Valorant Patch Notes Episode 3 Act 1 Update: Release Date, Bug Fixes, Agent Changes And Everything You Need To Know


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Valorant's next patch for Act 1 Episode 3 will go live on 22nd June, 2021.

We were invited to test the new agent KAY/O ahead of time, and Riot Games have revealed several changes and new elements coming to the game.

The official patch update will drop tomorrow, nonetheless, here is a list of all the expected changes coming in the Valorant Episode 3 Act 1 patch notes.

Read More: Valorant Patch Notes 2.07: Release Date, Agent Changes And Everything You Need To Know

Update Time

Valorant Episode 3 Act 1 update will go live at around 11:30 AM PT/ 7:30 PM BST/ 2:30 pm EST. Players can expect that the servers will be down for a while and matchmaking will be stopped before the update goes live.

Release Date

The update will go live on the 22nd of June 2021. The economy system in Valorant is about to change in a major way, and the developers hinted at this for a long time.

At the same time, the introduction of a new increment system of +/-50 will change how players strategize in the 5v5 tactical shooter.

Patch Notes 3.0

Here's what's we know is coming in the next update:

  • 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.

Agent Changes

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.
  • Unequip 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)

  • It 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.

Other than these major Agent changes, Riot Games has also introduced several weapon changes in the next Episode.

Weapon Changes

The weapons are also getting a balance change in the upcoming Valorant update. Here is a list of all the weapon changes:

ALL WEAPONS

  • Bullet tagging changed from 75% slow >>> 72.5% slow (“Tagging” is the slowing effect 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

Here’s some of what you can expect from our changes:

  • 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-coloured killfeeds in cases where kills would result in the same team colour 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.

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 players 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.

Players can get to know everything about the new Agent KAY/O here!

For more articles like this, take a look at our Valorant, PC Gaming, and Gaming News pages.