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Valorant Patch Notes 4.04 : VALORANT Episode 4 Act II Patch Notes Update
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.
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
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Shrouded Step
- Cost decreased 150 >>> 100
- Pre teleport delay decreased 1s >>> 0.7s
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Paranoia
- Added forward spawn offset, so players adjacent to Omen are not hit
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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
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Stim Beacon
- Now also applies a 15% speed boost in addition to RapidFire.
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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.
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Gravity Well
- Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
- Gravity Well Size Decreased 525 >>> 475
- Gravity Well no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Gravity Well.
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Nova Pulse
- Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
- Nova Pulse no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Nova Pulse.
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Nebula
- Cooldown Increased 14 >>> 25
- Nebula cooldowns are now sequential instead of simultaneous
- Nebula size increased 410 >>> 475
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Snake Bite
- Duration decreased 6.5 >>> 5.5
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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!
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
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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
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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
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