VALORANT PBE schedule: Here are all the VALORANT PBE server patch dates

Prepare yourself.

A close up of viper in VALORANT
Image via Riot Games

Since VALORANT is one of the biggest titles in the industry, it requires the utmost care to pull off such precision and team-based gameplay without accidentally plaguing it with bugs and glitches.

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This is where Public Beta Environments (PBE) come into play—a method used by Riot Games to test out meaningful updates, such as nerfs or buffs to agents and weapons, in its own servers before they officially go live so as not to disrupt the rest of the player base.

How does the VALORANT PBE work?

The PBE realm allows players to test out new features, updates, and changes to the VALORANT meta. Once a patch rolls out, players will get to access the limited-time VALORANT PBE. With each patch, there’ll be one weekend for players to dip their toes into and find out what needs changing.

Once dates are locked in, the VALORANT test realm opens on Friday at around 6pm CT and closes the following Monday at around 1pm CT.

When is the next VALORANT PBE?

Deadlock on Fracture
Deadlock on Fracture. Image via Riot Games

The next VALORANT PBE is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, around the usual time of 6pm CT alongside new patch notes for the 8.00 update. Assuming the development team sticks to the regular schedule, it will run up until Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, right before the launch of Episode Eight. There will then be a three-week break until another PBE, which should begin on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, followed by a PBE on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024.

As always, these dates are subject to change and this article will be updated accordingly should new information be shared.

What’s included in the next VALORANT PBE?

At the time of writing, exactly what will be featured in the next VALORANT PBE is unclear. There’s no official information from Riot about it, but our best guess is that it’ll mainly prepare for the first act of Episode Eight. It’s claimed this update will finally introduce VALORANTs first new weapon in four years as well as another new playable agent. Their design has apparently leaked already, but official details remain a mystery.

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Michael Beckwith
Staff writer at Dot Esports covering all kinds of gaming news. A graduate in Computer Games Design and Creative Writing from Brunel University who's been writing about games since 2014. Nintendo fan and Sonic the Hedgehog apologist. Knows a worrying amount of Kingdom Hearts lore. Has previously written for Metro, TechRadar, and Game Rant.
Author
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Harrison Thomas
CS:GO, Overwatch, and Valorant Staff Writer - Played CS:GO since 2012 and keep a close eye on other titles. Give me a game and I'll write about it. Ranks are private information. Contact harry@dotesports.com