Valorant update 3.0 patch notes introduce Episode 3, adjust all Agents

The Valorant version 3.0 patch notes are here, and bring major changes to the FPS.

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Valorant Episode 3 Act 1 begins today, adding the new Agent, KAY/O, as well as a new Battle Pass. There is also a long list of changes to existing Agents and weapons, so let’s not waste anymore time and jump right into the Valorant update 3.0 patch notes


Valorant update 3.0 patch notes

All Agents

  • Signature abilities now only provide a minimum of one charge per round instead of
    accumulating a charge every round.
    • For example, if you have a two charge signature ability and you end the round
      with one charge remaining, you will not gain an additional charge
  • Charges gained from cooldowns are now always temporary
    Visibility returns faster during the fadeout period of all flashes

Astra

Nova Pulse (Q)

  • Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25

Gravity Well (C)

  • Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25

Stars/Astral Form (X)

  • Stars are now inactive when placed during the buy phase
    • When the barriers drop, her Stars charge for 1.4 seconds before becoming active
      and usable.
  • On Attack, Astra can now see the Spike’s location in Astral form
    This representation does not animate so it will not provide additional info on the
    status of the Spike.
    Recall cooldown increased 8 >>> 15
    Granted signature charges decreased 2 >>> 1
    Star cost decreased 200 >>>150

Breach

Flashpoint (Q)

  • Total charges reduced 3 >>> 2
  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250
  • Projectile speed decreased 2500 >>>2000

Fault Line (E)

  • Full charge time decreased 1.5 >>> 1 second
  • Width increased 600 >>> 750
  • Telegraph windup time decreased 1.3 >>> 1
  • Concussion duration increased 3 >>> 3.5
  • Unequip time after firing decreased 1 >>> .7
  • Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

After Shock (C)

  • Now explodes 3 times with each blast dealing 60 damage with no fall off, blasts are .6
    seconds apart
  • Explosion radius increased 260 >>> 300
  • Unuequip time after firing decreased 1.1 >>> .9 seconds
  • Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Rolling Thunder (X)

  • Width of all explosions increased to 2300, which was the previous width of the final
    explosion

Brimstone

Incendiary (Q)

  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Cypher

Neural Theft (X)

  • Ultimate points required decreased 7 >>> 6

Jett

Updraft (Q)

  • Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Tailwind (E)

  • No longer breaks Cypher’s Trapwire

Cloudburst (C)

  • Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Bladestorm (X)

  • Ultimate points required increased 6 >>> 7

Killjoy

Alarmbot (Q)

  • Cooldown after pickup increased 7 >>> 20

Turret (E)

  • Cooldown after pickup increased 10 >>> 20

Omen

Paranoia (Q)

  • Cost decreased 400 >>> 300

Dark Cover (E)

  • Granted signature charges reduced 2 >>> 1
  • Omen now must buy his second smoke for 100
  • Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40
    Shrouded Step (C)
  • Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Phoenix

Curveball (Q)

  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Raze

Model Update

  • Model has been updated with a polish pass

Boombot (C)

  • Cost increased 200 >>> 400

Showstopper (X)

  • Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Reyna

Leer (C)

  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Sage

Slow Orb (Q)

  • Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Barrier Orb (C)

  • Cost increased 300 >>> 400

Resurrection (X)

  • Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Skye

Trailblazer (Q)

  • Vision radius increased 1750 >>> 2250
  • Max concussion duration increased 3 >>> 4
  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250

Guiding Light (E)

  • Charges reduced 3 >>> 2
  • Charges are now replenished on a 40-second cooldown
  • Skye no longer needs to re-equip to trigger her flash
  • Guiding Light’s projectile now goes around corners tighter when free flying and is more
    responsive to guiding
  • Audio attenuation when cast reduced 3250 >>> 1250
  • Cost of charges increased 100 >>> 250

Sova

Shock Dart (Q)

  • Cost increased 100 >>> 150

Recon Bolt (E)

  • Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

Owl Drone (C)

  • Cost increased 300 >>> 400

Hunter’s Fury (X)

  • Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8

Viper

Snakebite (C)

  • Duration reduced 8 >>> 6.5
  • Outer edges of Viper’s acid patch form faster to ensure it is lethal if an enemy sits in the
    entire duration
  • Cost increased 100 >>> 200

Yoru

Blindside (Q)

  • Cost increased 200 >>> 250
    Gatecrash (E)
  • Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

Weapon updates

All weapons

  • Bullet tagging changed from 75% slow >>> 72.5% slow
    • “Tagging” is the slowing ef ect you feel when hit by bullets
  • Weapon Deadzones changed from 30% >>> 27.5%
    • “Deadzone” in VALORANT refers to the movement speed a player becomes
      inaccurate

All rifles

  • Walking inaccuracy changed from 1.3 >>> 2.0
  • Running unchanged at 5.0

All heavies

  • Walking Inaccuracy changed from .5 >>> 2.4
  • Running unchanged at 6.0
    ALL SMGs
  • Walking inaccuracy changed from .3 >>> 1.0
  • Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 2.5

Classic

  • Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .84
  • Running inaccuracy changed from 1.5 >>> 2.1

Frenzy

  • Price decreased 500 >>> 450
  • Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .8
  • Running inaccuracy changed from 1.0 >>> 2.0

Ghost

  • Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .92
  • Running Inaccuracy changed from 1.85 >>> 2.3

Sheriff

  • Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> 1.2
  • Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 3.0

Judge

  • Price increased 1600 >>> 1850
  • Damage falloff at 10m changed from 13 per pellet >>> 10 per pellet
  • Damage falloff at 15m changed from 10 per pellet >>> 7 per pellet

Bulldog

  • Hip-fire (full auto mode) firing rate increased from 9.15 RPS >>> 9.5 RPS
  • Price decreased 2100 >>> 2050

Shorty

  • Price decreased 200 >>> 150

Stinger

  • Price decreased 1100 >>> 950

Bucky

  • Price decreased 900 >>> 850

Marshal

  • Price decreased 1000 >>> 950

Ares

  • Price decreased 1600 >>> 1550

Operator

  • Price decreased from 5000 >>> 4700

Competitive Updates

  • Reduced the possibility of feeling “hard stuck” on older accounts. If your skill improves,
    your rank should properly reflect that, regardless of account age.
  • Matchmaking accuracy will improve across all ranks, which should lead to a smoother
    ranked climb and reduce how hard you may swing up and down in rank
  • While winning games is still the most important factor, individual performance will also
    be accounted for to improve matchmaking at Immortal+
    • This should result in better matches at the highest levels.
  • Close games will have a smaller effect on rank rating gains and losses
  • Adjusted our Rank Rating curves, so climbing (or falling) should feel less volatile
  • Updated Rank distribution
  • Placements raised to Diamond 1
    • This should help reduce the grind for our players at the top

Performance Updates

Players with medium to high spec machines (CPU bound systems) may see up to 6%
performance improvements as a result of the following work:

  • Improved clipping plane calculations using multithreading
  • Improved thread utilization across multiple cores for distributed tasks
  • Optimized camera calculations
  • Optimized ambient audio for each map
  • General optimizations for all ability animations

Social Updates

  • Hover Cards have been added to the social panel
    • Hover over your friends list to quickly learn more about the players you have
      added. Rank, Account Level, Riot ID, friend note, title, Player Card, and more!
  • You can now invite to party with Riot ID in custom games

Gameplay Technology

Killfeed

  • Your kills will get an additional highlighted border to make them stand out
  • Kill assists will also be shown to the left of the killfeed entries
  • The killfeed will also display a highlighted border for your assist portrait
  • The killfeed will display certain ultimate abilities when players on either team are killed
    in a second-life state or revived
    • For example: Sage’s player resurrection or Phoenix’s death during his Run It
      Back ability.
  • Added multi-colored killfeeds in cases where kills would result in the same team color
    appearing side by side
    “Round Rollback” feature for Tournament Mode Custom Games
  • This feature allows you to set the game back to the start of a previous round and re-play
    the game starting from there
  • To enable the feature, go to “Options” while setting up a Custom Game and toggle “On”
    Tournament Mode
    • Moderators can activate a rollback
    • If Cheats are enabled as a Custom Game option, all players can activate a
      rollback.
  • During the match, the Round Rollback feature can be found in the “Cheats” section of the
    Menu.
  • Added the ability to toggle on and off the outer crosshair lines!
  • Adjusted assist timings and thresholds for utility-based assists to make them more
    consistent across different Agent abilities.

Progression Updates

  • Year One Event Pass—this is similar to a Battlepass but it's completely free
    • This will be active for the duration of Patch 3.0 and will only last till 3.01 goes live.
      So remember to get your goodie bag before the party ends.
  • Added a Squad Boost: You will get extra XP when you play in a premade group.
    • +8% boost for one additional player, +12% for two, +16% for three, and +20% for a
      full squad.
    • This will also be active for the duration of 3.0.
  • We’re also permanently adding Account Leveling
    • Your account Player Card will now display a numeric level based on how much you
      play.
    • In addition to that, you will also be boosted to a certain level based on how many
      games you’ve played before Patch 3.0.
    • For more details, check out our full breakdown.

Bugs

Agents

  • Characters blocked by Sage’s Barrier Orb when resurrected now break the wall to ensure
    they don’t get pushed inside map geo
  • Fixed Skye’s Seekers showing up on the minimap even when they aren’t visible to an
    enemy
  • Fixed Viper’s ultimate not showing as active on the team UI when Viper’s Pit is up
  • Fixed bug where Cypher’s Spy Camera could be placed inside the map on mid Icebox
  • Fixed a bug where Reyna’s Dismiss ability could not be rebought if the Buy Menu is
    closed and reopened during the same Buy Phase
  • Fixed a bug where cancelling Sova’s Hunter’s Fury while charging the shot allows player
    to skip unequip animation by equipping a weapon, ability, or Spike
  • Fixed a bug where picking up Cypher’s TrapWires/Cages and Killjoy’s Nano Swarms
    during the Buy phase would prevent you from purchasing a second charge
    Competitive
  • Fixed a bug that was causing a delay in recent Competitive game’s Ranked Rating
    updates in Match History
  • Fixed a Career screen visual bug that would show up for those who dropped out of
    Immortal
  • Fixed a bug that caused a friend’s career to infinitely load
    Social
  • Fixed a bug where friends' names were merging together in the social panel when
    interacting with them, jumbling them together at times. Word scramble no longer!
    Content Support
  • Fixed an issue causing a hitch when viewing skins in the Collection
    Gameplay Technology
  • Fixed a bug where the inner crosshair toggle feature wasn't working
  • Fixed a bug where AOE kills were not rewarding the appropriate character if the enemy
    was in a debuffed state
  • Fixed a bug where the Spike icon pulse and beeping sound were not in sync
  • Fixed a bug where Ally defuse progress bar sometimes fails to appear
  • Fixed a bug where Observer’s Killfeed has no team colors
  • Reverted our fix for the “swirly arms” in the last patch, since it was causing significant
    animation snapping

Those are the full patch notes for Valorant update 3.0, as shared by Riot Games. Stick with Shacknews for everything you need to know about Valorant.

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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