VALORANT Patch Notes 2.06

With Masters behind us, it’s time to get to work on those promised Viper and Yoru changes. Details are below, but remember that we’ll keep a close eye on how these play out once they’re live.

Slide on those headphones and enjoy HRTF, which helps pinpoint enemy footsteps, reloads, and Deathmatch respawns using a simulated surround sound space. Also, your love of Escalation means we’re returning the favor with some ability updates and loadout variations for the mode.

Oh my goodness, Bucky, look at your nerf.

AGENT UPDATES

VIPER

In the wake of Masters we’re introducing some bigger updates to our Agents, with Viper first in line. We looked at a lot of possible changes for her, but ultimately landed on changes that pushed what makes Viper’s play pattern unique and still resonate with her theme. When compared to other Controllers, we want Viper to make big, committed decisions that truly alter the map and how both sides plan around her influence. She should claim ground with force and dare opponents to challenge her. The updates to Toxin should also project more threat on enemies who consider pushing her smoke and will hopefully add a significant bite to her marque Toxic Screen. Paired with a couple other buffs and some new tools for learning and practicing lineups, we’re excited to see if Viper can deliver on the deadly impact she promises while solidifying her spot on our roster.

Toxin (passive)

Enemies that cross through Viper’s Poison Cloud, Toxic Screen, or Viper’s Pit are instantly inflicted with at least 50 decay. Their decay level increases the longer they remain in contact with toxin.

While in cloud, Decay over time decreased 15 >>> 10

When out of Viper’s cloud, delay before health regen decreased 2.5 >>> 1.5

Poison Cloud (Q)

Can now immediately be redeployed when picked up, but grants a temporary charge instead of a permanent charge

If active when Viper dies, Poison Cloud now remains up for an additional 2 seconds, or until Viper runs out of fuel.

Pickup distance increased 200 >>> 400

Toxic Screen (E)

If active when Viper dies, Toxic Screen now remains up for an additional 2 seconds before deactivating

Full blind distance from the wall increased to better match the blind distance from the edge of smokes

Snakebite (C)
Equip time decreased 1.1 >>> .8
Practice Tools

In custom games with cheats and infinite abilities enabled, Viper can hold down “activate” on Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen to recall them

In custom games with cheats and infinite abilities enabled, Poison Cloud’s landing location is shown on the minimap while equipped

YORU

Yoru carries a fantasy that you’ve been excited to see through, but we believe a few restrictions have made it harder to access. Although Yoru is a unique duelist on the roster, both in pace and in playstyle, we think he should still be a strong contender for good compositions and want to ensure the value he offers to his team is more consistent throughout a match. 

Blindside (Q)

Flash activation time decreased 0.8>>> 0.6 seconds

Flash duration increased from 1.1>>>1.5

Gatecrash (E)

Gatecrash is no longer refreshed on kills and is instead replenished every 35 seconds

Lifetime of the Gatecrash fragment increased 20 seconds >>> 30 seconds

The range at which the Gatecrash fragment is revealed from stealth decreased 7m >>> 4m

Visuals for visibility range added to the moving fragment

Dimensional Drift (X)
Ult Points reduced 7 >>> 6
Yoru can now reactivate Gatecrash while in Dimensional Drift

KILLJOY

Nanoswarm (C)
Killjoy can now pick up deployed Nanoswarm grenades during the buy phase to get the charge back

WEAPON UPDATES

BUCKY

We want to focus the Bucky more on it’s actual primary firing mode (left click) and make that the strength you try to optimize when choosing a bucky vs its alternate firing mode (right-click). The right click should be more of a tool you can use when you can’t get into that effective left-click range, or you just need some reliable chip damage. The spreads are reduced on both to increase reliability and smooth the damage curve. The alt-fire’s significant reduction in pellet count is a trade off to being able to extend the range as much as it does for a shotgun.

• Primary fire (left-click) bullet spread decreased 3.4 >>> 2.6
• Decreased spread on Alt-fire (right-click) 3.4 >>> 2.0
• Updated damage curve for both primary and alt-fire
  • 0m–8m is 20dmg per pellet
  • 8m–12m is 12dmg per pellet
  • Beyond 12m is 9dmg per pellet
• Reduced amount of pellets in a right click shot from 15 >>> 5

MODES UPDATES

ESCALATION

We’ve taken a pass on a couple abilities to add depth to their gameplay and create some more dynamic combat situations, as well as added some spicy loadout variations to the mix.

Abilities

• Raze’s Showstopper now comes with two Blast Pack Charges which refill when you touch the ground. Practice those boosts!
• Snowball Launcher now comes with Skates—the increased mobility should give you an edge against the generally more lethal weapons.
• Big Knife now comes with one Tailwind (Jett Dash) charge which refills on kill. Close all the gaps!
• Loadout variations will be a bit of a surprise, and they’ll show up rarely. Let us know which ones you like!

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

• You can now view a person’s career from the in-game Leaderboard
  • We heard some of you asking for the ability to view more info around how the best of the best were doing in their games. So you can now right click on a leaderboard entry and view their career to check out their Match History, see details of their games, and look at their Act Rank progress.
  • If you are on the the Leaderboard, but don’t want to give away who you are, you can leverage our in-client toggle to label yourself a ‘Secret Agent’.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• To improve legibility, the megamap now consistently uses a mouse pointer instead of a crosshair for map pings

Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF)

What direction did those Raze footsteps come from? Is she moving from in front or behind you? With HRTF on and a pair of headphones, you’ll be able to better pinpoint other players based on certain sounds.

HRTF processing relies on a profile that contains measurements such as head size and ear shape, among other things. This implementation uses a profile based on a single set of measurements, and may not feel natural at first to all listeners depending on how closely the profile matches their own measurements. We encourage users to give HRTF a few tries as it may take some getting used to. Focused ear training outside a high pressure game environment may pay off in better ability to interpret the HRTF processing. We suggest a custom game or training for this! Watch our video demo below.

• Added an audio toggle located in the Audio settings panel to enable HRTF
  • HRTF allows players wearing headphones to play audio in a simulated surround sound audio space.
  • Currently, only footsteps, reloads, and Deathmatch respawns will be rendered in 3D with HRTF enabled.
  • It’s recommended that players please turn off any other “3D Audio” processing while using this feature.