All the VALORANT Updates From Patch 1.03

The VALORANT devs have released the patch notes for version 1.03, and there are some pretty juicy mode and weapon updates, amongst other QOL changes.

The first of these updates comes in the form of the Guardian weapon, whose price is now reduced from 2700 to 2500. This discount comes with its own price, however, as the rate of fire has been reduced to 4.75 (from 6.5). But, never fear Guardian-lovers, the penetration power has increased from Medium to Heavy.

The VALORANT devs had this to say on the Guardian changes: 

We hope these changes will sharpen the Guardian’s identity as a long-range, versatile weapon, with its heavy penetration values and lower price providing some more nuanced choice competition to the rifle category of the arsenal.

Along with the Guardian changes, the VALORANT team have also changed up the maps.

Haven

• Removed spot where Spike was unable to be retrieved once dropped.

All Maps

• Fixed multiple spots where players were able to clip inside level geometry
• Removed more locations where Sova’s sensor arrow was able to go through walls

Click to enlarge

Spike Rush has also received some changes in VALORANT patch 1.03.

•  New Orb: Twin Hunters
  •  Capturing the orb releases two hunting wolves to track down the two nearest enemies (from orb location, they will not change targets after spawning).
    • Wolves speed up when they spot an enemy and dash at them when close, slowing and near-sighting for 4 seconds upon impact.
    • Wolves have 150 HP and can be damaged
    • Wolves will time out at 15 seconds, or when their target is killed

•  Split: Orb Location
  • Mid defender side orb has been moved onto the mid platform to make it slightly less defender favoured

There have also been changes to the Surrender Option. Unrated Mode vote requirements to pass have been changed from 100% to 80%, while Competitive Mode vote requirements to pass remains at 100%.

You can now call a surrender vote starting with round 5 versus round 8, and a new button in the in-game menu has been added to call a surrender vote.

The devs stated their reasons for these changes to Surrender:

We know it can be at times challenging to get a surrender vote to pass given it has historically required a unanimous vote. For Unrated Mode, which is meant to be lower stakes than Competitive (no rank on the line), we have made adjustments so if the vast majority of the team wants to surrender (80%) they can now opt-out of that match and find a fairer fight sooner.

 For Competitive Mode we plan to keep the vote requirement as unanimous because surrendering has an impact on your rank (all unplayed rounds count as loss credit), we want to make sure the team is in full agreement before a decision is made that will negatively impact a player’s rank. We’ve also slightly reduced the minimum rounds needed to be played so that if players have a particularly bad start, they can opt-out of that match earlier

Read the full patch notes here.

 

Images via Riot Games