Valorant April Fools 4.1 Update and New Drip Spray

Leave it to Riot Games to get into the April Fools’ Day spirit with a classic video game prank. VALORANT’s developers released a tongue-in-cheek teaser for the game’s nonexistent 4.1 update, promising a bunch of ridiculous new features. While it’s all an elaborate joke, there is one real reward for those who logged in on April 1st – a free new spray to add to your collection.

VALORANT 4.1 Update: What a Cruel Joke!

The fake VALORANT 4.1 update trailer advertised some absolutely wild (and absolutely fake) new gameplay additions, including:

Agent Ability Swaps

• Chamber gets Harbor’s High Tide ability 
• Neon inherits Skye’s Guiding Light
• Deadlock wields Gekko’s Wingman 
• Raze controls Breach’s Fault Line

New Eyewash Stations on Maps

To help you “avoid flashes” from enemy abilities and utilities.

Deception Detection System

Players will be muted for full rounds if they lie about being blinded or provide other false information about what happened to them.

On paper, these bogus new features sound equal parts amazing and absolutely chaotic. Can you imagine the mayhem of Raze cooking up a Fault Line instead of her trademark cluster grenades? Or a cheeky Chamber player trying to bamboozle foes with aggressive lurks using High Tide’s water mobility? The mind reels at the possibilities.

The trailer’s closing line seals the joke: “If you don’t like the changes, keep it to yourself.” A true prankster’s mentality from the VALORANT team.

New Free “Drip” Spray for All Players

While VALORANT update 4.1 is clearly a trabajo (look it up if you don’t hablen español), Riot didn’t leave players completely empty-handed. To commemorate the April Fools’Day prank, they added a brand new spray to the game called “New Drip” and gave it away for free to all players who logged in on April 1st, 2024.  

The New Drip spray depicts a confused-looking Chamber cradling what appears to be Harbor’s High Tide ability in his hands. An amusing visual gag that ties into the mythical ability swap conceit behind the fake 4.1 update.

To claim your free New Drip spray, all you had to do was open up the VALORANT client on April 1st. The new spray should automatically appear in your accessories collection for you to equip to your spray wheel. Just be aware the New Drip spray is limited to use in pre/post-round phases only.

Sprays have become an integral part of VALORANT’s gameplay communication and psychological warfare metagame. Having good ones equipped to hit enemies with well-timed taunts or deliciously disrespectful corpse sprays is a must for any top player. While just a bit of free cosmetic flair, it’s still a nice little bonus treat from Riot.

Well Played, VALORANT Devs – You Got Us Good!

At the end of April Fools’ Day, you’ve got to tip your hat to the VALORANT developers. The 4.1 update trailer prank was exceptionally well executed, delivering just the right blend of anticipation and absurdity.

For a few fleeting moments, there were probably droves of players watching the video and getting momentarily hyped about these insane-sounding new “features.” Deception Detection automatically muting liars? Moving eyewash stations to cure flashes? It’s such an amusingly over-the-top concept that it hooks you before you realize you’re being had.

Even the 4.1 version number itself should have been a dead giveaway that shenanigans were afoot. Releasing that particular numbered update on the one day a year where games, companies and general mischief-makers love to troll their fan bases? Come on, we should’ve seen that coming!

But hey, we’re all about having a bit of fun here. The VALORANT devs succeeded in getting more than a few laughs out of their player base with this April Fools’ prank. And they threw us all a bone with the free New Drip spray just for joining in on the joke.  

After months of grinding through the typical online shooter slog of toxicity and try-hards, it’s awfully refreshing when a dev team reminds you not to take things so seriously all the time. Even if it’s just for one silly day of pranks, VALORANT’s devs pulled off a pretty great gag that’s sure to be remembered for april1sts to come!