Valorant patch 2.08 adds coach slots, Breeze-only queues, fixes bugs

Fariha Bhatti Published 27/04/2021

Riot Games has finally delivered a new patch for Valorant and it has tons of exciting updates.

Like the final act of Episode 1, this one adds a new map Breeze to the Valorant map pool. However, this time the developer wants you to learn the entirety of Breeze quicker and better. For this purpose, Breeze-only unranked queues will be available for two weeks after the release. Players will be able to dabble unranked games with their friends and get to know Breeze better.

The map will also be available to play in the standard queue for Deathmatch, Spike rush, Escalation, and custom games. During these two weeks, Breeze will not be available in the usual Unrated or Competitive rotation. The map will be available to play in ranked queues after two weeks.

Coach slots for Valorant are finally here

Valorant has quickly transitioned into a dynamic esport with thousands of players participating from throughout the world in a range of events. However, it still lacks crucial features for an esports tournament like game replay, coach slots, and more. The game lobby was strictly restricted to 10-man, which meant that coaches couldn’t spectate and observe.

The issue was brought to like by NRG’s Chet “chet” Singh and was backed by various players who called out Riot for coach slots. It seems that the developer has listened.

Valorant to have a dedicated coach slot in the future

“We’re very excited to introduce coach slots to Tournament Mode games! This is only the beginning of our work on Coaches, and while functionality will be limited to start, we have plans to expand the capabilities available to coaches during a match,” comms associate Jeff Landa said.

After patch 2.08, coaches can spectate tournament mode games and are locked to observing the team chosen in the custom game lobby. Coaches cannot use map pings, team chat, or voice chat in-game. They can only spectate and communicate with a tournament moderator through all chat and party chat. Coaches can pause a match in cases where that functionality is allowed to players.

Bugs fixed in Patch 2.08:

Killjoy’s abilities were disappearing for some players upon deactivation. This bug will be fixed in the new patch
Fixed Astra and Brimstone’s smokes from blocking flashes even when you are not entirely inside them
Fixed Viper’s Toxic Screen going longer than intended when it passed through the teleporter on Bind
A bug that was causing rank icons to disappear in Match History has also been fixed.

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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