Valorant players will notice some changes when they log into the game today. Patch 5.07 is here, and with it comes some nerfs and buffs to four popular agents, as well as some major changes to the Fracture map.
Skye, KAY/O, Reyna, and Yoru are the four characters seeing some alterations this time around, with Riot determined to improve Duelists to handle one-vs-one scenarios better. The dev team also wants to make Initiators better in teamplay situations, opening up players to more possibilities.
Reyna’s Leer ability will no longer have a range restriction, and the nearsight unequip delay, wind-up, and duration have been majorly decreased. Yoru’s Flash has had a few visual updates, and Blindside will have a longer duration. For KAY/O, throwing overhand will trigger a longer flash, while throwing underhand will see a shorter flash duration. Sky’s Guiding Light can no longer be destroyed by enemies, making it better for use in teamplay.
Riot gave a statement on the changes. “These changes are intended to increase the total teamplay output of Skye and KAY/O when they coordinate plays with their teammates. When it comes to Duelists with a flash ability, many of them have been outclassed by some of our Initiators when it comes to generating kills for themselves off their flashes.”
See the full patch notes for 5.07 below. If you’d to see the changes made to the Fracture map visually, check out the images posted on the official website.
Agent Changes
Skye
- GUIDING LIGHT (E) flashbang scaling paradigm changed
- The max flash duration of Skye’s Guiding Light now scales from 1s to 2.25s over a .75s charge up after being cast
- Guiding Light can no longer be shot and destroyed
- New VFX, UI, and sounds added to communicate new gameplay intent
- Unequip Delay out of Guiding Light increased .75s >>> .85s
KAY/O
- FLASH/DRIVE (Q)
- Underhand (right-click) flashbang max duration decreased 2s>>>1.25s
- Overhand (left-click) flashbang max duration increased 2s>>>2.25s
- Unequip Delay out of both flashes increased .6s >>> .85s
Reyna
- LEER (C)
- Wind-up of nearsight effect decreased .6s >>> .4s
- Range Restriction on Leer removed
- Nearsight unequip delay decreased: .7 >>> .5
- Duration decreased 2.6s >>> 2.0s
Yoru
- BLINDSIDE (Q) duration increased 1.5s >>>1.75s
- Flash Visual Updates
- 3P visuals for flashed enemies and allies now render behind the player’s head the moment that the flash starts to fade. This should give a clearer indication if players are full flashed or if the flash has started to fade.
- 1P visuals when fully flashed now shrink overtime to give a better indication of when the full flash will end and the flash fading out will begin.
- Increased the window for awarding assists on flashes, nearsights and concusses from 1 >>> 3 seconds after the debuff starts to fade.
- We felt the assist window on these debuffs didn’t reflect their actual duration of impact, and want to make sure the supportive players are more often recognized and rewarded for setting up situations their teammates capitalize on.
Fracture map changes
Fracture is receiving quite a few quality-of-life changes alongside some larger updates to Dish/A Drop and A Ropes. Going to go in the order of minor to major changes.
- Arcade – Opened a cubby here to make it easier for Attacking side to hold against Defender aggression from both directions.
Progression updates
- Can now mark Favorites in Collection: These Favorites will persist for your account until you change them and allow you to filter down to the items that represent your style best.
- Weapon skins
- Player Cards
- Sprays
- Gun Buddies
- Account Level Borders
- Added ability to equip a “Random Favorite” for every weapon type
- Equipping this particular weapon will make it so that in each game you play,you get one of your favorite weapons (along with one of the variants you own) at random each time you enter a match.
- Added the ability to filter your Collection
- Weapon Skins
- Favorites / Non-Favorites
- Owned / Unowned
- Tiers
- Player Cards, Sprays, Gun Buddies, Level Borders
- Favorites / Non-Favorites
- Owned / Unowned
- Weapon Skins
Bug Fixes
Agents
- Fixed issue where KAY/O’s NULL/CMD disabled Killjoy’s Turret if the turret is hit by a pulse but Killjoy is not
- Fixed issue where Killjoy’s Turret fires straight forward after firing at an enemy and then losing sight of them
- Fixed issue where Killjoy’s Turret would fire with no target when coming online if it was disabled while firing at a target
- Fixed a bug where Phoenix would not automatically re-equip a weapon at the end of Run It Back
- Fixed Breach’s Rolling Thunder showing dead enemies hit in the combat report
- Fixed issue where if a player was deafened by multiple sources, when the first deafen ended it removed the deafening effect completely
Valorant is available to play for free on PC. A mobile version is currently in development.
