Valorant update 3.05 patch notes: Fracture map, ranked updates, ability changes

Valorant’s newest patch notes, update 3.05, include changes to various ability changes and updates to competitive. Oh, and not to mention the new “H” shaped map called Fracture.

Of the changes that are coming with Valorant’s leaked Patch 3.05, most exciting is the addition of the heavily teased new map, Fracture. This map is one of Valorant’s most unique right away, with a signature “H” shaped design that spawns defenders in the middle of the map and attackers on either side at the top or bottom. There will be an unrated Fracture-only queue for players just wanting to try it out.

Also in these notes are changes are some changes to the way agents’ abilities will work against one another, battlepass XP rewards, and updates that will add back tiers to the Immortal ranking.

For more of a full rundown on the details of the patch notes, hitting servers on September 8, continue reading below.

Valorant Agent Changes in Patch 3.05

Agents receiving changes in these notes are Killjoy, Raze, Breach, Brimstone, and Sova. These changes, for the most part, deal with how the agents’ abilities harm other abilities in the game. But, there are a few exceptions.

One such exception are the changes to Raze’s Boom Bot, making it hit a bit less hard, but also cost a bit less.

Boom Bot (C)

• Max damage reduced 125 >>> 80
• Min damage reduced 50 >>> 30
• Cost reduced 400 >>> 300

Killjoy also sees some changes that aren’t strictly ability-related, with her Turret now slowing significantly less.

Turret (E)

• Bullet tagging reduced 72.5% slow >>> 29.5% slow (84.31% Decrease in slowing.)

The remaining three agents all get changes to one of their abilities and how it affects others in the game. See full patch notes below.

Competitive Updates

The biggest thing to note here is that Immortal 1/2/3 rank tiers are now back, allowing players to better distinguish between their Immortal cohorts.

Because of this ranked restrictions have also been updated to reflect the return of Immortal 1/2/3, primarily pertaining to queuing up with Diamond-ranked players. Those restrictions can be seen below.

• Diamond 1 → Immortal 1
• Diamond 2 → Immortal 2
• Diamond 3 → Immortal 3

Premium Battlepass Updates

Agents who have upgraded to the premium battlepass will now receive a 3% XP boost towards tier progression. This comes in addition to the premium rewards that now come as a part of the feature, incentivizing players to go premium earlier, rather than later as this boost is not something that can be used retroactively.

This XP boost does not apply to daily or weekly missions.

Other than these changes include updated AFK detection in modes like Deathmatch and Snowball fight as well as performance updates to ping calculation to exclude the server frame time.

Full patch notes below via Riot Games.

Valorant 3.05 patch notes

AGENT UPDATES 

Brimstone, Sova, and Breach are all receiving consistency changes to ability damage. We want to reward those of you who are creative with the ability sandbox, using your tools to solve the obstacles other Agents are creating. To ensure this, physical objects across VALORANT need to interact in a reliable and consistent manner, so you can properly plan and execute without knowing ability-specific interactions. 

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BREACH 

Aftershock (C) 

• Now deals damage to the following: 

○ Killjoy Alarm Bot 

○ Killjoy Nanoswarm 

○ Killjoy Lockdown 

○ Cypher Tripwire 

○ Reyna Leer 

○ Sage Barrier Orb 

○ Sova Recon Bolt 

○ KAY/O Zero/Point 

BRIMSTONE 

Orbital Strike (X) 

• Now deals damage to the following: 

○ Killjoy Nanoswarm 

○ Cypher Trapwire 

○ Sage Barrier Orb 

○ Sova Recon Bolt 

○ KAY/O Zero/Point 

SOVA 

Hunter’s Fury (X) 

• Now deals damage to the following: 

○ Killjoy Nanoswarm 

○ Cypher Trapwire 

○ Sage Barrier Orb 

○ Sova Recon Bolt 

○ KAY/O Zero/Point

KILLJOY 

Killjoy’s Turret is a versatile ability that provides information, chip damage, and a powerful slow. While manageable during mid to later rounds, the Turret can be especially oppressive on pistol rounds down longer sightlines, where the tagging intensity combined with weapon spread makes it challenging to press forward. These changes aim to slightly tone down the Turret’s ability to impede rushes, and give opponents more counterplay options. 

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Turret (E) 

• Bullet tagging reduced 72.5% slow >>> 29.5% slow 

RAZE 

The Boom Bots’ ability to clear space, spot, and track opponents, as well as one-shot enemies with Light Shields, left you with limited options on how to counterplay—especially during low economy rounds. So, we’re trading of reduced damage output for an ability cost reduction in order to introduce more Boom Bot counterplay options. This should also increase the frequency that Raze mains can use Boom Bot to create space. 

Boom Bot (C) 

• Max damage reduced 125 >>> 80 
• Min damage reduced 50 >>> 30 
• Cost reduced 400 >>> 300 

MAP UPDATES 

• NEW MAP: Fracture is live! 

○ See below for more info on the Fracture map rotation 

COMPETITIVE UPDATES 

• Immortal 1/2/3 rank tiers are back! 

○ The Leaderboard will update to distinguish between those of you in each Immortal tier. 

• Updated Ranked grouping restrictions to accommodate return of Immortal 1/2/3:

○ Diamond 1 → Immortal 1 

○ Diamond 2 → Immortal 2 

○ Diamond 3 → Immortal 3 

• Adjusted Competitive ranked distribution as detailed in a previous article
• Fracture only queue! 

○ This queue is a standard, Unrated mode that will give players a chance to practice the new map before they see it in Competitive play. 

○ Fracture-only queue will be available for 2 weeks, afterwards Fracture will enter other modes, including Competitive. 

PROGRESSION UPDATES

Premium Battlepass Bonus XP 

• Upgrading to the Premium Battlepass will grant a 3% XP boost toward Battlepass tier progression for all matchmade games until the end of Act II 

○ We believe the Battlepass experience is at its best when you’re able to earn hype rewards as you unlock tiers, hitting major milestones and feeling good about what you’ve earned. 

• This is not retroactive, so upgrading early will give you access to the most amount of XP ● The XP boost does not apply toward Daily or Weekly Missions 

SOCIAL UPDATES 

• Updated AFK detection logic to deter players from farming Battlepass/Account Levels by AFKing in game modes like Deathmatch and Snowball Fight 

PERFORMANCE UPDATES 

• Updated the ping calculation to exclude the server frame time. 
• Updated markers used by NVIDIA Reflex 

○ NVIDIA Reflex is used to reduce and measure rendering latency. This update should allow Reflex to better pace frames by adding present markers as well as fixes on some older markers. 

BUGS 

Agents 

• Fixed a bug where concurrent, overlapping ally and enemy Viper smoke could cause the nearsight and decay to never remove 
• Fixed a bug where Omen could become stuck in other objects if they were blocking the return location of From the Shadows 
• Omen will no longer equip his weapon slower than intended after casting Dark Cover ● Astra will no longer equip her weapon slower than intended after exiting Astral Form ● Fixed KAY/O’s NULL/cmd waves from destroying the glass on Ascent 

Competitive 

• Fixed a bug that would cause the Leaderboard to infinitely load when searching for a specific player. 

Esports Features 

• For Coaches, the Loading screen should now properly display all of the Agent select information (Agent compositions of both teams, etc) 
• Fixed an issue where Observer Moderators could not see the pause match timer option if they disconnected and then reconnected during a round

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