Episode Seven, Act Three is hitting the live servers with VALORANT Patch 7.09, and besides all the new content it’s introducing, you can also look forward to a host of changes to existing agents and weapons.
Going live on Oct. 31, Patch 7.09 is set to nerf a controversial weapon to balance it, buff Cypher’s underwhelming traps, and bring changes to some agents’ furry friends to make the Cypher buff count. The update also marks the introduction of the game’s seventh duelist agent, Iso, to the competition, as well as the usual new content that a new Act brings with it.
Here are the full patch notes for VALORANT’s Patch 7.09.
What’s included in VALORANT’s Patch 7.09?
Iso is here
A new duelist has finally made his way into VALORANT after a long wait, and he’s built to stop enemies dead in their tracks. Iso comes equipped with a bullet-bending wall and a molecular bolt built to make hit enemies fragile, and can summon an inter dimensional one-versus-one arena as his ultimate ability.
Not to forget, his signature ability is all about precise gunplay that rewards him with invulnerability. Iso will be available to unlock once you download and install the patch. You can either use 8,000 Kingdom Credits or 1,000 VP to unlock him instantly.
Cypher, Skye, Fade, and Raze in the spotlight
Cypher
Trapwire, one of Cypher’s signature sentinel abilities, is getting a much-needed buff in this update. Trapwire will now concuss an enemy caught in its line in half the amount of time it used to, from a three-second delay down to a 1.5-second delay. This will give enemies less time to break the wire before it concusses their teammates.
In addition, the slow effect caused by being tagged by a trip wire will now last longer, increased from 0.75 seconds to two seconds. Lastly, and maybe the coolest new change to the ability, is that Trapwire is no longer single-use. If you manage to catch an enemy in the wire, it will now re-arm itself to catch someone again.
I love that they brought these changes even though I feel like breaking my keyboard every time I run into a sweaty Cypher main. Despite the pain it’ll bring, it was high time we rewarded well-crafted sentinel setups in VALORANT. Cypher’s traps are incredibly easy to destroy, thanks to its mechanics that requires players to anchor them to walls.
You can’t hide his traps as effectively as you can do for Killjoy’s Alarmbot and Nanoswarms. Certain agents like Raze, Jett, and Omen can avoid triggering the traps by using their mobility or displacing powers. The amount of effort Cypher mains had to put to build crafty setups was just too much, compared to the number of counters there is.
With the latest changes, Riot aims to strengthen Cypher’s efficacy as a site anchor, and reward him for curating good setups. As for opposing players, they will need to put more effort to break through his traps and gain site entry.
Skye and Fade
Changes to both Skye and Fade correspond directly to the intended outcome of the changes to Cypher’s Trapwire.
Skye’s Trailblazer, the ability used when she sends a creature forward to scout for her, will now have an updated hitbox when interacting with Trapwire. When the wire is “placed at mid-height,” the Trailblazer dog will simply go under the wire instead of triggering it or destroying it.
Similar to the changes to Skye’s Trailblazer, Fade’s Prowler will have an updated hitbox that allows them to go under Cypher’s Trapwires placed at head height and above wires placed at foot height.
These changes can be counted as a buff, now that Trailblazer and Prowlers can go through certainly placed Tripwires without being detected, but it also means that sending a Trailblazer or Prowler alone might not break the wire itself, leaving the job to another teammate.
Riot added these tweaks to force players to be more deliberate when using Skye and Fade’s utility to break Cypher’s setup; it just won’t be as easy to hit a trap with the Trailblazer or Prowler anymore. Neither changes to the Trailblazer or Prowler will affect their hitboxes when the “dogs” are shot at with weapons.
Raze
Raze is getting an overall nerf in 7.09 and while I know this will set a few of you off, I’m definitely smiling. You just can’t be getting kills out of nowhere, just by throwing a grenade with incredible damage in a no-brainer way.
With Patch 7.09, Raze’s Paint Shell grenade now has a reduced explosion radius and damage radius. The primary blast will now have a 5.5-meter range instead of six meters and will deal a minimum of one HP of damage instead of 15 HP. The secondary blast now has a 5.25 meter radius instead of six meters, and will also deal a minimum of one HP of damage instead of 15 HP.
In addition, the Paint Shells will now do less damage to pieces of utility, with the 250 percent multiplier being lowered to 100 percent. These changes will accumulate in less “accidental” carnage from Raze grenades and will require a more calculated strategy to actually land kills with the ability.
Raze’s satchels, or Blast Packs, are also getting a nerf. The Satchels will now not deal damage until they have been fully armed, with the arm time being increased from 0.5 seconds up to 1.5 seconds.
The Judge has been judged with Patch 7.09
The Judge, arguably one of the most potent weapons in the game, is finally getting a nerf after repeated pleas from the community.
Even though the weapon is better than the Bucky, its weaker shotgun counterpart, the focus of VALORANT play doesn’t usually revolve around incredibly close-range interactions, causing this weapon to throw a wrench in the game’s identity over the last few months.
The maximum magazine size of the Judge is being reduced from seven bullets down to five. In addition, the weapon will now be much less effective when moving, with the bullet spread being increased when both jumping and running while shooting. The jumping spread is increased from 1.25 to 2.25, while the running spread is increased from 0.1 to 0.75.
New Premier improvement changes
Patch 7.09 will introduce a bucket load of new changes to VALORANT’s Premier mode, adding timeouts, practice queue (scrimmages), and overall matchmaking changes to improve a player’s competitive experience.
Riot has also reduced the number of points teams will need to qualify for playoffs back down to 600 from 675. There will also now be an uneven number of teams in each Premier zone to support the infrastructure of teams in each particular region.
A new Team Creation Window is being introduced, aimed at making things easier for teams to find new players and vice versa. To top it all off, your Premier team will now have an evolving crest that changes with you throughout each stage to reflect your performance.
Mute players when you report them
In a much-needed player behavior update, Riot has now added the ability to mute a player whom you’ve just reported in a game of VALORANT, so you wouldn’t have to shut them up separately.
Updated friends icons for other Riot games
You’ll now see new player icon styles for users on your friends list playing other Riot titles like League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, and more.
- People in Riot Mobile and TFT are now detected separately and have unique icons.
- People who are online in Riot Mobile have a “gray dot” Player Card.
- The failsafe “Unknown Product” icon is now a red Riot fist instead of the gray dot.
All bug fixes in VALORANT’s Patch 7.09
Patch 7.09 goes minimal in the bug department, fixing only two minor issues that have been prevailing in VALORANT for a while. Here are all the bug fixes included in this patch:
- Fixed an audio bug that was causing footstep noises to be heard when players detached from a rope, even when they held the Shift key.
- Fixed an issue where some people’s hardware configurations resulted in a white screen at login.
Check out the full patch notes here.
