Valorant – Patch 3.05

One significant change being made in this update is how certain agent’s abilities interact with the abilities of other agents (whether they be on the same or the opposing team). The intention behind this is to improve the strategic elements of gameplay and to reward players for using their agent’s abilities creatively.

This change predominately affects the abilities of three agents: Breach, Brimstone, and Sova. Specifically, this now allows Breach’s ‘Aftershock’ to deal damage to Killjoy’s ‘Alarmbot’, ‘Nanoswarm’, and ‘Lockdown’, Cypher’s ‘Trapwire’, Reyna’s ‘Leer’, Sage’s ‘Barrier Orb’, Sova’s ‘Recon Bolt’, and KAY/O’s ‘Zero/Point’. Similarly, Brimstone’s ‘Orbital Strike’ and Sova’s ‘Hunter’s Fury’ will also now deal damage to other agent’s deployed abilities. It makes sense to do this from a logical perspective because the effects of these abilities should be consistent for physical objects, including those that are deployed by another agent, both friend and foe. This adds a new and interesting element to the game’s strategy.

In addition, some Agent’s abilities have been changed to improve balance. For example, Raze’s ‘Boom Bot’ is having both its maximum and minimum damage reduced, although the cost of using the ability has also been decreased. Killjoy’s ‘Turret’ is also be reworked by significantly reducing its slow-down effect from 70% speed reduction to around a 30% slow-down.

Next, we should update you on the new map, Fracture. In the trailer released a few days ago, it was revealed as an area with two sides, one lush and one desert, and true to its name divided by a crack in the ground created by an exploding reactor. Signs indicate that the half of the map with green foliage is called ‘Alpha Sector’, while the sandy and rocky half is called the ‘Omega Sector’. The area appears to have several decent vantage points and a generally well though-out design. One interesting feature of this map is that its layout places the defending team’s spawn point in the middle, which could allow for the opposing team to attack from both sides. With that in mind, it will be exciting to see what new strategies players will develop for this new arena.

There’s also some ground we need to cover about the Battlepass. First, players should note that upgrading to the Premium Battlepass will grant a 3% boost towards Battlepass tier progression for all matchmade games until the end of Act II, and does not apply toward Daily or Weekly missions. It should also be noted that this effect is not retroactive so it’s far better to purchase the Battlepass as early as possible, which also means that if you don’t buy it immediately every day you wait the return-on-investment diminishes and it will quickly reach the point that if you wait for too long you probably should not buy it because the benefit won’t outweigh the cost.

Nvidia Reflex users have something to be happy about because some attention has finally been paid to it by updating markers, and by making improvements that should better allow it to measure and reduce latency, as well as other fixes being made to improve performance.

Developed and published by Riot Games just a little over one year ago, Valorant is free-to-play and currently released for Microsoft Windows. Plans are being made to develop a mobile version but as of now, it is not yet clear when that may be released.