Valorant is getting some new changes in patch 1.03 and for those that play a lot of competitive games you might be glad to hear that sudden death will no longer be part of ranked matches. In the new patch notes from Riot Games, it has been revealed that sudden death will be replaced by two consecutive wins, rather than first to 13.
Currently the format is set out that as soon as teams reach 12-12, the next to win a round wins the entire match – but players have pointed out this seems unfair because of maps being slightly easier as an attacker, or as a defender. Depending on which side you start on, and the agents you have, the odds might be against you for that final match.
So to fix this, competitive sudden death is, well, dead and now teams will have to win two consecutive rounds to claim the win. The patch notes detail that, “competitive matches have a new win-by-two overtime format with automated votes on whether the game should continue or end in a draw. Instead of playing a single sudden death round, teams will alternate playing rounds on attack and defense until a team claims victory by being up by two rounds.
“Each round will have a full reset, setting all players at 5000 credits and four points short of their ultimate. After every two rounds of overtime, an automated vote will trigger to determine if the match should continue or end in a draw.”
The way these votes will work is that the first time the poll appears it will need six players to agree to end in a draw, the second poll will require three players to agree, and from the third poll onwards, it will need just one player to agree to end in a draw for the vote to pass. If the vote fails, the match will also end in a draw.
If your match does end as a draw the patch notes also reveal that players may gain rank from a draw, but they will never lose rank – preventing any negative effects if you’re caught in the endless cycle of winning and losing.
The 1.03 patch notes sees a new orb added to Spike Rush, and some other balancing to the Guardian, and surrender votes. If you’re not playing Valorant yet, then you might want to know the best agents to play in July.