Can you hear that? That’s the sound of Valorant fans collectively tapping their feet impatiently while they wait for Valorant Act 3. The game’s new season is just a mere three and a half days away and with it comes a new map, agent, skin line, and battle pass.
Riot Games has been drip feeding bits of information about the new additions all week, but we can now finally lift the lid on what’s in store for everyone. Icebox, the new ice cold map, has been brought forward in the game’s development cycle to appease the demands of the player base and well, you’re in for a treat.
The map, which drops alongside the update on October 13, looks a little bit like an expanded version of Call of Duty’s Shipment map that has been remade in Overwatch and ported to Valorant. It’s a weird comparison, we know, but it works. It has two sites, with three points of entry, and in the games we played in the capture event this week, it appeared to be quite balanced for both sides.
However, the map’s verticality, which makes it stand out from the rest of the pool, adds another dynamic to the game and has attackers checking their every corner when they’re trying to take a site. It also adds importance to a team’s utility pool – since there could be an enemy lurking around the next container.
As part of that verticality, Icebox has a number of zip lines that you use to traverse the map. But a word of warning: your gun’s recoil will be affected if you decide to fight someone while suspended in mid air.
We also heard a little bit about Valorant’s new agent, who we can now confirm will be called Skye. While Skye won’t be available until October 27, her build is pretty interesting and could easily become one of the best agents of the game.
Her Regrowth C ability rivals Sage because it can heal allies in range. Regrowth can be reused multiple times, but it is limited to a set healing pool. It’s also worth noting that while this ability makes her a viable pick for healing mains, she cannot heal herself.
Trailblazer is her Q ability, which allows her to send out a Tasmanian as a sort of patronus. When this ability is used, players can take control of the predator and use fire to leap forward to concuss and damage enemies. Guiding Light, her E, is great for intel gathering, as it allows players to take control of a hawk to spot and flash players with ease.
Lastly her ultimate Seekers is built for clutch situations. When used, three seekers are sent out to track down the three closest enemies. During our time with Skye in the internal build, we noticed Seekers could physically climb objects to find their way to enemies. Once it finds a target, the enemy is nearsighted, giving Skye the tactical advantage.
However, all three of Skye’s offensive abilities can be shot down, so if you find yourself against her when she launches later this month, keep your eyes peeled for Tasmanians, Hawks, and Seekers.
In addition to Icebox and Skye, Valorant is getting a new battle pass worth 1,000 VP and a new skin line called Singularity. As usual, the battle pass will contain a series of unique cosmetics from gun skins to sprays, players cards, and Radianite Points.
The Singularity skin-line features purple high-tech skins for the Sheriff, Spectre, Phantom, Ares, and Knife. Like all over skin lines though, they’re fairly pricey, with individual prices starting at 2,175 Valorant Points. The bundle, including the Singularity player card, spray, and gun buddy will set you back 8,700 points.