An update has rolled out for Valorant, bringing with it some pretty major buffs for Viper, along with a few map changes and a way to surrender when you’re getting stomped.
Ranked is also included in this patch but is not currently on the live servers due to a few bugs that need to be fixed first.
Winner: Viper
Viper has been at the bottom of most pro players tier lists for a while now, and the area denial specialist has one of the lowest pick rates in tournaments.
She might see some life however with the latest patch as she’s received a number of substantial upgrades. Her Toxic Screen now burns through walls, giving the skill more space to work with, and her Snake Bite now applies a new Fragile debuff that increases damage taken from other sources.
- Toxic Screen now burns through walls, placing emitters at all valid locations (e.g., the ground) over its length.
- Snake Bite: Taking damage will make a player fragile for a short time.
- Fragile is a debuff that increases damage taken.
Loser: Phoenix
While the fiery brit didn’t receive any direct nerfs, the way his ultimate, Run It Back, interacts with other characters has been changed.
If Phoenix is killed by a Reyna during his Ultimate, he will now drop a Soul Orb for Reyna to absorb. Similarily, Jett’s Blade Storm ult now refreshes to full when she uses it to kill Phoenix’s ultimate form.
- Blade Storm now refreshes when used to kill Phoenix during Run It Back
- Soul Orbs are now spawned when Reyna kills Phoenix during Run It Back.
Loser: Bucky
The patch’s only weapon tweak was for the second-tier shotgun, Bucky. With its two-shot system, Riot had previously configured its more precise shot (right-click) to be more accurate than intended. With that discrepancy, the developers have increased the shotgun’s inaccuracy during all movement, giving players more reason to use the scatter-shot (left-click).
- Bucky’s right-click
- Crouch-walking accuracy: 3.45 >>> 4.1
- Walk accuracy 6.4 >>> 4.4
- Run Accuracy 3.5 >>> 6.4
- T1 x Nerd Street Gamers are hosting the first Valorant Ignition Series tournament
- Mixwell defeats G2 CEO ocelote in the final of G2’s own Valorant Invitational
Loser: Cypher
The Moroccan spy gets some of his sneaky skills unhacked for a more balanced game. Cypher players can no longer pair his Cyber Cage on a Trapwire, leaving players to deal with only one skill at a time. Riot is also preventing Spycams from being able to see through teleporter doors on Bind so that Cypher doesn’t have too much vision on the enemy.
- Fixed an issue where players could place a Cyber Cage on a Trapwire
- Added prevention for Spycam going through teleporter doors on Bind when placed on the frame from the outside
Winner: Losers
If you’re being blown out in a match, or you have a significant number of AFKers/leavers you no longer have to sit through a full 13 rounds of torture. A new Early Surrender option will let your team vote to surrender, ending the match on the spot.
Just type “/ff” to initiate the surrender and vote by typing in “/yes” or “/no”. Take note that early surrenders can only happen after the eighth round and each team can only call a vote once per half.
For more information, you can check out the full Valorant 1.02 patch notes.
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