Big changes are coming to VALORANT in preparation for the new year.
Riot Games is known for releasing small but consistent updates for its games. VALORANT, in particular, receives its share of updates and bug fixes over a two-week cycle. However, this still depends on whether some glaring issues require fixing in the current patch.
VALORANT fans can typically expect big changes at the start of every new Episode. However, this time around the devs has released one of the biggest single patches to ever be released for VALORANT, which is why the whole community will probably be shocked to see these many changes coming in Patch 5.12.
We have outlined the biggest Agent, Weapons, and gameplay changes coming to VALORANT Patch 5.12 in this guide.
Patch 5.12 Meta Rework
In Patch 5.12, the devs zeroed in on almost every Agent’s utility in the upcoming patch, reworking most abilities and how they interact with other utilities in the game. (For example, Incendiary now damages Killjoy’s Nanoswarm and Sage’s Barrier Orb).
Abilities like KAY/0’s Zero Point, Cypher’s Trip Wire, Chamber’s Trademark, and Sova’s Recon Dart, just to name a few, are receiving HP buffs to make them more durable and less likely to be destroyed when hit by a random bullet or ability. Other changes include balance updates to Breach, Fade, Harbor, Chamber, Sage, Yoru, Skye, Killjoy, Omen, Phoenix, Raze, and Viper.
Finally, the devs have also updated the damage behavior of most abilities in-game, causing some abilities to deal less damage to non-player units and others to become completely immune to any type of utility damage.
Chamber Rework
The devs have nerfed Chamber twice in the last few months in an attempt to bring his dominance under control. Despite the nerfs, Chamber remains a top pick in high-level play and is even the most-picked Agent in the VALORANT Champions Tournament this year.
With Patch 5.12, Riot Games hopes to bring the offensive Sentinel back down to earth by slapping another set of nerfs to all of his abilities.
- Headhunter (Q)
- Updated Stability Curve
- Spread increased after 2nd bullet when spamming. This is explicitly meant to reduce low-precision body-show spam as an effective combat measure at range.
- Updated Stability Curve
- Rendezvous (E)
- Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while inside its range.
- Radius increased 7.5 >>> 13m
- Removed teleport activation height restriction.
- You can teleport to the Anchor while on different verticality so long as you are within its range.
- Increased weapon equip time after teleporting 0.4 >>> 0.7s.
- Headhunter is unaffected by this change.
- Destroying Rendezvous teleport anchor now disables it for the remainder of the round, instead of being placed on a cooldown.
- Chamber no longer incurs an additional cooldown when recalling his Anchor after teleporting.
- Health decreased 80 >>> 50.
- Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while inside its range.
- Trademark (C)
- The trap is now range restricted
- Trademark will disable when Chamber moves out of range, and reactivate once he is inside.
- Can now be recalled mid-round without line of sight.
- 30s cooldown on recall.
- Destruction remains permanent.
- Initial Arm Time increased 2s >>> 4s.
- Health Increased 1 >>> 20.
- The trap is now range restricted
- Tour de Force (X)
- Fire rate decreased by 57.5%
- Slow
- This applies to both Trademark and Tour de Force.
- Reduced duration 6s >>> 4s.
- This applies to both Trademark and Tour de Force.
Agent Abilities General Rework
The devs made big changes with regard to how players can interact with most placed utility in-game. Below is a full list of changes made to utilities such as Cypher’s Trapwire, Fade’s Prowler, Killjoy’s Nanoswarm, and more.
Agent | Agent Ability | Change Made |
---|---|---|
Breach | Rolling Thunder | Ultimate Points increased 7 >>> 8. |
Cypher | Trapwire | Health increased 1 >>> 20. |
Fade | Prowler | Health decreased 100 >>> 60. |
Harbor | a. High Tide b. Cascade | a. Duration Increased 12s >>> 15s. b. Duration increased 5s >>> 7s. |
KAY/0 | a. ZERO/POINT b. NULL/cmd | a. Health increased 1 >>> 20. b. Ultimate points increased 7 >>> 8. |
Killjoy | a. Lockdown b. Nanoswarm | a. Health increased 150 >>> 200. b. Health increased 1 >>> 20. |
Omen | Paranoia | Cost decreased 300 >>> 250. |
Phoenix | Blaze | Cost decreased 200 >>> 150. |
Raze | a. Boom Bot b. Blast Pack | a. Health decreased 100 >>> 60. b. Health increased 1 >>> 20. |
Sage | a. Barrier Orb b. Healing Orb | a. Fortify delay increased 3.0s >>> 3.3s. b. Self heal total amount decreased 60HP >>> 30HP. b1. Self heal total amount increased 60HP >>> 100 HP. |
Sova | Recon Bolt | Health increased 1 >>> 20. |
Skye | a. Trailblazer b. Regrowth | a. Cost increased 250 >>> 300. b. Cost decreased 200 >>> 150. |
Viper | Viper’s Pit | Smoke integrity regen time 5.0 >>> 25.0 Max time out of smoke decreased 15.0 >>> 8.0 Ultimate points required 7 >>> 8. |
Yoru | Gate Crash | Health decreased 100 >>> 60. Cost decreased 200 >>> 150. |
Gameplay Updates
Assist Tail Tuning
The devs have also updated the Assist Tail Tuning a.k.a. Assist Window where a player can still be awarded an assist for inflicting a debuff on enemies before they are finally killed.
Patch 5.12 improves the assist window for abilities that detain, inflict consuss, slow, or cause near sight. Exiting smokes also received an updated Assist Tail and the devs added a new assist tail for abilities that cause Suppression.
- Concussed, Nearsighted, Detained
- Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s.
- Exiting Smokes
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s.
- Slow
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s.
- Suppression
- Added new 3s assist tail.
Damage Interaction Updates
Brimstone, Phoenix, KAY/0, Killjoy, Raze, Sova, and Viper will also be receiving updates that change how their abilities interact with other utilities in the game.
Cypher’s Trapwire and Skye’s Trailblazer will only damage players.
Agent | Ability | Agent Abilities Affected by Damage |
---|---|---|
Brimstone | Incendiary | Killjoy Nanoswarm/Alarmbot/Lockdown Cypher Trapwire Raze Blastpack Sova Recon Bolt Reyna Leer Sage Barrier Orb KAY/0 Knife Chamber Trademark/Rendezvous Fade Prowler |
Phoenix | Hothands Blaze | Hothands Cypher Trapwire Killjoy Nanoswarm/Alarmbot/Lockdown Raze Blast Pack Reyna Leer Sage Barrier Orb Sova Recon Bolt Fade Prowler KAY/0 Knife Chamber Trademark/Rendezvous Blaze Cypher Trapwire Killjoy Nanoswarm/Alarmbot/Lockdown Raze Blast Pack Reyna Leer Sage Barrier Orb Sova Recon Bolt Fade Prowler KAY/0 KNIFE Yoru Fakeout Chamber Trademark/Rendezvous |
KAY/0 | FRAG/MENT ZERO/POINT | -KAY/0 now has a voiceover that tells his allies the number of enemies suppressed when the knife hits. – ZERO/POINT now damages Fade’s Prowler. |
Killjoy | Nanoswarm | Cypher Trapwire Killjoy Nanoswarm Killjoy Alarmbot Killjoy Lockdown Raze Blast Pack Reyna Leer Sage Barrier Orb Sova Recon Bolt Chamber Trademark/Rendezvous Fade Prowler KAY/0 Knife |
Raze | Blast Pack Paint Shells | Blast Pack now damages Fade’s Prowler Paint Shells now damages Fade’s Prowler. |
Sova | Shock Bolt Hunter’s Fury | Shock Bolt now damages Fade’s Prowler Hunter’s Fury now damages -Raze Satchel -Reyna Leer -Fade Prowler -Chamber Rendezvous |
Viper | Snakebite | Cypher Trapwire Killjoy Nanoswarm/Alarmbot/Lockdown Raze Blast Pack Reyna Leer Sage BVarrier Orb Skye Seekers Sova Recon Bolt Chamber Trademark/Rendezvous Fade Prowler KAY/0 Knife |
Damage Multiplier Updates
The devs also saw it fit to update the amount of damage some abilities deal to non-player units in-game. Some of the affected Agents include Breach, Brimstone, and KAY/0 among many others.
The updated damage curve falls within the VALORANT team’s intent to make utilities more resilient to random damage sources, and that “abilities with higher health, such as Sage Barrier Orb, retain their relevant impact.”
Agent | Ability | Damage Change To Non-player Units |
---|---|---|
Breach | Aftershock | Now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-player units. |
Brimstone | Incendiary | Now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-player units. |
KAY/0 | FRAG/MENT | Now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-player units. |
Killjoy | Nanoswarm | Now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-player units. |
Phoenix | Hot Hands | Now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-player units. |
Raze | Blast Pack Paint Shells Boom Bot | Blast Pack now deals 1200% >>> 250% damage to non-player units. Paint Shells now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-player units. Boom Bot now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-player units. |
Viper | Snake Bite | Now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-player units. |
Allied Damage Immunity
The devs are taking things further by giving a number of Agents and their abilities immunity from allied ability damage sources. Previously, abilities such as Sova’s Shock Dart can accidentally destroy his teammates’ placed utility such as Cypher’s Trapwire. This is no longer the case when Patch 5.12 drops this December.
Agent | Abilities Immune to Allied Damage |
---|---|
Chamber | Rendezvous Trademark |
Cypher | Spycam |
Fade | Prowler Haunt |
KAY/0 | ZERO/POINT |
Killjoy | Alarmbot Lockdown |
Raze | Blastpack Boom Bot |
Skye | Seekers Trailblazer |
Sova | Owl Drone Recon Bolt |
Yoru | Gatecrash Fakeout |
Weapons Update
The devs are once again updating the Spectre by adding a new damage range.
- 0-15m – 26 damage
- 15m-30m – 22 damage
- 30m+ – 20 damage
The new ranges will make the Spectre a more focused low-mid-range weapon and reduce its ability to deal significant damage above 15m.
For a full list of bug fixes, read the complete VALORANT PBE Patch notes here.
New Year’s Revolution
While the changes might seem small from a numbers perspective, the changes outlined in the recently concluded VALORANT PBE will shape the VALORANT meta now and for the foreseeable future.
The increased placed utility HP should make counterplays more intentional for all players from now on and make utilities more dangerous for all the Agents affected by the changes.