Riot Games has returned from its two-week hiatus and that means Valorant gets a new patch. There are a few major changes to agents, shotguns get a nerf all round, the Vandal gets a small buff, and the issue regarding hit registration clarity has been dealt with. Here’s a summary infographic of everything that has changed in Valorant with patch 1.07.
On top of those changes, there are additional quality of life updates, improvements to the observer mode, competitive match updates, an incognito mode, and more. You can check out all the details in Valorant patch 1.07 on the game’s website.
The death of Sage
Sage is the biggest victim of patch 1.07. All her abilities, except for her Ultimate, have taken a significant hit. Sage’s Healing Orb used to heal her or an ally for 100 HP over five seconds. Now, it heals allies for 60 HP over five seconds and Sage for 60 HP over 10 seconds. Regardless, Healing Orb is still a powerful ability. You can certainly make an agent healthy enough to impact a fight. However, gone are the days of Sage players charging into a fight, healing themselves, and then seeking their next victims.
The area effect of Slow Orb has also been reduced by 30%. This isn’t too big of a deal. It just means you need to be more precise with your use of the ability.
Barrier Orb on the other hand, is now a significantly weaker wall. Its cost has been reduced to 300, but it now forms with just 400 HP. After three seconds, the wall will fortify and increase its HP to 800. Sage players can no longer throw up a wall to stop a push in progress though. They need to predict movement and cast Barrier Orb a lot earlier.
Killer of Joy
Killjoy has been a thorn in the side of many players since her release. Mostly because of her Nanoswarm ability. Killjoy players place both of their Nanoswarm grenades on the Spike once it has been planted and then run and hide. When the opposing team tries to defuse, Killjoy activates one of her grenades, forcing the player to stop defusing or die. When the player tries to defuse again, Killjoy activates her second Nanoswarm, stalling the defuse even longer. The nerfs to Nanoswarm will make this tactic less effective.
Nanoswarm now has a brief wind up before it begins damaging players in its area of effect. The grenade’s damage per second has also been reduced from 60 to 40. Lastly, the grenade is now easier to see when placed and the stealth audio range has been increased.
As an additional note, Killjoy’s Turret is no longer revealed by Sova’s Recon Bolt, which is a slight buff to the ability. Plus, it also shoots more effectively at an enemy’s last known location.
Viper gets a helping hand
Viper has struggled to make her way into competitive Valorant teams. The hero competed against Brimstone and Omen for a spot, but they simply performed the role of controller better. Unfortunately, the Valorant patch 1.07 buffs to Viper are all very good improvements, but I suspect still not enough to get her into the meta.
Toxic Screen can now be placed through the barriers before the start of a round. It’s a very nice and long overdue quality of life update. Toxic Screen also goes up faster along its length. Furthermore, Viper’s Pit now displays on the minimap of Viper’s team when it is deployed. The biggest change to the agent though, is that her smoke abilities no longer apply Decay to teammates. That includes Toxic Screen, Poison Cloud, and Viper’s Pit.
Breach incoming
Breach’s role is obvious from his name. He’s the first one through the entrance. However, his abilities were too easy to play around. Valorant patch 1.07 significantly improved his Flashpoint ability though, which should make him a more reliable pick.
Off-screen flashes now apply a minimum amount of flash more aggressively. This is to match the other flashes in the game. Breach now gets three charges for Flashpoint, up from two. Plus, the windup time has been reduced from 0.6 to 0.5 seconds.
Rolling Thunder also receives a slight buff with the detonation delay between blasts being decreased from 0.3 to 0.255 seconds. The concussion effect will now also de-scope players and prevent them from scoping until the effect is gone.
Put your shotguns away
For their price, shotguns have been far too impactful in Valorant. So, Riot has decided to apply a few nerfs to the weapons to balance them. Headshots from shotguns will now apply less aimpunch than other weapons. Also, the slow effect applied by hitting an enemy with a shotgun will be significantly less if they are beyond 10 meters. The new slow is a 30% decrease in movement speed for 0.5 seconds.
As far as individual weapons, the falloff range of the Shorty has been reduced from 9 to 7 meters. Plus, its headshot multiplier has been reduced from 3x to 2x, which is the same as the other shotguns. The price of the Judge shotgun has also been increased from 1,500 to 1,600 Creds.
As for the Vandal, it’s already one of the best weapons in the game, but it has been gifted two minor buffs that will make it an incredibly powerful weapon now. Its fire rate has been increased from 9.25 to 9.75 and its damage has been increased from 39 to 40.
Hit registration clarity
One of the items on Riot’s list of improvements was hit registration clarity. With Valorant patch 1.07, it has implemented the change that will see the hit visuals remain attached to the part of the body the bullet hits. Previously, the visual spawned at the game space and stayed there, which caused players to misinterpret where shots landed.
You can comb through the patch notes in as much detail as you like over on the Valorant website. Then you can use the new incognito mode features in-game to try out some new things without tarnishing your good name.
