The long wait is over, and Valorant’s Episode 6 Act 1 update is finally live! The new Valorant patch has brought alongside it a plethora of new content to the shooter. These new additions include the Indian Map ‘Lotus’, changes to the competitive map pool, ranked improvements, new skin lines, and much more.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at everything that Valorant Episode 6 Act 1 has to offer.
Valorant Episode 6 Act 1: All New Changes
The first and most notable change in this new Valorant patch is the addition of Lotus to the game. Lotus is the newest Valorant map and it’s also one of the only two maps in the game with three bombsites instead of the usual two. Featuring some never-before-seen and unique map mechanics like rotating doors and one-way slopes, it’ll be interesting to see how Lotus is received by the Valorant community.
Another important change in this new Episode is Split being reintroduced to the competitive map pool. Since the removal of Split in June 2022, Valorant fans have been repeatedly asking Riot to bring back Split into the map rotation. As part of the Episode 6 Act 1 update, the developers have reworked some portions of the map, and have reintroduced Split to the 7-map pool of Valorant.
Other than the map changes, Valorant 6.0 has removed one-way lineups for Omen. The Controller’s ‘Dark Cover’ ability will now automatically drop to the ground level after being deployed, which means players won’t be able to smoke into walls anymore.
“One-way smokes are a part of VALORANT, but they are difficult to play against and we want to keep them limited to intentional and understandable areas,” Riot Games said in a statement. “We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this impacts Omen’s power levels.”
Valorant Episode 6 Act 1: Patch Notes
Here are the detailed patch notes of Valorant 6.0 as officially revealed by Riot Games:
GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES
- Reworked the way guns process Zoom inputs for ADS and Scopes when using Toggle Zoom.
- There should now be fewer cases that can lead to Zoom disagreements between the Client and Server under adverse network conditions like packet loss and ping jitter. Additionally, Zoom Inputs when using Toggle Zoom can now be buffered earlier than before and multiple zoom level transitions can be buffered at once.
MAP UPDATES
New Map: Lotus
- Lotus is a new 3-site map that offers a variety or rotation options. Unlock the secrets behind the doors of these ancient ruins.
- Please note that the Lotus-only queue will only be playable in Swiftplay mode for one week and then goes into the competitive and Unrated map rotation in Patch 6.1.
Split
Split is returning with a few tweaks to make attacking a little easier.
- A Main
- First engagement area for Attackers has been widened and a small ledge added for mixups.
- A Main Box
- Boost box next to the orb has been reduced to give Attackers a new position looking into A site.
- A Rafters:
- The under-over area has been removed, making this much easier to deal with as an Attacker.
- A Tower:
- The back section of the Tower has been flattened to make the fight to Ramps easier for both teams.
- Mid Bottom:
- Players can now silently drop down Mid platform.
- The trick-jump up onto Mid box has also been removed for simplicity.
- B Tower:
- Defender side jump up box has been removed to simplify the space.
- B Rope Pocket:
- The hard corner here has been smoothed out to make clearing the spot easier.
Map Rotation
- Please note that Breeze and Bind have now been removed from competitive and Unrated map rotation, but are still playable in all other modes.
Omen’s Dark Cover (E)
- Dark Cover placed inside walls will now fall to the height of nearby ground.
- One-way smokes are a part of VALORANT, but they are difficult to play against and we want to keep them limited to intentional and understandable areas. We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this impacts Omen’s power levels.
Agent Utility
- Most Agent utility (except for molotovs which has not yet been implemented) will now damage the Lotus breakable door as well as the wall plates on Ascent and Haven.
COMPETITIVE UPDATES
Overall, the changes below should make Ranked Rating gains and losses feel more consistent, and reduce the effect stomps have on your RR. We’ll keep a close eye on the data to make additional adjustments as necessary.
- Episode reset reminder: A new Episode means a ranked reset! Expect your placement rank to be lower than at the end of Episode 5, and good luck on your climb!
- Context: Remember we reset each episode to kick off the start of a new ranked ladder. This is a chance for players to show off their skill in the new season, as well as reset players in the ladder who may no longer be active.
- For all players: Ranked Rating gains/losses will depend slightly more on Win/Loss, and slightly less on the exact round differential of the match.
- Context: Players experience too wide of RR gains/losses from match to match based on the round differential (one win could give 12RR, and the next win could give 20RR). We’re making this change to reduce that swing of RR in gains and losses.
- Winning is still the most important way to climb!
- For players whose ranks are far away from their MMR: RR gains will depend more on individual performance, instead of round differential. You should also see your rank and MMR converge faster.
- Context: We received feedback that players felt like they would not be rewarded for a good game, or punished too harshly for a bad game during their ranked climb.
- If a player’s rank is below their actual MMR, they will be rewarded more for a good game. If a player’s rank is above their MMR, they will not be harshly penalized if they lose, but perform well in that match.
PROGRESSION UPDATES
- Variant Favorites are here!
- We’ve heard your feedback and added the ability to favorite specific variants of your gun skins (along with some UX/UI changes to better support that). Now, when you favorite a specific variant, only your favorited variants will enter the potential pool of weapons you can take into game if you’ve equipped the Random Favorite for that weapon type.
- On release, your existing favorite weapon skins will now have all unlocked variants favorited to maintain consistency with current behavior.
BUG FIXES
Cosmetics
- Odin’s ammo belt will no longer visually pop into a vertical position when swapping gun buddies in the Model Viewer.
Maps
- Ascent
- Fixed a bug when breaking the door at Market by using an ability on the wall to the side of it.
Agents
- Fixed a bug where Cypher’s Trapwire (C) could be placed through Sage’s Barrier Orb (C).
- Fixed objects like traps that were not being damaged if they are placed in molotov patches that are already active.
- Fixed bug where you could see Skye’s Seekers (X) on the minimap while they were still invisible if you had line of sight to their hidden location.
- Fixed a bug where suppression would not properly interrupt Fade’s Prowler (C) control.
- Fixed a bug where Viper was able to deactivate her ultimate, Viper’s Pit (X), while suppressed.
- Various gameplay damage interactions fixed:
- Killjoy’s Lockdown (X) now properly takes damage from all abilities.
- Fixed Skye’s Trailblazer (Q) dealing damage to enemy Skye’s Trailblazer (Q) and Sova’s Owl Drone (C).
- Fixed Sova’s Hunter’s Fury (X) and Breach’s Aftershock (C) not damaging Raze’s Blast Pack (Q).
- Fixed Phoenix’s Blaze (C) not dealing damage to Harbor’s Cove (Q), Raze’s Blast Pack (Q), Reyna’s Leer (C), Sova’s Recon Bolt (E), and KAY/O’s ZERO/POINT (E).
- Fixed Brimstone’s Orbital Strike (X) not dealing damage to Harbor’s Cove (Q).
- Fixed Breach’s Aftershock (C), Raze’s Showstopper (X) and Paint Shells (E), damaging allied Killjoy’s Nanoswarm (C).
- Fixed Sova Hunter’s Fury (X) damaging allied Fade’s Haunt (E).
- Fixed Killjoy’s Nanoswarm (C), Phoenix’s Hot Hands (E) and Blaze (C) not dealing damage to Chamber’s Rendezvous (E) and Trademark (C).
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