Pre-VALORANT Champions patch notes released

Esports & Games Writer

Publish Date: September 3, 2025

VALORANT Champions 2025 starts on Sept. 12. The biggest VALORANT Esports tournament is slated to take place in Paris this year. With the tournament drawing closer, the final patch notes before the tournament, Patch 11.05, are now available. They hint at some significant changes that will be introduced in VALORANT with the upcoming updates. Here is everything you need to know about VALORANT Patch 11.05

VALORANT 11.05 Patch Notes: Harbor Rework Coming Soon?

As it is the final patch before the tournament, there aren’t significant buffs and nerfs done to any agent. The competitive map pool, as well as leading up to the tournament, hasn’t changed. Patch 11.05 will be going live on September 4th worldwide. Usually, there is a new patch update within VALORANT every two weeks. The primary reason for this is to ensure that any form of hot fixes can be applied to agents or in-game, if necessary, without affecting gameplay within the game.

The first major point to note within Patch 11.05 is concerning the agent Harbor. Harbor’s ultimate ability will have its visual effects updated. The ground indicator of the agent’s location in the area within the ultimate is more defined. While this is the only change, there is something major hinted at. It appears that Harbor will undergo major changes following VALORANT Champions 2025, which has some fans like xFalcade on Reddit quite excited.

Image via Reddit

We see significant changes concerning agents and their abilities in the Patch after the tournament. This Patch will mostly be Patch 11.06 or Patch 11.07. If one isn’t aware, Harbor has the lowest pick rate in the ranked ladder within VALORANT. A major reason for this is that the agent no longer has a unique use case as a controller.

See also: Valorant Champions 2025 group stage teams

VALORANT Launches Creator Factions in Champions 2025 Pick’ems

The second central point to note within this update is the new features concerning esports. Pick’ems will be making a return within VALORANT. Players can take part in this to earn exclusive in-game items. This year, a new feature is being added: Creator Faction. Within this, players can choose to join a specific VALORANT creators’ faction. By joining the faction, fans will receive a unique in-game reward. All eyes are now on the 16 teams that will be in Paris to be crowned the world champions of VALORANT.

Recently, VALORANT announced the launch of the VALORANT Champions 2025 skin, which has the community quite split. With some loving the skin while some really disliking it as a whole.

Featured image credit: Riot Games