Apart from this, the update is expected to bring about overall performance improvement on high-end machines. The devs were also able to improve CPU bottlenecks in a few places across the code as well. The patch notes on the official Valorant website says,

“Lower spec machines may still benefit from some of these improvements but would only see the gains during combat.”

Map updates

The devs have modified several callout names on the maps to make them more convenient and easy to figure out. This one is a pretty helpful update for players who are new to the game. We all know the struggle of a novice not relating to the callout points on the map.

They have also fixed a major issue with Ascent, where weapons seemed to fall through the world, along with the issues of wall penetration.

 SAGE nerfed

It is not clear as to why the developers have nerfed SAGE‘s ability. The cast range of the Barrier Orb has been reduced from 20 meters to 10 meters. The patch notes say,

“As a Sentinel, Sage is supposed to be most effective when defending territory that she already controls. The 20m cast range was allowing Sage to aggressively take control of neutral territory in a way that was inappropriate for her role in Valorant. This range reduction aims to keep her strong while defending territory but reduce her efficacy at taking ground.”

It surely going to change the team gameplay strategies in Valorant since SAGE is pretty pivotal to a team as a sentinel and healer.

Valorant: Shroud Delivers His Judgement On Buffed Agents

New Orbs introduced

There are many new elements added to the game, and a bunch of fresh orbs is one of them.

Health Orb

This one might just balance out SAGE’s nerfed ability. The Health Orb will grant teammates instant full HP regeneration. This orb will have a 20s duration and recover 12HP per second.

Deception Orb

This one applies “Paranoia” to the enemy team 3 seconds after capture. During this, the enemy team’s vision is greatly reduced and minimap is disabled. The affected players hear fake footsteps and gunfire around them. It has a 10s debuff.

Golden Gun Orb

This one grants the capturing player a golden gun with one-shot-one-kill ability and perfect accuracy. This golden gun will have a single bullet in its chamber and two backup rounds and kills grant additional ammo.  While holding this gun, the agent can move at knife speed.

Along with this, devs have added a new pre-round HUD element that shows the weapon & potential orb types for the current round and players now get 1 ultimate point for collecting any orb.

Spike Rush Update

Each game of Spike Rush will now feature a set of 5 randomly selected orbs. The Full Ultimate orb will always be available. 4 of the remaining 7 orb types will be chosen randomly, and the chosen orb types will be shown in a description widget both in character select and during pre-round.

Along with this, devs have added multiple other improvements and bug fixes promising a smoother and better gameplay experience.