Riot has just released the first major patch for Valorant, which came with the game’s worldwide release.
In the patch, they’ve added in Reyna as the game’s 11th agent. Players were also treated to a brand new map called Ascent, along with a new unique game mode called Spike Rush, which is set as a fast-paced alternative to Valorant’s standard match.
Most importantly, Riot has implemented balance updates to five Valorant agents. Here is a quick rundown of the winners and losers of Patch 1.0.
Winner: Jett
Jett’s utility abilities have received improvements, making her more of a valued agent instead of being just an agile damage dealer.
- Cloud Burst smoke duration has been increased from 4 to 7 seconds.
- Tailwind automatically breaks Cypher’s Trapwires after being briefly revealed.
Loser: Sage
Sage’s Healing Orb and Barrier Orb abilities have been significantly nerfed with increased cooldowns and reduced wall health and duration.
- Healing Orb cooldown increased from 35 to 45 seconds.
- Barrier Orb segment health reduced from 1,000 to 800, and its duration has been reduced from 40 to 30. The Barrier Orb now also shows up on the team’s minimap.
Loser: Raze
Raze’s Blast Pack damage potential has also been reduced. Raze players would often stack Blast Packs together to deal large amounts of damage. In response, Riot has decided to decrease Raze’s Blast Pack damage radius.
- Blast Pack’s maximum damage radius has been reduced from 2 to 1 meter.
Winner: Phoenix
Phoenix’s fire abilities have been adjusted so that the agent will no longer be as predictable. Whenever Phoenix casts his area of effect abilities, opponents would often predict where the agent would be in certain situations. By increasing the duration of most of his abilities, this gives users more options with the agent.
- Blaze duration has been increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
- Blaze’s damage was increased from 15 every 0.25 seconds now does 1 every 0.033 seconds.
- Blaze’s healing has been adjusted from 3 every 0.25 seconds to 1 every 0.16 seconds.
- Hot Hands healing has been changed from doing 3 every 0.25 seconds to 1 every 0.08 seconds.
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Reworked: Omen
Omen is one of the most unique agents in Valorant, but his relocation and utility abilities have been underwhelming. This caused Riot to rework Paranoia, Dark Cover, and Shrouded Step so that players could make the most of Omen’s unique skillset.
- Paranoia is now an equipped ability instead of quick cast and hit detection has been improved, especially at close range.
- Dark Cover now allows Omen to enter a “phase” world where he can see through walls to place his smokes.
- Shrouded Step has been reworked so players can see where their teleport location will be on the map.
- Omen’s ultimate ability, From the Shadow, allows him to cancel his teleport while in Shade form by pressing the ability key again. Omen loses all his ultimate points if he cancels.
Patch 1.0 also introduced Ascent, Valorant’s fourth map. Ascent is set in Italy and has two Spike sites with a very open middle area, perfect for using agent abilities. Teams that are able to control the mid area will open up additional attack routes to the Spike sites or the attacker’s spawn location.
The Patch also restructured the mid chokepoint for Split and made the hallway wider. The choke point has been criticized by the closed beta players as being too narrow and worked towards making the map more favored for Defenders.
The patch also included performance updates, quality of life improvements, HUD and UI changes, and bug fixes fans can view on Riot’s official blog post.
For those interested in playing Valorant, the game is officially live now. Fans who want to download and play the game can click here.
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