Riot Games Reveals When Icebox Is Going Live On VALORANT Ranked
Winter is coming as Riot Games has revealed when the new VALORANT Icebox map will be going live in Ranked. News of a snow-themed map started doing the rounds a few weeks ago, but with Act III officially underway, VALORANT players have got their winter warmers on and are trying out a brand new locale.
It's safe to say Icebox has been given the cold shoulder by some, but despite a lukewarm reception, developers have fast-tracked it into Ranked.
Even though fans had to act surprised when Icebox came to VALORANT, it wasn't a case of simply opening up a new winter wonderland and tossing players in. Releasing a brand-new map to the competitive circuit of Ranked wouldn't have been fair thanks to it being unfamiliar territory. As Riot bided its time, we were allowed to get to grips with Icebox ahead of it hitting the mainstream.
When is Icebox coming to ranked?
VALORANT is taking the training wheels off the snowmobile and getting ready to set Icebox to live in Ranked and open up it to a competitive playerbase on October 27. A Tweet from the developers was a double drop info as it confirmed Icebox will be hitting Ranked in just seven days. Added to this, the team confirmed that now Icebox has been road-tested, it will no longer be favored in level selection for Unranked, Deathmatch, and Spike Rush.
Do players like Ranked?
While it should've been great news that Icebox is coming to Ranked, not everyone was impressed. Even though we've got a full week to traverse the terrain, there were complaints Icebox isn't ready for Ranked. There's no escaping the fact it's a particularly hard map to learn.
Icebox has definitely lived up to the hype that VALORANT would bring something new to Act III. It's the right balance of open spaces putting you in harm's way and vertical terrain that can make finding campers especially hard. As we head for the skies, Icebox's vertical perks mean it's the perfect map for those who favour playing as Jett, Omen, and Raze.
With a Ranked reveal just days away, critics will be jumping on the glitch bandwagon. As with any new map, Icebox was plagued by bugs. Namely, the Kitchen became a hotbed for game-breaking glitches as Omen could teleport off the map and players found they could place Killjoy's turret under the terrain.
The Killjoy turret exploit previously popped up in Act II, but this time, it couldn't be destroyed. Hopefully, the Riot devs are hard at work ironing out those final kinks before Icebox rolls into Ranked on October 27.
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Images via Riot Games
