Valorant patch 2.02 was significant because of the change it made to shooting with rifles while moving. However, that patch made no changes to any of the agents. Valorant patch 2.03 is making up for that with changes to four agents and three weapons.
The latest patch also adds the new Escalation game mode to Valorant. The mode is a 5v5 team deathmatch, where you need to progress through 12 weapons to win. When your team gets a designated number of kills with a weapon, you move to the next one, which will be weaker. You can check out the mode in detail in our previous article.
Valorant patch 2.03 agent changes
The four agents receiving changes in this patch are Reyna, Yoru, Brimstone, and Phoenix. Reyna gets two fairly sizeable nerfs, along with a consolatory buff. Her Devour and Dismiss charges have been reduced from four to two. The costs of the two abilities have also been doubled from 100 to 200. However, enemies that are slain by teammates, but were damaged by Reyna in the last three seconds, now drop Soul Orbs. Even if Reyna didn’t land the killing shot.
Yoru’s Gatecrash ability now displays the range at which enemies can see the tether while moving on the minimap. The range that enemies can hear the teleport from the ability is also now displayed on the minimap. When Yoru is in Dimensional Drift, he can now see his minimap. Plus, enemies you see while in Dimensional Drift will now be revealed on the minimaps of your allies. Finally, Yoru can no longer body block enemies while in Dimensional Drift. You should never have been allowed to do that from a conceptual or gameplay point of view anyways.
Brimstone gets a small tweak, with the audio of his Incendiary ability’s lingering fire zone now becoming easier to hear over other nearby sounds. The same change has been made to Phoenix’s Hot Hands.
Weapon changes
The Marshal has received a few nice buffs which should make it a lot more popular in-game. Your movement speed while scoped in is now 90% of your unscoped movement speed. Previously, this was 76%. The zoom magnification has been increased from 2.5x to 3.5x. Plus, the sniper rifle’s price has come down by 100 to 1,000 Creds.
The Stinger has come under fire recently (pun fully intended) for being too powerful. Understandably, it has received some nerfs. The price of the SMG has been increased by 100 to 1,000 Creds. The full-auto fire rate has also been reduced from 18 to 16. When firing in full-auto mode, the maximum bullet spread is now reached after just four bullets – previously six bullets. The Stinger’s vertical recoil will also now climb significantly after the third bullet.
The Stinger’s burst fire mode also gets more aggressive vertical recoil after the first burst. Subsequent bursts after the first burst will also error more. However, the SMG does now have a better recovery time on burst mode – from o.45 to 0.4. I think it’s safe to say the Stinger isn’t what it used to be.
The final weapon change of Valorant patch 2.04 is a price increase to the Frenzy. The automatic pistol will now cost you 100 Creds more – 500, up from 400.
There are a few other quality of life changes, which you can check out in the full patch notes. Valorant patch 2.03 doesn’t add any of the changes coming to AFKing and negative social behavior. That was to be expected. Riot Games aims to release those systems with patch 2.04, along with significantly more severe punishments for toxic and anti-participatory behavior.
