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Jerome Heath

All VALORANT season start and end dates: When is the new VALORANT Act?

While VALORANT doesn’t have real-world seasons like summer or winter, its progression system runs on a unique model with yearly “Seasons,” each featuring six “Acts.” If you’re looking for a list of all the Seasons (and Episodes) so far or when the next VALORANT Act starts, you’ve come to the right place.

Every Act comes with a significant update, treating players to new content like agents, maps, and modes, as well as balance and visual updates. To help you keep track, here are the start and end dates of all VALORANT Episodes, Seasons, and Acts so far.

In a nutshell

  • New Episodes and Acts are usually the torchbearers of VALORANT’s biggest updates each year, keeping the meta fresh and exciting.
  • VALORANT is about to enter Season V26, Act two, which is this year’s second Act.
  • Act two features a new Controller, Miks, and a new game mode, Knockout.
  • Season V26 Act two begins on March 18.

Table of contents

All VALORANT Act start and end dates

Omen aiming down the sights of the Outlaw sniper rifle in VALORANT.
Nine Episodes, one Season, and counting. Image via Riot Games

To make it easier, we’ve added separate tables for Acts in the old Episode model and the current Season model.

All VALORANT Seasons and Acts (2025-present)

Seasons and Acts Start date End date Major changes
Season V25, Act one Jan. 7, 2025 March 5, 2025 New agent: Tejo, New cosmetic type: Flex, other agent and feature changes
Season V25, Act two March 5, 2025 April 30, 2025 New agent: Waylay
Season V25, Act three April 30, 2025 June 25, 2025 New features: Gifting system, Ranked Gun buddy, various agent changes, and game updates
Season V25, Act four June 25, 2025 Aug. 20, 2025 New map: Corrode, agent and map pool changes, hard rank reset, new features, and general game and UI updates
Season V25, Act five Aug. 20, 2025 Oct. 15, 2025 Map pool changes, agent and feature tweaks, bug fixes; New agent: Veto and New game mode: Skirmish in surprise patch 11.07b
Season V25, Act six Oct. 15, 2025 Jan. 7, 2026 Map pool changes, major agent changes across all roles, Rank Manipulation report feature, Harbor rework, and more
Season V26, Act one (ongoing) Jan. 7, 2026 March 18, 2026 New weapon: Bandit; New mode: All Random One Site
Season V26, Act two March 18, 2026 TBD New agent: Miks; New mode: Knockout

All VALORANT Episodes and Acts (2020 to 2024)

Episodes and Acts Start date End date Major changes
Episode One: IGNITION
Episode One, Act One June 2, 2020 Aug. 13, 2020 New agent: Reyna, New modes: Competitive and Spike Rush, New map: Ascent
Episode One, Act Two Aug. 4, 2020 Oct. 13, 2020 New agent: Killjoy, New mode: Deathmatch
Episode One, Act Three Oct. 13, 2020 Jan. 12, 2021 New agent: Skye, New map: Icebox, New mode: Snowball Fight, First Night Market
Episode Two: FORMATION
Episode Two, Act One Jan. 12, 2021 March 2, 2021 New agent: Yoru, New mode: Escalation
Episode Two, Act Two March 2, 2021 April 27, 2021 New agent: Astra
Episode Two, Act Two April 27, 2021 June 22, 2021 New map: Breeze, New mode: Replication
Episode Three: REFLECTION
Episode Three, Act One June 22, 2021 Sept. 8, 2021 New agent: KAY/O
Episode Three, Act Two Sept. 8, 2021 Nov. 2, 2021 New map: Fracture
Episode Three, Act Three Nov. 2, 2021 Jan. 11, 2022 New agent: Chamber
Episode Four: DISRUPTION
Episode Four, Act One Jan. 11, 2022 March 1, 2022 New agent: Neon
Episode Four, Act Two March 1, 2022 April 27, 2022 Major agent rework: Yoru
Episode Four, Act Three April 27, 2022 June 22, 2022 New agent: Fade
Episode Five: DIMENSION
Episode Five, Act One June 22, 2022 Aug. 23, 2022 New map: Pearl, Competitive map rotations
Episode Five, Act Two Aug. 23, 2022 Oct. 17, 2022 Major agent, weapon, and map changes, Minor changes throughout
Episode Five, Act Three Oct. 17, 2022 Jan. 10, 2023 New agent: Harbor, Huge agent changes
Episode Six: REVELATION
Episode Six, Act One Jan. 10, 2023 March 6, 2023 New map: Lotus
Episode Six, Act Two March 6, 2023 April 25, 2023 New agent: Gekko
Episode Six, Act Three April 25, 2023 June 26, 2023 Map rotation and agent changes
Episode Seven: EVOLUTION
Episode Seven, Act One June 27, 2023 Aug. 29, 2023 New agent: Deadlock, New mode: Team Deathmatch, New mode: Premier
Episode Seven, Act Two Aug. 29, 2023 Oct. 31, 2023 New map: Sunset, various agent and map updates
Episode Seven, Act Three Oct. 31, 2023 Jan. 9, 2024 New agent: Iso, New Team Deathmatch map: Drift
Episode Eight: DEFIANCE
Episode Eight, Act One Jan. 9, 2024 March 5, 2024 New weapon: Outlaw, major agent and map rotation updates
Episode Eight, Act Two March 5, 2024 April 30, 2024 New agent: Clove
Episode Eight, Act Three April 30, 2024 June 25, 2024 New map: Abyss
Episode Nine: COLLISION
Episode Nine, Act One June 25, 2024 Aug. 28, 2024 VALORANT console release, agent, mode, and map updates
Episode Nine, Act Two Aug. 28, 2024 Oct. 23, 2024 New agent: Vyse, Competitive mode releases on console
Episode Nine, Act Three Oct. 23, 2024 Jan. 7, 2025 New Team Deathmatch map: Glitch, various agent and feature updates

How Seasons and Acts work in VALORANT

Starting in 2025, VALORANT transitioned to a new seasonal format, featuring a year-long Season that comprises six Acts, each lasting two months. Previously, “Episodes” ran for six months with three two-month Acts. Everything is essentially the same with the new Season system, but players can now enjoy a seamless yearly transition instead of a major “Episode” switch every six months.

New Acts typically introduce significant changes, including new agents, maps, or adjustments to existing features. The biggest changes of a Season, however, drop every three Acts (previously marked by new Episodes). This design gives players enough time to enjoy the additions without overloading them with too much new content at once, keeping the meta fresh and fun.

When is the next VALORANT Act?

VALORANT Go! Vol. 3 collection
Watch out for the next Act. Image via Riot Games

VALORANT Season V26 Act two is kicking off on March 18 (CT). For APAC and EMEA regions, however, Act six will go live in the early hours of March 19. The dates may shift if Riot runs into an unexpected hiccup, but the chances of that happening are quite low.

On the day the new Act’s scheduled to commence, the game servers will be taken down for maintenance, which may run for a couple of hours. After maintenance is over, you should see a pending update in the Riot Client app once it ends. Download it and launch VALORANT to start experiencing the new Act. You can turn on automatic updates from the Riot Client settings if you don’t want to keep track of these patches manually.

Based on old release times, it’s possible to predict when the update for VALORANT Season V26, Act two goes live, according to your region. Mark the following times:

  • North America, LATAM, Brazil: March 18 between 8am and 1pm CT
  • Korea, Asia-Pacific: March 19 between 6am and 8am KST
  • EMEA: March 19 between 2am and 5am UTC

These timings aren’t confirmed and are subject to change based on the update’s size or if Riot changes its plans.


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