Valorant update 9.11 patch notes: Massive Neon nerfs, Vyse buff, more

Valorant devs have finally confirmed the Neon nerfs for patch 9.11, alongside a major change to how pings interact with smoke, and a Vyse buff.

For a while now, Neon has been one of the most annoying Agents to come up against in Valorant. Her slides have especially been overpowered, causing headaches whenever she opens up a site.

Riot themselves admitted she was broken back in November, confirming that a patch would be coming to bring Neon back in line with the power of other Agents. Patch 9.10 came and went without those changes, but Riot confirmed that she’d be tweaked in her own update – Patch 9.11 – on December.

Well, now the time has come for said patch, and as Riot announced, there are some pretty significant changes in store.

Neon nerfs in 9.11 update

So, how exactly is Neon being nerfed? As Riot previously explained, “First up, her slides. They’re a bit too powerful right now. We want ability usage to feel intentional, but we found that Neon having two slides allows her to engage in combat, and have a get out of jail free card.”

As a result, Neon will only have one slide charge moving forward. On top of that, the cost of her ultimate has also been increased to 8 points.

“These changes are intended to require Neon to play more intentionally as Neon’s abilities are highly reactive and impactful and should require more strategic use than they currently do,” Riot said.

So, in summary, these are the Neon nerfs:

• 1 slide charge (was 2)
• Reduced accuracy when sliding (now similar to crouch walking)
• Tighter ultimate timing
• Increased ultimate cost to 8 points

Smoke Ping changes

Another big change in the update will be how pings interact with smoke. Now, instead of passing through the smoke, the smoke will act as a barrier, like a wall, against the ping, stopping it at its edge.

Additionally, pings placed by using the map won’t show up “in world”, and will have a slightly different sound.

Riot Games

You won’t be able to ping through smokes anymore.

Vyse buff

Another previously confirmed change was the buff to Vyse’s Razorvine. Riot had been vague about this previously, describing the changes only as a “quality of life pass” for the Agent.

The damage per tick of the Razorvine has been increased from six to 10 and it will slow players in the same way that Sage’s Slowing Orb does. So, that’s a nice little touch up.

You can find the full patch notes for the 9.11 update below.

Valorant 9.11 patch notes

AGENT UPDATES

ALL PLATFORMS

Neon

We’re reducing the power of Neon’s High Gear and Overdrive. These changes are intended to require Neon to play more intentionally as Neon’s abilities are highly reactive and impactful and should require more strategic use than they currently do.

• High Gear

1. We believe Neon’s slide is correctly positioned as an aggressive combat tool, but making a call around when to cast should be more important than it is currently, and that she should pay more of a cost when she slides.
2. Additionally, we want to sharpen the slide as a close-quarters combat tool to reward Neon for sprinting up to her opponents rather than consistently beaming opponents at long ranges.
3. Slides 2 >>> 1
4. Accuracy during slide: Full accuracy >>> Crouch-walking accuracy

• OVERDRIVE

1. We want to increase counterplay for Overdrive—giving opponents a potential window to stall Neon out or disengage. The amount of average round impact with her ultimate also justifies an 8 point cost.
2. Duration of ultimate: 20s >>> 10s
3. Ultimate points 7 >>> 8

Vyse

• Razorvine

1. We want to increase Razorvine’s ability to hold space as well as clean up some unclear gameplay situations where Razorvines that land on high objects could affect opponents with poor visual feedback.
2. Damage per tick of moving through Razorvine: 6 >>> 10
3. Vertical drop spawn height: 450 >>> 300
4. This means Razorvine will no longer affect players as far under it when spawning high up on objects/level geometry
5. Now slows enemy dashes similar to Sage’s Slowing Orb and concusses.

• Arc Rose

1. Arc Rose is getting some minor quality of life updates that should make aggressing off its initial placement easier.
2. Equip speed after cast: Normal >>> Fast

CLIENT UPDATES

ALL PLATFORMS

• You can now upgrade your weapon skins in 5 seconds instead of 5 hours (lol)
• Added the ability to unlock multiple available skin levels in a single transaction.
• Variants will require a separate unlock.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

ALL PLATFORMS

• Ping System

1. The in-game ping system was created with the simple goal of allowing players to communicate with one another without using their mic. Over the years, unintended use cases of the ping system have emerged that give players in-the-moment combat advantages that go beyond the intended use of the system.
2. With that in mind, we’re making two changes to the ping system.
3. Smokes will block your in-world pings from traveling through them and instead land on the smoke.
4. Pings made on your map will no longer appear in the world and only display on the minimap.
5. To help you differentiate these ping behaviors in game we’re introducing new ping visuals and new ping sound for pings made on the map.
6. We’ll introduce a cheat function for allowing map pings to show in-world during custom games to aid labbing and lineups, but this will come in a future patch.

MODES UPDATES

ALL PLATFORMS

Team Deathmatch

1. The Regen Shield has been added to Team Deathmatch in Stage 1. When using the Classic in Stage 1 you will now have the Regen Shield instead of Light Armor.
2. Stage 1 Classic: Light Armor >>> Regen Shield

SOCIAL UPDATES

PC ONLY

• Updated the color of Party chat messages from Team chat messages.
• Updated the appearance of Party flags in the Social Panel.

BUG FIXES

Progression

ALL PLATFORMS

• Fixed a bug that incorrectly required 100 matches played to complete the Play A Match weekly mission.