Killjoy’s rise to the top is short-lived.
Patch 6.03 is finally here, and with it comes a surprise nerf for Killjoy and Raze, Swiftplay news, and a slew of Bug Fixes.
We have outlined everything you need to know about Patch 6.03 in this guide.
Killjoy and Raze Nerf
As easy as it is to demand the devs to nerf certain Agents or Weapons, players need to understand how delicate gameplay balancing is in a highly competitive game such as VALORANT. For example, one small change to one Agent can unexpectedly cause another to rise through the rankings even without receiving direct buffs to their kit.
Killjoy Turret and Lockdown Nerf
Riot Games hit the last nail in Chamber’s coffin back in Patch 5.12, which ultimately ended the overpowered Sentinel’s reign for good. Unfortunately, the fall of one Agent will cause another to take up the gaping hole it has left in the meta.
Chamber’s demise fueled Killjoy’s brief yet unexpected dominance in the past few months, which saw the German Agent rise to the top of win rate charts on most maps in VALORANT; an impressive feat for an Agent who has not received any significant buffs in recent patches.
With that in mind, the devs saw it fit to slap Killjoy with nerfs to stop her from becoming an Agent that possesses too much map control similar to how Chamber did before his nerfs.
- Turret health decreased 125 >>> 100
- Dev Note: “Reducing the total health of the Turret will allow for opponents to have an easier time destroying it, particularly with weaker weapons.
- Lockdown point cost increased 7 >>> 8.
- Dev Note: ” We’re happy with Killjoy’s Ult being powerful when opponents don’t have a plan to push or contest it, but feel the frequency is too high for the reliability it now offers.
Raze Boom Bot Nerf
Raze’s Boom Bot allows her to clear a large amount of space on many maps in VALORANT without having to put herself at risk. As such, it does not possess the intentionality that the devs want to see from most Agents’ abilities moving forward.
- Boom Bot duration decreased 10s >>> 5s.
This change is very similar to the Sova Drone duration nerf a few patches back, as it forces Raze and her teammates to play around the Boom Bot to maximize its effectiveness.
Gameplay Updates
- Adjusted the Firing Error graph to use worst case error represented as degrees from the ai direction. The graph now reports the worst case error degrees of a possible bullet vector-before it didn’t account for the generation of the actual error vector.
- Introduced a new setting “Operator (Hold)” which allows those of you in Toggle Mode to hold Secondary Fire to go to Level 2 zoom. (Pre-Patch 6.0 zoom behavior).
- Restored weapon zoom to pre-Patch 6.0 behavior when transitioning from weapon equip to Zoom/Aim Down Sights.
Swiftplay and Social Updates
The devs have decided to keep Swiftplay in the game as a permanent playable game mode moving forward. However, the devs promise to keep an eye on the game mode and introduce changes whenever they find the opportunity to do so.
As for Social Updates, Patch 6.03 marks the debut of Real Time Text Evaluation for NA servers.
Bug Fixes
- Adjusted Sage, Neon, Jett, and Yoru’s hair heights to fit within out standardized vertical range.
- AI (such as Skye’s Seekers) will now travel through the crouch-only connection on Pearl near the Defender’s spawn area.
- Fixed a bug where KAY/O would sometimes be able to move after being downed during NULL/cmd
- Fixed a bug on Fracture where a player could fall off and die if two players ride the zipline at the same time.
- Fixed a bug where disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times in a round could cause a door on any map to incorrectly appear open or shut.
- Fixed a bug where rapidly spamming the Marshall’s zoom button could cause the score to get stuck cycling in and out.
You can read the full VALORANT Patch Notes 6.03 here.
