Patch description for Valorant 5.12. All about the event at the end of 2022, agent changes

06 Dec 2022 23:00

This is the last patch before the end of the year, and it will last quite a while (until patch 6.0 is introduced in January).

2022 RECALL EVENT PASS (DEC. 14 4PM PT – JAN. 4 4PM PT)

The year 2022 is coming to a close and that means it’s time for some year-end celebrations. So how about a free Event Pass? Look out for the Walis Tambo Gun Buddy, Fakeout Spray, two new Titles, and two new Player cards that are all nods to some truly great (and hilarious) 2022 moments. And the best part? All you need to do to earn these items is play VALORANT from Dec. 14 4PM PT to Jan. 4 4PM PT.

SQUAD BOOST (DEC. 14 4PM PT – JAN. 4 4PM PT)

Want to make memories and some friends? As a thank you for being part of our VALORANT community, from Dec. 14 4PM PT to Jan. 4 4PM PT, we’re giving you a little extra boost—earn up to 20% bonus match XP for games played in a group. So get some friends or just a buddy and earn some extra XP.

Duos get an 8% increase
Trios get a 12% increase
Party of 4? 16% increase
Full squads of 5 get the full 20% increase

SWIFTPLAY BETA (DEC. 6 – JAN. 10)

You wanted more shots and more reps, so we’re giving you Swiftplay, in Beta starting Dec. 6 through January 10, 2023.

Like your standard 5v5 Unrated mode, but condensed:

First to 5 rounds, 4-round half
Spike mode victory conditions
- Single Spike carrier
Set Credit amounts granted at the start of the round
- 800
- 2400*
  - Not including 600c bonus for winning pistol
- 4250
- 4250
Weapon and Credit carryover supported
+600 credit bonus for winning pistol round
Standard Kill bonuses (+200c) and Spike Plant bonuses (+300c)
2 Ult points granted at the start of each half
Sudden death overtime
Match time is approx. 15 minutes

Grab everyone you know and help us test out the Swiftplay Beta!

As an end-of-year celebration of our VALORANT players, pros, creators, and fans, we’ve teamed up with Crown Channel for a fun, digital livestream event on Dec. 16 that will be a celebratory lookback at the year.

Viewers on Twitch will get to watch and interact with an immersive experience that includes five differently themed activation areas relating to VALORANT and its community, a pro-am tournament, surprise special guests, and a music performance by Mike Dimes to close. Plus, people who tune in can gain access to exclusive giveaways (including one with Secretlab), claim VALORANT goodies with the Prime Gaming offer, and more.

Let’s party. Watch at twitch.tv/crown on Dec. 16 from 10AM to 3PM PT. Tune in early to catch the pre-show DJ set by Dabin.

GIVE BACK // 2022 BUNDLE (NOV. 16 – 30)

To say we’re overwhelmed by how many of you came out and bought the Give Back // 2022 Bundle, is an understatement. From Nov. 16–30, 50% of proceeds from weapon skins and 100% of proceeds from accessories in the Give Back // 2022 Bundle went towards the Riot Games Social Impact Fund in partnership with ImpactAssets.

Thank you for helping us make direct investments into global organizations aimed at solving some of the world’s most pressing issues.

NIGHT.MARKET (DEC. 7 4PM PT – JAN. 4 4PM PT)

What will your six skins be? On Dec. 7, the familiar Night.Market button will once again appear. All discounted. All unique weapon skins for you. Snatch up what you want by Jan. 4.

FLASHBACK (END OF YEAR)

Ever wonder if your most played Agent is the one you play best? Or how many headshots you landed in 2022? If so, be sure you’ve opted-in to receive VALORANT marketing emails by Dec. 26 because at the end of the year, we’ll be sending out your personalized #VALFlashback email with stats detailing all the cool stuff you achieved in 2022. Want bragging rights? Share the progress you’ve made in-game and your best/worst/craziest moments from 2022 on your socials.

AGENT UPDATES

With pro play heading into the offseason after the completion of an amazing Game Changers Championship, we’re taking the opportunity to hit some broad updates we’ve been looking to make along with individual Agent changes.

We’ve increased the point costs of the Agent Ultimates that have large, site-wide footprints. These changes should reduce their overall frequency and increase counterplay against them at the strategic level.

In addition to the Ult adjustments, we’ve also made a tuning pass on Agent ability economy. The areas targeted in this pass include: Total loadout cost outliers (for their respective role), Agents with lack of pistol round buy options, and unintended power relative to the cost of the ability.

To wrap up the broad updates, we’ve taken a pass at the HP of destructible objects in the game. Damage-over-time area abilities (like Brimstone’s Incindiary and Viper’s Snakebite) now damage enemy utility (read more in the Gameplay Systems Updates), so we’ve increased the health of 1hp destructibles so that they aren’t instantly vaporized—but can still be destroyed by one-shot in most situations. Also, Killjoy’s Lockdown gets a bigger health bump to reduce the number of abilities that can destroy it solo. Boombot and Prowlers on the other hand have felt like they require unloading too many bullets given their other strengths, so the health of those abilities have been reduced.

BREACH

Rolling Thunder (X)
- Ultimate Points increased 7 >>> 8

CHAMBER

Headhunter (Q)
- Updated Stability Curve
  - Spread increased after 2nd bullet, when spamming. This is explicitly meant to reduce low-precision body-shot spam as an effective combat measure at range.

Rendezvous (E)
- Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while inside its range
  - Radius increased 7.5m >>> 13m
- Removed teleport activation height restriction
  - You can teleport to the Anchor while on different verticality so long as you are within its radius.
- Increased weapon equip time after teleporting 0.4s >>> 0.7s
  - Headhunter is unaffected by this change
- Destroying Rendezvous teleport anchor now disables it for the remainder of the round, instead of being placed on a cooldown.
- Chamber no longer incurs an additional cooldown when recalling his Anchor after teleporting.
- Health decreased 80 >>> 50

Trademark (C)
- The trap is now range restricted
  - Trademark will disable when Chamber moves out of range, and reactivate once he is inside.
- Can now be recalled mid-round without line of sight
- 30s cooldown on recall
- Destruction remains permanent
- Initial Arm Time increased 2s >>> 4s
- Health Increased 1 >>> 20

Tour De Force (X)
- Fire rate decreased by 57.5%

Slow
- This applies to both Trademark and Tour De Force
  - Reduced duration 6s >>> 4s

CYPHER

Trapwire (C)
- Health increased 1 >>> 20

Valorant_2022_E4A3_Article_Divider_Fade_838x110_MB01.jpg

FADE

Prowler (C)
- Health decreased 100 >>> 60

VALORANT_2022_E5-3_Article_Divider_Harbor_838x110_MB01.jpg

HARBOR

We’re back again with small Harbor buffs. It is hard to learn a new Controller smoke style and we hope these changes make it easier for Harbor’s vision block to last long enough to finish executing with their team, while also providing wall smoke duration that’s on par with Viper. We’ll continue to monitor Harbor’s strength and see if we need to make any more waves. Chalo!

High Tide (E)
- Duration increased 12s >>> 15s

Cascade (C)
- Duration increased 5s >>> 7s

KAY/O

ZERO/POINT (E)
- Health increased 1 >>> 20

NULL/cmd (C)
- Ultimate points increased 7 >>> 8

KILLJOY

Lockdown (X)
- Health increased 150 >>> 200

Nanoswarm (C)
- Health increased 1 >>> 20

OMEN

Paranoia (Q)
- Cost decreased 300 >>> 250

PHOENIX

Blaze (C)
- Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

RAZE

Boom Bot (C)
- Health decreased 100 >>> 60

Blast Pack (Q)
- Health increased 1 >>> 20

SAGE

We’re looking to slightly refine Sage’s strengths to be more about fortifying areas she controls and helping allies, rather than offense-focused with her utility. We’re hoping the heal update will push her power and satisfaction when fully healing others while creating tradeoffs for playing Sage overly aggressive and relying on self-healing.

Barrier Orb (C)
- Fortify delay increased 3.0s >>> 3.3s

Healing Orb (E)
- Self heal total amount decreased 60HP >>> 30HP
- Ally heal total amount increased 60HP>>> 100HP

SOVA

Recon Bolt (E)
- Health increased 1 >>> 20

SKYE

Trailblazer (Q)
- Cost increased 250 >>> 300

Regrowth (C)
- Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

VIPER

We’re reeling in Viper’s ability to play outside of her ultimate’s smoke area. These changes will anchor Viper more to her ultimate and allow coordinated retakes against Viper’s Pit to be more successful.

Viper’s Pit (X)
- Smoke integrity regen time 5.0 >>> 25.0
- Max time out of smoke decreased 15.0 >>> 8.0
- Ultimate points required 7 >>> 8

YORU

Gatecrash (E)
- Health decreased 100 >>> 60
- Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

What’s that? Looks like several Agents are reviewing some important mission updates in The Range.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

ASSIST TAIL TUNING

Assist tails are the “grace period” duration after a debuff has expired where a player will still be awarded an assist for debuffing the killed target.

Concuss, Nearsight, Detained
- Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s
Exiting Smokes
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
Slow
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
Suppression
- Added new 3s assist tail

DAMAGE INTERACTION UPDATES

Abilities that output damage will now universally damage enemy objects that can be damaged. Exceptions are made for Skye Trailblazer & Cypher Trapwire that only deal damage to players.
- We want to ensure that abilities are interacting in a consistent manner across the board. We want you to spend time thinking about how to approach utility in-game, rather than wondering if you can in the first place.

BRIMSTONE

Incendiary now damages:
- Killjoy Nanoswarm
- Killjoy Alarmbot
- Killjoy Lockdown
- Cypher Trapwire
- Raze Blast Pack
- Sova Recon Bolt
- Reyna Leer
- Sage Barrier Orb
- KAY/O ZERO/POINT
- Chamber Trademark
- Chamber Rendezvous
- Fade Prowler
Orbital Strike now damages:
- Chamber Rendezvous