Spectre gets nerfed, account levels restricted in new patch 4.0

Fariha Bhatti Published 07/01/2022

Patch day is here in Valorant, bringing crucial weapon changes for Ares, Bulldog, and Spectre users. New Valorant patch 4.0 will heavily impact the game’s gunplay.

Valorant agent 19 officially arrives on January 12. The developer has rolled out a new patch that proves that learning the new agent isn’t all players need told be worrying about. A change to account levels and further map changes are also set to enter the new meta, pushed into overdrive by new agent Neon.

Valorant SMG Spectre finally gets nerfed

Players have long complained about the Spectre being too powerful for its low price of 1600 creds. The developer has tweaked the SMG’s spray control to make it less effective at long-range. To squeeze full juice of the weapon, players must work on their spray control to get a kill.

Firing error occurs at earlier bullet stages.
Increased pitch and yaw (vertical and horizontal) recoil multipliers when running/jumping/on ascender from 1.25 >>> 1.5
Protected bullet count from yaw (horizontal) switching while spraying, decreased 8 >>> 5 bullets
Lowering time to switch yaw from .24 >>> .18 seconds

Ares, Guardian, Bullgod buffed in Valorant

The three half-buy weapons have also received some love from Riot Games in patch 4.0. Ares is one of the underrated heavy weapons that only a few can handle in the current patch. The developer has boosted its fire rate to make it more viable for 1,550 creds. The one-tap cannon Guardian will also get some polish. Riot has added an extra bullet before entering a recovery curve and has removed the firing rate penalty on ADS.

The Bulldog is one of the cheaper rifles that players like for its heavy damage rate. However, it didn’t see enough play-time in half-buy rounds. The new changes will likely make it the primary pick of players on half-buy rounds.

Hip fire rate increased 9.5 >>> 10
Recovery on burst fire improved from .4 >>> .35

These nerfs and buffs should heavily impact how save and eco rounds are played in Valorant. The Spectre is one of the most used weapons in half-buys, but patch 4.0 might change that.

What account level is required to play Valorant competitive?

In Valorant patch 4.0, Riot Games has added an account level restriction to queue in ranked games due to the abundance of new agents. All players must learn the agents and reach level 20 before playing competitively. This change will ensure that new players have a good understanding of Valorant before entering the more serious ranked lobbies.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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