Valorant Episode 3, Act 2 has arrived, and it’s one of the most exciting so far.
Competitive queues have been stopped by Riot Games to smoothly roll out the new update, which expands the Valorant map pool. The sizeable patch has now gone live in most regions.
Patch 3.05 is a massive one, as it buffs most agents, brings back Immortal tiers, and adds new map Fracture. While players were well aware of these additions, Riot Games threw a curveball in a creator-inspired weapon collection dubbed Spectrum. The update has now gone live for most regions, while other players will see a halt in their ranked queues until the patch is implemented.
The Act 2 update brings
Valorant’s seventh map, Fracture, has a unique H-shaped layout that heavily favors the attackers. The environment features destroyed facilities and tons of hidden lore that drops hints about the mirrorverse. For the first time, players will be able to interact with Earth-1 agents as the Valorant lore builds up further.
The battle pass for Act 2 has tons of stuff for players to sink their teeth into. Unlike previous bland and dark K-tac skins, the new ones are bright and eye-catching. The developer has rolled out a brand new battle pass that features skins for the Operator, Vandal, and Phantom in one pack for the first time. While the skins aren’t particularly unique, they come alongside some distinctive melee weapons.
Sprays, player cards, and gun buddies reflect the Valorant lore and also have plenty of easter eggs. Players can grind through the battle pass to unlock exciting rewards until the next act.
Since the game’s release, Riot Games has been experimenting with ELO and MMR by tweaking ranks. It seems that the developer has decided in favor of keeping the three tiers of Immortal that were previously omitted. One of the main reasons is to resolve the issue of over-saturation in lower ranks.
The patch 3.05 update will bring the following levels back:
This change will also heavily impact the lobby rank disparity. It’s possible that other changes will come in the following months based on how these changes shake out in practice.
Looking at the meta changes following Kay/O’s release and weapon buffs, the developer has tweaked agent kits. Ability interactions will see slight changes in the new patch update.
Along with all these big game updates, Riot has delivered Valorant’s most lavish bundle so far. The clean, glamorous ZEDD skins come for 10,700 VP, falling out of the highest skin tier all ultra. It’s also Riot’s first creator collaboration, which explains the hefty price tag.
The skins come for:
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