With the Valorant Champions Tour rapidly approaching, Riot Games certainly seems to be ramping up its patch output for the FPS game, settling back into a roughly bi-weekly cycle. This newest patch, Valorant patch 2.02, focuses on adjusting rifle accuracy while moving, while also making changes to the competitive system that should help players reach their actual Valorant ranks faster.
The first major change in this patch – a significant increase in rifle error while moving – is something players have been anticipating for a while now. With this, longer-range kills while on the move with weapons such as the Phantom and Vandal will become much less common. If you want to run and gun, it’s best to stick to SMGs.
Meanwhile, Riot is tweaking its MMR formula to help players reach their actual rank faster, so expect to see some pretty gnarly Ranked Rating gains after future ranked resets. This change will also ensure smurfs quickly ascend through the ranks without potentially damaging the ranked experience for lower level players. This has been further supplemented by the introduction of bonus Rank Rating for players between Iron and Diamond tier who perform above and beyond their average play during games.
A final change that will impact higher level players, particularly those currently stacking up with friends, is the capping of Diamond 3 premade lobbies to two players. Riot believes that this buffer zone is necessary for players looking to break into Immortal, preparing them for what’s to come while removing the ability for five-stacks to leverage an advantage over players who queue solo.
Patch 2.02 arrives today with running accuracy changes for rifles, Competitive system shifts, and needed bug fixes.
Read the full patch notes here: https://t.co/49Z0sSijF8 pic.twitter.com/446g0vhaxq
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) February 2, 2021
Here are the remaining Valorant patch 2.02 notes, including rifle accuracy nerf values, miscellaneous updates, and notable bug fixes:
Weapon Updates
- Running Error across rifles increased 3.75 >>> 5.0
- Walking Error across rifles increased .8 >>> 1.1
- Crouch-moving Error across rifles increased .3 >>> .8
Miscellaneous Updates
- Players can now find their current leaderboard rank on their Career: Act Rank tab. When an Act ends, their final leaderboard rank will remain displayed on the Act Rank Badge earned.
- A rate limiter has been added to the in-game weapon store, preventing players from spamming purchases. This previously potentially caused a performance issue. – This limiter is more pronounced in deathmatch than other modes.
Bug Fixes
Riot has squashed a number of bugs this patch, some of which having previously been reported by the community over on Reddit. The ‘silent spike plant’ bug first seen here for example has now been patched. Meanwhile a particularly pesky issue where players couldn’t move after using Sova’s drone or Cypher’s camera has also been phased out.
Another issue players reported regarding Cypher’s camera was the inability to leave it altogether. Again, players are now free to point and shoot to their heart’s content. A great quality of life change in the form of reduced initial flash brightness is also greatly welcomed. Here you can find the official patch notes detailing the full list of bug fixes.