The third act of Valorant arrives TODAY and we couldn't be more excited for it!
By now, most of you have seen the brand new agent 'Skye' who will be releasing later this month.
And what better way to usher in a new era of Valorant? With a new map, the icey venue is called 'Icebox'.
Here is everything we know about Valorant's Episode 1 Act 3 and all the details regarding it.
Read all about Episode 1 Act 2 right here:
- Latest News
- What Is Act 3?
- Release Date
- Patch Notes
- New Agent
- Weapons
- Price
- Maps
- Battle Pass Rewards And Weapon Skins
- How Long Is Act 3?
- Ranked
Latest News
Battle Pass Trailer - 13th October
Ranked Will Be Disabled After New Update - 13th October
Valorant has already found one (rare) audio bug (on all maps) but wants to get Icebox testing as soon as possible.
The update is shipping with ranked entirely OFF, beginning with NA/BR/LATAM in at roughly 2pm BST (downtime at 6am PT, back up around 9-10am PT).
Icebox 3 Months Early? - 10th October
It appears the new map Icebox has released three months ahead of when Riot initially planned in releasing it.
They have noted the following in a statement captured by Dexerto:
“We are always listening to feedback from our players and strive to surprise and delight where we can. We take community requests seriously and do everything in our power to provide our players with the best experience possible,”
“By releasing Icebox in a beta state on October 13, we allow players to join us in our efforts to make this map competition ready,”
Agent Confirmed - 8th October
That's it, folks, Skye has been confirmed!
Check out her abilities here, and the trailer for the new Australian agent below.
Agent Leak - 7th October
The new agent along with some of the battle pass skins got revealed late tonight.
Check it out here or below!
New Agent May Not Release At The Start Of The Next Act - 7th October
@ValorLeaks has claimed that the next agent will NOT release at the start of ACT 3. Instead, the agent will release during ACT 3.
New Map Revealed - 7th October
Icebox is the new stage coming to Valorant in the next act!
Select Preferred Server - 6th October
According to @ValorLeaks, you will be able to select your preferred server for matchmaking
Next Agent Leaked, Mobile and Console Versions Coming? - 30th September
A data miner has found references to an Agent in the game's files, with their codename being "Stealth" and their abilities linked to invisibility.
That's not all, as new code suggests both console and mobile ports are in the works.
Find out more here.
What Is Act 3?
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 2takes roughly 100 hours to complete - meaning we can expect the next act to be the same.
When Is Valorant's Episode 1 Act 3 Release Date?
The official Valorant Twitter account has already announced when downtime will be.
This is done a month in advance, so players know exactly when the new Act will release.
Along with the release date, players will be able to queue up until 4:30 AM PDT on the 13th!
Episode 1 Act 3 will release at the following times on October 13:
- NA/LATAM/BR - 6 AM PDT
- Korea/APAC - 2 PM PDT
- EU - 8 PM PDT.
Patch Notes
Here are the official patch notes:
Map Updates
Icebox
- Brand new map to Valorant
- Will release in a 'beta' state for at least two weeks
- Early in the patch, players queuing for Unrated will more often get placed on Icebox
- Ascenders (Ropes) / Ziplines
- Acceleration adjusted to prevent sudden shifts in direction (this was added last patch but wasn’t in the patch notes because well, you might start asking about ziplines)
- Added weapon tagging when shot while on Ascenders
Ascent
- Vision Cones accuracy improved for Ascent
Bind
- Vision Cones accuracy improved for Bind
Haven, Split may also be updated in this patch
Competitive Updates
Competitive Act II will end with Patch 1.10 and roll into the start of Act III.
Progress towards your Act Rank for Act II will be saved and you'll be put back into placement matches for Act III.
Competitive players will receive their Act Rank Badge for Act II and can start making progress on their badge for Act III.
The centre of your Act Rank Badge is your ninth-best ranked win, but you’ll also be able to see your highest rank achieved at the top of the badge.
The badge displays only for Competitive games and is displayed on the player card in: Competitive lobbies, map load, in-game combat report, and End-of-Game: MVP.
Other updates include:
- You can now select your preferred server(s), increasing the chance you will play on a server you want.
- Rank disparity for parties capped at 3 tiers (from 6).
- Immortal+ ranked changes will only be impacted by winning and losing and the decisiveness of the game outcome (how many rounds won or lost by) and not factor individual performance into the calculation
Mode Updates
Deathmatch
- Increased player count from 10 to 14 players
- Updated spawning algorithm to encourage safer spawns
- Removed periodic location pulse, and you’ll now only receive a pulse right when you respawn
- Increased match length, first to 40 kills (was 30), time limit upped to 9 minutes (was 6)
- Kill Reloads: On every kill, players get an automatic, immediate full reload of their active weapon (Ares & Odin get 30 bullets back)
- XP gain increased from 500 to 900 XP
Quality Of Life
- The Battlepass now has upgrade Variants for the Surge skin line, including the free track Surge Sheriff
- Minimap performance increased
- Tournament mode enabled custom games can now fit up to 12 observers
- Requested guns can now be sold back to the shop, doing so will refund the player who fulfilled the request
- Observer can now hold walk when in freecam mode to reduce speed (fast and slow speed can be configured in settings menu)
- In-world pings are now team-colored for observers
- Reyna and Phoenix ult timers correctly update for observers
- The keybind text in the current spectate target widget has been removed for observers
- Flashed indicator for observers has been updated with new art
- Crosshair setting added that allows crosshair colors to be locked to team color for observers
- Players no longer get stuck trying to descend vent ropes while walking (leaving A-Tower)
- Added new modifier keybind for observers to jump straight to freecam when jumping to a player (left shift by default)
- Plant/defuse progress UI is now always visible to observers, and includes which player is taking the action
- Observer player no longer see player-specific hud indicators (e.g. taking damage indicator) when in freecam
- Ability timers now work for dead / spectating players & observers (e.g. reyna & phoenix ult durations)
Social Updates
- Players will now be able to add and view friend notes. Notes from League of Legends will transfer over to VALORANT as well. Players will be able to edit these notes from VALORANT
- Social panel will now pause sorting for a short time while you’re interacting with it
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a Shooting Range bug in the plant/defuse module in the shooting range where players couldn’t buy abilities
- Various Shooting Range UI bug fixes in the plant/defuse module, including incorrect text in the buy phase announcement, also adding a halfway tick to the defuse progress bar
- Fixed a bug where other players’ messages would be forcefully filtered out of chat after you sent a message
- Fixed a bug where the text box would not fade away in game
New Agent - Skye
New Agent Skye has some incredible new abilities.
- Trailblazer (Q) - Summon a controllable Wolf that can concuss and damage enemies by pressing Fire when active.
- Guiding Light (E) - Send a Hawk forward or around corners, with the ability to flash enemies it encounters by pressing E again.
- Regrowth (C) - Heal allies in proximity, but does not heal Skye. Reusable until depleted.
- Seekers (Ultimate Ability - X) - Send out a trio of seekers that find enemies and nearsight them.
New Weapons
We do not know if Riot plans on adding any game-breaking weapons for the release of Act 3.
However, we can suspect some buffs and nerfs to certain weapons in the current loot pool for sure!
Price
The Premium version of Act 3 will cost 1,000 Valorant Points.
Maps
The map is going to be called 'Icebox' and as the name suggests it is based around an icy location and it looks to be one of the best maps so far.
You can check out the full showcase here or below are some images of the new map.
Battle Pass Rewards And Weapon Skins
- Gun Buddies
- Ice Cream Cone
- Pumpkin
- Rose
- Squirrel holding a grenade
- Crab in a bin
- Potato
- Disco Ball
- Sprays
- Weapon Skins
- Serenity
- Surge
- Ruin (instant unlock)
- Variants
How Long Is Act 3?
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
Riot has recently added the FFA Deathmatch game mode.
This is one of the must-have modes for any FPS, so it was a delight to see them add this.
For Act 3 we cannot see them adding any more game modes, but you never know!
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.
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