Valorant patch notes 0.50 targets Sage, weapon accuracy and adjusts split

Riot Games rolled out its next set of Valorant's 0.50 patch notes on May 12, 2020, for the closed Beta which brings tons of new updates and changes to the free-to-play multiplayer game.

Unlike most of the game's previous updates, the latest one is quite massive as not only will a majority of the agents receive some big updates to their kit including a bunch of interface updates, but Split has now been shifted that will allow fans to breathe much easier while they are on the attacking side.

The game has also updated the rifles in an effort to make single-tap and burst fire far more efficient. In addition, playable Agents like Sage, Brimstone, Cypher, Phoenix, Omen, and Viper have all undergone changes for balance adjustments. So, let’s take a look at all the new changes coming with the new update.

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Valorant patch notes 0.50

Gameplay and Balance (Weapons)

• Players will no longer get into the “walking accuracy” state when transitioning from run to stop. Developers had been aware that a number of players were entering a walking accuracy state during their run-to-stop transition that made it appear as if shots they fired or landed were done at full speed.
• Deadzone accuracy speed threshold has been increased: 25% >> 30%. Now that players won't be able to gain walk accuracy while transitioning from a run to a stop, developers have also slightly increased the size of the deadzone (full accuracy state) to make it a bit easier to get an accurate shot out quickly.

All Rifles

The recovery times on all the Rifles have now been updated in order to make the tap and burst firing much more efficient for players. Inaccuracy is accrued any time the weapon is re-fired prior to a complete duration of a weapon’s respective Gun Recovery Time.

Base walk accuracy: 0.6° >> 0.8°. Developers have stated that walk-spraying with rifles happened to be a bit more effective than they wanted it to be, especially for longer ranges. Therefore, they decided to pull back on the accuracy slightly and continue to monitor.

Vandal

• Horizontal (Yaw) Recoil has been reduced by 15% while crouched and stationary. This was intended to be the case and now it is able to match the crouch benefits of other rifles. Changes to Gun Recovery Time: .4s >> .375s and Tap Efficiency: 4 >> 6.

Phantom

• Fixed an issue where the Gun Recovery Time was higher than intended. Changes to Gun Recovery Time: .55s >> .35s and Tap Efficiency: 3 >> 4.

Bulldog

• Fixed an issue with Automatic Fire where the Gun Recovery Time was higher than intended. Changes to Gun Recovery Time: .55s >> .35s.

Guardian

• Fixed an issue where the Gun Recovery Time was higher than intended. Changes to Gun Recovery Time: .4s >> .35s.

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Machine Guns have been significantly underperforming as compared to other weapons at their price points. These weapons are actually meant to work as bullet hoses that are quite powerful once they get going. This is a difficult balance to strike in a game where a single bullet from the Vandal will put you down. The new update hopes to make Machine Guns better at what they do (shoot lots and lots of bullets) while also increasing the power of the Ares relative to weapons at a similar price point.

Ares

• Price has been reduced from 1700 to 1600 creds. 
• Firing Error (this value is a curve that has intermediate values between each bullet; bullet 2 has slightly less error than bullet 1, and so on). Changes to Bullet 1: 1.0° >> 0.8°, Bullet 5: 0.85° >> 0.75° and Bullet 10: 0.75° >> 0.7°.
• Reducted the amount and intensity of horizontal (Yaw) Recoil after the first 8 bullets.

Odin

• Reduced the amount and intensity of horizontal (Yaw) Recoil after the first 8 bullets.

Agent Updates

Sage

• Slow Orb zone duration has been reduced from 9 seconds to 7 seconds
• Slow Orb slowing amount has been reduced from 65% to 50%. Developers have decided to try to reduce some of her stopping power while still allowing her to fulfil her role as the premier staller in the game. The changes specifically aim to decrease the overall efficacy of her Slow Orb, especially if they are chained back-to-back.

Cypher

• Cyber Cage will no longer slow down enemies that move through it
• Spycam cooldown when destroyed has been increased: 30 >> 45 seconds

Omen

• Dark Cover smoke duration has been increased 12 >> 15 seconds
• Dark Cover smoke projectile speed has been increased
• Dark Cover cooldown has been increased: 30 >> 35 seconds

Viper

Snake Bite radius has been increased: 350 >> 450. Developers have increased the Snake Bite’s radius to match other area-denial abilities

Brimstone/Phoenix/Viper

• Developers have noticed that all the b-hoppers out there have been jumping through Incendiary, Fireball, and Snake Bite while taking no damage. They don’t want to completely negate the skill but they also don’t want it to trivialize a whole set of character abilities.
• The height required to jump out of all damaging area-denial abilities: 80 >> 120
• Snake Bite, Fireball, and Incendiary damage tick speed increased (total damage per second unchanged)

Agent Ability credit cost tuning

Developers have noticed that the credit cost of some abilities did not match the impact those abilities brought to a game and made adjustments for a more accurate reflection.

• Sage Barrier Orb has been increased from 300 to 400 credits
• Raze Blast Pack has been increased from 100 to 200 credits
• Phoenix Curveball has been increased from 100 to 200 credits
• Brimstone’s Incendiary has been increased from 200 to 300 credits
• Jett’s Updraft has been reduced from 200 to 100 credits

Agent Armor

• Armor carried over from prior rounds will no longer be destroyed when a new armor is bought, allowing players to sell newly purchased armor and return to the previous armor status (instead of not having any armor).

Max Credit Cap

• Total credit cap has been reduced from 12,000 to 9,000. It was noticed that players or teams who managed to bank a high amount of credits have been maintaining a rich economic state for too long, and it became a monumental challenge for the opposing team to dethrone their economy.

Character Updates

• Sova's Owl Drone will come with a layer of sound for engine rotors. Audio should better reflect thematics while maintaining how noticeable the previous version of Owl Drone audio was for allies and enemies, as heard in 3rd-person.

Map Updates

Split

• Attacking teams have been having difficulty finding a foothold in territory control across the map. The developers made a few changes that should allow attackers better opportunities to contest A-Main, Mid Top, and B Tower.
• Barrier locations (the clear blue walls) have been adjusted across the map to provide attackers more of a foothold into territory control across the map. Defender barrier in B Mid has been pulled back. New barriers are in the entrance to Vent and atop the staircase in B Tower, Defender barrier has been pulled back at A Ramps, Attacker barrier has been pushed forward at A Main and Attacker barrier has been pushed forward slightly at B Main
• Angled the wall on the left interior of B Tower when pushing up the stairs from Mid. This removes a 50/50 angle check when pushing into this space, which should make it more approachable for you to try and gain control of B Tower.
• Radianite crate in B has been changed to a metal crate to offer more cover when planting the Spike
• Revised art will improve performance throughout the map

Haven

• A new map exploit system will now be in effect which will have a negative effect on players trying to escape the playspace
• Updated several floor sections so that they now have appropriate material sounds

Split/Haven/Bind

• Added fixes for Cypher Spy Camera exploits to all three maps
• Backside of spawn barriers will now be opaque to prevent some abuse cases
• Added ability for Spike to automatically fall from elevated boost positions
• Fixed multiple spots where Sova’s Recon Dart could over-penetrate map geometry

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HUD & UI

• Teammate armor is now shown on the scoreboard
• When the Spike is planted, the Spike icon in the upper middle UI now pulses with the audio beeps
• New artwork for pings to increase readability in the world
• Re-enabled portrait for player’s minimap icon
• Reduced size of portraits and icons by several pixels
• Added colour to the player’s own minimap icon with a slightly thicker border to aid in finding oneself (on the minimap, not in life)
• Added regulation of chat messages when using the radio menu or radio wheel
• Slight increase to broken armor text size to make it easier to notice
• Relocated flyout menu for Titles dropdown so it opens in a more sensible location
• Moved Leave Match button closer to the other “Exit” buttons in the menu
• Made Logout button red to match Exit button, since they both exit
• Shifted location of Skip button on MVP screen so players do not accidentally press "Play Again" button when slamming the Skip button
• Adjusted radio wheel behaviour so that mouse wheel up and down always select the other wheels regardless of other keybinds
• Icon for Need Help changed from the little bug thing to a flag
• Enabled attack/defend icons in the upper-middle game info UI for all players, not just observers
• Hooked up “Ult Almost Ready” VO when a character uses the Ult Status radio command and is within 1 ult point of being fully charged

Quality Of Life

• Cheaters are no longer referred to as “Hackers”
• Profanity filter setting added; when enabled, will filter out profanity from the chat
• Added a setting that allows toggling between walking and running
• Viper’s Poison Cloud no longer enters cooldown when picked up during the buy phase
• Added foe colouring for Sova’s Hunter’s Fury
• Added Contract level-up animation when unlocking free characters or purchasing contract levels
• Added tooltips and explanations guiding new players towards activating their first contract
• Unowned skin levels now list their individual cost (in Radianite Points) and description in the collection pages
• Made performance optimizations to address FPS drops when you or allies are shooting
• Various social panel improvements to support better error handling and messaging
• “Keep Player Centered” minimap setting is now a default setting
• Renamed “First Person Enhanced Visuals” graphics setting to “Bloom”
• Renamed “Shadows” graphics setting to “First Person Shadows”
• Dead players will now appear greyed out on the HUD rather than hidden
• Team colours on the HUD will swap when switching sides, rather than the teams on the HUD changing position

Bug Fixes: In-Game

• Cypher and Sova will no longer float in the air if the Sage Barrier Orb wall they are standing on is destroyed while using the Spycam or Owl Drone, respectively
• Cypher can no longer pick up his trap after an enemy has triggered it.
• Sova’s Owl Drone can no longer rapid-fire darts if the prior one hits an enemy
• Reduced collision size on Sova’s arrows so they don’t get stuck on corners when fired near them
• Removed placeholder mesh from Viper’s Toxic Screen projectile
• When using the ping wheel on the map, right-ing now correctly cancels the action and does not place a ping
• Fixed a bug where the Spike UI would sometimes overlap with the HUD
• Fixed a bug where a weapon’s ammo count on the HUD would disappear if swapping your knife, then back, while on low ammo.
• Removed Spike icon from being visible on enemy player minimap icons
• Spike can no longer be planted partially in map geometry
• Barriers on the minimap no longer adjust positions incorrectly during the buy phase if you open the mega map
• Fixed bug where various issues would occur after multiple players would fulfil a weapon buy request at the same time
• Fixed issue where the game would hitch/stutter when opening the in-game options menu
• Fixed issue where the game would hitch/stutter when opening the in-game shop
• Fixed rare movement bug where resurrected players who were tagged would have jittery movement in 1st-person perspective
• Fixed a bug where some weapons lost their muzzle flashes in 1st-person POV when tracers were disabled
• Fixed a rare bug where players appeared to be standing when they were actually crouching
• Ability details in the combat report will now correctly appear in the buy phase of the round when teams switch sides
• Fixed miscellaneous Observer mode HUD issues
• Spectators can now see weapon inspect animations
• Fixed a bug where the camera could take an invalid position during character select
• Fixed an issue where the combat report would show 150 damage but the enemy player was still alive (in cases where healing was not involved)
• Fixed an issue where a teammate’s voice activity would incorrectly light up more than their own icon in the above-character UI element
• Selecting a ping on the ping wheel and cancelling no longer incorrectly spawns the cancelled ping next time the player uses the basic ping

Bug Fixes: Game Client

• Fixed incorrect location of text when hovering rewards in the contracts
• Fixed a bug where purchase refunds were not reflected in "client" until it was restarted
• Fixed a bug where player cards were cropped on the arsenal menu screen
• Fixed a bug where, in some languages, mission descriptions could appear truncated
• Fixed an issue where the Distortion Graphics setting was not properly enabled
• Enabling this may have a performance impact on some older graphics cards

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Image credits: Riot Games