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Valorant's Episode 6 Act 1 brought several changes, including a revamped map pool and Ranked Rating modifications. A few Agent updates were also spread across the Act, which led to the formation of one of the most balanced metas in the game till date.
The current Act began on January 10 or 11, depending on where you are in the world, and will come to an end on March 7 or 8, 2023. This means that the competitive queue is coming to a close as well, and you will get a soft reset on your Valorant rank before the new Act.
However, since the new patches drop at varying times in different regions of the world, you may be confused as to when the current competitive queue ends in your region. This article will let you know exactly how long you can continue the ranked grind for Episode 6 Act 1.
Competitive queue for Valorant's Episode 6 Act 1 will shut down about 7 hours before maintenance
Valorant's new Act will begin after the server shuts down for maintenance at 6 am PST on March 7, 2023, in the Americas, while it will kick off on March 8, 2023, for players in Asia and Europe. The competitive queue usually shuts down about 7 hours before the maintenance begins. Here is an approximate list of timings up to which you can continue your Episode 6 Act 1 competitive grind:
- Asia Pacific: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 7, 2023, at 07:00 PST.
- Brazil: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 6, 2023 at 23:00 PST.
- Europe: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 7, 2023, at 13:00 PST.
- Korea: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 7, 2023 at 07:00 PST.
- Latin America: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 6, 2023, at 23:00 PST.
- North America: The competitive queue will be coming to an end on March 6, 2023, at 22:00 PST.
You can check out exactly when the competitive queue is going offline for you in the Act Rank tab in the Career menu of Valorant.
If you are unable to complete the current Battle Pass by then, you can utilize the hours between the end of the ranked queue and the game shutting down for maintenance to play other formats such as Unrated and Swiftplay and grind the last couple of tiers in the Pass.
Overview of Act 1 and what's to come
Act 1 gave much-needed balance to the RR system of the game, which prioritized players' individual performances to determine the elo awarded or deducted. This was done in order to reduce the gap between a player's current rank and their MMR. The Act also ironed out the slight boosts players got in Episode 5 Act 3 after the introduction of Ascendant.
Much to the excitement of players, Act 1 introduced a new map called Lotus and brought back Split in a revamped form. However, to make space for these two maps, Bind and Breeze were taken out of the map pool. Going forward, Lotus and Split will continue to be in the game until further notice from the developers.
Valorant's new Act will bring the new Agent, Gekko, along with the much-awaited Oni 2.0 skin bundle, to the game. It will also soft-reset your rank, which means you'll have to play one Competitive game in Episode 6 Act 2 to reveal your new rank, which will most likely be the one with which you end the current Act.
