## What changed
**Neon** — Jumping with High Gear active no longer grants speed bonuses while airborne; air sprint speed now matches melee speed instead
**Neon** — Fuel regeneration on kills only occurs when her ultimate is active; passive fuel regeneration remains unchanged
**Neon** — Improved visual effects for her slide to clarify direction and origin
**Neon** — Fixed exploit involving Fast Lane and NVIDIA graphics settings that affected competitive integrity
**Chamber** — Fixed animation bug where ADS-ing while firing Headhunter covered too much of the screen
**Jett** — Fixed Tailwind first-person animations not playing correctly with left-handed setting enabled
**Jett** — Fixed performance drops caused by using Drift
**Sage** — Fixed bug allowing full health Sage to use Healing Orb on herself while affected by Decay, which would waste the ability
**Sova** — Fixed Recon Bolt and Chamber's Trademark not being affected by nearsightedness in Viper's Pit
**Vyse** — Fixed possessable drones (Sova's Owl Drone, Skye's Trailblazer, Tejo's Stealth Drone) triggering arming audio on her wall
**Omen** — Updated Harmonize tooltip description
**Gekko** — Fixed ultimate preview cone not displaying unless ability was fully equipped
**Chamber** — Fixed Guided Salvo equip idle sound playing indefinitely after cast
**Chamber** — Updated Curveball tooltip description
## Balance
**All shotguns** — Accuracy significantly reduced while moving (run, walk, crouch-walk, jump now standardized across all shotguns)
**All shotguns** — Crouch now provides
Jumping with High Gear active no longer provides any speed bonus while Neon is airborne. Instead, Neon’s air speed while sprinting will match melee speed.
Fuel will only regenerate with a kill when Neon's ultimate is active
Fuel will still regenerate passively
Improved VFX to more clearly communicate the direction and origin of her slide
We’re testing MMR changes for modes other than Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay. These changes should result in better, more consistent matches. We’ll use what we learn to improve Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay in the future.
Fixed a bug where ADS-ing while firing Chamber’s Headhunter created an animation that covers too much of the screen
Fixed a visual bug where Jett's Tailwind was not playing the intended first-person animations when left-handed setting is enabled
Fixed a bug where using Jett's Drift caused performance drops
Updated tooltip description of Harmonize.
Fixed bug where the preview cone for his ultimate would not show unless the ability was fully equipped
Fixed an issue where a full health Sage could use Healing Orb on herself while affected by Decay, because she is not actually losing any health. This would consume the ability needlessly, since her health returns to normal once Decay wears off.
Fixed issue where the Guided Salvo’s equip idle sound kept playing long after cast.
Fixed a bug where Sova's Recon Bolt and Chamber's Trademark were not affected by nearsightedness in Viper's Pit
Fixed a bug where possessable drones (Sova's Owl Drone, Skye's Trailblazer, Tejo's Stealth Drone) would trigger the arming audio of Vyse's wall
We've improved our Riot Text Evaluation system to better detect and apply penalties for text comms abuse in the following languages: Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese.
All shotguns are now less accurate when moving
Run, walk, crouch-walk, and jump accuracy has been standardized across all shotguns
Crouching now provides a 15% accuracy multiplier for shotguns, matching rifles
Bucky: crouch accuracy modifier increased from 10 >>> 15%
Judge/Shorty: crouch accuracy modifier decreased from 25 >>> 15%
Shotguns are now much less accurate while using ropes
Your shotgun spread will increase significantly when you're on a rope, especially if you're moving:
Standing still: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.075 >>> 0.75)
Walking: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.09 >>> 1.5)
Running: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.1 >>> 3.0)
Bucky pellet damage in the 0-8m range decreased
Minimum spread increased from 2.6 >>> 3.0
Walking spread increased from 0.075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from .1 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4
Minimum spread increased from 2.25 >>> 2.5
Note: this will only apply to PC for now- this spread change will apply to console in Patch 12.11
Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from 0.75 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 2.25 >>> 4
Fire rate decreased from 3.33 >>> 3.0
Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from 0.1 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4
Fixed an exploit with her Fast Lane where using specific NVIDIA graphics settings impacted competitive integrity. Neon has returned to the game.
Fixed issue where dailies shown while hovering over the icon did not match the dailies in the End of Game screen.
Updated tooltip description of Curveball
Skirmish 2v2: Ascension and Skirmish 1v1: Ascension - Timer is stuck at 00.50 sec in Overtime phase
Skirmish 2v2: Ascension and Skirmish 1v1: Ascension - Agent abilities do not show up on the Combat Report in the following round after affecting enemies
## What changed
- **Skirmish: Ascension** — New experimental ranked mode with separate competitive leaderboards for 1v1 and 2v2 matches on the FTW site
- **Map pool** — **Ascent** added to Competitive and Deathmatch queues; **Bind** removed from both queues
- **Premier** — Returning to PC only
## New Content
- **Skirmish: Ascension** — Limited-time mode where players choose from 14 agents, each with one ability from their kit
- **Weapon escalation system** — No economy; weapons progress through stages: Rounds 1-4 use **Bandit** and **Sheriff**, Rounds 5-8 use **Guardian** and **Bulldog**, Round 9+ use **Vandal** and **Phantom**
- **Match formats** — 1v1 and 2v2 with separate matchmaking; first to 10 rounds wins
- **Leaderboards** — Segmented by server, region, and platform with independent 1v1 and 2v2 rankings
- **Rewards** — **Combat Ready** player card (3 matches completed), **Trade Me** player card (15 matches completed), and titles based on highest rank (**Skirmish Competitor**, **Skirmish Expert**, **Skirmish Legend**)
## Bug Fixes
- **Miks' Bassquake** — Fixed minimap cone blinking on use
- **Veto's Chokehold** — Fixed ability detecting enemies behind rotating doors on Lotus
- **KAY/O's ability VFX** — Fixed not appearing when used right after NULL/cmd
- **Neon's High
Skirmish: Ascension - a new, experimental ranked experience with its own competitive leaderboard on our FTW site
Ascent is in, Bind is out
[PC only] Premier is back!
ASCENT is IN the Competitive and Deathmatch queues.
BIND is OUT of the Competitive and Deathmatch queues.
NEW LIMITED TIME MODE
Choose from 14 Agents, each with one ability from their kit
No economy. Weapons escalate through stages as the match progresses
Rounds 1-4: Pistols (Bandit, Sheriff)
Rounds 5-8: Low-tier rifles (Guardian, Bulldog)
Round 9+: Vandal and Phantom
1v1 and 2v2 with separate matchmaking
First to 10 rounds wins
Competitive leaderboard segmented by server, region, and platform
Separate leaderboards for 1v1 and 2v2, tracked independently
Combat Ready player card: Complete 3 Skirmish: Ascension matches
Trade Me player card: Complete 15 Skirmish: Ascension matches
Titles awarded by highest rank achieved on either ladder
Skirmish Competitor: Gold to Platinum
Skirmish Expert: Diamond to Immortal
Skirmish Legend: Radiant
Fixed a bug where using Miks’ Bassquake would cause the minimap cone to blink on use.
Fixed a bug where Veto’s Chokehold could detect enemies behind rotating doors on Lotus.
Fixed a bug where KAY/O’s ability VFX were not appearing if used right after KAY/O casts NULL/cmd.
Fixed a bug where Neon’s High Gear slide was not playing SFX for moving across different surface types.
Fixed a bug where Tejo’s agent select animation would sometimes cut off the smoke from the explosion.
Fixed a bug where Gekko’s Dizzy would only target an enemy if their head was visible.
Fixed a bug where during Dimensional Drift Yoru could not see invisible abilities like Vyse’s Shear or Cypher’s Trapwire even if he was close enough to them.
Fixed a bug where Viper's Toxic Screen SFX would activate repeatedly when Veto walked into it with Evolution active
Fixed a bug where players resurrected by Sage inside of Viper’s Decaying abilities would not gain Decay.
Fixed a bug where Tejo’s Armageddon would sometimes cast targeting spawn instead of the intended location.
Welcome to Stage V26A3! Matches start on May 6.
Contender and Invite Division schedule changes:
There are only 6 weeks of matches this stage – the matches are still each Saturday from May 9 - June 13.
Playoffs now take place across multiple days.
The first round of playoffs takes place on June 20.
Teams that advance from the first round return on June 21 for their next matchup.
Make sure to check the schedule in the client for round start times for your zone!
Fixed an issue in settings where audio sliders weren’t moving correctly
Fixed an issue where trying to exit the client while a replay was paused wasn’t working
Skirmish 2v2: Ascension and Skirmish 1v1: Ascension - Timer is stuck at 00.50 sec when during Overtime phase.
Skirmish 2v2: Ascension and Skirmish 1v1: Ascension - Agent abilities do not show up on the Combat Report in the following round after affecting enemies
## What changed
- **Scope reticles** — updated **Kuronami Marshal**, **EX.O Marshal**, **Nocturnum Marshal**, **Araxys Outlaw**, and **Operator** skins to make their center-range reticles more consistent with the base scope reticle
- **Settings screens** — revamped with improved functionality and visual clarity, including parent-child associations for related settings
- **General settings reorganization** — settings previously under General - Other split into three new sections: **User Interface**, **Content Filtering**, and **Network**
- **Discord integration** — added ability to see which Discord friends play VALORANT and join parties faster
## Bug Fixes
- **Gun buddy purchasing** — fixed clipping issues at purchase confirm step
- **Purchase confirm screen** — fixed header text coloring
- **Bundle detail buttons** — fixed inconsistencies across interface
- **Spray previews** — fixed darkened appearance when previewing in purchase flow
- **Gifting** — resolved discoloration of offer tiles while gifting a flex
- **Friends list performance** — resolved lag caused by large friends lists
## Visual Updates
- **Gifting ineligibility screen** — now extends full width
- **Bundle carousels** — standardized height across all purchase flow points
- **Owned bundle tiles** — removed icon from feared bundle tiles when already owned
## Overall
Valorant improved reticle consistency across Marshal and Operator skins, restructured Settings screens for better organization and faster adjustment during gameplay, and fixed various UI and performance issues in the purchase and social systems.
[PC only] Updated Settings screens to improve functionality and visual clarity
We’ve made some updates to several scope reticles to make them more consistent in the center range of view with the base scope reticle. Here is the list of updated skins: Kuronami Marshal, EX.O Marshal, Nocturnum Marshal, Araxys Outlaw and Operator. Thanks to Grimm for the feedback!
Gifting ineligibility screen now extends the full width of the screen.
Fixed various clipping issues when at the purchase confirm step while purchasing a gun buddy.
Fixed header text coloring on purchase confirm screen.
Fixed various inconsistencies with bundle detail buttons.
Fixed issue that caused sprays to appear darkened when previewing in the purchase flow.
Bundle carousels are now a consistent height across all points of the purchase flow.
Removed icon from feared bundle tile while bundle is owned.
Resolved discoloration of offer tile while gifting a flex.
Resolved performance issue where having a large friends list was causing slight lag.
The settings screens have been revamped to improve functionality and visual clarity
Added parent-child association for related settings
Settings previously under General - Other are broken into 3 sections: User Interface, Content Filtering, Network
We understand some of you quickly adjust settings during games, and we didn’t want to jeopardize that experience. The experience should largely feel the same but with improved QOL.
See which of your Discord friends play VALORANT and jump into parties faster.
## What changed
- **Waylay's Saturate** — changed from INSTANT cast to EQUIP cast, removing her ability to instantly hinder enemies while airborne or on contact
- **Flex movespeed** — increased to match Melee movespeed across all Flex skins
- **Viper's Pit** — chemical cloud spread behavior updated for consistency around map geometry
- **End-of-Game screens** — updated visuals and sound effects for Victory, Defeat, and Draw outcomes
## Balance
- **Waylay** — Saturate no longer instantly applies, forcing greater risk and team coordination instead of solo setup plays
- **Flex** — movespeed increased from 90% of Melee movespeed to 100% of Melee movespeed
## Bug Fixes
- **Veto's Crosscut** — minimap icon now displays correctly when Enemy Highlight Color is set to red
- **Miks' Harmonize** — first-person VFX no longer disappear early; targeting UI no longer overlaps with ally loadout; ability placement UI no longer persists in third-person after smoke placement; M-pulse no longer gets stuck on map geometry
- **Clove's Ruse** — post-death ability can now be unequipped without casting
- **Tejo's Guided Salvo** — fixed exploit allowing three casts instead of intended amount
- **End-of-Game UI** — reduced text sizes in summary, scoreboard, timeline, and performance sections; adjusted match round box sizes; fixed row spacing and left button alignment; adjusted text sizes within match rows
- **Store** — fixed Japanese skin name text clipping; fixed misaligned text on accessories shop, rotational store tiles, radianite store, and gifting recipient selection;
Changes to Waylay, Bug Fixes, and more.
Updated End-of Game screens
Waylay’s Saturate changed from INSTANT to EQUIP
Backend tech improvements to Viper’s ultimate
Additional UX/UI bug fixes
We’ve updated Victory, Defeat and Draw end-of-game visuals and sound effects.
While we’re happy that Waylay’s found her role in team compositions, we’ve noticed that Saturate creates situations with little to no counterplay when used with the rest of her kit.
In particular, we’re seeing Waylay combo her abilities to safely target players with Saturate for her teammates with almost no risk. We think Duelists play best when they are using their kit with some risk, and when that risk falls primarily on the Duelist themselves.
By changing Waylay’s Saturate from an INSTANT cast ability to an EQUIP, she can no longer Hinder enemies instantly while airborne or reactively on contact without greater risk to herself. This incentivizes Waylay to coordinate with her team to mitigate risk for herself, rather than using it as a setup piece for a teammate to capitalize on.
Saturate changed from INSTANT to EQUIP.
Viper’s Pit chemical cloud has been updated to be more consistent in the way it spreads around map geometry.
Added new voice lines
Since the launch of Flex over a year ago, we’ve gotten a lot of player feedback that while Flex are cool, it doesn’t feel optimal to use them because they use Ability movespeed rather than Melee movespeed (Ability Movespeed is 90% of Melee movespeed).
Flex movespeed is being increased to match Melee movespeed. This will apply to all past and future Flex.
We’re enabling Push-model Replication as an optimization for our game servers and to unlock future performance gains. We don’t expect anything to change with your game client, so let us know if you see anything weird!
Fixed a bug where Veto’s Crosscut icon was missing on the minimap when the Enemy Highlight Color setting was set to red.
Fixed a bug where some of Miks’ Harmonize 1P VFX were disappearing early.
Fixed a bug where Miks’ Harmonize targeting UI could overlap with an ally’s loadout.
Fixed a bug where Miks’ Waveform ability placement UI would persist briefly in 3P after he placed a smoke.
Fixed a bug where Miks’ M-pulse could be stuck in certain spots on the map and could not be destroyed.
Fixed a bug where Clove’s post-death Ruse could not be unequipped without casting it.
Fixed a bug that allowed Tejo’s Guided Salvo to be cast three times.
Various spacing and sizing fixes across End of Game.
Reduced the overall text sizes in summary, scoreboard, timeline, and performance
Adjusted the sizes of the match round boxes to fit more across the screen
Fixed the spacing between rows
Fixed alignment issues in the left buttons and dropdown
Adjusted the text sizes within each match row
Numerous fixes across the overall store experience
Fixed a bug where skin names in the rotational store had clipped text in Japanese.
Fixed misaligned text on the accessories shop, rotational store tiles, radianite point store, and when selecting a gifting recipient.
Fixed misaligned subheader text when purchasing a skin.
Fixed an issue with squished bundle images in the gifting center.
Fixed an issue where weapons were too high on the purchase complete screen.
Added a hover state when mousing over offers in the featured store.
Adjusted opacity of offer tile when gifting a flex in the gifting center.
Fixed an issue where the View Team modal would sometimes incorrectly display the zone icon as a blank white box
Fixed a bug where the tournament queue timer wasn't properly showing the time to queue up by
Fixed a bug where "Make Captain" and "Transfer Ownership" options were not disabled during a tournament
Battlepass has added paginated arrow buttons to ease selecting between the chapters.
Scroll issue has been fixed and you can now scroll forwards and backwards on reward tiers and tracker.
# Valorant Patch Summary
## What Changed
**Limited Time Modes** — All Random One Site and Skirmish: 2v2 are being removed
**Team Deathmatch** — First team to 4 rounds wins; uses standard agent select with TDM ability recharge rates; ultimate charge earned through kills or orb captures; ultimate resets on death and each round start
**Map Rotation** — LOTUS and FRACTURE added to Competitive and Deathmatch queues; ABYSS and CORRODE removed from Competitive and Deathmatch queues
## Balance Changes
**Sage** — Model updated with crystal growths to reflect story progression; Ally Targeting UI/UX updated to match Miks's targeting system with new widget and agent highlight; added new voice lines
**Duration beacon** — Active duration reduced from 30s to 15s; charges reduced from 2 to 1
**Smoke ability** — Duration reduced from 14s to 6s when cast while dead; area of effect reduced from 6m to 4m
## Bug Fixes
**Gekko's Thrash, Sova's Owl Drone, Astra's Astral Form** — Fixed floating gun appearing when suppression effect interrupts these abilities
**Veto's Interceptor** — Fixed incorrectly detecting stealthed Cypher Spycam
**Harbor's relic** — Fixed not glowing when equipping Storm Surge in Left Handed Mode
**Brimstone's Sky Smoke** — Fixed unintended VFX displaying in equip pose when viewed from far away
**Deadlock's Barrier Mesh** — Fixed allowing players to float into air by blocking ziplines at Attacker spawn on Fracture
First team to 4 rounds wins the match
Standard agent select with TDM ability recharge rates
Earn your ultimate with kills or orb captures
Ultimate charge resets on death and at the start of each round
Leaving Limited Time Modes
All Random One Site and Skirmish: 2v2 are heading out. Thanks for playing!
Fixed a bug where a floating gun may briefly appear when a suppression effect interrupts Gekko's Thrash, Sova's Owl Drone, or Astra's Astral Form.
Fixed a bug where Veto’s Interceptor would detect a stealthed Cypher Spycam.
Fixed a bug where Harbor’s relic was not glowing when equipping Storm Surge in Left Handed Mode.
Assist Banners have been added to the HUD to celebrate when you get an assist.
Your Killfeed has also been updated to more clearly illustrate assists and assisting abilities.
Status Effect Tags on the HUD have been updated for clarity.
Ally targeting UX/UI has been updated on Sage to match Miks’s targeting experience.
Sage also got a model update to reflect her current state in VALORANT’s story.
Healing Orb - Ally Targeting
With the release of Miks, we have updated our Ally Targeting UI/UX and brought those updates to Sage. You’ll see a new widget above the targeted allies head, and an additional highlight around the agent's model.
We’ve added crystal growths to Sage’s model and key art to show the price she is paying for repeatedly pushing the limits of her power.
Duration beacon is active reduced 30s >> 15s
Charges reduced from 2 >> 1.
Smoke duration 14s >> 6s (when casted while dead)
Area of effect reduced 6m >> 4m
Added new voice lines.
When your utility or damage contributes to a teammate's kill, you'll see an assist banner on the bottom of your screen
The banner shows your specific contribution to the elimination and is accompanied by an audio cue
Your team's killfeed now displays the assisting player's agent icon and the ability or damage that set up the kill
This info is visible to your team only
We’ve updated how and where status effects appear on your HUD to improve clarity and consistency. When multiple effects are active, you can quickly see what’s affecting you and how long it lasts in predictable areas of the screen, with buffs on the left and debuffs on the right for cleaner organization during combat.
Observers and spectators can now see Ability Map Targeters like Clove’s Ruse, Brim’s Sky Smoke, Tejo’s Guided Salvo, etc. Ability Map Targeters will also show up in Replays.
LOTUS and FRACTURE are IN the Competitive and Deathmatch queues.
ABYSS and CORRODE are OUT of Competitive and Deathmatch queues.
Attacker lobby wall thickened to remove wall penetration off barrier drop.
Jump up to Vines moved to help attackers get out of Lobby and avoid utility dump.
Wall outside of Tree room has been reinforced to remove wall penetration.
Extra room added outside of A-site stairs to help hold A-site and let defenders play further back from rubble
A-site plant zone has changed so you can no longer plant for breakable/link
Fixed a bug where picking up a dead player’s weapon would cause you to auto-equip it when they were resurrected.
Fixed a bug where Brimstone’s Sky Smoke equip pose was displaying unintended VFX when viewed far away.
Fixed a bug where Deadlock’s Barrier Mesh could be used to float into the air by completely blocking the ziplines at Attacker spawn on Fracture
Fixed multiple localization issues on the End of Game (EOG) Scoreboard screen.
Fixed an issue where a friend’s most recent match was not always updating in the Career view.
Fixed an issue where the progression bar could overlap with the top tabs in the EOG Progression tab.
Fixed an issue where the focus highlight could be delayed on the EOG Timeline screen.
Welcome to Stage V26A2! Matches start on March 18.
This Stage will run for six weeks of matches instead of the usual seven.
Teams with a Premier Score of at least 500 qualify for Playoffs on April 26.
In Contender and Invite, qualification is still based on your placement - check out the standings page for more info
Your awards hub will temporarily display that you haven't unlocked any rewards. This will be fixed in patch 12.06.
We're adjusting the Ranked Rating thresholds to hit Immortal 2, 3 and Radiant to bring parity to leaderboard requirements across all of our regions.
We're not adjusting any of the underlying MMR systems, so we expect the same players to show up on the leaderboard.
We made a QoL update to the new Rank summary screen that we implemented in patch 12.04.
You can now access the Social Panel and select Play Now directly from that screen.
Fixed a bug that caused the scroll wheel to not work when navigating between the tiers on the battlepass and/or event pass.
Neon and shotgun nerfs are here!
Partnership with Discord, revamped Settings page, and more.
Changes to Waylay, Bug Fixes, and more.
Patch 12.04 is all about a refreshed quality of life experience.
Modes updates, Gekko changes, and more.
Adjustments to Harbor and Reyna, and more.
MFA coming to EU, Esports hub is back for VCT26
Welcome to Season 2026! Strap in, this patch is a big one.