Riot Games has kicked off VALORANT’s V26 Act 4 with Patch 13.00, and it is one of the most content-packed updates in recent memory. The headline additions are the brand-new map Summit and a limited-time 3v3 Retake mode, but the patch also lands a class-wide buff to Sentinels, reduced Initiator cooldowns, a reworked Ranked Rating calculation, Bandit tuning, and a new in-client Inbox system. Here is everything changing as the new Act gets underway.
Sentinels get their biggest buff pass in months
Riot’s stated goal is to make Sentinels better at punishing attackers who lean on repeated, low-information five-player site hits, and at anchoring sites solo. The result is one of the largest Sentinel-focused balance passes VALORANT has seen recently.
Cypher’s Trapwire windup drops from 0.9s to 0.7s, making setups far harder to react to. Killjoy receives a triple buff: Turret fire rate up 50%, Nanoswarm duration extended from 4 to 5 seconds, and Alarmbot movement speed up 50%. Veto’s Interceptor reclaim cooldown is slashed from 30s to 20s, while Crosscut’s application radius grows from 24 to 30 meters and its arming time after setup is halved from 1.5s to 0.75s. Sage’s Healing Orb self-heal is doubled from 50 to 100 HP, and Deadlock’s GravNet cooldown drops from 60s to 50s. Together, these changes should make site anchoring meaningfully more viable.
Initiators get their cooldowns back
After Riot pushed Initiator signature cooldowns up to 60 seconds late last year to make each use more deliberate, Patch 13.00 partially reverses course. The signature cooldowns for Sova, Fade, Skye, Breach, and KAY/O all drop from 60s to 50s, and Gekko’s cooldown after reclaiming his creatures falls from 20s to 15s. Riot frames this as restoring late-round agency — in practice, roughly one extra flash or recon window per long round, which matters more than ever on an unfamiliar new map.
Summit enters competitive on day one
Summit is the new 5v5 Spike map, set in a Radiant training academy high in the mountains of China — and in VALORANT lore, the former monastery where Sage studied before joining the Protocol, a neat tie-in to her buffs this patch. The map runs two sites across three lanes, but its defining feature is a set of droppable walls. Shooting the node connected to a wall drops it permanently, cutting off that sightline for the rest of the round with no reset. The map you fight on in round 13 may look nothing like round 1.
Summit hits the Competitive queue immediately. For the first two weeks, RR losses on the map are reduced by 50%, while wins still award full RR — so experimenting carries far less risk than usual. A dedicated Summit Only queue, using the Swiftplay format, is also live for the first seven days to help players learn the layout.
Retake mode brings constant post-plant action
The new limited-time Retake mode is a fast 3v3 format built entirely around post-plant scenarios. Each round begins with the Spike already planted: one team defends the site while the other coordinates a retake under a ticking timer. Sides swap every round, and rounds end on team elimination, a defuse, or Spike detonation. First team to five rounds wins.
There is no economy — instead, players pick from loadout cards each round offering weapons, armor, and ability charges, with options escalating round over round. At launch, Retake uses single sites from Ascent, Bind, Haven, Summit, and Sunset, with each match played on one randomly selected site. It doubles as an excellent Summit warm-up for learning which walls matter on post-plant holds.
Map pool, ranked, and quality-of-life changes
The competitive shuffle sees Summit and Sunset added to Competitive and Deathmatch, with Fracture and Pearl rotating out. On the ranked side, Riot has adjusted RR calculations so consistent winners feel less “stuck,” and PC matchmaking now keeps average team ranks within one division more often.
Other updates include the first version of Inbox, a client hub for non-urgent notifications like gifts, Premier updates, RR refunds, and report feedback. Omen’s enemy Shrouded Step audio has been updated for clarity in chaotic rounds, and a batch of voice lines were refreshed, including new Sage and Viper interactions for Summit. The Bandit also gets consistency tuning — recovery down from 0.45 to 0.4, tap efficiency up from 3 to 4, and max vertical recoil down from 4 to 3 — making it more reliable outside pistol rounds. Rounding things out, Act 4’s premium cosmetic line is the sci-fi-meets-arcane Blackspyre bundle, spanning the Phantom, Sheriff, Spectre, Ares, and a new melee.
