Valorant's player base has been waiting for the competitive ranked mode and it has finally arrived.
Patch 1.02 is here and it brings a multitude of changes to both agents, UI and the game itself.
Here's a rundown of the key information from update 1.02.
Agents
Viper
- Toxic Screen now burns through walls, placing emitters at all valid locations (e.g., the ground) over its length
- Poison Orb activation cooldown increased :: .5s >>> 6s
Jett
- Blade Storm now refreshes when used to kill Phoenix during Run It Back.
Reyna
- Soul Orbs are now spawned when Reyna kills Phoenix during Run It Back.
Cypher
- Fixed an issue where Spycam blocked Spike defusal
- 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
Smoke Tuning
- Adjusted tuning around screen effects when exiting and entering smokes
- Decreased blind “falloff” value
- Decreased nearsighted intensity
Weapon Updates
Bucky (right-click)
- Crouch-walking accuracy: 3.45 >>> 4.1
- Walk accuracy 6.4 >>> 4.4
- Run Accuracy 3.5 >>> 6.4
Competitive Mode Update
- Competitive Mode will be made available during this patch
- Updated rank iconography.
- New name for top rank: Radiant
- Expanded skill disparity range for playing with friends in rank placements
Map Updates
A number of locations have been adjusted:
Haven
- Garage Doors
- Entrance to C Long on Attacker Side
- Cover in A Lobby restructured to open up the space which allows for additional sight lines and traversal options
- C Link
- A Link
- The Entrance to A Sewer and the bottom of A Sewer
Ascent
- Defender spawn entrance
- Attacker side of A Main (Including a self-boost to gain an additional angle to peek A Main as an attacker)
- Garden entrance
Bind
- A Bath entrance
- B Teleporter Exit and B Window entrance
Split
- Defender Spawn
Hud and UI
- All main sections views now have a “back” button in the upper left to return to the Home view (pressing Escape is also supported)
- All details views (gun details, players cards, match details, etc.) have been converted to use the same back button in the upper left instead of a close button in the upper right
- Small popup dialogs still use the close button in the upper right where appropriate
- Slide-out options menu removed from the logo button in upper left
- New options button added to upper right, which opens the menu with Settings, Support, About, Leave Match, and Exit to Desktop buttons
- Circle progress elements for Battlepass and active contract removed from navigation; missions element remains throughout the experience
- Navigation reordered to accommodate the changes
- Exit to desktop flow converted to a single button with a popup that allows a player to exit or sign out and exit.
- Note that the Leave Match button is now displayed all the time, but will be locked in cases where leaving a match is not allowed. Previously the button was missing completely when leaving was not allowed, which looked like a bug rather than a restriction.
- Added a setting that allows players to always display the inventory in the lower right of the HUD
- Added a new HUD element that tells you when you haven't been spawned in due to being AFK
Contract and Agents Section
- Moved Agents section out from under Collection to make it easier to find and to provide a home for contract progress in the nav
- Added small progress bar below text that shows progress for current level of the active contract
- Hovering Agents in the nav shows a “peek” of upcoming contract rewards
- Clicking Agents goes to the Agents section, and clicking the contract flyout navigates to Agents and opens the associated contract details
- Removed secondary navigation from Collection view since Agents no longer lives there and the navigation is no longer needed
Battlepass
- Added Battlepass text button in the nav to make it easier to find
- Added small progress bar below text that shows progress for current level of the pass
- Hovering Battlepass in the nav shows a “peek” flyout of upcoming pass rewards
- Clicking either goes to a new Battlepass section
This patch brings a number of new and exciting changes to Valorant.
It will be interesting to see how the community finds the ranked system and the different tiers.
Good luck in the competitive mode, for further details visit the Valorant website.