Discover the Latest Updates and Notes for VALORANT Patch 0.50

VALORANT Patch 0.50 brings some significant changes to the game, with a focus on rifle single-tap and burst fire efficiency. Gun recovery times have been reduced, and walking accuracy has been adjusted.

Gameplay and Balance

Weapon Updates

You will no longer maintain walking accuracy when transitioning from running to stopping.
Previously, players were able to maintain walking accuracy while transitioning, giving the impression that shots were fired at full speed.
The threshold for deadzone accuracy speed has increased from 25% to 30%.
The deadzone (full accuracy state) has been slightly increased to allow for quicker accurate shots.

All Rifles

Recovery times for all rifles have been updated, making tap and burst firing more effective.
Riot felt that walk-spraying with rifles was too effective, especially at longer ranges. They have adjusted the accuracy slightly and will continue to monitor the situation.
The Vandal’s horizontal (yaw) recoil has been reduced by 15% while crouched and stationary.
The Gun Recovery Time for the Vandal has been reduced from 0.4 seconds to 0.375 seconds, and tap efficiency has been adjusted from four to six.
The Phantom’s Gun Recovery Time has been reduced from 0.55 seconds to 0.35 seconds, and tap efficiency has been adjusted from three to four.
The Bulldog Automatic Fire’s Gun Recovery Time has been reduced from 0.55 seconds to 0.35 seconds.
The Guardian’s Gun Recovery Time has been reduced from 0.4 seconds to 0.35 seconds.

Machine Guns are underperforming compared to other weapons at their price points. Riot aims to make Machine Guns better at their intended purpose while increasing the power of the Ares relative to other weapons at a similar price point.

The price of the Ares has been reduced from 1,700 to 1,600 credits.
Firing error has been adjusted for the Ares.
The amount and intensity of horizontal (yaw) recoil after the first eight bullets have been reduced for both the Ares and Odin.

Agent Updates

Sage

The duration of Slow Orb zones has been decreased from nine seconds to seven seconds.
The slowing amount of Slow Orbs has been decreased from 65% to 50%.
Riot has made changes to reduce Sage’s overall effectiveness, particularly when chaining Slow Orbs back-to-back.

Cypher

Cyber Cage no longer slows enemies that pass through it.
The cooldown for Spy Cameras when destroyed has been increased from 30 to 45 seconds.
Riot wants to maintain Cypher’s role as a premier sentinel, but the slow on his Cyber Cage was allowing him to stall entire enemy teams. These changes give enemies more options when pushing Cypher’s defenses.

Omen

The duration of Dark Cover smoke has been increased from 12 to 15 seconds.
The projectile speed of Dark Cover smoke has been increased.
The cooldown for Dark Cover has been increased from 30 to 35 seconds.
Riot has made these changes to make Omen and other controllers more viable, as Brimstone has become dominant at high-tier play.

Viper

The radius of Snake Bite has been increased from 350 to 450.
Riot has increased the radius of Snake Bite to match other area-denial abilities.

Brimstone/Phoenix/Viper

The height required to jump out of damaging area-denial abilities has been increased from 80 to 120.
The damage tick speed for Snake Bite, Fireball, and Incendiary has been increased (total damage per second remains unchanged).

Agent Ability Credit Cost Tuning

The credit cost of Sage’s Barrier Orb has been increased from 300 to 400.
The credit cost of Raze’s Blast Pack has been increased from 100 to 200.
The credit cost of Phoenix’s Curveball has been increased from 100 to 200.
The credit cost of Brimstone’s Incendiary has been increased from 200 to 300.
The credit cost of Jett’s Updraft has been reduced from 200 to 100.

Agent Armor

Armor carried over from prior rounds will no longer be destroyed when new armor is purchased.

Max Credit Cap

The total credit cap has been reduced from 12,000 to 9,000.
Riot has noticed that teams who accumulate a large number of credits maintain a rich economy for too long, making it difficult for the opposing team to challenge their economic advantage.

Character Updates

Sova’s Owl Drone now includes a layer of sound for engine rotors.
Audio has been adjusted to better reflect the theme of the Owl Drone while maintaining its noticeability.

Map Updates

Split

Changes have been made to allow attacking teams better opportunities to control territory across the map.

Barrier locations have been adjusted to provide attackers more control over territory.
The defender barrier in B Mid has been pulled back, and new barriers have been placed at the entrance to Vent and atop the staircase in B Tower.
The defender barrier has been pulled back at A Ramps.
The attacker barrier has been pushed forward at A Main and slightly at B Main.
The wall on the left interior of B Tower has been angled to remove a 50/50 angle check, making it more approachable for players to gain control of B Tower.
The Radianite crate in B has been changed to a metal crate to provide more cover when planting the Spike.
Art has been revised to improve performance throughout the map.

Haven

A new map exploit system is in effect to prevent players from escaping the playspace.
Several floor sections now have appropriate material sounds.

Split/Haven/Bind

Fixes have been implemented for Cypher Spy Camera exploits on all three maps.
The backside of spawn barriers is now opaque to prevent abuses.
The Spike will now automatically fall from elevated boost positions.
Multiple spots where Sova’s Recon Dart could over-penetrate map geometry have been fixed.

HUD and UI

Teammate armor is now shown on the scoreboard.
The Spike icon in the upper middle UI now pulses with audio beeps when it is planted.
New artwork for pings has been added to increase readability in the world.
Portraits and icons have been resized and adjusted for better visibility.
The player’s own minimap icon now has color and a slightly thicker border to aid in finding oneself.
Chat messages are now regulated when using the radio menu or radio wheel.
The size of broken armor text has been increased for easier visibility.
The flyout menu for Titles dropdown now opens in a more sensible location.
The Leave Match button has been moved closer to the other “Exit” buttons in the menu.
The Logout button is now red to match the Exit button.
The Skip button on the MVP screen has been shifted to prevent accidental pressing of the Play Again button.
The radio wheel behavior has been adjusted to allow for easier selection of other wheels with mouse wheel up and down.
The icon for Need Help has been changed to a flag.
Attack/defend icons are now visible in the upper-middle game info UI for all players.
When a character uses the Ult Status radio command and is within one ult point of being fully charged, the “Ult Almost Ready” VO will play.

Quality of Life

Cheaters are now referred to as “Hackers.”
A profanity filter setting has been added to filter out profanity from chat.
A setting to toggle between walking and running has been added.
Viper’s Poison Cloud no longer enters cooldown when picked up during the buy phase.
Foe coloring has been added for Sova’s Hunter’s Fury.
An animation has been added to indicate level-up when unlocking free characters or purchasing contract levels.
Tooltips and explanations have been added to guide new players in activating their first contract.
Unowned skin levels now display their individual cost and description.
Performance optimizations have been made to address FPS drops when shooting.
Various improvements have been made to the social panel for better error handling and messaging.
The “Keep Player Centered” minimap setting is now a default setting.
The graphics settings “First Person Enhanced Visuals” and “Shadows” have been renamed to “Bloom” and “First Person Shadows,” respectively, for better clarity.
The Observer HUD has been updated to improve visibility.
Spectators can now see weapon inspect animations.
Various bugs related to gameplay and the game client have been fixed.