Valorant update 3.0 patch notes: Jett & Sage nerfs, price changes

Valorant patch 3.0 is set to alter the very fabric of Future Earth, especially in terms of the economy. We’ve got all the details here.

While the release of robotic Initiator Agent, KAY/O, has eclipsed a lot of the hype around the start of a new episode, it’s safe to say that Valorant Episode 3 packs as much of a punch as he does.

Riot have given players warning that the new chapter is going to shake up the game in ways we can’t imagine, with a “harsh” ranked reset already on the horizon.

That’s not all, though. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the biggest changes you can expect with Valorant Patch 3.0.

Riot Games

While KAY/O has sparked quite the hype, there’s a lot more coming in Episode 3.

New Agent KAY/O

KAY/O is set to release as part of the Valorant’s patch 3.0 update. The robot is a deployables expert, having every grenade and throwable possible at his disposal.

He can suppress enemies, flash them, blow them up, and even overload enemies and their utility to disable it. Not only that, but he can power himself up with some of his abilities, and has access to a revive on his ultimate.

For all of the info on this mechanical menace, check out our first impressions guide right here – including video footage of every ability.

Valorant Patch 3.0: weapon price changes

As we know, a lot of our favorite weapons have seen some pretty impressive price changes. With players now able to score Creds in batches of 50, getting guns like the infamous Operator is a lot easier.

Overall, most guns have been reduced by around 100-200 Creds. The odd one out is the Judge, which is getting upped from 1,600 to 1,850.

Riot Games

With Episode 3 comes a massive overhaul to the Valorant store.

Valorant Patch 3.0: Agent ability changes

In order to balance out the cost of weapons, though, Riot have also implemented some major changes to the cost of Agent abilities.

Across the board, almost every Agent will have their ability prices increased. 11 Agents will be nerfed, with only Skye, Cypher, and Astra escaping with either a break-even change or buffs. Killjoy was left untouched.

The Agent taking the biggest hit is Jett. She was impacted on two fronts: The cost of her Updraft, Cloudburst, and even Blade Storm ultimate were increased. However, the biggest change was to her Tailwind dash, which no longer breaks Cypher tripwires.

Riot Games

Jett is getting kneecapped hard in Valorant Episode 3.

All the other Duelists were also impacted in some way as Riot tries to influence the meta and push players further towards Sentinels and Controllers.

However, ultimately the changes mean there’ll be more focus on gunplay and less on abilities. With guns being cheaper and abilities being more expensive, players will have to choose between the two, and the firepower will likely reign supreme — even with the run-and-gun nerfs.

Valorant patch 3.0 notes

AGENT UPDATES 

ALL AGENTS 

• Signature abilities now only provide a minimum of one charge per round instead of accumulating a charge every round.
  • For example, if you have a two charge signature ability and you end the round with one charge remaining, you will not gain an additional charge
• Charges gained from cooldowns are now always temporary 
• Visibility returns faster during the fadeout period of all flashes 

ASTRA 

Nova Pulse (Q) 

• Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25 

Gravity Well (C) 

• Cooldown time increased 12 >>> 25 

Stars/Astral Form (X) 

• Stars are now inactive when placed during the buy phase
  • When the barriers drop, her Stars charge for 1.4 seconds before becoming active and usable.
• On Attack, Astra can now see the Spike’s location in Astral form
  • This representation does not animate so it will not provide additional info on the status of the Spike.
• Recall cooldown increased 8 >>> 15
• Granted signature charges decreased 2 >>> 1
• Star cost decreased 200 >>>150 

BREACH 

Flashpoint (Q) 

• Total charges reduced 3 >>> 2 
• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 
• Projectile speed decreased 2500 >>>2000 

Fault Line (E) 

• Full charge time decreased 1.5 >>> 1 second 
• Width increased 600 >>> 750 
• Telegraph windup time decreased 1.3 >>> 1 
• Concussion duration increased 3 >>> 3.5 
• Unequip time after firing decreased 1 >>> .7 
• Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40

After Shock (C) 

• Now explodes 3 times with each blast dealing 60 damage with no fall off, blasts are .6 seconds apart 
• Explosion radius increased 260 >>> 300 
• Unuequip time after firing decreased 1.1 >>> .9 seconds 
• Cost increased 100 >>> 200 

Rolling Thunder (X) 

• Width of all explosions increased to 2300, which was the previous width of the final explosion 

BRIMSTONE 

Incendiary (Q) 

• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 

CYPHER 

Neural Theft (X) 

• Ultimate points required decreased 7 >>> 6 

JETT 

Updraft (Q) 

• Cost increased 100 >>> 150 

Tailwind (E) 

• No longer breaks Cypher’s Trapwire 

Cloudburst (C) 

• Cost increased 100 >>> 200 

Bladestorm (X) 

• Ultimate points required increased 6 >>> 7 

KILLJOY 

Alarmbot (Q) 

• Cooldown after pickup increased 7 >>> 20 

Turret (E) 

• Cooldown after pickup increased 10 >>> 20 

OMEN 

Paranoia (Q) 

• Cost decreased 400 >>> 300 

Dark Cover (E) 

• Granted signature charges reduced 2 >>> 1
• Omen now must buy his second smoke for 100 
• Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40 

Shrouded Step (C) 

• Cost increased 100 >>> 150 

PHOENIX 

Curveball (Q) 

• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 

RAZE 

Model Update 

• Model has been updated with a polish pass 

Boombot (C) 

• Cost increased 200 >>> 400 

Showstopper (X) 

• Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8 

REYNA 

Leer (C) 

• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 

SAGE 

Slow Orb (Q) 

• Cost increased 100 >>> 200 

Barrier Orb (C) 

• Cost increased 300 >>> 400 

Resurrection (X) 

• Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8 

SKYE 

Trailblazer (Q) 

• Vision radius increased 1750 >>> 2250 
• Max concussion duration increased 3 >>> 4 
• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 

Guiding Light (E) 

• Charges reduced 3 >>> 2 
• Charges are now replenished on a 40-second cooldown
• Skye no longer needs to re-equip to trigger her flash
• Guiding Light’s projectile now goes around corners tighter when free flying and is more responsive to guiding 
• Audio attenuation when cast reduced 3250 >>> 1250 
• Cost of charges increased 100 >>> 250 

SOVA 

Shock Dart (Q) 

• Cost increased 100 >>> 150 

Recon Bolt (E) 

• Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40 

Owl Drone (C) 

• Cost increased 300 >>> 400 

Hunter’s Fury (X) 

• Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8 

VIPER 

Snakebite (C) 

• Duration reduced 8 >>> 6.5 
• Outer edges of Viper’s acid patch form faster to ensure it is lethal if an enemy sits in the entire duration 
• Cost increased 100 >>> 200 

YORU 

Blindside (Q) 

• Cost increased 200 >>> 250 

Gatecrash (E) 

• Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40 

WEAPON UPDATES 

ALL WEAPONS 

• Bullet tagging changed from 75% slow >>> 72.5% slow

• Weapon Deadzones changed from 30% >>> 27.5%

ALL RIFLES 

• Walking inaccuracy changed from 1.3 >>> 2.0 
• Running unchanged at 5.0

ALL HEAVIES 

• Walking Inaccuracy changed from .5 >>> 2.4 
• Running unchanged at 6.0 

ALL SMGs 

• Walking inaccuracy changed from .3 >>> 1.0 
• Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 2.5 

CLASSIC 

• Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .84 
• Running inaccuracy changed from 1.5 >>> 2.1 

FRENZY 

• Price decreased 500 >>> 450 
• Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .8 
• Running inaccuracy changed from 1.0 >>> 2.0 

GHOST 

• Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .92 
• Running Inaccuracy changed from 1.85 >>> 2.3 

SHERIFF 

• Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> 1.2 
• Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 3.0 

JUDGE 

• Price increased 1600 >>> 1850 
• Damage falloff at 10m changed from 13 per pellet >>> 10 per pellet
• Damage falloff at 15m changed from 10 per pellet >>> 7 per pellet 

BULLDOG 

• Hip-fire (full auto mode) firing rate increased from 9.15 RPS >>> 9.5 RPS
• Price decreased 2100 >>> 2050 

SHORTY 

• Price decreased 200 >>> 150 

STINGER 

• Price decreased 1100 >>> 950 

BUCKY

• Price decreased 900 >>> 850 

MARSHAL 

• Price decreased 1000 >>> 950 

ARES 

• Price decreased 1600 >>> 1550 

OPERATOR 

• Price decreased from 5000 >>> 4700 

COMPETITIVE UPDATES 

Here’s some of what you can expect from our changes: 

• Reduced the possibility of feeling “hard stuck” on older accounts. If your skill improves, your rank should properly reflect that, regardless of account age. 
• Matchmaking accuracy will improve across all ranks, which should lead to a smoother ranked climb and reduce how hard you may swing up and down in rank
• While winning games is still the most important factor, individual performance will also be accounted for to improve matchmaking at Immortal+
  • This should result in better matches at the highest levels.
• Close games will have a smaller effect on rank rating gains and losses
• Adjusted our Rank Rating curves, so climbing (or falling) should feel less volatile
• Updated Rank distribution
• Placements raised to Diamond 1

PERFORMANCE UPDATES 

Players with medium to high spec machines (CPU bound systems) may see up to 6% performance improvements as a result of the following work: 

• Improved clipping plane calculations using multithreading 
• Improved thread utilization across multiple cores for distributed tasks
• Optimized camera calculations 
• Optimized ambient audio for each map 
• General optimizations for all ability animations 

SOCIAL UPDATES 

• Hover Cards have been added to the social panel
• You can now invite to party with Riot ID in custom games 

GAMEPLAY TECHNOLOGY 

Killfeed 

• Your kills will get an additional highlighted border to make them stand out
• Kill assists will also be shown to the left of the killfeed entries 
• The killfeed will also display a highlighted border for your assist portrait
• The killfeed will display certain ultimate abilities when players on either team are killed in a second-life state or revived
  • For example: Sage’s player resurrection or Phoenix’s death during his Run It Back ability.
• Added multi-colored killfeeds in cases where kills would result in the same team color appearing side by side 

“Round Rollback” feature for Tournament Mode Custom Games

• This feature allows you to set the game back to the start of a previous round and re-play the game starting from there 
• To enable the feature, go to “Options” while setting up a Custom Game and toggle “On” Tournament Mode
  • Moderators can activate a rollback
  • If Cheats are enabled as a Custom Game option, all players can activate a rollback.
• During the match, the Round Rollback feature can be found in the “Cheats” section of the Menu.
• Added the ability to toggle on and off the outer crosshair lines!
• Adjusted assist timings and thresholds for utility-based assists to make them more consistent across different Agent abilities. 

PROGRESSION UPDATES 

• Year One Event Pass—this is similar to a Battlepass but it’s completely free ○ This will be active for the duration of Patch 3.0 and will only last till 3.01 goes live. So remember to get your goodie bag before the party ends. 
• Added a Squad Boost: You will get extra XP when you play in a premade group.
  •  +8% boost for one additional player, +12% for two, +16% for three, and +20% for a full squad.
  • This will also be active for the duration of 3.0.
• We’re also permanently adding Account Leveling
  • Your account Player Card will now display a numeric level based on how much you play.
  • In addition to that, you will also be boosted to a certain level based on how many games you’ve played before Patch 3.0.

BUGS 

Agents 

• Characters blocked by Sage’s Barrier Orb when resurrected now break the wall to ensure they don’t get pushed inside map geo 
• Fixed Skye’s Seekers showing up on the minimap even when they aren’t visible to an enemy 
• Fixed Viper’s ultimate not showing as active on the team UI when Viper’s Pit is up
• Fixed bug where Cypher’s Spy Camera could be placed inside the map on mid Icebox
• Fixed a bug where Reyna’s Dismiss ability could not be rebought if the Buy Menu is closed and reopened during the same Buy Phase 
• Fixed a bug where cancelling Sova’s Hunter’s Fury while charging the shot allows player to skip unequip animation by equipping a weapon, ability, or Spike 
• Fixed a bug where picking up Cypher’s TrapWires/Cages and Killjoy’s Nano Swarms during the Buy phase would prevent you from purchasing a second charge 

Competitive 

• Fixed a bug that was causing a delay in recent Competitive game’s Ranked Rating updates in Match History 
• Fixed a Career screen visual bug that would show up for those who dropped out of Immortal 
• Fixed a bug that caused a friend’s career to infinitely load 

Social 

• Fixed a bug where friends’ names were merging together in the social panel when interacting with them, jumbling them together at times. Word scramble no longer! 

Content Support 

• Fixed an issue causing a hitch when viewing skins in the Collection

Gameplay Technology 

• Fixed a bug where the inner crosshair toggle feature wasn’t working 
• Fixed a bug where AOE kills were not rewarding the appropriate character if the enemy was in a debuffed state 
• Fixed a bug where the Spike icon pulse and beeping sound were not in sync
• Fixed a bug where Ally defuse progress bar sometimes fails to appear
• Fixed a bug where Observer’s Killfeed has no team colors
• Reverted our fix for the “swirly arms” in the last patch, since it was causing significant animation snapping