Valorant Patch Notes 9.08′s Agent and Map updates are sure to shake up the meta and a new TDM map is hopefully successful after the many flawed designs of the previously introduced maps. With Pearl and Split back in rotation and Sunset getting a major adjustment, the maps should feel new for players who play the competitive or Premier game modes. The Agent changes should also factor into choices for play in a revamped meta. Premier also receives top-level updates, including the Invite and Contender division, for a more streamlined approach to the team game.
Agent Updates
Yoru and Gekko received updates while Jett and Skye received quality-of-life adjustments to round out the 9.08 Patch to put Agent Power back into a healthy long-term state.
Gekko
Gekko receives a mixture of buffs and nerfs to his overall kit, which should theoretically balance out his power level limiting his snowballing capability at the highest level while increasing his reliability for the general player base. His updates are as follows:
- Globules
- Reduced time in world 20s >>> 15s
- Reclaim time increased 1s >>> 1.5s
- Dizzy
- Time active after being thrown and forming is reduced 1.5s >>> 1s.
- Dizzy’s targeting algorithm has been updated to be more reliable.
- Dizzy’s goop flash now also blinds the minimap of affected players.
- Wingman
- Increased the angle of the cone concuss area 45 degrees >>> 65 degrees.
- When Wingman turns into a globule after planting the Spike there are unique visuals.
- Thrash
- Ultimate points increased 7 >>> 8
In terms of the buffs, Dizzy and Wingman receive buffs to make their CC more reliable in the form of the concuss and flash now being made more likely to land with their changes. Dizzy’s flash will be harder to dodge and the blind to the minimap is also an improvement that doesn’t give blinded players the ability to track enemy peak locations by glancing at the minimap while jumping away from the danger zone. The formation and targeting algorithm should also increase the consistency of Dizzy and his popularity should remain steadfastly high because of this.
The increasing cone concuss area is also necessary as if players fully sprinted to the side when Wingman locked onto you, the concuss could be dodgeable even when Wingman locked onto a target. A wider cone will more reliably catch enemies and force players to shoot Wingman or live with the concuss. As a targeted concuss ability, it gives power to the less oppressive power Wingman has and isn’t a bad buff that should make him feel oppressive in any way.
A summary of the changes covered in the Patch Notes.
Regarding nerfs, The Globules and Thrash receive updates that weaken and delay power windows. It will be more difficult to cycle through these abilities or call upon them upon demand. Most players pick up Globules pretty instantly once they throw them, but if they don’t, the time they exist in the world is shorter meaning extended trades post ability usage may mean that Gekko fails to pick up an ability. Players have mastered how to throw abilities in ways that give them safe methods to recover their creatures so I don’t think this nerf will apply in most contexts but it is still a nerf.
The reclaim timer being increased should also be a negligible difference that gives enemies longer punishing windows when Gekko attempts to pick up a creature in a danger zone, but this again shouldn’t compromise anyone who has good familiarity with his kit and understanding on when and where to get his creatures back and when to cut the losses.
Thrash’s Ultimate points being increased will decrease Gekko’s abilities to snowball hard especially off a good pistol and bonus to cycle through Ultimate usage when enemies do hit their power spikes. On paper, the change makes Thrash more inaccessible to the user base. Still, this was more targeted at professional play where Gekko Thrash could be accessed fairly consistently via early lead. This allowed Gekko to snowball heavily with Thrash to take space and effectively win rounds after a good early game.
Gekko receives buffs and nerfs to adjust his place in the meta.
Yoru
This is a quality-of-life update for Yoru players to trick enemies with Fakeout more consistently. The game didn’t interact with Yoru’s clone like it was Yoru’s real body making them discernable if players paid attention. Yoru’s updates are as follows:
- Blind abilities like Gekko’s Dizzy and Vyse’s Arc Rose will now display the blind effect on Yoru’s Fakeout clone as if he was a real Agent.
- Vyse will play her Successful Blind celebration lines when blinding Yoru’s Fakeout clone.
- Cypher’s Neural Theft will show the Yoru’s Fakeout clone.
- Clove’s Meddle will now show the decay effect on Yoru’s Fakeout clone.
This doesn’t meaningfully shift Yoru’s power level in my opinion. While it will be more difficult to catch a Yoru clone, these clones acting like real Yoru bodies should be in the game as abilities shouldn’t be able to discern between Yoru’s body and clone for the long-term health of the Agent.
Get a look at the Episode 09: Act III Battlepass. pic.twitter.com/MBHbmNX0pf
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) October 23, 2024
Skye and Jett
The Skye and Jett updates are map-specific and are as follows:
- Jett’s Tailwind and Skye’s Trailblazer will no longer stop at the window in Ascent. Instead, they will bust through and continue movement onto the other side.
A minor quality-of-life change that realistically changes nothing but fixes an issue with the interaction Skye and Jett had with the window on Ascent. More akin to a bug fix than a real update.
Here’s your preview of the upcoming Year-End Patches 👀 pic.twitter.com/9yMCqDhkCj
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) October 21, 2024
Map Updates
With a new TDM Map and major adjustments to Sunset, Valorant tries to improve all their major game modes with new and better designs hopefully promoting healthier play.
New TDM Map: Glitch
Glitch is a new TDM map introduced to Valorant which is themed after a glitched-out maxbot arena. The glitch theming is appropriate and aesthetically interesting as it has features from maps such as Ascent and Haven. The aesthetic of the map doesn’t matter as much as the design of the map, with the other TDM maps either having one straight line of site in the middle or two large chokes and a host of corners for players to camp with. It feels like if the devs want to encourage healthy fighting to improve gun skill in TDM, the design philosophy of the previous TDM maps leaves a lot to be desired which will have players hoping for a design philosophy overhaul for Glitch that encourages healthy gunplay rather than a mix of long corridors and tight corners with nothing in between.
Glitch may have familiar structures for those who pay attention to its’ design.
Map Rotation
In terms of the rotating map pool for competitive queue:
- Pearl and Split are BACK in the COMPETITIVE QUEUE
- Icebox and Lotus are OUT of the COMPETITIVE QUEUE
It has now become a tradition for Valorant to change out its map pool with each major Act change, so the pool being changed shouldn’t surprise many players with players likely notably happy that Icebox is out of rotation. Lotus wasn’t a disliked map by the community but Split always seems to bounce in and out of rotation often and Pearl hadn’t been in the Competitive queue for a while so it makes sense that it’s back meaning something had to take the fall.
Icebox has problematic and stale player and gameplay patterns making it disliked by the community. While Ascent may be equally stale for many players, it doesn’t have inherently problematic post-plants or a very fixed philosophy and meta around it that leaves no real room for innovation, unlike Ascent. While Ascent’s top-tier meta hasn’t shifted, there is always innovation and anti-stratting done while Icebox seems to have exhausted these options already and Valorant seems insistent on keeping Ascent in the map pool no matter what.
Regarding Split and Pearl, it will be interesting to see how Neon’s broken state fits into this meta. Pearl is an Operator-heavy map so it should encourage Jett to be picked. Split has traditionally been dominated by Raze and Jett and it will be interesting to see how players will play around Cypher with Sova not being preferred on the map while Neon is in the state that she is in.
Ready for Premier? Here's what’s coming in Stage E9A3. pic.twitter.com/Q0k06nwHeX
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) October 17, 2024
Sunset Updates
The Sunset updates are an interesting change around the B site and some changes around mid to give it healthier gameplay patterns in the post-plant phase. The map changes are each targeted to make the post-plant spam of the spike less effective in general with the changes inside B Main, and B Main Exterior weaker for attacker after plant, while planting. B Site holds become more attacker side favoured with more spots to hide on the back of B Site and plant spots having a cubby for safe plants. Boba and Courtyard look like it has been buffed for attackers with different elevations to peak from in Boba for more difficult pre-aiming for attackers, while the box in Courtyard is another rat spot.
The changes around the B side encourage more on-site play and make post-plant spam slightly less effective. With Gekko being meta on the map, teams would plant spike and then ping it and spam it to win rounds and get free kills from Main without ever exposing themselves. Lurks would simultaneously come through Market late to backstab defenders. These gameplay patterns will not be the only viable ones on the B site as holding the B site becomes more viable with these changes. This will make retaking the initial space more difficult as there are more areas to clear and the site is more suited to Attackers compared to before.
Despite this, Post Plant spam looks to still be a viable strategy. However, it allows defenders to spray back for a kill more effectively due to the construction of the inside of B Main. This allows for more variable gameplay and meaningfully changes the playstyle for a lot of the player base.
Check out more Valorant content.
