skye’s Trailblazer (Q) dealing damage to enemy Skye’s Trailblazer (Q) and Sova’s Owl Drone (C).
  • Fixed Sova’s Hunter’s Fury (X) and Breach’s Aftershock (C) not damaging Raze’s Blast Pack (Q).
  • Fixed Phoenix’s Blaze (C) not dealing damage to Harbor’s Cove (Q), Raze’s Blast Pack (Q), Reyna’s Leer (C), Sova’s Recon Bolt (E), and KAY/O’s ZERO/POINT (E).
  • Fixed Brimstone’s Orbital Strike (X) not dealing damage to Harbor’s Cove (Q).
  • Fixed Breach’s Aftershock (C), Raze’s Showstopper (X) and Paint Shells (E), damaging allied Killjoy’s Nanoswarm (C).
  • Fixed Sova Hunter’s Fury (X) damaging allied Fade’s Haunt (E).
  • Fixed Killjoy’s Nanoswarm (C), Phoenix’s Hot Hands (E) and Blaze (C) not dealing damage to Chamber’s Rendezvous (E) and Trademark (C).

Last patch before the end of the year—and it’ll be a long one (last until Patch 6.0 goes live in January). Check out what we’ve got going on in Patch 5.12 below.

AGENT UPDATES

With pro play heading into the offseason after the completion of an amazing Game Changers Championship, we’re taking the opportunity to hit some broad updates we’ve been looking to make along with individual Agent changes.

We've increased the point costs of the Agent Ultimates that have large, site-wide footprints. These changes should reduce their overall frequency and increase counterplay against them at the strategic level.

In addition to the Ult adjustments, we've also made a tuning pass on Agent ability economy. The areas targeted in this pass include: Total loadout cost outliers (for their respective role), Agents with lack of pistol round buy options, and unintended power relative to the cost of the ability.

To wrap up the broad updates, we’ve taken a pass at the HP of destructible objects in the game. Damage-over-time area abilities (like Brimstone’s Incindiary and Viper’s Snakebite) now damage enemy utility (read more in the Gameplay Systems Updates), so we’ve increased the health of 1hp destructibles so that they aren’t instantly vaporized—but can still be destroyed by one-shot in most situations. Also, Killjoy’s Lockdown gets a bigger health bump to reduce the number of abilities that can destroy it solo. Boombot and Prowlers on the other hand have felt like they require unloading too many bullets given their other strengths, so the health of those abilities have been reduced.

Breach

Chamber

Cypher

Fade

Harbor

We're back again with small Harbor buffs. It is hard to learn a new Controller smoke style and we hope these changes make it easier for Harbor's vision block to last long enough to finish executing with their team, while also providing wall smoke duration that’s on par with Viper. We’ll continue to monitor Harbor’s strength and see if we need to make any more waves. Chalo!

KAY/O

Killjoy

Omen

Phoenix

Raze

Sage

We’re looking to slightly refine Sage's strengths to be more about fortifying areas she controls and helping allies, rather than offense-focused with her utility. We’re hoping the heal update will push her power and satisfaction when fully healing others while creating tradeoffs for playing Sage overly aggressive and relying on self-healing.

Sova

Skye

Viper

We’re reeling in Viper’s ability to play outside of her ultimate’s smoke area. These changes will anchor Viper more to her ultimate and allow coordinated retakes against Viper’s Pit to be more successful.

Yoru

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

Assist Tail Tuning

Assist tails are the “grace period” duration after a debuff has expired where a player will still be awarded an assist for debuffing the killed target.

• Concuss, Nearsight, Detained
  • Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s
• Exiting Smokes
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
• Slow
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
• Suppression
  • Added new 3s assist tail

Damage Interaction Updates

• Abilities that output damage will now universally damage enemy objects that can be damaged. Exceptions are made for Skye Trailblazer & Cypher Trapwire that only deal damage to players.
  • We want to ensure that abilities are interacting in a consistent manner across the board. We want you to spend time thinking about how to approach utility in-game, rather than wondering if you can in the first place.

Brimstone

• Incendiary now damages:
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • KAY/O ZERO/POINT
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
  • Fade Prowler
• Orbital Strike now damages:
  • Chamber Rendezvous

Phoenix

• Hot hands now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/O ZERO/POINT
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
• Blaze now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/O ZERO/POINT
  • Yoru Fakeout
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous

KAY/O

• ZERO/POINT: KAY/O now has a voiceover that tells his allies the number of enemies suppressed when the knife hits.
• FRAG/MENT now damages:
  • Fade Prowler

Killjoy

• Nanoswarm now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/O ZERO/POINT

Raze

• Blast Pack now damages:
  • Fade Prowler
• Paint Shells now damages:
  • Fade Prowler

Sova

• Shock Bolt now damages:
  • Fade Prowler
• Hunters Fury now damages:
  • Raze Satchel
  • Reyna Leer
  • Fade Prowler
  • Chamber Rendezvous

Viper

• Snakebite now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Skye Seekers
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/O ZERO/POINT

Damage Multiplier Updates

With damage-over-time area abilities now universally damaging utility, we took a pass on damage multipliers. These area damage abilities cover a wide space and deal large amounts of damage over their duration. We’ve reduced their non-player output to 50% of base damage to prevent instant destruction of enemy utility and to ensure abilities with higher health, such as Sage Barrier Orb, retain their relevant impact.

Breach

• Aftershock now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

Brimstone

• Incendiary now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

KAY/O

• Fragment now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

Killjoy

• Nanoswarm now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Phoenix

• Hot Hands now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Raze

• Blast Pack now deals 1200% >>> 250% damage to non-players
• Paint Shells now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-players
• Boom Bot now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-players

Viper

• Snake Bite now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Allied Ability Damage Immunity

The following abilities are now immune to allied damage.

Chamber

• Rendezvous
• Trademark

Cypher

• Spycam

Fade

• Prowler
• Haunt

KAY/O

• ZERO/POINT

Killjoy

• Alarmbot
• Lockdown

Raze

• Blastpack
• Boom Bot

Skye

• Seekers
• Trailblazer

Sova

• Owl Drone
• Recon Bolt

Yoru

• Gatecrash
• Fakeout

WEAPONS UPDATES

Spectre

We felt the Spectre was overperforming at mid to long ranges and, as a result, was crowding out other options on partial buys.

• Added a third damage range to the Spectre and updated distances. New distances and body shot damage are:
  • 0-15m, 26 damage.
  • 15m-30m, 22 damage.
  • 30m+, 20 damage.
• For reference, the old ranges and damages were:
  • 0-20m, 26 damage.
  • 20m+, 22 damage.

MODES UPDATES

Swiftplay Beta

Swiftplay Beta is playable Dec. 6 through Jan. 10, 2023. Please jump in, help us test this new game mode, and give us your feedback!

• Similar to the standard 5v5 Unrated mode, but condensed:
  • First to 5 rounds, 4-round half
  • Spike mode victory conditions
    • Single Spike carrier
  • Set Credit amounts granted at the start of the round
    • 800
    • 2400*
      • Not including 600c bonus for winning pistol
    • 4250
    • 4250
  • Weapon and Credit carryover supported
  • +600 credit bonus for winning pistol round
  • Standard Kill bonuses (+200c) and Spike Plant bonuses (+300c)
  • 2 Ult points granted at the start of each half
  • Sudden death overtime
  • Match time is approx. 15 minutes

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where Phoenix would not be decayed by Viper for a short period after dying during Run It Back while decayed. (Thanks for the report Iyerfire)
• Fixed an issue where Cypher wasn’t able to place Trapwires on the glass panels by the yellow crate on Icebox.
• Fixed a bug where enemy Spycams or Turrets could trigger Cypher’s Trapwires.
• Fixed a bug where enemy knives could not damage Chamber’s Rendezvous teleport anchor.
• Fixed a bug where Boombot would explode on contact with Yoru’s Gatecrash beacons.

We’re back with Patch Notes 5.10 and we’re addressing some of the larger issues players have had with Cypher and Fade in the past. Also included are a bunch of Agent bug fixes and a new feature called Real Time Text Evaluation so that players can feel safer engaging with their teammates and opponents. Read more about it below.

AGENT UPDATES

Cypher

As the game has evolved, we’ve seen Cypher’s presence and relative impact on the roster fall off. While we attribute part of this to Chamber coming to dominate the Sentinel slot more than we think is healthy, we also have found that overtime Cypher’s Trapwire setups have become too predictable and easy to counter and that his Ultimate has felt lacking both in restrictions required to pull it off and the reward for doing so. The increase in Trapwire distance should open up a lot of new potential setups for Cypher and allow him to mix up his play patterns in a way that forces his enemies to slow down and move carefully through the map if they want to spot them without being caught.

Removing the time restriction on enemy corpses should make his Ultimate more accessible than it has been in the past and allow for Cypher to feel more agency when he initiates Neural Theft, while adding a second ping should create a clearer period of time where Cypher is pulling the strings, taking in the information on the enemies initial location and setting up strategic moves based on the pressure of the second. We hope that these updates get Cypher mains out there coming up with new setups for their information webs and that, when paired with upcoming updates to Chamber, help him reclaim a compelling spot amongst his peers.

Fade

Fade's Prowlers have been a versatile and difficult-to-play-against ability that we're looking to sharpen with these changes. The duration changes encourage Fade to be more deliberate in the areas that she chooses to sweep, while the other tweaks to the ability are meant to help enemies on the counterplay side of things.

The Nightfall cost is increasing in price, as we've found the baseline value of the Ultimate to be on the higher end compared to other Ultimates in the game.

Harbor

Harbor abilities all make a healthy round impact, but we saw some players new to Harbor not using their abilities enough and feeling too constrained. We hope these changes make it easier for players to hit the ground running with Harbor and for skilled Harbor players to achieve more flexibility when controlling the map.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

Real Time Text Evaluation (NA only to start)

• In addition to our existing interventions, we are launching a new feature to begin muting players in chat who send disruptive text messages in game. Interventions for disruptive text will now be applied sooner rather than later as we continue updating our systems to evaluate more types of text communication.
• These improvements will be added to North America first and expanded to more regions in the near future.
  • With the implementation of more immediate text evaluation, we hope to detect and reduce disruptive situations while players are still in game and help you feel safer to engage in VALORANT.

GENERAL UPDATES

• Menus Update: Having heard the pain caused by removing one-click access to most of our menus, we’ve returned that functionality in the form of icon buttons in the universal navigation at the top of the screen. You’ll now be able to jump from Home, Battlepass, Agents, Career, Collection, and Store with one click from anywhere. Not sure what icon is what? Give them a hover - we’ve added tool tips to help you familiarize yourself.
  • Like most changes, this one isn't final and we'll adjust based on your feedback!

MAP UPDATES

• Doors will now destroy placeable objects as soon as they come into contact with them, as opposed to only the moment the door is closed

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Fixed an issue that caused the "Auto-Reject Friend Requests: On" notification to be misaligned in the Social Panel for some languages.

BUGS

Agents

Astra

• Fixed a bug where Astra could cast a fake Nebula right at the start of a round before her Star charged up.

Chamber

• Fixed a bug where Chamber would fail to equip a gun at the start of a new round.

Harbor

• Fixed Harbor’s Cascade being visible on Minimap for enemies with vision of it.
• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s Cascade would sometimes spawn under the map.
• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s Cascade targeter on the minimap would shorten when aiming up or down even though the Cascade would travel the same distance.
• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s Cascade targeter on the minimap was slightly shorter than the actual distance it would travel.

Neon

• Fixed a bug where Neon’s Slide could be used to boost upwards in specific map locations.

How’s your Episode 5 Act III going so far? Either way, patch notes are light this time around as we prepare for larger changes coming later in the year.

BUGS

Agents

• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s Cascade would sometimes disappear when looking away from it (hotfixed during 5.08 patch cycle).
• Fixed a bug where walking through Harbor’s Cove barrier was not blinding players at the intended distance (hotfixed during 5.08 patch cycle).
• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s High Tide would have large gaps when cast in specific map locations.
• Fixed a bug where Harbor’s Reckoning’s geysers would not spawn on the area where the player was standing.
• Throughout this year, we’ve been periodically making improvements to Skye’s Seekers so that they more reliably and efficiently reach their target.
• Small changes were made to how Skye’s Seekers navigate around obstacles after they’ve visually acquired their target.
• If the target is intangible when the Seekers reach them, it will not debuff them. This includes Reyna while she is Dismissed and Yoru in Dimensional Drift.
• Fixed an issue where Yoru would still enter his stealth and intangible state if he was detained while casting Dimensional Drift. The detain now properly interrupts the cast.
• Fixed an issue where Fade could activate her Haunt and Seize projectiles to make them drop while she was Suppressed.
• Fixed an issue where Reyna would auto-heal after a kill while in Empress even though she was Suppressed.
• Fixed an issue where Sage could instantly break her Barrier by walling self into a corner.

Reminder: this is the start of Episode 5 Act III and that means there’s a number of new things that aren’t featured below: the return of the Ion skinline, a whole new Battlepass and a reset of ranks.

AGENT UPDATES

Harbor goes live!

• Learn his abilities on our Agents page.
• Watch the newest Controller in action in his debut trailer.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

We’ve seen an increasing number of you enter the Immortal leaderboard, even after raising the MMR requirement for Immortal. We agree with feedback that in some regions there are too many players on the leaderboard, and after a certain number leaderboard rank loses a lot of it's luster. We are rolling out a cap to the amount of players that can appear on the leaderboard on a region-by-region basis. This will not take away the achievement of reaching Immortal, but until you are in the top X amount of players, you will not appear on the leaderboard.

• KR - 5k
• LATAM - 5k
• BR - 5k
• NA - 10k
• AP - 15k
• EU - 15k

BUGS

Agents

• Fixed an issue where friendly versions of area-damage abilities could overwrite enemy versions of those abilities to deal less damage
• Fixed a bug where Viper’s Toxic Screen could have small gaps around ground level in specific map locations

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed various minimap bugs:
  • Ally position indicators would persist on the edge of minimap even after ally came back into view
  • In some cases, KAY/O’s Suppression Blade position indicator could appear twice on the minimap
  • Opening the larger map (defaulted to Caps Lock and ‘M’) during round transition could cause spawn barriers to appear as a single pixel
  • “Recently Seen Enemy” icon indicators could sometimes update their position without the enemy being visible

Maps

• PEARL
  • Fixed a sliver line of sight from A Main to A Link

Skins

• Fixed an issue where the Spectrum Phantom silencer extended further than intended and have now shaved off some length so that it matches the base Phantom weapon model.
  • We're ready for pros to start using it again…especially when peeking through garage on Haven.

AGENT UPDATES

The VALORANT Character Design team is constantly discussing the state of the Agent meta, and wanted to make some changes to sharpen some of our Agents and role definitions. We’re in a more stable state since Champions, and Game Changers teams will have decent time to acclimate before the Game Changers World Championships takes place.

When it comes to Duelists with a flash ability, many of them have been outclassed by some of our Initiators when it comes to generating kills for themselves off their flashes. Skye and KAY/O are often better at taking aggressive 1v1s than Agents that we expect to be able to thrive in those scenarios like Yoru, Phoenix, or Reyna.

These changes are intended to increase the total teamplay output of Skye and KAY/O when they coordinate plays with their teammates, and decrease some of their efficacy when played alone. We also hope to increase the reward for putting more time into mastering their flash abilities. We believe that Initiators should still be able to make solo plays, but they should ideally be weaker than their Duelist counterparts in these scenarios. —Dan “penguin” Hardison, Designer

SKYE

Guiding Light’s destructibility didn’t feel like meaningful counterplay, instead overtly punishing when Skye tried to throw them at a longer range. By increasing the top-end output and rewarding Skye for bending her birds into the right spots, we intend to foster more teamwork and differentiate her Guiding Light from other flashes in the game—especially when compared to Duelists.

KAY/O

KAY/O’s underhanded FLASH/DRIVE (right-click) has been overperforming relative to other “pop” flashes (example, Phoenix's flash or Yoru’s flash). And we feel as though labbed out left-click overhand throws aren’t generating a powerful enough reward for the mastery required to get them to pop in the right place. This tuning weakens the right-click when compared to pop flashes from Duelists, with the belief that KAY/O should pay a cost for his versatility.

REYNA

Reyna’s flash underperforms as a selfish entry-tool, especially at higher skill levels. This set of changes is intended to give Reyna more agency around how she decides to peek after casting Leer. Also, it should sharpen Leer as a powerful angle-breaking tool against Operators on maps with longer sightlines. We’ve also felt like individual casts of the eye remain in the world for too long when the eye isn’t destroyed. If Reyna is now able to make more selfish plays off her Leer, we then wanted to reduce some of the value it has when thrown for teammates.

YORU

Yoru is a tricky agent, as we need to balance him around his capability to throw flashes during his ultimate. We opted to go with a simple duration increase for Blindside as we feel maintaining the turning counterplay around his flash and clone is important to avoid excessively frustrating situations.

MAP UPDATES

FRACTURE

Fracture is receiving quite a few quality of life changes alongside some larger updates to Dish/A Drop and A Ropes. Going to go in the order of minor to major changes.

• Arcade - Opened a cubby here to make it easier for Attacking side to hold against Defender aggression from both directions.

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• B Site - “Jump” up has been changed to a ramp directly onto the site platform, which should make moving around that space more straightforward.

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• B Generator - Space here tightened slightly to make smoking this spot easier. A small corner has also been removed to simplify attempts to re-clear the site.

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• Defender Spawn - Removed a small cubby to slightly simplify those retakes.

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• A Halls - Improved movement and simplified the space in A Halls by removing a corner.

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• A Site - A minor simplification of the space as part of the overall changes to the surrounding areas.

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• A Dish - The dish is intact but removed the far path to make moving through this space more direct for both sides. We found trying to watch/control these spaces simultaneously was unnecessarily difficult for all. The team hopes the changes here and on A Drop will encourage everyone to use this route more often.

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• A Drop - The drop down is no longer a 50/50 check when entering, which should make it a little more appealing as a way for Attackers to squeeze A site from two sides.

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• A Rope - This path has been a little too easy for Attackers to control with a single smoke. The adjustments should give Defenders more options for both the initial hold and retaking A. Watch your step.

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AFTER:

PROGRESSION UPDATES

Below are features that we’ve wanted to make for a while just as much as you’ve wanted them. We’ll admit, there’s still so much more that we can do, like inclusion of additional filtering options, a search function, expansion of the random feature to other content types, and more. The team wants it and are working on it—but we didn’t want to wait until every possible option was covered for us to release the changes here. Better a version of something than not having it at all.

This team shares the same belief as the rest of VALORANT: that the value of a “live service” game means we can develop with you and improve over time. It does mean that sometimes new stuff may seem bare bones as we vet a feature’s value, incrementally. As we push forward with both Favorites, Filters, and Randomizer (along with other QoL) we’re taking this step by step approach. Give us your feedback so we can improve this game together. —Micah Worsham, Manager, Game Production

• Can now mark Favorites in Collection: These Favorites will persist for your account until you change them and allow you to filter down to the items that represent your style best.
  • Weapon skins
  • Player Cards
  • Sprays
  • Gun Buddies
  • Account Level Borders
• Added ability to equip a “Random Favorite” for every weapon type
  • Equipping this particular weapon will make it so that in each game you play, you get one of your favorite weapons (along with one of the variants you own) at random each time you enter a match.

• Added the ability to filter your Collection
  • Weapon Skins
    • Favorites / Non-Favorites
    • Owned / Unowned
    • Tiers
  • Player Cards, Sprays, Gun Buddies, Level Borders
    • Favorites / Non-Favorites
    • Owned / Unowned

BUG FIXES

Agents

• Fixed issue where KAY/O’s NULL/CMD disabled Killjoy’s Turret if the turret is hit by a pulse but Killjoy is not
• Fixed issue where Killjoy’s Turret fires straight forward after firing at an enemy and then losing sight of them
• Fixed issue where Killjoy’s Turret would fire with no target when coming online if it was disabled while firing at a target
• Fixed a bug where Phoenix would not automatically re-equip a weapon at the end of Run It Back
• Fixed Breach’s Rolling Thunder showing dead enemies hit in the combat report
• Fixed issue where if a player was deafened by multiple sources, when the first deafen ended it removed the deafening effect completely

Since the launch of Pearl in the summer, the map team has put in work based on months-worth of feedback to make the first major update to the underwater map. There are some good bones here, it just needed a quick fixer upper.

The Stinger is also dropping from the rafters with some new facepaint, in the form of primary and alt-fire changes.

WEAPON UPDATES

STINGER

• Primary Fire error adjusted from 1.6 error after 7 bullets >>> 1.3 error after 6 bullets
  • Our goal for the Stinger is to feel controllable and appropriately lethal at short ranges, but currently, even in close-quarters, it can feel out-of-control. Lowering the top spread should make it feel more reliable at the appropriate range once you’ve overcome the learning curve of the recoil.
• Alt Fire first shot error adjusted from .5 >>> .35
  • For an option that's about being more accurate, it felt like the first shot had more variance than we'd like, especially at the ranges you'd want to use the burst fire mode.

MAP UPDATES

PEARL

Pearl is getting a handful of small updates that aim to reduce some complexity and make it easier to move through a few areas for both attackers and defenders.

• B Main - Lowered waist-high wall on the left side of B Main so that it can no longer completely hide anyone.

Before:

After:

• Mid Shops - Clearing this area in Mid Shops is harder than we intended. By extending the platform, we're still keeping some of the holding power for attackers, but making it easier to push this area.

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After:

• Mid Shops to Mid Plaza - This is another spot on Mid Shops that’s proven to be painful to clear when trying to move through mid. So we’ve removed one of the corners.

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• Mid Top - Mid currently favors attackers so we've pushed in a wall on Mid Top, to remove a 50-50 check. This should make it slightly easier for defenders to challenge mid.

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• A Art - We noticed the difficulty both sides have had moving effectively through A Art. We’re simplifying the space so there are fewer areas to check.

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After:

• B Link - This box provides a good piece of cover for attackers pushing B link, but it’s been tough to re-clear for defenders. We’re keeping a little attacker-side power, but making it easier for defenders to manage. The stack of boxes cover closer to the site will shift from the left side to the right, to simplify the number of angles approaching players need to consider, as well as close a difficult sightline to B Hall.

Before:

After:

• A Main - Removing a cut out on the wall of A Main to simplify the space, which should also make this area slightly easier for defenders to aggro into (although really, you should hold site).

Before:

After:

• A Main to A Site - This spot was unnecessarily tough to smoke effectively. By tightening the choke by a margin, we hope to make smoking easier and give a small buff to defenders (i.e, a new utility spot). The cubby on the right will also shrink slightly to keep it from being too deep.

Before:

After:

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Disruptive Gameplay-based Behavior Indicator
  • We've introduced a feature that will show at the end of game screen, which players have been detected for engaging in disruptive gameplay-based behavior.
  • This has been added to the following game modes: Unrated, Competitive, Spike Rush, and Replication, with more game modes to follow in the near future.

BUG FIXES

Agents

• Fixed issue with KAY/O’s Zero/point sometimes incorrectly displaying enemies that were hit on KAY/O’s UI

Social

• Fixed a bug where Clutch Mutes would persist after the match ended
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from being able to respond to a whisper by clicking on the Riot ID of the player who sent the whisper in Chat
• Fixed a bug that caused the Social Panel to close when right-clicking into the Friend Note text field
• Fixed a bug where pending invites would not disappear after all friends have left the Party
• Fixed a bug where the incorrect system message was sent when accepting a friend request via the Match Tab in-game