Valorant is in the middle of its first episode, Episode 1: Ignition, with Act 1 coming to a conclusion. We're now entering Act 2 with update 1.05!
In a recent developer update, we were made aware of some new content coming soon. Despite a recent update, that brought many agent changes, we're expecting another big update to coincide with the Act 2 release.
Killjoy is the new agent that will feature in this new Act, running from late Summer into the fall of 2020.
Here is everything we know about Valorant's Episode 1 Act 2 and all the details regarding it.
Read all about Episode 1 Act 2 right here:
- Latest News
- What Is Act 2?
- Release Date
- Patch Notes
- New Agent
- Weapons
- Price
- Maps
- Battle Pass Rewards And Weapon Skins
- How Long Is Act 2?
- Ranked
Latest News
Patch 1.06 Coming This Week - 18th August
The next update, patch 1.06 arrives on Thursday 20th August.
Here's what we're expecting in the new update.
Act 2 Battle Pass - 4th August
Update 1.05 Patch Notes - 4th August
The patch notes for update 1.05 are now live for Valorant and you can check them out here.
The new patch is 1.3GB.
Act 2 Finally Announced, Launching Tomorrow - 3rd August
Act 2 lands tomorrow, folks, and it'll offer all kinds of goodies for players to earn. Check out the battle pass skin below.
The new Glitchpop skins look great, too, although these are premium cosmetics.
Riot Announce Killjoy Agent - 29th July
We now know that the new agent coming to Valorant Act 2 is Killjoy. Killjoy was teased all the way back in Act 1 in the Vetraulich Card!
What Is Act 2?
Every Act in Valorant marks the start of a new battle pass, with each Episode being made up of a number of acts.
Each act is broken up into 10 chapters, with each chapter containing five Premium tier rewards and a Free Chapter completion reward.
Each act contains a Premium version and a free version - all players have access to the free version, with the option to upgrade to the Premium Version at any time. The Premium Version will cost money but comes with better rewards.
All rewards that are unlocked are yours to keep forever, but if you fail to unlock them, you will not be able to get them again.
According to Valorant's Revenue Lead, Joe Lee, Act 1 takes roughly 100 hours to complete - meaning we can expect the next act to be the same.
When Is Valorant's Episode 1 Act 2 Release Date?
According to leaks, Episode 1 Act 2 will launch on the 4th August and end on the 13th October 2020.
Downtime will begin at 6am PST/14:00 BST and will last for 4 hours.
The current Valorant Act is set to end on August 2nd, 2020! This was confirmed in a developer update Twitter video posted by the official Valorant Twitter account.
Check out the full video below!
Executive Producer @RiotSuperCakes checking in from home on the launch of VALORANT and our future plans. Watch to learn more about what’s up next for VALORANT. pic.twitter.com/xPZ13gOQMS
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT)
June 29, 2020
Patch Notes
Patch Notes for update 1.05 are now live!
The new update is 1.3GB
KILLJOY
Killjoy has been added to the game as Act 2's featured agent.
A new contract has been added to unlock Killjoy.
RAZE
Showstopper
- Equip Time increased 1.1 >>> 1.4
- Quick Equip Time increased 0.5 >>> 0.7
- VFX reduced when firing rocket
- VFX on rocket’s trail slightly reduced
Blast Pack
- Damage decreased 75 >>> 50
- Damage to objects now consistently does 600
Competitive
- Act Ranks have been added to the game; read our deep dive for more.
- Patch 1.05 marks the end of Competitive Act I—Competitive Act II start
- Competitive matchmaking now will have a higher chance to match solo and solo/duo players against similarly sized premade groups at the cost of queue times being slightly longer
- Rank indicators have been modified on a loss to provide more granularity into how your rank was changed— You can now receive:
- Rating decreased slightly e (1 down arrow)
- Rating decreased (2 down arrows)
- Rating greatly decreased (3 down arrows)
- Match History will now show the rank you went into the match with for that game, versus the rank you ended the game with
- You can now view your friends career tab via the context menu in the social panel. This means you can see your friends rank, Act Rank, and Match History.
- Custom Games now allow the leader to select your target game pod location and see players ping to that game pod.
GAME MODES
Deathmatch
Deathmatch drops! Hop in to hone your gunplay mechanics or warm-up before you hit ranke
- 10-player free-for-all
- First to 30 kills with a time limit of 6 minutes
- No abilities
- You’ll load in as a random Agent that you own
- Buy whatever weapons you want; heavy armor is given to you automatically
- Killing enemies drops health kits: picking one up fully restores your health/armor AND automatically reloads your weapon.
- All enemies are periodically revealed on the minimap
- Deathmatch is in beta as we continue to evaluate game performance and stability. Availability will be limited to specific windows upon deployment of 1.05, with the first window starting Wednesday, August 5.
QUALITY OF LIFE
- Players who report other disruptive players will now receive an email if the reported player has been punished
- Arriving mid-patch: Your rotating store offers will stop including things you already own!
BUG FIXES
- Fixed issue causing Sova’s Owl Drone to rotate slower
- Fixed issue where Reyna did not get her full heal if it began right when her overheal started to decay
- Fixed nearsight not apply properly when going through smoke parts of Viper and Phoenix’s walls
- [1.04 Hotfix] Fixed a bug where Phoenix could plant the Spike off the bomb site if he finished planting after Run it Back ended
- Fixed a bug where ping in the scoreboard would not appear for Observers
- Fixed a bug where Phoenix could in rare cases begin to auto-defuse the Spike if he was defusing the Spike when Run it Back ended
- Fixed an exploit where spamming inspect with a macro could cause server lag
- Game modifiers/cheats now notify all-chat when any player toggles them
- General fixes to moderators, tournament mode, and game modifiers
- Fixed a minimap bug, where the minimap would not correctly rotate on side swap rounds, when using fixed minimap + rotate based on side settings
- Resolved inconsistencies and cleaned up UX with options present on the Match tab in the in-game settings screen
- Resolved issue with incorrect rank briefly, and possibly persisting, to show for players in Career tab
- Resolved issue where rating adjustment indicators would show on-hover in Agent Select
- Resolved issue where account # tag wasn’t correctly showing on-hover on the Match tab in the in-game settings screen
- Resolved issue where only one team was able to vote to surrender if both queued the vote at the same time
- Fixed a bug where it was possible to interact with the character selection UI through the Shooting Range loading screen
- When equipping a gun buddy, an unassigned buddy no longer gets selected
- Fixed a visual bug where the lobby would play an unwanted animation when a match is found
New Agent Killjoy
Confirmed during the video, we will be getting a total of six new Agents throughout the year. With a brand new one coming with the release of Act 2 in August.
They also posted a teaser image with the announcement of Act 2, which may allude to the design of the newest Agent.
We now know that the new agent coming to Valorant Act 2 is Killjoy. Killjoy was teased all the way back in Act 1 in the Vetraulich Card!
After many teases, she was finally announced last week and will arrive in the new act. Here abilities are as follows:
- Alarmbot - Equip a covert Alarmbot. FIRE to deploy a bot that hunts down enemies that get in range. After reaching its target, the bot explodes, applying Vulnerable. HOLD EQUIP to recall a deployed bot.
- Turret - Equip a Turret. FIRE to deploy a turret that fires at enemies in a 180-degree cone. HOLD EQUIP to recall the deployed turret.
- Nanoswarm - Equip a Nanoswarm grenade. FIRE to throw the grenade. Upon landing, the Nanoswarm goes covert. ACTIVATE the Nanoswarm to deploy a damaging swarm of nanobots.
- (Ultimate Ability) - Lockdown - Equip the Lockdown device. FIRE to deploy the device. After a long windup, the device Detains all enemies caught in the radius. The device can be destroyed by enemies.
By completing her Agent Contract, you will earn the following:
- Three sprays
- Two Titles
- One Gun Buddy
- One Player Card
- Killjoy Agent
Read More: Valorant: Killjoy Agent Guide - Abilities, Best Weapons, Equipment, Tips And Tricks
New Weapons
We do not know if Riot plans on adding any game-breaking weapons for the release of Act 2.
However, we can suspect some buffs and nerfs to certain weapons in the current loot pool for sure!
Price
The Premium version of Act 2 will cost 1,000 Valorant Points.
Maps
There are no maps coming as part of Act 2, which is a little disappointing.
Battle Pass Rewards And Weapon Skins
New Battle Pass Skins:
- POLYfox Set
- Red Alert Set
- Hivemind Set
Photo via @ValorLeaks
Player Cards:
Photo via @ValorLeaks
Sprays
Photo via @ValorLeaks
Gunbuddys
Photo via @ValorLeaks
How Long Is Act 2?
During the above developer update, Anna Donlon confirmed that each Act is going to last two months.
As well, there is going to be a total of 2 Episodes throughout the year; each spanning six months. With three Acts inside of each Episode!
New Mode
Free For All Deathmatch is coming on August 5, or at least in beta. The mode will be tested and tuned, with the potential for it to become a permanent mode in time!
Ranked
Riot has announced that there are some changes coming.
One of which will be Act Ranks, these will be a way for Riot to monitor/track players ranked progress at the end of an Act.
Act Ranks are displayed on player's profiles and will be commemorative badges/trophies.
The ranks have different types such as proven skill, this is decided by the nine top-ranked wins players get in an Act.
This means that if you get to diamond and win nine games but then drop ranks your proven skill will include the nine diamond wins.
