Biggest Changes Made in VALORANT in 2023. With a variety of updates and new content, 2023 has been a notable year in VALORANT's content timeline. As 2024 prepares to bring a new wave of content to the tactical shooter, let's rewind the biggest changes welcomed in the year that's about to end before celebrating what's to come.
The year kicked off with Chapter Six, Act One, which introduced VALORANT's ninth map, Lotus, and marked the return of Split, among other major changes. Interestingly, the last Act of the year started in October and will end in early January 2024, paving the way for a new Chapter and Act.
From sad agent changes to updates that brought a much-needed refresh, a lot happened between Patch 6.0 and Patch 7.12, here are the biggest highlights of VALORANT in 2023 and the Biggest Changes to VALORANT in 2023
The Biggest Changes Made in VALORANT in 2023;
New maps, agents, modes and much more
Let's start with all the new VALORANT content we're welcoming this year. It starts with Lotus, a map based on the Western Ghats region of India. Featuring lots of interesting details, as well as rock-cut architecture-inspired structures and artwork, Lotus is a three-zone attacker-friendly map, but you may want to clear out all those sneaky angles defenders can take advantage of.
Speaking of new maps, we also got the Los Angeles-based Sunset map in Chapter Seven, Act Two. I loved the beauty of detail on this map, as well as the strategic variety its uniquely designed areas and distinct middle section brought to the game.
As for the agents, three new members joined the VALORANT Protocol in 2023. The first agent of the year, Gekko, was added to the game in Chapter Six, Act Two, followed by Deadlock in Chapter Seven, Act One, and finally Iso in Chapter Seven, Act Three. While all three versions resulted in significant meta shifts, Deadlock's launch was somewhat disappointing, with players and pros claiming that his kit was extremely weak compared to other sentinel agents. Riot has since added a few changes to its kit, but the community continues to emphasize that traps need an overhaul.
The highly anticipated Team Deathmatch mode also launched this year in Chapter Seven, Act One, combining abilities and fast-paced gunplay with the goal of teaming up and killing into a single experience. Needless to say, TDM was a hit and offered players an excellent warm-up option alongside the regular Deathmatch mode.
Finally, VALORANT's tournament mode, Premier, has moved from open beta to an official launch in Chapter Seven, Act Two, marking a major advancement in Riot's "path to pro" initiative for casual players.
Return of Split, Bind and Breeze with a new design
Split, which was removed from VALORANT's competitive pool in Chapter Five following the release of Pearl, returned in Chapter Six, Act One, following major changes to its features. Bind and Breeze were removed from the competitive pool in Chapter Six, Act One. Like Split, both returned to rotation after undergoing significant renovations.
Bind was relaunched in Chapter Six, Act Three, while Breeze made a return in Chapter Seven, Act Two with the launch of Sunset. To accommodate them, Icebox and Fracture were removed from the competitive pool.
Infamous nerf to Jett (and a few other agents) in patch 7.04
I don't need to remind you how badly Jett's core player community was hit with Patch 7.04, which significantly nerfed Jett's entire kit. In addition to reducing his jump's activation timer and increasing his wrap, the patch halved the duration of his Cloud Bursts, leaving him with only one Updraft charge. The community certainly had reason to be angry with Riot.
The patch also updated the kits of several other agents, including Skye, Viper, Astra, Breach, Sova, Omen, Gekko, Fade, Brimstone, and Killjoy. The ultimate charge requirements for many agents have been updated to nine points, causing a major shift in the meta. Despite the social upheaval it caused, Patch 7.04 continued to make VALORANT matches a little less chaotic, just as Riot intended.
Cypher finally gets a major buff
Patch 7.09 finally delighted Cypher core players with major buffs to Tripwires. Wires no longer break after a player or ability triggers the concussion effect, but will reform after half a second unless a player or a damaging ability destroys it. Additionally, traps trigger much faster than before and the slow effect lasts longer.
To make things even better, Skye and Fade's dogs, the go-to abilities for detecting and breaking Cypher's traps, have also received changes that will make it harder for players to trigger the wires.
With patch 7.07's bug fix that allowed Cypher's ultimate to complete the sweep even if he died, the once overlooked sentinel has become one of the strongest and most annoying agents in VALORANT.
Phantom and Vandal's ammo reserves are no longer sufficient
In one of the most meta-defining patches of the year, Phantom and Vandal's ammo reserves have been reduced to counter the spam meta that has taken over VALORANT esports as well as ranked. Phantom's reserve has been reduced from 90 to 60, while Vandal's has been reduced from 75 to 50.
The same patch attempted to weaken the run and gun meta by increasing the vertical knockback multiplier of multiple weapons while running. It also nerfed Shorty and Frenzy, as well as Viper's fuel regen, which I wasn't and am definitely not happy about.
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