The new year of VALORANT is upon us, with Season 26 launch right around the corner. The year is starting off strong, as Riot Games introduces a new weapon to the game that’s bound to shake up the economy, alongside map changes and a few balancing adjustments.
Here’s everything coming to VALORANT in Patch 12.00.
Biggest changes in VALORANT Patch 12.00
- New sidearm, Bandit, which can one-shot headshot enemies with light shields.
- All Random One Site LTM with one active site, random Agents, free loadouts, and cheap Ultimates.
- Breeze rework to reduce the amount of open space and allow for more Controllers to shine.
Table of contents
All changes included in VALORANT Patch 12.00
Introducing the Bandit
Bandit is a new weapon coming to VALORANT and is a sidearm with one-tap headshot potential against light shields, allowing you to secure kills on a budget. This weapon is meant to fit between the Ghost and the Sheriff, offering more diversity for you to choose between weapons and Agent abilities.
Here are the Bandit’s stats we know so far:
- Weapon Class: Sidearm
- Price: 600 credits
- Attachments: None
- Bullets per Magazine: 8
- Ammo Reserve: 24
- Reload Timing: 1.5s
- Equip Timing: .75s
- Wall Penetration: Medium
All Random One Site limited-time mode
This new VALORANT 5v5 limited-time mode embraces chaos in every way possible. Your Agent changes every round with no duplicates on the team, and all Agents are available regardless of whether you unlocked them or not.
Abyss, Ascent, Breeze, Corrode, Pearl, Icebox, Sunset, and Split are available in this mode, but only one site is active every round, with barriers blocking the rest of the map. The site randomizes every round and is revealed during the buy phase.
Weapons and abilities are also free in this mode. Weapons are set to specific loadouts that escalate through stages, similarly to Team Deathmatch (except it’s round-based). You get full ability charges every round at no cost, with Ultimate requiring only two kills to charge. Killing an enemy also drops an Orb with their accumulated Ultimate charge.
Breeze overhaul and less wallbanging
As Breeze returns to the competitive map pool, replacing Sunset, it received a major update and is the biggest rework Riot has ever done to a VALORANT map. Almost every area of the map has been revamped to allow for more diverse Controller picks and closer-range gunfights.
As with all major reworks and new maps, for the first two weeks of the competitive queue in the new Patch, RR losses on Breeze are reduced by 50 percent for you to learn the map without worrying that much about deranking.
Apart from Breeze, Haven and Corrode received minor updates to reduce wallbanging in certain areas. On Haven, the mid window now has an additional breakable part to prevent defenders from getting early round start kills by spamming through the wall.
Similarly, on Corrode, the wall on the A site facing A main is now reinforced, and the wall on the B site’s hut facing B link is also reinforced. This removes the two main areas on the map where you could take advantage of spamming through the wall with a well-placed reveal or simply good crosshair placement.
Agent changes
When it comes to Agent changes, there isn’t anything extremely game-breaking as you might have expected based on teasers and trailers. There are buffs to Breach, Vyse, and Harbor (following his rework last year). There are also adjustments to Tejo and Sage. Below is a list of all Agent updates in Patch 12.00.
Breach
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Flashpoint
- Projectile speed increased by 20 percent from 2000 >>> 2400.
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Fault Line
- Width increased from 7.5m >>> 8m.
Brimstone
- Tactical map on the on Sky Smoke and Orbital Strike have been updated for better readability.
Harbor
-
Storm Surge
- Explosion no longer requires line of sight to nearsight and slow players.
- Explosion windup decreased from 0.8s >>> 0.6s.
- Slow duration increased from 0.6s >>> 2s.
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Reckoning
- Slow duration increased from 0.6s >>> 2s.
Sage
-
Healing Orb
- Updated targeting to allow healing teammates if the mid and lower sections of their models are blocked by geometry.
Tejo
-
Special Delivery
- Concuss duration decreased from 4 seconds >>> 2.5 seconds.
- Added damage from the explosion. Maximum damage of 35 at the center, with minimum damage of 20.
-
Stealth Drone
- Reveal type has been changed from Snapshot reveal to being fully Revealed.
- Pulse radius decreased from 30m >>> 16m.
Vyse
-
Steel Garden
- Radius increased from 26m >>> 28m.
- Width increased from 7.5m >>> 8m.
Competitive updates
In competitive, Riot made changes to the hidden MMR calculation that should improve match quality and help bring more consistent experiences. At the same time, accounts detected for sharing in the EU and all Ascendant+ players must enable Riot Mobile multi-factor authentication to play competitve.
This comes on top of multiple bug fixes, updates to penalties for chat and inappropriate names, a rank reset, and a new stage of Premiere, if you and your friends want to play more competitively.
