Valorant Patch Notes for 11.00: New Act Drops with Loads of Goodies!

Hey everyone! Well, the new Act is set to kick off on the twenty-fifth, and that means it’s time to dive into all the fresh content – a new map, shiny new looks, and, of course, some balance tweaks! Today, we’re here to fill you in on everything packed into Patch 11.00. These Valorant Patch Notes for 11.00 are quite the read! It’s a bit surprising, but the developers decided to give the game a little shake-up now, even though bigger, game-changing adjustments are usually expected after Champions. Typically, when a new Act drops, the main focus is all on the Battle Pass, a brand new map, or maybe a new Agent, but this patch turned out to be quite the interesting mix! Players across all major platforms can look forward to these changes.

Agent Changes: Tweaks, Polish, and Counterplay

The patch brings several adjustments to Agents, aimed at tuning balance, improving convenience, and adding counterplay options.

Clove:

As developers note, Clove‘s overall win rate has been seeing an increase. Still, a few tweaks were deemed necessary.

Omen:

A simple sound change affects Omen‘s Dark Cover (smokes). The sound effect from tossing these smokes is no longer played within 12.5m for third-person enemies. Allies, however, will still hear the sound cue. This is noted as a minor buff for consistency across controllers.

Brimstone: His Sky Smokes will now play their usage sound change for teammates within a 12.5 meter radius.

Reyna: A small but potentially impactful change hits her Leer (flash). Breaking it just got easier because its HP was reduced from 100 HP down to a flatter 80 HP. This could mean it takes something like two Vandal shots to pop that flash now. For player convenience, both audio and visual feedback have been added for when the Leer is hit, indicating the health was reduced.

Counterplay Adjustments:

Some changes are clearly aimed at creating more opportunities for counterplay against certain abilities.

• Neon‘s Relay Bolt (stun) activation time has been increased from 0.8 seconds to a full 1 second. This grants a bit more breathing room to escape the stun area. Developers noted that their fast activation time left little room for opponents to respond, wanting to increase counterplay without removing the need to anticipate these abilities. The wind up time is now slightly longer.
• Phoenix‘s Curveball (flash) activation time has been increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.6 seconds. While the change for Neon’s stun, which felt quite fast, seems reasonable, the Phoenix tweak is minimal and might not significantly impact gameplay. The reasoning provided is the same as for Neon (increase counterplay), slightly increasing its wind up time.

Clarity and Convenience Changes:

Following up are changes seen with other Agents and in previous patches, focused on boosting overall gameplay convenience and visibility.

• Breach: His Aftershock (explosive ability) has had its visual effects around the windup and explosions changed. They’re less intense and designed to resolve faster and block less of the gameplay space, which is a helpful improvement for visibility.
• Sova: His Recon Bolt received some interesting adjustments. Its audio has been made notably louder, and the sound during its flight is improved for easier tracking. Audio priority has also been fine-tuned so the recon pings are heard more clearly, even when there’s a lot of other noise going on. The technical aspect of the sound has been updated to make it simpler to figure out the dart’s flight direction and distance. Players can listen and perceive how the sound signals the proximity of the detection radius. Beyond the dart, Sova’s Owl Drone was also updated. Similar to Reyna’s Leer, players will now receive better audio feedback to know when the drone is hit. And enemies will now hear a subtle warning audio loop when they are spotted by the Owl Drone, similar to Cypher’s Spycam detection sound, but potentially with a more “threatening” vibe.
• Killjoy: Her Lockdown (ultimate) not only saw its visual effect changed, but the delay before the final detaining pulse activates has been reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.15 seconds. So now, when the ultimate triggers, the detain pulse will detain enemies pretty much instantly after that final activation.
• Cypher: His Spycam dart visuals have been updated. These dart visuals are intended to make it easier to follow the dart’s flight direction and, consequently, figure out where the camera is perched to destroy it. Players can now literally make out the flying dart, as the Spycam dart visuals have been updated, which should be quite convenient.
• General UI: Other polish changes include suppression effects (like from a Sage slow) having more visible debuff VFX, and minor UI updates like spike pickup animations. The flow of updates seems to continue with these small improvements.

All these changes feel generally useful and don’t seem aimed at making the game overly simple.

New Map and Rotation Shake-Up

Of course, the biggest splash in this patch is the arrival of a brand new map, officially named Corrode! It’s hitting the competitive queue right away. For the first two weeks of Competitive play, RR losses on this map will be reduced by 50%, helping players save their rank points. Meanwhile, you’ll still be bagging 100% of the RR for winning. This decision seems designed to encourage players to jump into the new map without stressing too much about their rank. However, there’s a chance this could lead to some players trying to game the system for rank boosts or even dodging other maps to get more games on the new one. A potential concern is that previously, when new maps were added, there was a period of unrated-only play which gave time to find and fix bugs before they hit the competitive scene.

Other competitive updates include softened placement resets at the starting of the Act and the maximum placement rank now being Ascendant 3. Players can also earn a Ranked Gun Buddy based on their rank from the prior season. Minor fixes related to maps include Icebox being re-enabled in Deathmatch/Escalation after previous bugs.

Battle Pass: New Act Rewards Incoming!

Alright, let’s dive into what the new Battle Pass has to offer. The end date is listed as 62 days out, which suggests the next Act is scheduled to start around August 19th. Based on current calculations, the Replays system is expected to make its appearance around mid-September. This timeline hints that perhaps a new agent might even arrive towards the very end of this Act. There seems to be a flood of content planned: transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, potentially a new agent dropping, and then the Replays system – the content just seems to continue rolling out!

But back to the Battle Pass goodies! This Act’s BP features three main skin collections:

• Perch Collection: This collection, featuring animal motifs (cats and birds in various seasons), includes a Shorty, Marshal, Bulldog, and Phantom skin. It comes with four variants for each gun. It also includes a Perch-themed gun buddy, player card, and spray. The Perch Collection offers some visually interesting skins.
• Space Piercer Collection: This collection has a sci-fi/celestial theme. It includes Ares, Judge, Guardian, and Sheriff skins. The Space Piercer Collection also features a gun buddy, player card, and spray in the same theme. The “Cosmic Wanderer” player cards and sprays with the 3D effect are likely part of this collection.
• Atlas // CMD Collection: This is an Ultra-tier line tied to Chamber’s lore (the Atlas organization). The BP includes an Atlas Spectre, Atlas Vandal, Atlas Outlaw, and at the very top, the Atlas Baton (knife) and Atlas Classic. It also features Atlas-themed accessories like a player card, spray, and gun buddy. This skin collection is heavily tied to lore.

Among the other rewards packed into this Battle Pass: various standalone sprays, gun buddies, player cards (including several “5 Years” anniversary ones), and titles like “Galaxy” and “Discipline”. The “Teleport” gun buddy is indeed in the BP, as is the “Bonsai” gun buddy for Omen. The “Atlas Club” knife is specifically named the Atlas Baton and features a standard equip animation. It might look tall and take up screen space, and while some hoped for an unfolding animation, it’s just a club with the standard animation. The free “Atlas Classic” skin can be found on the new map. The golden bear gun buddy and golden “Awareness” player card (not fully gold) are also part of the BP.

Overall, the Battle Pass seems to offer a mixed bag. There are several nice player cards, skins, sprays, charms, and gun buddies. But calling it the absolute best Battle Pass ever released might be pushing it. Overall, it’s decent.

Phaseguard Collection: Ultra-tier Bling!

The “Phaseguard” skin collection is introduced as a series of high-tier skins in Valorant, leaning stylistically towards realistic, modern weaponry. This is an Ultra-tier collection. Created using advanced tech and innovative developments, they were, according to the lore, crafted by Chamber to bridge the technological gap with the opposing Alpha Earth. This lore connection is a major selling point for some players.

Key features mentioned for this collection include:

• Different grip options (or positions) for the Vandal and Bulldog, reminiscent of the “Recon” skin collection.
• A special pose when using the alternative fire mode (ADS).
• Completely new animations and sounds throughout the collection.
• The visual design of the kill banner changes based on the agent eliminated, and its color shifts according to the skin variant used.
• This is an Ultra-tier collection, with the full bundle priced at 9900 Valorant Points. The bundle contains four gun skins and a melee knife: the “Outlaw”, “Bulldog”, “Ghost”, the “Vandal”, and the “Phaseguard splitter” knife. It’s noted as the first series of skins at this ultra-high level in Valorant, released roughly a year after the previous Ultra collection, “Endeavour Dreamings”. Significant effort reportedly went into this skin collection, resulting in some very interesting new animations and sounds.

Let’s break down the details for each skin:

• Ghost: Features a new equip animation that seems integrated with the lore. It’s held at an unusual angle, similar to how pistols are sometimes held in other shooter games. The screen on the gun buddy for this collection will display images of the agents eliminated. Upon getting a kill, they start glowing in a very interesting way – this is part of the “interworld” animation, as according to the lore, these skins might allow travel between worlds. The sounds for the “Ghost” fit the skin well, feeling powerful. The reload animation is described as quite cool. The inspect animation on the “Ghost” is something completely new, perhaps bringing to mind a John Wick-style flourish. This inspect animation feels unique. It also features a “cloaking device” element during the inspect animation where the skin appears to shift in and Sova’s Owl Drone was updated to provide a warning audio loop when spotting enemies.
• Outlaw: Also sports a very cool inspect animation where the scope slides away. This creates the impression that the standard, non-zoomed ADS is about to be used, although that’s not possible in gameplay. The sounds for the “Outlaw” feel quite confident and powerful, matching the skins. The reload animation is also highlighted as cool.
• Bulldog: One of its quirks is a side scope. When an agent takes position and strafes, it creates a feeling of an unusual tilt that isn’t typical for standard Valorant movement. The sounds for the “Bulldog” are also powerful. The inspect animation shows the agent checking the magazine and a button, which might be connected to the concept of moving between worlds according to the lore. It’s mentioned that the inspect animations will change depending on the variant. Developers reportedly paid a lot of attention to detail, studying various materials to create natural-looking movements for these skins. This skin collection truly shows that effort.
• Vandal: The “Vandal” skin offers three different grip options (or positions) available, reminiscent of the “Recon” skin collection. The inspect animation cycles through showing various grip modifiers. There’s a shorter grip, a finger rest, and a variant with no grip at all (held under the magazine). Playing with the under-mag grip might be the least comfortable. The variant with the vertical foregrip strongly resembles the “Recon Phantom”. On aiming down sights (right-click), there’s a unique ‘peeking’ animation using the alternative fire mode. The sounds are described as cool and powerful. The reload animation is also highlighted. The inspect animation is very detailed, showing the agent double-checking everything. The sound and feel like Recon is noted as a similarity for the overall collection.
• Knife: The melee knife, officially called the “Phaseguard splitter”, comes with a completely new animation set. The hand position during the equip animation can also be considered new. The equip animation feels pleasant. The inspect animation is quite fast, but it can be rapidly spammed or spammed in time with the spin. The inspect animation shows the agent dramatically regripping the knife. It also features a new reverse grip and unique return animations on swings. There are different Attack animations based on the number of hits: single, double, triple, and after the fourth hit, there’s a unique throwing animation. Depending on the variant, the knife can slice through space with different colors and effects along its cut lines, which looks quite interesting. A default variant of the knife is also included. The most unusual and perhaps fitting for Chamber is the golden variant, where the knife itself and the cut lines turn golden. The golden variant might strike some as ‘gaudy’, but it maximally fits Chamber’s distinct style, which makes sense given the lore of its creation. The cut lines feature a rounded pattern. The Vandal and Bulldog skins in gold also look interesting and have a shine to them. The collection includes all-new animations, sounds, a special aim animation, and a nice finisher. Charms, as expected, change color to match the weapon variant.

Overall, the “Phaseguard” skin collection, seems to look cooler than “Endeavour Dreamings”, thanks to its new animations and sounds, and detailed features. It’s noted that unique animations seem to be a selling point for many players these days, and this collection has plenty. There’s also the caned ADS, the sound and feel like Recon comparison for the collection’s audio, and the significant lore ties for those interested.

The “Phaseguard” bundle is expected to launch on June 26th or June 27th. The whole collection is expected to cost 9900 Valorant Points. It’s noted that if someone only wanted the Ghost or Vandal, they could buy those individually. However, it’s generally advised to never buy the knife on its own, as it takes up like half the cost of the bundle. At that price, getting the four gun skins and accessories might be a better option. Whether the whole collection is too expensive is up to individual players in their country to decide.