Valorant patch 4.0 is now live and includes a new Agent, map and weapon updates, a competitive play level requirement, and more.
Update 4.0 sees the addition of Neon, the latest Agent who will be joining the Duelist category. According to Riot, Neon – who is from the Philippines – is all about speed and “surges forward at shocking speeds, discharging bursts of bioelectric radiance as fast as her body generates it”.
Alongside a new Agent, Valorant has also received new map updates for Bind and Breeze, mainly adjustments to the environments, as well as additional cover spots. Riot has also addressed competitive play issues, including how it’s “become increasingly difficult for new players to effectively learn and play” the game.
For this reason, the developer has added an Account Level requirement to play competitive, meaning that new players will need to reach level 20 before they can queue for ranked games. However, those that have not yet reached account level 20, but have already played ranked will still be able to play.
Valorant Patch 4.0 notes:
Weapon updates
Melee
- Right-click hitboxes are now 1.5x larger. Left-click hitboxes are now larger than a right click and have a slightly longer range too.
- Targets closer to the center of your knife attacks will get hit first, so you still have precision if you need it.
- Bonus: Knifing walls now have instant feedback when slicing up walls (predicted on the client side)
Recommended
Spectre
- Firing error occurs at earlier bullet stages
- For example, instead of errors occurring at bullets four, seven, ten (in terms of firing order) they will instead happen at bullets three, six, eight
- Increased pitch and yaw (vertical and horizontal) recoil multipliers when running/jumping/on ascender from 1.25 >>> 1.5
- Protected bullet count from yaw (horizontal) switching while spraying, decreased eight >>> five bullets
- Lowering time to switch yaw from 0.24 >>> 0.18 seconds
- While spraying, the time you have until you could switch yaws (horizontal movement) again is lower, meaning it can happen more often
Ares
- Removed spin up
- Firing rate increased from ten >>> 13
Guardian
- Removed firing rate penalty on ADS (Aiming Down Sight)
- Added an extra bullet before it enters a recovery curve
Bulldog
- Hip fire rate increased 9.5 >>> ten
- Recovery on burst fire improved from 0.4 >>> 0.35
- Inaccuracy is accrued any time the weapon is re-fired prior to a complete duration of a weapon’s respective Gun Recovery Time. Lower recovery time should improve burst fire efficiency
Map Updates
Bind
- The double stack of cover at short A has been changed to remove a very powerful one-way smoke location that made the area a little too difficult for Attackers to approach
- Sentinels will still be able to clog the space, but the new layout should open a few options for attackers pushing in
- There’s also a small, new bench for a mix up when taking that first peek
Breeze
- Increased the width of the A Main choke and removed 50/50s (where you must choose one of two locations an opponent may be located)
- This should give defenders more options when playing around A Main. It also removes the 50/50 when both entering or exiting the cave, allowing you to be more methodical when pushing
- Added a stack of two crates in cave
- This provides some cover for attackers pushing the cave while also giving defenders more options for contesting the space
- Adjusted cover on the back of A Site and extended the pool to the far wall
- The cover changes should give defenders both a safe place to fall back to and more cover on retakes. Extending the pool should make playing in this space more comfortable
- Plant site extension is also to match the new shape of the pool
- Adjusted curved wall in mid
- This change simplifies the space and removes the extra pocket
- Added cover to the pillar on B Site, blocked off the back site with a new wall, and added a stack of crates to B Wall
- The new cover on the pillar allows for new pre and post plant opportunities
- The adjusted back site breaks the head peek to B Main while also giving players new cover to work with. This new cover should be useful when falling back and retaking
- The new stack of crates limits some angles from B Main, gives you new options when holding or retaking, and should break up some awkward fights that can occur on thin walls
- Door on A can no longer be reactivated until it is finished opening or closing
Bugs
Game Systems
- Fixed an issue where the Signature Kill Counter was not updating visually
Esports Features
- Coaches should no longer experience the issue where swapping targets with number keys and + mouse clicks occasionally fails
In other news, it seems that some of the new locations that will appear in Sniper Elite 5 are inspired by Guernsey.