EB24 about Valorant #2, Patch Notes 3.0 - Prepared by EB24 AndreSG

Today’s topic is about Valorant patch notes 3.0! On the following blog, we’ll check and comment on the changes done to weapons and agents so continue reading to know more!

AGENT UPDATES

- Signature abilities now only provide a minimum of one charge per round instead of accumulating a charge every round.

- For example, if you have a two charge signature ability and you end the round with one charge remaining, you will not gain an additional charge

- Charges gained from cooldowns are now always temporary

- Visibility returns faster during the fadeout period of all flashes

Pretty much all abilities have been changed and are now scarcer which will force the game into more shooting-focused gameplay similar to Counter-Strike. The number of chances will also pressure the player base to relearn the game.

ASTRA

Nova Pulse (Q)

Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25

Gravity Well (C)

Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25

Stars/Astral Form (X)

Stars are now inactive when placed during the buy phase

When the barriers drop, her Stars charge for 1.4 seconds before becoming active and usable.

On Attack, Astra can now see the Spike’s location in Astral form

This representation does not animate so it will not provide additional info on the status of the Spike.

Recall cooldown increased 8 >>> 15

Granted signature charges decreased 2 >>> 1

Star cost decreased 200 >>>150

Astra got a big overall nerf and will no longer be able to bully opponents at the start of the round and has now a less fluid and more committed gameplay which makes Astra players think twice now before placing a star.

BREACH

Flashpoint (Q)

Total charges reduced 3 >>> 2

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Projectile speed decreased 2500 >>>2000

Fault Line (E)

Full charge time decreased 1.5 >>> 1 second

Width increased 600 >>> 750

Telegraph windup time decreased 1.3 >>> 1

Concussion duration increased 3 >>> 3.5

Unequip time after firing decreased 1 >>> .7

Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

After Shock (C)

Now explodes 3 times with each blast dealing 60 damage with no fall off, blasts are .6 seconds apart

Explosion radius increased 260 >>> 300

Unequip time after firing decreased 1.1 >>> .9 seconds

Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Rolling Thunder (X)

Width of all explosions increased to 2300, which was the previous width of the final explosion

Breach has now a more flexible way to go about his abilities no longer requiring to be so cautious about his positioning due to the reduced unequip time after firing them. We see this as an overall buff and a well-deserved one as he was slowly falling out of metaplay. His rolling thunder is now capable of fully covering some spike sites which will lead to some amazing fast executes.

BRIMSTONE

Incendiary (Q)

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Small changes coming to our friendly commander but it was well kept because other smoke agents got big changes to their economy kit. This nerf to the Incendiary may have been due to the big nerfs other ground control abilities got.

CYPHER

Neural Theft (X)

Ultimate points required decreased 7 >>> 6

A more than necessary change to our many-time bullied masked friend. Using a Neural Theft was way too situational for its cost and he for sure will hop back into meta play after the interaction changes, he got between him and Jett's Tailwind.

JETT

Updraft (Q)

Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Tailwind (E)

No longer breaks Cypher’s Trapwire

Cloudburst (C)

Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Bladestorm (X)

Ultimate points required increased 6 >>> 7

Jett's overall nerf was made due to the big economic buff Operator had. It would be way too easy to ramp up an economy with the Operator costing 4700 credits.

KILLJOY

Alarmbot (Q)

Cooldown after pickup increased 7 >>> 20

Turret (E)

Cooldown after pickup increased 10 >>> 20

Killjoy's nerf, like some others, was made to justify the arrival of the new agent Kay/O. It would be too easy to relocate her setups in order to avoid its suppression.

OMEN

Paranoia (Q)

Cost decreased 400 >>> 300

Dark Cover (E)

Granted signature charges reduced 2 >>> 1

Omen now must buy his second smoke for 100

Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

Shrouded Step (C)

Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Omen finally has some economic flexibility. He used to have a very Paranoia-centric eco-management. Now he can finally have some choices on what to and not to buy.

PHOENIX

Curveball (Q)

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

REYNA

Leer (C)

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

As the game becomes more shooting reliable our non-diving duelists will remain pretty much unchanged as the game will now give them chances to surge as the only duelists of some compositions.

SAGE

Slow Orb (Q)

Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Barrier Orb (C)

Cost increased 300 >>> 400

Resurrection (X)

Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Another nerf to our Sage! She had a very high pick rate and it looked like it wasn't slowing down anytime soon as she can literally reshape the map and lock in certain setup points allowing her team to fortify the rest of the map.

RAZE

Model Update

Model has been updated with a polish pass

Boombot (C)

Cost increased 200 >>> 400

Showstopper (X)

Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Raze now has some new fresh clothing and some big nerfs to her anti-entrenchment part of the kit. Her showstopper also got the Bladestorm treatment as it came online way too many times during matches.

SKYE

Trailblazer (Q)

Vision radius increased 1750 >>> 2250

Max concussion duration increased 3 >>> 4

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Guiding Light (E)

Charges reduced 3 >>> 2

Charges are now replenished on a 40-second cooldown

Skye no longer needs to re-equip to trigger her flash

Guiding Light’s projectile now goes around corners tighter when free flying and is more responsive to guiding

Audio attenuation when cast reduced 3250 >>> 1250

Cost of charges increased 100 >>> 250

Skye, as a flashing initiator was one of the agents that got the biggest chances. This will unlock more playmaking opportunities by herself but also strengthen her support gameplay as Guiding Light are harder to play around with.

SOVA

Shock Dart (Q)

Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Recon Bolt (E)

Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

Owl Drone (C)

Cost increased 300 >>> 400

Hunter’s Fury (X)

Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Sova got some simple adjustments to adapt to the new economic habitat. Hunter's Fury got an ulti point increase for the same reason as Bladestorm and Showstopper.

VIPER

Snakebite (C)

Duration reduced 8 >>> 6.5

Outer edges of Viper’s acid patch form faster to ensure it is lethal if an enemy sits in the entire duration

Cost increased 100 >>> 200

We’ve seen a massive resurgence in Viper’s popularity and power, especially at stalling opponents and preventing defuses. We hope to slightly reduce some of this stalling power.

YORU

Blindside (Q)

Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Gatecrash (E)

Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

I guess Yoru also had to try and adapt to the new overall of the game but don't worry much about his state as his rework has already been announced.

WEAPON UPDATES

ALL WEAPONS

Bullet tagging changed from 75% slow >>> 72.5% slow

“Tagging” is the slowing effect you feel when hit by bullets

Weapon Deadzones changed from 30% >>> 27.5%

“Deadzone” in VALORANT refers to the movement speed a player becomes inaccurate

ALL RIFLES

Walking inaccuracy changed from 1.3 >>> 2.0

Running unchanged at 5.0

ALL HEAVIES

Walking Inaccuracy changed from .5 >>> 2.4

Running unchanged at 6.0

ALL SMGS

Walking inaccuracy changed from .3 >>> 1.0

Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 2.5

CLASSIC

Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .84

Running inaccuracy changed from 1.5 >>> 2.1

FRENZY

Price decreased 500 >>> 450

Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .8

Running inaccuracy changed from 1.0 >>> 2.0

GHOST

Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .92

Running Inaccuracy changed from 1.85 >>> 2.3

SHERIFF

Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> 1.2

Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 3.0

JUDGE

Price increased 1600 >>> 1850

Damage falloff at 10m changed from 13 per pellet >>> 10 per pellet

Damage falloff at 15m changed from 10 per pellet >>> 7 per pellet

We want the Judge to be a devastating, multi-fragging, close range option and believe it’s a bit more premium than we had previously given it credit for. It was also performing better than expected at range so we’re taking that down a notch.

BULLDOG

Hip-fire (full auto mode) firing rate increased from 9.15 RPS >>> 9.5 RPS

Price decreased 2100 >>> 2050

The bulldog was feeling just slightly underpowered in close/mid range situations where hip fire was the go-to. So we’re giving it a bit more of a firing rate to compete, and lowering the price to make it more enticing to buy.

SHORTY

Price decreased 200 >>> 150

STINGER

Price decreased 1100 >>> 950

BUCKY

Price decreased 900 >>> 850

MARSHAL

Price decreased 1000 >>> 950

ARES

Price decreased 1600 >>> 1550

OPERATOR

Price decreased from 5000 >>> 4700

GUARDIAN

Price decreased 2400 >>> 2250

Basically, expect to see a lot more Operators, Bulldogs, and Guardians due to how easily they fit with the new economic system and run and gunning may no longer be a screaming problem (maybe?). Also, Judge finally got the Bucky treatment that was expected to happen.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

For Episode 3, our major focus for Ranked is matchmaking accuracy and fairness. We’ve evaluated our system and have made a few significant changes that should improve these key areas across a wide range of players. Without getting too much into the secret sauce of things, we want to share some of what you can expect in Episode 3. 

Here’s our primary player experience goals:

We want winning games to matter most—at all skill levels.

We want to improve individual performance evaluation because we believe it helps identify more fair and balanced matches.

We want you to see your rank as an accurate representation of your current skill level.

We want you to have fewer motivations for playing on different accounts and to get to your proper rank faster.

Here’s some of what you can expect from our changes:

Reduced the possibility of feeling “hard stuck” on older accounts. If your skill improves, your rank should properly reflect that, regardless of account age.

Matchmaking accuracy will improve across all ranks, which should lead to a smoother ranked climb and reduce how hard you may swing up and down in rank

While winning games is still the most important factor, individual performance will also be accounted for to improve matchmaking at Immortal+

This should result in better matches at the highest levels.

Close games will have a smaller effect on rank rating gains and losses

Adjusted our Rank Rating curves, so climbing (or falling) should feel less volatile

Updated Rank distribution

Placements raised to Diamond 1

This should help reduce the grind for our players at the top

Our plan is to continue to monitor these changes after they’ve reached our live servers, and we’ll certainly make more adjustments where appropriate. We’re looking forward to getting these changes into your hands, and please continue to provide us with feedback on your experiences throughout Episode 3!

Now the age of your account won't matter as much as it used to. Also, this new system will bring you less incomprehensible lobbies like it used to.

PERFORMANCE UPDATES

We’re excited to deliver major improvements with 3.0! This work is the culmination of significant effort and collaboration over the last several months involving many teams across VALORANT. Performance is a war won in the margins, and we’re generally able to provide small, incremental changes. This time, however, many of our smaller items came together all at once.

Players with medium to high spec machines (CPU bound systems) may see up to 6% performance improvements as a result of the following work:

Improved clipping plane calculations using multithreading

Improved thread utilization across multiple cores for distributed tasks

Optimized camera calculations

Optimized ambient audio for each map

Fix for Character Ability HUD invalidation box

General optimizations for all ability animations

SOCIAL UPDATES

Hover Cards have been added to the social panel

Hover over your friends list to quickly learn more about the players you have added. 

You can now invite to party with Riot ID in custom game

Quality of life chances that we never asked for but are always more than welcome!

GAMEPLAY TECHNOLOGY

KILLFEED

Your kills will get an additional highlighted border to make them stand out

Kill assists will also be shown to the left of the killfeed entries

The killfeed will also display a highlighted border for your assist portrait

The killfeed will display certain ultimate abilities when players on either team are killed in a second-life state or revived

For example: Sage’s player resurrection or Phoenix’s death during his Run It Back ability.

Added multi-colored killfeeds in cases where kills would result in the same team color appearing side by side

Simply beautiful and easier to detect over your peripheral vision!

ROUND ROLLBACK

This feature allows you to set the game back to the start of a previous round and re-play the game starting from there

To enable the feature, go to “Options” while setting up a Custom Game and toggle “On” Tournament Mode

Moderators can activate a rollback

If Cheats are enabled as a Custom Game option, all players can activate a rollback.

During the match, the Round Rollback feature can be found in the “Cheats” section of the Menu.

Added the ability to toggle on and off the outer crosshair lines!

Adjusted assist timings and thresholds for utility-based assists to make them more consistent across different Agent abilities.

PROGESSION UPDATES

Happy anniversary VALORANT! To celebrate we have added a new Year One Event Pass—this is similar to a Battlepass but it's completely free and has some really cool goodies.

This will be active for the duration of Patch 3.0 and will only last till 3.01 goes live. So remember to get your goodie bag before the party ends.

What's a party without friends? We’ve also added a Squad Boost: You will get extra XP when you play in a premade group.

+8% boost for one additional player, +12% for two, +16% for three, and +20% for a full squad.

This will also be active for the duration of 3.0.

We’re also permanently adding Account Leveling: A new way to recognize and reward you for your time playing in all VALORANT game modes.

Your account Player Card will now display a numeric level based on how much you play.

In addition to that, you will also be boosted to a certain level based on how many games you’ve played before Patch 3.0.

BUGS

AGENTS

Characters blocked by Sage’s Barrier Orb when resurrected now break the wall to ensure they don’t get pushed inside map geo

Fixed Skye’s Seekers showing up on the minimap even when they aren’t visible to an enemy

Fixed Viper’s ultimate not showing as active on the team UI when Viper’s Pit is up

Fixed bug where Cypher’s Spy Camera could be placed inside the map on mid Icebox

Fixed a bug where Reyna’s Dismiss ability could not be rebought if the Buy Menu is closed and reopened during the same Buy Phase

Fixed a bug where cancelling Sova’s Hunter’s Fury while charging the shot allows player to skip unequip animation by equipping a weapon, ability, or Spike

Fixed a bug where picking up Cypher’s TrapWires/Cages and Killjoy’s Nano Swarms during the Buy phase would prevent you from purchasing a second charge

COMPETITIVE

Fixed a bug that was causing a delay in recent Competitive game’s Ranked Rating updates in Match History

Fixed a Career screen visual bug that would show up for those who dropped out of Immortal

Fixed a bug that caused a friend’s career to infinitely load

SOCIAL

Fixed a bug where friends' names were merging together in the social panel when interacting with them, jumbling them together at times. Word scramble no longer!

CONTENT SUPPORT

Fixed an issue causing a hitch when viewing skins in the Collection

GAMEPLAY TECHNOLOGY

Fixed a bug where the inner crosshair toggle feature wasn't working

Fixed a bug where AOE kills were not rewarding the appropriate character if the enemy was in a debuffed state

Fixed a bug where the Spike icon pulse and beeping sound were not in sync

Fixed a bug where Ally defuse progress bar sometimes fails to appear

Fixed a bug where Observer’s Killfeed has no team colors

Reverted our fix for the “swirly arms” in the last patch, since it was causing significant animation snapping

And this is it for Valorant’s patch, finally some big changes and a new shake into the game's direction! Let's see what this will do to the competitive scene and also the casual scene too! Stay tuned to our social media below to know all about all the games you love! 

Instagram | Facebook Page | Twitter | Facebook Group | Discord Server