Valorant Episode 2 adds Yoru, rank updates, and big balance patch
Valorant fans have been anxiously awaiting Episode 2 Act I and Riot Games has finally shipped it. The 2.00 patch adds new agent Yoru to Valorant, along with some major changes to Omen and Brimstone.
There’s a very long list of changes and additions, but it’s worth taking a look at some of the highlights. Here are some of the important stories that came out before the balance patch launched.
Valorant Episode 2 in-depth
- New agent Yoru officially revealed
- Battle pass contents leaked
- Omen nerfed, and nerfed hard
- Ranked matchmaking gets big change, leaderboard added
New agent Yoru enters Valorant
Yoru joins the Valorant cast in Episode 2, with his unique powers to meddle with time and space. The Japanese agent will join Jett, Pheonix, and others in the duelist category. His ability to rip through reality and sneak through enemy lines unseen makes him a deadly addition to the already powerful roster of duelists in Valorant.
Yoru’s basic abilities, Fakeout and Blindsided, let him scout and evade enemies. His signature ability is Gatecrash, which creates a rift tether that allows Yoru to teleport to another location. The sneaky duelist’s ultimate, Dimensional Rift, makes him invincible and invisible to the enemy’s tactics and gunfire.
Omen nerfed in Valorant Episode 2
While Episode 2 expands the number of duelists, the developer has shown love to other roles as well. In an effort to balance out agent roles, Riot Games has downgraded Omen’s abilities to make Brimstone more viable. Omen’s smokes are weaker after being slowed down by 30%, while Brimstone’s Sky Smokes will block a wider area.
The controller agent’s Fire Field got an update too, as Brimstone can now instantly deploy the stim beacon. While Brimstone’s Incendiary becomes more economical, Omen’s Paranoia got a price increase in Episode 2.
The developer has promised to keep an eye on all Controllers. To make this category viable, Riot Games promises that a Viper buff is in the works.
New Valorant leaderboard highlights Immortal players
Episode 2 rebuilds the ranked system from the ground up, as Riot Games remove tiers from the Immortal rank. The Immortal rank will now be reserved for the 500 highest-ranked players in a region, with the 501st player being ranked as Diamond 3. Immortal-ranked players will be given a spot on the Valorant leaderboard.
The new patch will remove the ambiguity regarding rank ups and de-rank.s The developer has removed progression arrows and replaced those with a progress bar and numerical progress for more rank granularity.
After the update, winning a match will reward the players with anywhere from 10 and 50 rating points. The difference in rewards is based on individual performance throughout the game. The same distinction applies to losing a match as well. The minimum rating lost after losing a game with decent performance is 10, and the maximum is 30. Immortal draws will result in no RR being gained or lost.
Other updates:
- The highest rank that can be earned in placements is now Platinum 3.
- Fixed an issue where Omen could sometimes teleport past the buy phase barriers.
- Before the update, players on the opposing team could be seen on the minimap long after leaving a line of sight due to a bug. Patch 2.00 has fixed that issue.
- Classic spread changed to reduce spray accuracy
- Inactivity for 14 days or more won’t remove Act rank.
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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