All Changes to Agents in VALORANT Patch 11.08

In the past few years, the community has expressed dissatisfaction with one aspect of the game. This was known as a utility dump. With more abilities added into the game, it became nearly impossible for players to avoid these utilities and focus their aim at the same time. Thus, to combat this, VALORANT released Patch 11.08. This is one of the most significant changes in the game, as the abilities of nearly all agents have been changed drastically. In this article, we examine each agent and the changes they will undergo in the upcoming VALORANT Patch.

Reasons behind the changes

Within the patch notes for Patch 11.08, Riot Games states that the primary reason for this is to increase the impact of abilities, with players who have mastered their line-ups receiving the desired advantage using their abilities like blinds and recons. Another reason is to reward players for using skills at the right place and the right time. Finally, the goal was to reduce the size of the most considerable abilities within the game.

Let’s now take a look at all the changes in the new patch:

Effect: Nearsights, Concuss & Stim Unification

In Patch 11.08, abilities like Fade’s Prowler, Omen’s Paranoia, Reyna’s Leer, and Skye’s Seeker will now have their nearsight radius increased from 5m to 7m. Thus, allowing enemies to see a bit more than in the past

Abilities like Breach’s Fault Line, Gekko’s Wingman, Neon’s Relay Bolt, and Astra’s Nova Pulse will have the concuss effect duration decreased to 2.5s

Finally, the Stim effects that are received through abilities like Brimstone’s Stim Beacon, KAY/O’s NULL/CMD, and Reyna’s Empress will have some changes. Firstly, the Reload time modifier will be at 0.9, and the firing rate modifier will be at 1.1. While the weapon draw time modifier will be at 0.9, the spread recovery modifier will be at 1.1.

Now, let’s take a look at each agent based on their roles in VALORANT.

Changes made to Initiator agents

Breach

Fault Line

• Ability cooldown increased from 40s to 60s
• Initial windup decreased from 1.2s to 1.1s
• Concuss duration decreased from 3.5s to 2.5s

Flash Point:

• Flash duration increased from 2s to 2.25s

Rolling Thunder

• Ability Width decreased from 23m to 18m
• Concuss duration decreased from 6s to 4s
• Ult points decreased from 9 to 8

Fade

Haunt

• Cooldown increased from 40s to 60s
• Haunt active duration decreased from 2s to 1.5s

Prowler

•  Visibility in Nearsight increased from 5m to 7m

Nightfall (ULT)

• Deafen and Marked duration decreased from 12s to 8s
• The width decreased from 24m to 20m
• Decay now remains a consistent 75 damage over its duration instead of decreasing over time

Gekko

General:

• Cooldown upon reclaim increased from 10s to 20s

Wingman

• Health decreased from 80 to 60
• Concuss duration decreased from 3.5s to 2.5s

Thrash(ULT)

•  Health decreased from 200 to 180

KAY/O

ZERO/POINT: Cooldown increased from 40s to 60s

FLASH/DRIVE: Underhand maximum flash duration increased from 1.5s to 2.25s

NULL/CMD (ULT)

• Updated to match Stim standardization
• Increased fire rate reduced from 15% to 10%
• Added standardized weapon draw time for Stims
• NEW: Increased weapon draw speed by 10%
• Added weapon recovery speed for Stims
• Weapon recovery speed increases by 10%

Sova

Recon Bolt

• Cooldown increased from 40s to 60s

Changes made to Duelist agents

Iso

Kill Contract

• Length decreased from 48m to 36m

Neon

High Gear

• Battery recharge decreased, time to recharge to full battery increased from 20s to 60s
• Battery drain reduced, increasing sprint time with full battery from 12s to 16s

Relay Bolt: Concuss duration decreased from 3.5s to 2.5s

Reyna

Leer: Health decreased from 80 to 60

Empress

• Updated to match stim standardization
• Reduced reload time from 25% to 10%
• Reduced the fire rate increase from 15% to 10%
• Increased weapon draw speed reduced from 25% to 10%
• Reduced weapon recovery speed increase from 25% to 10%

Waylay

Saturate: Hindered duration decreased from 4s to 3s

Convergent Paths (ULT)

• Ultimate no longer spawns an afterimage of Waylay, and she is no longer pushed back when casting.
• Ultimate now briefly restricts aim rotation and movement speed, similar to Breach’s Rolling Thunder when casting.
• Hindered duration decreased from 7s to 6s
• Initial windup decreased from 2s to 1s
• Width decreased from 18m to 13.5m
• Decreased movement speed buff on ult from 15% to 10%

Yoru

Gatecrash

• Health decreased from 60 to 20
• Audio now plays from Yoru’s location when Yoru teleports or fakes it.

Fakeout:

• Flash duration decreased from 3s to 2s

Blindside:

• Flash duration decreased from 1.75s to 1.5s

Dimensional Drift (ULT)

• Yoru can no longer cast Blindside or set up his fakeout during Dimensional Drift.
• He can still cast the initial Gatecrash and reactivation, as well as the reactivation of Fakeouts.

Raze

Blast Pack

• Raze can now be affected by Slows while midair with Blast Pack.
• If slowed, the force from Blast Pack will be reduced, similar to how slows affect other Dashes.

Changes made to Controller agents

Astra

Gravity Well

• Fragile duration decreased from 5s to 2.5s
• Cooldown increased from 45s to 60s

Nova Pulse

• Concuss duration decreased from 3.5s to 2.5s
• Cooldown increased from 45s to 60s

Nebula

• Cooldown increased 25s to 35s

Brimstone

Stim Beacon

• Updated to match stim standardization
• Decreased fire rate increases from 15% to 10%
• Decreased movement speed increases from 15% to 10%

Omen

Dark Cover:

• Cooldown increased from 30s to 40s

Paranoia

• Projectile speed increased from 16 meters per second to 20 meters per second.
• Travel distance reduced from 32.5m to 25mViper
• Initial contact now inflicts less Decay, reduced from 30 to 10 health

Changes made to Sentinel agents

Vyse

Arc Rose

• Flash duration decreased from 2.25s to 2.0s
• Cooldowns are slightly adjusted.
• After destruction, the cooldown is increased from 45s to 60s
• Recalling the ability will now always incur a 20s cooldown.

Shear

• Wall Trap trigger logic has been reworked to make it easier to bait out. The wall now spawns immediately when an enemy enters and then leaves its trigger zone. Enemies will also hear an audio cue, audible only to them, when they enter the trigger zone.

Razorvine

• Health decreased from 40 to 20

Steel Garden (ULT)

• Initial windup increased from 3.4s to 4.4s
• Radius decreased from 32.5m to 26m

Cypher

Spycam

• An inactive camera will be revealed to enemies when you are within an 8-meter radius of the camera, and will also have an accompanying audio.
• When the camera is active, there will be a louder, persistent camera audio for enemies within a 12m range.
• Cooldown when destroyed is increased from 45s to 60s

Trapwire

• Windup decreased
• PC: 1.5s to 0.9s
• Console: 2.5 to 1.9s
• Players are tagged + slowed by 50% when chained.
• Trapwire zap will now slow + reveal its target for 1 second.

Killjoy

Turret

• Cooldown when destroyed increased from 45s to 60s
• Reactivation time for turret increased from 0.5s to 2s
• Turret movement tagging per bullet increased 29.5% to 50%
• NEW: Added a “windup” effect when Killjoy first re-enters the activation range

Alarmbot

• Health decreased from 50 to 20
• Reactivation time increased from 1s to 2s
• NEW: Added a “windup” effect when Killjoy first re-enters the activation range

Deadlock

GravNet

• Cooldown increased from 40s to 60s

Barrier Mesh

• Cost reduced from 400 to 300
• The health of the smaller nodes decreased from 570 to 480

Sonic Sensor

• Concuss duration reduced from 3.5s to 2.5s

Sage

• Barrier Orb
• Cost reduced from 400 to 300
• Fortification delay reduced from 3.3 seconds to 2 seconds.
• The health of the Barrier segments decreased from 800 to 600