Patch 5.08 is finally live, bringing the newest Agent, Harbor into the mix. The patch also includes changes to the Competitive Leaderboard, along with some gameplay, agent, and map bug fixes.
We have gone over all the changes Riot Games made in VALORANT Patch 5.08 in this guide.
Agent 20: Harbor
If the Official Gameplay Reveal for Harbor didn’t hype you up, we don’t know what will. Harbor brings a whole new dynamic to the Controller role in VALORANT with his defensive-minded kit that allows him to pave the way for his allies or shield them from incoming bullets.
Harbor brings his unmatched control over water to the battlefield, providing powerful cover for his allies or concussing geyser blasts to his foes.
High Tide (E)
High Tide is Harbor’s signature ability. Pressing FIRE will cause it to spawn in a straight line and holding FIRE will allow you to bend the water toward your desired direction. You can also cut the wall short by pressing ALT FIRE. All players hit by the water will be slowed.
High Tide is very similar to Phoenix’s Blaze where players can spawn a wall and curve it to maximize the amount of cover it provides. However, unlike Blaze, High Tide will pass through walls and objects, making it a very powerful wall ability that will let Harbor cut off a large amount of area around maps in VALORANT.
Cove (Q)
What’s better than a smoke cover? One that can block bullets. Harbor’s Cove is just that – a sphere of shielding water that will block bullets from all directions.
It is worth noting that the sphere has limited HP before it breaks and players hiding inside the Cove will still be susceptible to utility such as Sova’s Shock Dart. Nevertheless, Harbor’s Cove will definitely bring in a new dynamic in how both teams play around the Spike in post-plant and retake situations.
Cascade (C)
Cascade is another wall-type ability by Harbor. Upon use, Harbor will spawn a narrow but tall wall that moves forward and passes through walls. Enemy players hit by Cascade will be slowed. Cascade’s forward travel can be cut short by pressing the ability button early.
Cascade can be very useful for clearing out chunks of areas around bomb sites in VALORANT. Areas such as Breeze’s B-Backsite or A-Halls can easily be cleared out by Harbor’s Cascade ability, making it a great site-entry tool that can clear out key areas around bombsites with ease.
Reckoning (X)
Reckoning is Harbor’s Ultimate ability. By activating the full power of the Artifact, Harbor summons a geyser pool on the ground. The geysers will automatically target enemy team players around the area, causing them to become CONCUSSED when hit by the ability.
Reckoning can be very powerful for both site entry and post-plant situations in VALORANT. The auto-targeting nature of the geysers will force enemies to run away from the geyser’s area of effect, which can be useful when trying to weed out defenders from entire bombsites or for deterring a Spike defuse on post-plant.
Competitive Leaderboard Updates
For Patch 5.08, Riot Games have decided to limit the number of players that can appear in the Immortal leaderboards. This is done to address the sudden increase in the number of active Immortal players showing up in leaderboards in VALORANT.
The number of visible players on the Immortal leaderboards will be limited to:
- KR – 5000
- LATAM – 5000
- BR – 5000
- NA – 10,000
- AP – 10,000
- EU – 15,000
Bug Fixes
Agents
- Fixed an issue where friendly versions of area-damage abilities could overwrite enemy versions of those abilities to deal less damage.
- Fixed a bug where Viper’s Toxic Screen could have small gaps around the ground level in specific map locations.
Gameplay Updates
- Fixed various minimap bugs:
- Ally position indicators would persist on the edge of the minimap even after an ally came back into view.
- In some cases, KAY/O’s Suppression Blade position indicator could appear twice on the minimap.
- Opening the larger map (defaulted to Caps Lock and ‘M”) during the round transition could cause spawn barriers to appear as a single pixel.
- “Recently Seen Enemy” icon indicators could sometimes update their position without the enemy being visible.
Map Updates
- Fixed a sliver line of sight from A Main to A Link.
Skins
- Fixed an issue where the Spectrum Phantom silencer extended further than intended and has now shaved off some length so that it matches the base Phantom weapon model.
You can read the complete VALORANT 5.08 Patch Notes here.
