Valorant patch notes 1.03 target weapon, map, game modes and Guardian changes

Riot Games has released a new update for its free-to-play multiplayer FPS game Valorant. The official patch notes for Valorant update 1.03 are out and the headline change is that Guardian is receiving a major cut in its price and short-range capabilities. The patch update also targets weapons, changes to maps, agents, as well as the quality of life updates, among other changes.

Also Read | How To Surrender In Valorant When All Hope Is Lost For A Victory?

Valorant patch notes 1.03

Here's a look at the official Valorant patch notes 1.03

Weapon updates

Guardian

• Price has been reduced from 2700 to 2500
• Rate of Fire has been reduced from 6.5 to 4.75
• Penetration power has been increased from Medium to Heavy
• Input queue has been updated from 0.083 to 0.1175
• Developers hope that the new changes will “sharpen the Guardian’s identity” as a long-range, versatile weapon
• Its lower price should add some extra nuanced choice competition between the top rifles

Map updates

Haven

• Removed spot where Spike was unable to be retrieved once dropped

All maps

• Fixed a number of spots where users were able to clip inside level geometry
• Removed a few locations where Sova’s sensor arrow could go through the walls

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Mode updates

Spike Rush

• New Orb: Twin Hunters
• When someone captures the orb, it will release two hunting wolves to track down two enemies that are close (from the orb location; targets won't change after spawning)
• Wolves will pick up speed after spotting an enemy and dash at them when nearby, slowing and near-sighting for 4 seconds upon impact.
• Wolves have 150 HP and can be damaged
• Wolves will time out at 15 seconds, or when their target is down
• Split: Orb Location
• Mid defender side orb has been shifted to the mid platform to make it a bit less defender favoured

Also Read | Valorant Sensitivity Settings: Mouse Acceleration And DPI Settings Guide

Quality of life

Surrender changes

• Unrated Mode requirements to pass from votes have been changed from 100% to 80%
• Competitive Mode requirements to pass from votes are still 100%
• Users will now be able to call a surrender vote beginning with round 5 versus round 8
•  Added a new button in the in-game menu to call a surrender vote
• There is now a checkbox on the Collection screen that will allow users to toggle between showing all items or only items that are owned (more options and improvements for managing the collection will be coming in future updates)
• Fixed an issue where the mission “You or your ally plant/defuse spikes” sometimes would not take into account plants and defuses from allies
• Transition screens and startup screens have been letterboxed
• Fixed issues with text overlap in the Battlepass and Contract screens for certain languages
• Users in custom games with cheats activated will be able to choose a different Agent to use on the next round in the cheats menu.
• Removing a friend will now bring up a confirmation dialogue
• Pressing Escape while typing in the chatbox will clear the text
• Revised the layout of confirmation dialogs to make primary action larger and always display on the left side of the screen; applied colour in several locations, like using red for destructive actions; revised the locations of some confirmation and cancel buttons to maintain consistency
• Minor fixes for visual artifacts on Bind on Intel GPUs
• Minor render improvements for modern hardware
• Added an error popup for when there are crashes on startup and will link to the troubleshooting guide
• Patch notes and payment windows will scale properly on 4K monitors
• IME input on payment windows will now work correctly (Japanese/Chinese)
• Players will be able to see individual skin levels in the collections and store view
• There are updates to censor hit impact effects for better readability
• Agent silhouettes have been added for observers
• Render performance has been improved for silhouettes
• Agent health bars will be visible to observers
• Fulfilling a buy request while moving will no longer interrupt one's movement
• Custom games can now be set to Tournament Mode

Bug fixes

• Fixed a Cypher bug where traps that were added such that they were on the inside of a doorway, will no longer trigger when someone goes through them
• Fixed a bug with the Match Timer hitching under bad network conditions
• Fixed a bug where players were unable to jump off ascenders if the jump was bound to the mouse wheel
• Fixed a few issues with visuals that would occur when reconnecting to the game while dead
• Fixed Barrier phase announcement popping up in normal games for observers
• Fixed various UI issues on the scoreboard of observers

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Image credits: Play Valorant