In the next VALORANT The update will be live soon and will bring several important changes and new content, including the next agent, Astra, tactical voice and more.
Other major updates to Patch 2.04 include the Bind Teleporter now with doors open to avoid Escalation camps, some rework for competitive ratings and minor changes in quality of life.
You can read the full notes for VALORANT Patch 2.04 in the official VALORANT on the Internet network. Here is an overview of what you can expect in the post-update of the game, outside of Astra’s live entry.
Related: How to play Astra, VALORANT ‘s new controlling agent
Out of your bond
Specifically in Escalation, the Bind Teleporter will have its doors locked open so that players cannot camp there after taking a strong position on the map.
Likewise, Bind’s choice rate was reverted to what it was before Riot Games reduced it in Patch 2.03. It is now weighted evenly with the other escalation maps, but will be monitored based on feedback from the community.
Classified reworks
Patch 2.04 marks the beginning of Episode Two, the competitive season of Act Two, which means that there are some changes in various aspects of VALORANT’s classified progression.
Probably the biggest change is that players will no longer have their ratings downgraded at the start of an act. This means that if you were a Radiant player at the end of the previous act, you will remain in Radiant on the leaderboard to begin the next act.
But their Ranked Rating will still be reduced by 90 percent, meaning that Radiant players will still be technically transferred to Immortal and need to prove that they are still capable of being one of the best players in the world.
Likewise, hitting Radiant now will be more difficult to achieve, requiring a player to be a top 500 player in their region and maintain a defined RR. Here are the RR requirements for each region, according to Riot.
- Latin America and South Korea: 100 RR
- Brazil: 200 Rating
- North America and Asia Pacific: 300 RR
- Europe: 400 RR
Later in the season, Riot will reduce the total amount of average RR per win or defeat by five to try to refine the MMR in competitive matches.
At the lower end of the rating rework, the ratings will not appear in Agent Select or in the game, which means that you will only see the rating of your non-participating member on the final screen of a game. Lower ranked players can also queue up with a wider selection of friends and teammates without being cut.
Tactical voice over inbound
Riot is also looking to improve team coordination and information sharing by adding the VO agent that will provide context for teammates based on location.
Therefore, for players who do not use a microphone for team communication, the use of the generic VO agent, such as “Spike located” or “spotted enemies”, will now include an additional qualifier, depending on where it is called on the map. This means that pointing the peak at point B will be translated as “spotted peak B”.
“We hope to provide the player with richer information with these changes,” said Riot. “Tactical VO should not be a complete substitute for voice communications, so calls will be reduced in volume when a teammate is speaking via VOIP.”
You can toggle an option for these tactical VO messages to appear in the chat for continuous reference, that is, instead of just listening to them, you can also see them as “Sova spotted an enemy in B.”
As it develops, tactical VO will not be available in all modes, it can be completely disabled and chat messages for calls can be enabled in the accessibility options.
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