Valorant Patch 1.08 Notes: Raze Blast Pack nerfs, Guardian buffs, map rotation overhaul, and other quality of life changes

Valorant Patch 1.08 is finally out, but unlike patch 1.07, it’s not going to be as big, and just comes with some minor balance changes to both Raze and the Guardian.

Raze is going to be tweaked a bit in Valorant 1.08, and her Blast Packs are going to be seeing a significant nerf in the damage department. However, the mobility of the ability is not going to be touched, and she can still hop around as she used to.

The Guardian will be getting quite an appreciable amount of buff to its Rate of fire. Its price is also going to be toned down, making it a much viable mid-range weapon option in Valorant.

Unfortunately, the Operator will not see any changes in patch 1.08, Max “Orcane” Grossman, Lead Agent Designer of Valorant, says that, “ This patch is quite a bit lighter than the last, but we want to take some time to better understand the impact of our changes. We have already seen some shifts to the meta: Sage and Killjoy are seeing a bit less play, Breach and Viper are making a strong showing, and the Vandal is performing more reliably (especially at close ranges).

While these major Agent changes settle, we have turned our eye on a more pressing issue: the Operator. We know that this weapon can feel very oppressive to play against, often leaving players feeling like there is no hope when attacking. We agree that the Operator is likely having an outsized impact on match outcomes and are testing a suite of changes to address this issue. For how important the Operator is to the game, we want to make sure we are making the right call, so we’re giving these changes a bit more time to soak internally to make sure we get them just right.”

If you’re looking for a more detailed version of the patch, then you can always visit the Valorant official website, but for a brief overview, we have got you covered.

Valorant Patch 1.08 Notes

Valorant Agent updates

Raze

Blast Pack

• Initial damage reduced to 15 with a 0.2-meter inner radius, falling off to 5 minimum damage
• Once the satchel lands, it arms after 0.5 seconds, increasing its max damage to 50
• Shooting the blast pack causes it to detonate, dealing its current damage amount
• Satchel no longer does damage allies

“Raze’s Blast Pack has been dishing out damage without giving enemies much counterplay. This change should help make it very clear when Blast Pack’s damage poses a threat while maintaining the utility aspects of the Blast Pack that players have begun to master. The blast pack now does not ‘fizzle’ when shot and will still do damage, meaning it should still be approached carefully if in lethal range.”

Valorant Weapon updates

Guardian

• Price reduced from 2500 to 2400
• Improved Rate of fire from 4.75 to 5.25 RPS (rounds per second)
• Improved weapon recovery from 0.35 after three bullets to 0.2925 after three bullets

Map rotation changes

“It’s happening! The possible pool of maps you can get placed on is now ‘pseudo-random’ rather than pure random in Valorant. What that means is if you just played, say, Haven, the matchmaker will deprioritize that map in your next game.”

• Matchmaking queue for all modes has been updated to measure all your recently played maps, throughout all modes, so that for any given queue you:
• Have a better chance of playing on a map you haven’t played recently
• Are much less likely to play on the same map several games in a row

Quality of life

• Observers will now see a timer rather than their screen being obscured when observing a player who is blinded
• Fullscreen blind for observers can be turned back on in the options, for all you masochists
• Minimap performance improvements
• The social panel will now pause sorting while you’re hovering or interacting with it
• Updated verbiage in the All Ranks modal in the Career page to be more consistent with Competitive overtime rules

Valorant Bug fixes

• Prime Classic VFX fixed
• There was a bug in which Prime upgrade levels (2–4) were not playing the correct tracers, sound fx, and other VFX
• Fixed a bug where the End of Game screen would display a “Still processing” message, and then wouldn’t show that match in your Career tab
• Fixed a bug where “High Skill Disparity” would display in Custom Game Lobbies

Complete Valorant patch notes: Click here.