As the time of the much-anticipated Valorant Act 3 release draws near, the hype surrounding it continues to grow. The third act is set to bring lots of new changes to the competitive shooter, including a revamp of the competitive system, a new agent and map, the ‘Singuarity’ bundle, an upgraded Battle Pass, and new servers in the Middle East and North Africa.
While the new map named ‘Icebox’ will be added to the game alongside the release of Act 3, it won’t be available to play in competitive until October 27th. The upcoming agent Skye will also not be arriving before that date.
Act 3 Release Date and Timings
Valorant Act 3 is set to release throughout the world tomorrow on October 13th. However, the time of the release will be different for each region. Here are the region-specific timings for the Act 3 release:
- For NA/LATAM/BR – 6 AM PDT.
- For Korea/APAC – 2 PM PDT.
- For EU – 8 PM PDT.
Your Act ranks will be locked at the end of Act 2, which will be refreshed in Act 3. Chances are that you’ll be placed in a skill group a little lower than your current rank. If you play in North American servers, you’ll be able to queue for your last ranked game this Act till 4:30 AM Pacific Time. Games queued after that will count towards your next Act’s rank.
WHAT’S NEW IN ACT 3?
COMPETITIVE CHANGES
The competitive game mode will undergo a number of changes most of which are aimed at improving the queues in the higher ranks.
1) The queue range for competitive matchmaking will be tightened from six tiers to three. This means that if you’re a Diamond 3 player, you’ll only be able to queue with players whose ranks range from Platinum 3 to Immortal 3. This change will hurt players who queue with friends having a large skill gap, but will result in a better matchmaking experience overall.
2) Players will be able to select their preferred servers before joining a queue. However, it can’t be guaranteed that players will always be matched in their preferred servers.
3) Immortal plus players’ ranks will be affected entirely based on their wins and losses instead of individual performance.
NEW AGENT
The next agent is an Australian named Skye. She has been voiced by a native Australian and packs a skillset filled with a utility that can easily turn the tides of a battle if used correctly. Her abilities include:
- An AoE heal which can be used to heal her allies but not herself.
- A drone that can be controlled remotely to gain vision and damage/stun enemies.
- A bird that can be used to scout out areas and detonated at will to flash enemies looking at it.
- An Ultimate which sends out three wolves to hunt down enemies, stunning them on impact.
Judging by her abilities, it’s obvious that Skye is set to be a support/initiator. All of her abilities excel in taking control of crucial parts of the maps and the AoE heal has a huge range.
Combine that with the controllable flashes and she can potentially be one of the best agents in the entire game.
Skye will be available to play from October 27th.
NEW MAP
As mentioned earlier, Icebox will be a snow-themed map that is located on a shipyard in Tundra. The map features two bomb sites and ziplines to help players move through certain sections faster. The map will arrive alongside Act 3 but won’t be available for competitive play until two weeks later. You can take the initial looks at the map from the trailer posted by Riot earlier:
BATTLE PASS AND THE ‘SINGULARITY’ COLLECTION
Act 3 will feature an all-new battle pass being added to the game with its release. The updated Battle Pass will feature a new rewards line for the players to obtain by leveling it up. The rewards will consist of exclusive items like skins, buddies, player cards, and can be upgraded to the premium version for even better rewards. Some of the skins from the Battle Pass that have been revealed include the Ruin Vandal, Ruin Shorty, and Ruin Dagger.
The Singularity collection will be an entirely new and separate skin collection that’ll be added to the game alongside Act 3. It will feature skins of Sherrif, Spectre, Phantom, Ares, and a melee.
These, along with new servers for the Middle East and North Africa, are all the changes that you can expect for now in the upcoming Act 3 of Valorant. How do you feel the new map and agent will change the current competitive scenario? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
