Valorant has not received any major gameplay changes for quite a long time, but updates keep coming steadily. Riot Games has focused on improving the game throughout Episode 3, continung to improve the pillars that will sustain the tactical shooter in the future.
Patch 3.04 focuses once again on game technology, quality of life adjustments and bugfixes that make the experience a little more pleasant.
The new update should go live on August 24.
Valorant Patch 3.04: All tweaks and improvements
Riot's promise was not to make too many adjustments to agents, weapons or gameplay with patches close to major tournaments, and the Berlin Masters is just around the corner..
Agent Changes
In most cases, these focus on bugfixes and interactions that didn't quite work well.
Omen
- Fixed an issue where Omen’s Dark Cover could travel in unintended ways
Viper
- Fixed Viper’s fuel will no longer continue to drain after her smokes go down if she is suppressed right as she activates Toxic Screen or Poison Cloud.
KAY / O
- KAY/O will no longer equip abilities that have no charges if they were equipped and used right after activating NULL/cmd
Cypher
- Other abilities can no longer be placed on Cypher’s Cyber Cage projectile while it’s in mid-air
General adjustments
Fixed a bug where the Nearsight effect is removed when you’re killed inside smokes.
Fixed a bug where the buff/debuff timers did not show up for spectators or observers.
Fixed a bug where ability UI would show you the suppressed effect visuals if an ally they were spectating at the end of the last round was suppressed.
Gameplay Technology Changes
Controls
Added a limitation to the shortcuts entered on the mouse wheel so that a quick spin is counted as a single entry
Performance and statistics
Improvements to Performance Stats and Graphs (Settings > Video > Stats)
- Added these stats:
- Packet loss breakdowns (separate tracking for in/out and packet counts)
- Upload data usage and average packet sizes
- Packet send/receive rate
- Used/Available Memory
- Changed display to moving average for some of the noisier stats where instantaneous values aren't as relevant
- Added support for showing both average and max values for some stats
- Reduced performance cost for tracking and displaying these stats
Adjustments and fixes
Fixed an issue that caused attackers to win if all living players died simultaneously before the Spike was planted (e.g., from the same Raze Showstopper)
Fixed an issue where turning off “Show Bullet Tracers” turned off everyone’s tracers, including your own.
Fixed an issue where some settings were not saved properly
Observer and Competitive Improvements
- Custom Lobby player order will now persist into Agent select screens and into the game for observers.
- Tactical Timeouts will now display in the color corresponding to the team that called the timeout (Teal for Defenders, Red for Attackers)
- Observers will now correctly see Cypher’s equipped utility in his hand
The white dot above a player’s head in 3rd-person no longer displays for observers - Viper ult will properly display on the observer minimap
- There will no longer be a brief flash for observers when swapping player targets or swapping to players after projectile follow
- You can no longer interact with the shop during a timeout to avoid spooky vanishing weapons
- Observers with minimal HUD enabled will properly follow minimap toggle settings when they are following another observer
- Player nameplates no longer persist on the screen for projectile-follow observers
Adjustments to social functions
- Added a timer to detect AFK players in non-round based modes
- Fixed a bug where, in some cases, player invites would not disappear after being rejected
- Fixed a bug where Loopback test was not functioning, so you should be able to test out your voice settings once again
Riot Games have added the much-requested butterfly knife to Valorant, as part of the new Recon Collection skin bundle.
