Valorant patch 5.01 rundown

Valorant patches come few and far in between, but when they arrive, they always bring something new and fun.

Patch 5.01 is the first official patch after the fifth episode Dimension started and there are some major changes. For instance, the new map Pearl that was released at the start of the episode is finally entering the Competitive Queues. Up until now, players could try it out and queue up for it separately, like a different game mode. With more than a month of experience on live servers, Riot Games is finally putting it to the test in Ranked.

Agent changes

Agents in the Duelist role have been overlooked by players for quite some time now. The dominance that Jett and Chamber have over the offensive aspect of the game leaves the rest of the agent pool undesirable. Riot understood this and the mini rework to Yoru was aimed at fixing this issue. However, the issue still persists. That’s why in patch 5.01 Riot is buffing arguably the worst agent in the game, Phoenix, while Yoru is receiving small but potentially significant buffs.

Phoenix 

Since Beta, Phoenix’s versatile kit has allowed him to find success on all maps. But it’s becoming more and more evident that he is just getting power crept when you consider that his flash Curveball is the cornerstone of his kit. Skye’s flashes can be guided so they can be used for information gathering and KAY/O’s Pop Flash is the most broken ability for clearing corners. To offset this, the developers gave Phoenix a Flash that lasts longer — from 1,1 to 1,5 seconds. The windup on the Flash is also shorter now, going from 0,7 to 0,5.

Changes were also made to Phoenix’s wall. He can now bend it as he is casting it to cover more and better angles. Also, a nice quality of life change is that his weapon will now equip faster if he stops bending the wall. Another nice QoL change is on his ultimate, and he will now spawn on his marker with the same amount of shields he had before casting it.

Yoru 

The changes Yoru received in Act two of Episode four certainly helped him carve out a spot in the meta, but it wasn’t enough. The ultimate was made to last shorter but you could cast spells while in it. With this patch, Riot is increasing Yoru’s ultimate duration from 10 to 12 seconds. Also, they almost halved the unequip time from 1,2 to 0,8 seconds. Yoru players have been practicing animation cancels ever since the agent was released, so they must be excited about this change.

KAY/O 

The radius of KAY/O’s molly Fragment was reduced from 10m to 8m, mostly due to his pro-play presence. With the correct lineups and the amount of damage it did, it could destroy utility, prevent pushes and even kill cornered enemies. While it took a justified nerf, KAY/O’s molly also received a quality of life change that is a major buff. Namely, ever since KAY/O got added, his Molly would not damage enemies inside the radius if they weren’t in the line of sight of the grenade’s centre.

KAY/O’s Molly does no damage if you’re not in the line of sight of the center of the molly! from VALORANT

This bug made clearing corners a lot more frustrating because if enemies had a bit of cover to avoid the center, they wouldn’t take damage. Another QoL was done on his ultimate, so enemies now won’t be able to hear a teammate revive KAY/O. They will only get a small audio cue when it’s started, which can easily get lost in the chaos. This makes reviving your downed KAY/O a lot safer, and in turn, makes his ultimate more valuable. 

Bug fixes, Smurf Detection, Night Market, and new Skin Bundles

The new patch brought also some bug fixes, with Sova’s Shock Bolts now doing proper damage to utility. Fade’s Haunt ability will no longer reveal enemies on the other side of thin walls and the Raw Input Buffer setting now functions properly. Riot Games have also implemented a new Smurf Detection system, which is currently live only on the North American servers.

This change is designed to make sure players on new accounts, match up against players of their actual skill level much faster than before. Riot hasn’t announced it but it’s already been leaked that the Night Market will return and last from July 20 to August 2. The upcoming two skin bundles have also been leaked, Sarmad and Run it Back 3.

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