Valorant update 5.03 (August 9) patch notes: Chamber nerfs, Jett and Neon tweaks, Engine update, and more

Valorant Patch 5.03 will be dropping in some time, and the new update will be introducing a fair bit of balance updates to the shooter. One of the biggest highlights of 5.03 will be the nerfs that Chamber will be receiving for his kit.

The Sentinel has been slowly rising in pick and win-rates across both the professional scene and solo-queue. This is why it’s not a complete surprise that Riot Games will be looking to nerf him considerably this time around.

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Valorant will also receive an Engine update, and the shooter will finally be shifting to Unreal Engine 4.26. While it’s a significant change for the developers, players will hardly notice it.

There will be tweaks to both Neo and Jett as well, with the developers introducing the “Regional Damage Breakup” for their abilities. Valorant fans looking for a detailed description of the patch can look up Riot’s official website.

However, for a brief overview, here are all the major highlights.

Valorant update 5.03 patch notes

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1) General Updates

Engine update to Unreal Engine 4.26
Agent Browser visual design refresh

This update improves the toolset available to Riot developers in many ways. However, this change will likely go unnoticed by players as the goal of any Engine update is to happen under the radar.

Though there are some known issues like the UI is misbehaving, Riot is fixing these as quickly as they can. However, players can expect some funkiness in the game and in the Main Menu. If anything interrupts gameplay, players are encouraged to submit a bug report.

2) Agent Updates

Chamber

Rendezvous (E)

Base Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s
Recall Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s
Cooldown set to 45s whenever a Rendezvous anchor is destroyed
The diameter size of the “ring” Chamber can stand that allows him to activate Rendezvous decreased 21m >>> 15m

Trademark (C)

Slow Duration decreased 9.5 >>> 6s

Tour De Force (X)

Ultimate Points Required increased 7 >>> 8
Slow Duration decreased 9.5 >>> 6s

Headhunter (Q)

Bullet Cost increased 100 >>> 150

3) Ability Regional Damage Breakup

Riot Games will be updating the ultimates for the following Agents so that they follow similar regional damage rules to the weapons where hitting the head and legs of an enemy applies different damage multipliers. The intent is to reward precision and create intuitive consistency across damage in Valorant.

For Neon specifically, it gives Riot Games more tuning levers to balance her across different skill levels. This change should also add depth to the mastery needed when tracking while sprinting that her ult demands.

Neon

Overdrive

Damage per shot reduced 22 >>> 18
Killzone increased 15m >>> 20m
Leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85
Headshot multiplier increased 1 >>> 3

Chamber

Tour De Force (X)

Leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85

Jett

Bladestorm (X)

Leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85

4) Game System Updates

Added ability to change “Ghost” keybind outside of Custom Games
This option is listed under Settings >> Controls >> Actions

5) Bugs

Agents

Fixed an issue with Jett’s Tailwind where switching weapons in the middle of the dash would cause the weapon pull out animation to take longer than desired.

Gameplay Systems

Fixed a bug where some Reyna/Killjoy HUD elements were still visible after enabling Hide User Interface.
Fixed a bug where defuse animation wouldn’t consistently play if the orb is tapped in rapid succession.

6) Known issues

Changing crosshair opacity settings in-game causes crosshair preview visual to flicker
Spike Announcements UI displaying incorrectly

Edited by Danyal Arabi