Valorant Act 3 patch notes 1.10 bring new Icebox map and make changes to Deathmatch

Riot Games has released the official patch notes for its tactical shooter game which finally introduces fans to the much-awaited Valorant Act 3 competitive season. The latest patch update brings plenty of changes to the online multiplayer game including a whole new map, competitive matchmaking, and a lot more. So let us take a look at everything you will get with the new Valorant Act 3 patch update.

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Valorant patch notes 1.10

Here is the official list of all changes coming with the new Valorant Act 3: 

Map updates

New Map: Icebox

• Early in the update, players who queue up for Unrated will more frequently get placed on the new Icebox
• map
• Ascenders (Ropes) / Ziplines
• Acceleration has been adjusted in order to prevent immediate shifts in direction (the adjustment was made with the earlier patch update; however, it wasn’t added in the patch notes
• Weapon tagging has been added for when shot while on Ascenders
• The changes are supposed to make users who are using Ziplines and Ascenders less evasive while battling

Ascent, Bind

• Vision Cones accuracy has been improved for Ascent, Bind
• Haven, Split could be possibly updated with this patch update

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Competitive updates

• Players will now be able to choose their preferred servers, which will improve the chances of playing on the server they desire
• Rank disparity for parties has been capped at 3 tiers (It was capped at 6 previously)
• Developers have also tightened their competitive matchmaking to reduce disparity in skills
• Immortal+ ranked changes will only be impacted by winning and losing and based on the decisiveness of the game outcome (depending on the total rounds won or lost by) and not take individual performance into the calculation
• Developers will be testing and monitoring this change in Valorant Act 3 for potential future implementation in all ranks

Mode Updates

Deathmatch

• Increased player count from 10 to 14 players
• Spawning algorithm has been updated to encourage safer spawns
• Periodic location pulse has been removed, and players will now only get a pulse right when they respawn
• Match length has been increased; first to 40 kills (from 30), time limit has been increased to 9 minutes (from 6)
• Kill Reloads: With each kill, users receive an automatic, immediate full reload of their active weapon (Ares & Odin will receive 30 bullets back)
• XP gain has been increased from 500 XP to 900 XP

Quality of Life

• Players will now have an ability where they can select their own Variant as opposed to having to level them sequentially
• The Battlepass will feature upgrade Variants for the Surge skin line, including the free track Surge Sheriff
• Minimap performance has been increased
• Tournament mode enabled custom games will now fit up to 12 observers
• Requested guns will now be sold back to the shop; this will refund the user who has fulfilled the request
• Observers will now be able to hold walk when in a free cam mode. This will bring down the speed (fast and slow speed can be configured using the settings menu)
• In-world pings have been team-colored for all the observers
• Reyna and Phoenix ult timers will now correctly update for the observers
• Removed the keybind text in the current spectate target widget for the observers
• Flashed indicator for observers has been updated with a new art
• Crosshair setting has been added that allows crosshair colours to be locked to team colour for observers
• Players will no longer get stuck trying to descend vent ropes while walking (leaving the A-Tower)
• Added a new modifier keybind for observers which will allow them to jump straight to free cam when jumping to a player (left shift by default)
• Plant/defuse progress UI will be always visible to the observers and include which player is taking the action
• Observer player will no longer see player-specific hud indicators (e.g. taking damage indicator) when in the free cam
• Ability timers will work for dead/spectating players and also the observers (e.g. Reyna & Phoenix ult durations)

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Social Updates

• Players will now be able to add and view friend notes. Notes from League of Legends will transfer over to Valorant as well. Players will be able to edit these notes from Valorant
• The social panel will now pause sorting for a short time while a player is interacting with it

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a Shooting Range bug in the plant/defuse module in the shooting range where players couldn’t purchase abilities
• Various Shooting Range UI bug fixes in the plant/defuse module, including incorrect text in the buy phase announcement, also adding a halfway tick to the defuse progress bar
• Fixed a bug where other players’ messages would be forcefully filtered out of chat after you sent a message
• Fixed a bug where the text box would not fade away in-game

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