VALORANT Patch Notes 4.04

Jeff Landa

01/03/2022

This is the start of VALORANT Episode 4 Act II, the one focused on cleaning house. It starts with the promised Yoru overhaul, a reshaping of the Controller role, and a renovation to Icebox (don’t skip that Ascent update though).

The pure changes are listed below, but we have two special dev articles lined up that will dive deeper behind the changes and goals for the Controller Agent and Icebox updates.

Check out What’s New in Act II article for a look at the Community Battlepass and new skinline.

AGENT UPDATES

GENERAL

Improved the system used to place abilities at targeted ground locations. This update should make it easier to find valid placement locations in tight spaces. These are the abilities affected:
- Omen’s Shrouded Step
- Viper’s pit
- Chamber’s Trademark and Rendez-vous
- Every Killjoy ability
- Yoru’s Gatecrash
- Sage’s Barrier Orb

OMEN

As strategic diversity in VALORANT evolved, Omen has struggled to find his place within the meta. Many of you enjoy his gameplay loop, but have found it increasingly difficult to justify his selection in higher tiers of play. We want to increase his reliability as a Controller by rolling back a selection of early nerfs to Dark Cover, and sharpen his combat-focused abilities.

Dark Cover

Cooldown decreased 40s >>> 30s
Cost increased 100 >>> 150
Projectile Speed increased 2800 >>> 6400

Shrouded Step

Cost decreased 150 >>> 100
Pre teleport delay decreased 1s >>> 0.7s

Paranoia

Added forward spawn offset, so players adjacent to Omen are not hit

BRIMSTONE

Brimstone is in a healthy spot overall, but he wasn’t performing well in scenarios where we think he should excel. The limitations on his smoke deployment and his Stim Beacon’s versatility were leaving him too constrained. With these changes, we’re hoping Brimstone will be a competitive choice on a healthy portion of the map pool.

Sky Smoke

Deploy time decreased 2 >>> 1 second
Deploy radius increased 5000 >>> 5500
Smoke height increased to match other Controllers

Stim Beacon

Now also applies a 15% speed boost in addition to RapidFire.

ASTRA

With the mastery of Astra’s play patterns over time, she’s become an overwhelming force in both coordinated and high MMR play. She’s crowded out Brimstone and Omen by replicating their strengths and they simply couldn’t keep up with the map-wide impact of her utility. We’re taking steps to create clearer relative weaknesses in an attempt to carve more space for our other Controllers. This starts by reducing her overall utility output and increasing her ability cooldown , in the hopes that this will increase the importance of each move she makes. Paired with this, we’re taking the opportunity to provide some quality-of-life updates and bug fixes that we feel are long overdue.

Stars

Max Stars reduced 5 >>> 4
Cooldown on retrieving a Star increased 14 >>> 25
Astra can now pick up placed Stars during the Buy Phase to refund their charge immediately.
Max distance of Star Placement increased 10000 >>> 30000 to allow her to place Stars across the furthest corners of maps.

Gravity Well

Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
Gravity Well Size Decreased 525 >>> 475
Gravity Well no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Gravity Well.

Nova Pulse

Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
Nova Pulse no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Nova Pulse.

Nebula

Cooldown Increased 14 >>> 25
Nebula cooldowns are now sequential instead of simultaneous
Nebula size increased 410 >>> 475

Astral Form

While in Astral form, pings are no longer blocked by level geometry that Astra cannot see
Astra’s targeting ring in Astral form is reduced to one ring that reflects the now unified size of all her utility
Astra’s targeting ring no longer randomly disappears when aiming across some map locations
Increased the speed of the overlay that covers Astra’s screen when transitioning in and out of Astral form
Fixed an issue where Stars were placed slightly above the location Astra was targeting.

VIPER

We like Viper’s hybrid Controller/Sentinel role on the roster, really. But her buffs and our newest map additions have turned her into a must-have Controller and best-in-class Sentinel in more situations than we think a dual-role Agent should fill. With the below changes, we hope to create stark decision points on when Viper should manage her fuel as well as provide clearer counterplay opportunities and attack windows for her enemies.

Fuel

Fuel drain increased 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
Viper’s fuel bar now turns red when she does not have enough fuel to activate her abilities.

Toxic Screen

Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8
Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
Toxic Screen now has yellow lights that indicate when it is on cooldown
Removed delay on Toxic Screen disabling when Viper is suppressed.
Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.

Poison Cloud

Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8.
Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
Poison Orb now has a yellow light to indicate when it is on cooldown.
Removed delay on Poison Orb disabling when Viper is suppressed.
Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.

Snake Bite

Duration decreased 6.5 >>> 5.5

YORU

Yoru is here with a few more tools in his belt, ready to Gatecrash his way back into your hearts (WHO WROTE THIS?) Fakeout is now a mirror image of Yoru and should help with adding a way to punish deceived enemies. Gatecrash’s teleport beacon—now with the ability to fake the teleport cues—will allow Yoru to create pressure around the map, confusing enemies as they second guess their backline safety. Dimensional Drift now gives Yoru full vision and access to his utility, allowing him to take space with his team while creating pressure on the backlines. We’re happy to be able to lean heavy into Yoru’s deception fantasy and are excited to see him back in your hands!

If you want some background on how we got here, read our previous breakdown.

Fakeout

Charges reduced from 2 >>> 1
Decoy HP: 150
Decoy is now a full running version of Yoru and can only be sent running forward
Right -click to place a stationary marker for the decoy
- Reactivate similarly to footsteps to create the decoy that runs forward
Upon taking damage from an enemy gun, the decoy winds up, turns towards the enemy that shot it, and explodes after a short delay.
- Enemies within the cone are flashed

Gatecrash

Charges increased from 1 >>> 2
Cost: 200 Credits
Cooldown charge refresh removed, switched back to 2-kill reset
Gatecrash can be faked by pressing F, while hovering over the beacon
- Fake teleport will play audio and portal visuals as if Yoru is attempting to teleport.
Time it takes for teleport beacon has decreased 1.5 >>> 0.5 seconds
Teleport beacon’s in-game audio while traveling reduced 22.5m>>>12.5m
Teleport beacon’s speed has been increased 675 >>> 800
Upon activating a fake teleport, the beacon creates a small decal on the floor for 30 seconds to indicate location of the fake teleport

Dimensional Drift

Duration increased 8 >>> 10 seconds
Yoru is not revealed to enemies
Unequip delay time increased 0.6 >>> 1.2 seconds
Yoru is now able to cast all utility out of his ultimate
Yoru’s footsteps can now be heard within 15m of Yoru’s location
Cast delay added upon casting Dimensional Drift, preventing the invulnerability frame on cast

MAP UPDATES

ASCENT

B orb can now be taken from the lower box (previously, you had to double jump up to the box to get it)

ICEBOX

This set of Icebox updates are focused around B Site and adjusting some of the problem spaces throughout the map. Stay tuned for an upcoming article where map designer Joey Simas dives deeper into these changes and what we hope to see from Icebox in the near future.

B Green

Changes to B “Green” lane are focused on improving attacker options and making the space more comfortable to play in.

Before

After

Doorway from Attacker spawn building near Green lane moved to the first cubby. This is to give attackers a new way to approach B Green instead of having to enter from two similar positions.

Before

After

Green lane slightly widened. This is to make moving through this space more comfortable.

Before

After

Pocket in Green lane near Yellow extended. This is to make angles toward B Site and Snowman more clear and readable.

B Site Rework

The B Site rework is focused on adding more importance to controlling the site when attacking and making engagements around the site more manageable.

Before

After

Yellow container adjusted and new stack of crates added. As players have settled into Icebox we’ve noticed a lot of rounds revolve around anchoring down behind yellow during post plant situations. This change should allow Yellow to retain some power while adding more value to holding space on the actual site.

Before

After

Lower container removed and geometry adjusted into a cubby facing Green. Doorway on the upper container widened and it’s position adjusted. This should allow players to better isolate fights around the site and make utility usable more meaningful.

Before

After

Outer wall on B site and crane structure brought in toward the site. Narrowing the site allows for more controllers to comfortably use their utility without having to worry about gaps.

Before

After

Building in Back B closed off. We want to encourage attackers to push further and hold more space. Closing off this building should allow players to better anchor themselves in Snowman. It should also better highlight using B Fence to cut off rotations.

Before

After

Plant zone on B site adjusted. This change is to encourage more spike plant diversity while retaining some safer defaults to work with. You can now also plant on the bridge from kitchen to upper container as well.

Mid

The changes to mid are aimed at adjusting lines of sight and making these spaces more comfortable to play in.

Before

After

Back wall in Kitchen adjusted. This change should help moving through this space feel more comfortable and allow players to more easily clear this space.

Before

After

Crates added to Orange lane to block line of sight from under tube to danger.

Before

After

Boiler ramp geo simplified and slightly narrowed. Smokes will now fully cover Boiler and players should find head peaks from ramp more predictable.

A Site

A Site can feel overwhelming for defenders so these changes should give them some new options and allow them to better isolate Attacker angles.

Before

After

Cover on back A site adjusted. This change should give Defenders a little extra space to anchor on.

Before

After

Head peek on attacker side pipes removed. Where Attackers can peak from on A Site can feel overwhelming. This change should allow Defenders to better isolate where threats can come from.

Before

After

Doorway into A lowered to prevent foot shot on players on top of screens.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

Introducing initial testing of a new “deterministic map system” in LATAM. The goal of this system is to increase the variety of maps that players will encounter. If there are no issues, we plan to activate this system (explained below) for all regions within the next few days/week. Although this is LATAM region only, we are including it here as a heads up if we decide to expand. Stay tuned to the official VALORANT channels for updates.

Deterministic map selection follows 3 rules when picking a map, after players have been selected to play a match.
The system will look at all maps players have played over the last 5 maps for that mode.
The system will remove any maps that a player has played twice in the past 5 maps.
The system will pick the least played map.
- If all maps have been removed due to the “Twice Played” rule, those maps will be added back to the pool and the least played map will be picked.

BUGS

Agents

Fixed issue where enemies wouldn’t trigger Cypher’s Trapwire in rare situations
Fixed the boom not showing up for Astra if planted while in Astral Form
Fixed a bug where Viper’s Toxic Screen audio could play in the next round if it is activated right on round end
Fixed Yoru’s Gatecrash icon showing up as a big white circle on Brimstone’s targeting map
Fixed a bug where Chamber’s teleport would sometimes fail when cast immediately after firing the last bullet of Headhunter
Fixed a bug where Chamber’s Tour de Force would inconsistently spawn slow zones when firing at KAY/O during NULL/CMD

Social

Fixed an issue with AFKs in Escalation game mode

Esports Features

Fixed a bug where the timer would overlap itself while viewing the megamap as an observer

Game Systems

Fixed an issue where you could tap the scroll wheel to activate the defuse audio without actually initiating a defuse.