[music]
>> Hi everyone. I'm Max and I lead the
various teams who design systems and
core game mechanics within Valorant. As
we head into Act 3 of Season 2026, I
wanted to take a minute to check in on a
few areas of the game that we know you
all care about very much. We've seen a
lot of healthy conversation from the
community about things like the state of
the meta, our ranked and MMR systems,
player behavior systems, and our
approach to limited-time modes. [music]
So, I want to jump into some of that now
before I hand it over to Arman, Dan, and
Tiffi to chat about modes and live
balance.
First things first, the competitive
[music] experience. Our goal is
straightforward. Your rank should be a
clear reflection of your skill and the
journey to get there should feel fair.
We're going to be more proactive about
testing and refining different
approaches to matchmaking so we can land
on a system that truly delivers on that
promise. For example, in January, we
made updates to our MMR system to better
account for individual impact in
matches. We're seeing some positive
results here, especially around match
quality. Games are less one-sided and
we're seeing more even contribution
across players in the lobby. At the same
time,
some of the tradeoffs have been pretty
clear. We've heard your feedback around
visible rank differences in matches and
the feeling that RR losses can outweigh
RR gains. In some cases, we've also let
some tuning exist in game longer than we
should have while we evaluated the
results. One area we've been focusing on
is making sure your effort in each match
[music] feels properly reflected in your
rank. When that doesn't happen, it can
feel like the system isn't respecting
your performance.
To address this, we recently adjusted
how RR gains and losses are calculated
so that strong performances are rewarded
more, weaker ones cost more, and over
time, your wins and losses should feel
like they balance out appropriately.
We want to be more direct about how
we're approaching competitive overall.
Matchmaking and ranked integrity are a
major focus for us this year and that
means we're going to keep iterating.
Ultimately, your rank needs to reflect
your skill and getting there should feel
fair, consistent, and worth the effort.
Now, to talk about the top of the
leaderboard, we've heard the feedback
from Immortal Plus around recent changes
to our our thresholds. We want [music]
the battle for a spot on the Radiant
ladder to be the pinnacle of competition
and a reflection of performance, not
just pure grind. Additionally, we need
to ensure competitive integrity to know
that performance is legit on these
ladders. In the short term, we've been
investing more into anti-cheat and win
trading detection methods to make sure
the players at the top really deserve to
be there. We've already taken action
this year on some of the most egregious
win traders and we'll continue to do so
routinely. But longer term, we're
looking at improvements to make earning
Radiant act [music] over act more worth
it than it is today. And not just with
systemic improvements, we're also
working on specialized rewards for
climbing to the very top. All right.
Now, speaking of rewards, let's talk
about ranked rewards for all players.
I'm happy to confirm that the V26 Act 3
and Act 6 rank gun buddies this year
will be the last time a gun buddy is
your primary reward. In the 2027, you
won't need to wait until Act 3 to get
your new reward. The next version of our
ranked rewards will be distributed on
day one of season 2027 [music] and will
be an item that evolves with you
throughout your ranked journey for the
entire year. Yes, we originally hoped to
get you all new ranked rewards this
year, but we're taking a little more
time to make sure we get them right.
We'll share more on what you can expect
from ranked rewards in September. We
want you to feel recognized for your
dedication and growth every single act
you play. So, there's a lot more we're
bringing to the ranked experience that
you'll see in game closer to Champs.
Competitive Q is the reason the vast
majority of you play Valorant. So, we're
investing heavily to make every aspect
of our in-game systems paint a more
complete picture of your ranked journey
while giving you the tools you need to
improve and flex your mastery. Now, I'm
going to hand things over to Arman to
talk about our plans for modes.
Since the end of 2025, we've been
experimenting with new limited-time game
modes to learn more about what you love
and what you don't. [music]
And so far, we've been excited by what
excites all of you.
You all love Skirmish and Customs. So,
we brought it to the queue. And when we
took it away, you let us know that you
weren't ready to say goodbye. So,
>> [music]
>> we brought it back. And then, we added a
new flavor of Skirmish with an
experimental rank ladder. And that's
just Skirmish. We also have plans to
keep iterating and tinkering with other
modes like Knockout, All Random One
Site, and even an old fan favorite. We
hear all of you Replication fans out
there in the comments. So, I'm happy to
share that we're currently working on a
new mode that blends Replication with
All Random One Site. We think it'll give
you the off-the-wall moments that you
all enjoyed about Replication at an even
higher frequency. Replication is a mode
that's all about fun factor and
hilarious interactions, and we think All
Random One Site creates those moments
more frequently due to more alts, more
abilities, and getting different agents
every round all on a single site. After
that, we've got plans for a new take on
a Spike mode that'll put your skills to
the test with shortened rounds and
smaller teams. You'll see more on this
in a few weeks when Act IV starts. And
we might even have one more surprise up
our sleeve for Act V. Think KO combat
simulation gone haywire. I'll leave it
at that for now. Just know that it's
super fun and super different from
anything we've done so far, and we think
you're going to love it. You'll hear
more from me and the team about that in
September. As always, keep the feedback
coming. Now, over to Dan and Tiffanie to
chat more about live balance.
Hi everyone. Hey gamers. All right,
let's talk game balance. We don't want
to walk you all through what we've been
seeing since our largest set of changes
that we shipped late last year and go
into why we're making some of the
updates you're going to see this year.
At a more philosophical level, all of
our changes are aimed at supporting the
different layers of decisions you make
within Valorant. For Valorant, the core
game needs to support things like
different team compositions, a variety
of attacker and defender strategies, and
keep a mechanically deep and sound
combat system. So, when we make a change
to an agent, map, or weapon, it's
usually because one of those layers of
decisions is no longer impactful,
interesting to engage with, or relevant.
Toward the end of last year, we
rebalanced a huge chunk of the roster to
keep in the moment combat decisions
easier to process and highlight the
importance of gun play. And while we're
largely happy with where we've landed
there directionally, that said, we do
think those updates affected round over
round strategy and team play iteration a
little bit more than we would have liked
for the long term. Moving cool downs
above 40 seconds has allowed us to get
cleaner fights [music] later in the
round. So, that in clutch moments you
have fewer variables to account for.
But, at 60 seconds, this change hasn't
allowed as much room for teams to adapt
their strategies each round. So, with
patch 13.0, we'll be tuning down the
increased cool down on signature [music]
abilities for initiators a little bit,
from 60 to 50 seconds. And on the
weapons front, we're currently looking
to ship some buffs for the Bandit in
13.0.
These are intended to make it a little
bit more of a viable option outside of
pistol rounds, similar to the Sheriff.
Now, onto specific agents. To start the
year, we targeted a few that were
pushing things a little bit out of our
boundaries. Yoru was doing too much on
his own, especially with how quickly he
could rotate, which made sentinels like
Cypher less appealing. And Clove, they
were crowding out the controller space,
particularly in ranked, having too much
impact on spike sites after death. And
Reyna was getting away with a little bit
too much for her team with minimal
planning, commitment, or risk to
herself. We've pulled them back in
recent patches, and they're in healthier
spots. We're also seeing better pick
diversity overall, and we think keeping
agents unique is key to sustaining
long-term diversity.
Which brings us to Neon.
At the time of filming, many of the
changes that Dan and Tiffy talked about
in this section were originally
scheduled to come out a little over a
month from now with patch 13.0. We
wanted to take some extra time to test
these changes because we believe Neon,
shotguns, and weaker sentinels are all
wrapped up into one problem space. And
also to make sure that any of our
changes maintain Neon's ability to zip
across the ground at lightning speed.
But honestly, we've been killing the
shotgun wielding Neons in our own games,
and we're hearing it loud and clear from
all of you. So, we're bringing you these
changes today, even if they're a little
rougher around the edges.
>> [music]
>> To correct the information shared in the
video, you might notice some subtle
vocal overdubs and visual cues. We
apologize for the inconvenience.
We've seen a lot of talk and discussion
about Neon lately, and while we agree
Neon can be hard to deal with and
frustrating at times, we also know that
not everyone in the game is able to lock
in with her and turn into Daddy.
We think Neon's role in breaking timings
and creating pressure is correct. But
right now, her movement and evasiveness
pushed too far in our combat space. So,
we've got some changes in Today. to
bring her back in line. Right now, we're
looking specifically at how Neon takes
space around the map. Her mobility and
speed while bunny hopping aren't really
hitting our bar for tactical combat in
Valorant. You can expect to see changes
that will affect Neon's evasiveness
while keeping her ability to shoot and
slide. We're mostly just looking to add
some additional counterplay for Neon's
opponents. In addition to this, we're
also shipping some changes to shotguns
>> Today. that target their effectiveness
while moving and jumping. So, you'll
have to work a little harder to pull off
those kinds of kills versus playing with
them defensively and hunkering down.
On the other side of things, we're also
looking closely at our Sentinels.
Stalling should be a reliable tool, not
a situational one. Sentinels should be a
clear answer to fast and explosive team
compositions. Stalling abilities have an
important purpose in the game. They
allow players to reallocate their
resources around the map to force a more
strategic thinking. Forcing even the
most mechanically gifted players, like
Dan,
to engage in round strategy is part of
the tactical loop. So, in patch 13.0,
we're also making a few changes to some
Sentinels we feel need a little bit of
love. As just one example, Killjoy will
be getting some updates to help solidify
his rotational power and his ability to
disrupt site hits with Interceptor.
We'll continue to monitor how these
changes play out across skill levels,
and you'll hear from us again throughout
the year in patch notes and videos just
like these.
Now, back to Max.
Before we go, we also mentioned at the
start of the year that we were working
on a way for you all to share your
replay files with your friends. That
feature is coming in patch 12.10. Now,
when you click on a friend's profile and
view their match history, you'll see a
new button to download and view their
replay. Let the bot reviews begin.
Okay, that was a lot, but uh don't
worry. You can expect to hear a lot more
from us throughout the rest of the year.
Keep an eye out for the dev team at our
different BCT events, some creator
content, in the comments and replies
online, and most definitely with another
dev update closer to champs. We've got
some pretty sweet stuff to share that
we're hyped about, and we'll be back in
early September to let you in on all the
fun. Happy gaming, y'all. Hi everyone.
I'm Max and I
lead the various teams who design systems
and core game mechanics within Valorant.
As we head into Act III of Season 2026,
I wanted to take a minute
to check in on a few areas of the game
that we know you all care about very much.
We've seen a lot of healthy conversation
from the community about things
like the state of the meta, our ranked
and MMR systems,
player behavior systems,
and our approach to limited time modes.
So I want to jump into some of that now
before I hand it over to Armand,
Dan and Tiffy to chat about modes
and live balance.
First things first
the competitive experience.
Our goal is straightforward.
Your rank should be a clear reflection
of your skill,
and the journey to get
there should feel fair.
We're going to be more proactive about
testing and refining different approaches
to matchmaking, so we can land on a system
that truly delivers on that promise.
For example, in January,
we made updates to our MMR system
to better account for individual impacted
matches.
We're seeing some positive results
here, especially around match quality.
Games are less
one sided and we're seeing more even
contribution across players in the lobby.
At the same time, some of the trade offs
have been pretty clear.
We've heard your feedback around
visible rank differences in matches
and the feeling
that RR losses can outweigh RR gains.
In some cases, we've also let some tuning
exist in game longer than we should have.
While we evaluated the results,
one area we've been focusing on
is making sure your effort in each match
feels properly reflected in your rank.
When that doesn't happen,
it can feel like the system
isn't respecting your performance.
To address this, we recently adjusted
how RR gains and losses are calculated
so that strong performances are rewarded
more.
Weaker ones cost more, and over time
your wins and losses
should feel like they balance out
appropriately.
We want to be more direct about
how we're approaching competitive overall.
Matchmaking and ranked integrity
are a major focus for us this year,
and that means we're going
to keep iterating.
Ultimately,
your rank needs to reflect your skill,
and getting there should feel fair,
consistent, and worth the effort.
Now to talk about the top of the
leaderboard, we've heard the feedback
from Immortal Plus around
recent changes to our RR thresholds.
We want the battle for a spot
on the radiant ladder
to be the pinnacle of competition
and a reflection of performance,
not just pure grind.
Additionally,
we need to ensure competitive integrity
to know that performance is legit
on these ladders.
In the short term, we've been investing
more into anti-cheat and win trading
detection methods to make sure the players
at the top really deserve to be there.
We've already taken action this year
on some of the most egregious win traders,
and we'll continue to do so routinely.
But longer term, we're looking at
improvements to make earning Radiant Act
over Act more worth it than it is today,
and not just with systemic improvements.
We're also working on specialized rewards
for climbing to the very top.
All right,
now speaking of rewards, let's talk
about ranked rewards for all players.
I'm happy to confirm that the V-26, Act
III and Act VI ranked Gun Buddies
this year will be the last time a Gun
Buddy is your primary reward in a 2027.
You won't need to wait until act III
to get your new reward.
The next version of our ranked rewards
will be distributed
on day one of Season 2027,
and will be an item that evolves with you
throughout your ranked journey
for the entire year.
Yes, we originally hoped to get you
all new ranked rewards this year,
but we're taking a little more time
to make sure we get them right.
We'll share more on what you can expect
from Rank Rewards in September.
We want you to feel recognized
for your dedication and growth
every single act you play.
So there's a lot more
we're bringing to the ranked experience
that you'll see in game.
Closer to champs competitive.
queue is the reason the vast
majority of you play Valorant,
so we're investing heavily
to make every aspect
of our in-game systems
paint a more complete picture
of your ranked journey,
while giving you the tools
you need to improve and flex your mastery.
Now, I'm going to hand things over to
Armand to talk about our plans for modes.
Since the end of 2025, we've
been experimenting with new limited time
game modes to learn
more about what you love
and what you don't.
And so far, we've been excited
by what excites all of you.
You all loved Skirmish and Customs,
so we brought it to the queue
and when we took it away, you let us know
that you weren't ready to say goodbye.
So we brought it back.
And then we added a new flavor of skirmish
with an experimental rank ladder.
And that's just skirmish.
We also have plans to keep iterating
and tinkering with other modes
like knockout, all random one site,
and even an old fan favorite.
We hear all of you replication
fans out there in the comments,
so I'm happy to share
that we're currently working on a new mode
that blends replication
with all random one site.
We think it'll give you the off
the wall moments
that you all enjoyed about replication
at an even higher frequency.
Replication is a mode
that's all about fun factor
and hilarious interactions,
and we think all random
one site creates those moments
more frequently due to more alts,
more abilities, and getting different
agents every round, all on a single site.
After that, we've got plans for a new take
on a spike mode
that will put your skills to the test.
With shortened rounds and smaller teams.
You'll see more on this in a few weeks
when ACT IV starts,
and we might even have one more surprise
up our sleeve for Act V.
Think K.O. combat simulation gone haywire.
I'll leave it at that for now.
Just know that it's super fun
and super different
from anything we've done so far,
and we think you're gonna love it.
You'll hear more from me
and the team about that in September.
As always, keep the feedback coming.
Now over to Dan and Tiffy
to chat more about Live Balance.
Hi everyone.
Hey, gamers.
All right, let's talk game balance.
We're gonna walk you all through
what we've been seeing since our larger
set of changes that we shipped late
last year, and go into
why we're making some of the updates
you're going to see this year
at a more philosophical level.
All of our changes are aimed at supporting
the different layers of decisions
you make within Valorant.
For Valorant,
the core game needs to support things
like different team compositions,
a variety of attacker
and defender strategies,
and keep a mechanically deep
and sound combat system.
So when we make a change to an agent, map
or weapon, it's
usually
because one of those layers of decisions
is no longer impactful,
interesting to engage with, with or relevant.
Toward the end of last year,
we rebalance a huge chunk of the roster
to keep in the moment combat
decisions, easier to process and highlight
the importance of gunplay.
And while we're largely happy with where
we've landed there directionally,
that said,
we do think those updates affected
round over
round strategy and team play iteration
a little bit more than we would have liked
for the long term.
Moving cooldowns above 40s
has allowed us to get cleaner fights later
in the round, so that in clutch moments
you have fewer variables to account for.
But at 60s, this change hasn't allowed
as much room for teams
to adapt their strategies each round.
So with patch 13.0,
we'll be tuning down the increase
cool down on signature abilities for
initiators a little bit, from 60 to 50s.
And on the weapons front,
we're currently looking to ship some buffs
for the Bandit in 13.0.
These are intended to make it a little bit
more of a viable option
outside of pistol rounds,
similar to the Sheriff.
Now, onto specific agents,
to start the year.
We targeted a few that we're pushing
things a little bit out of our boundaries.
Yoru was doing too much on his own,
especially with how quickly
he could rotate, which made Sentinels
like Veto less appealing and Clove.
They were crowding out
the controller space,
particularly in ranked
having too much impact on spike sights
after death, and Walay was getting away
with a little bit too much for her team
with minimal planning, commitment
or risk to herself.
We've pulled them back in recent patches
and they're in healthier spots.
We're also seeing better pick
diversity overall, and we think keeping
agents unique is key to sustaining long
term diversity.
Which brings us to Neon.
At the time of
filming, many of the changes
that Dan and Tiffy talked about in
the section were originally scheduled to
come out a little over a month from now.
With patch 13.0,
we wanted to take some extra time
to test these changes,
because we believe that Neon, shotguns,
and weaker Sentinels are all wrapped up
into one problem space,
and also to make sure that
any of our changes maintain Neons ability
to zip across the ground
at lightning speed.
But honestly, we've been feeling
the shotgun in our own games,
and we're hearing loud and clear
from all of you.
So we're bringing these changes to you
these changes... Today!
Even if they're a little rough
around the edges
to correct the information
sharing the video,
you might notice some subtle
vocal overdubs and visual cues.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
We've
seen a lot of talk and discussion
about Neon lately, and while we agree
Neon can be hard to deal with
and frustrating at times, we also know
that not everyone in the game is able
to lock in with her and turn into Derby.
We think Neon’s roll in, breaking
timings and creating pressure is correct.
But right now her movement invasiveness
pushed too far in our combat space.
So we've got some changes today
to bring her back in line.
Right now we're looking specifically
at how Neon takes space around the map.
Her mobility and speed while bunny
hopping aren't really hitting our bar
for tactical combat in Valorant,
you can expect to see changes
that will affect neons evasiveness
while keeping her ability
to shoot and fly.
We're mostly just looking to add
some additional counterplay
for Neon’s opponents.
In addition to this, we're also shipping
some changes to shotguns today.
The target their effectiveness
while moving and jumping,
so you'll have to work a little harder
to pull off those kinds of kills
versus playing with them
defensively and hunkering down
on the other side of things.
We're
also looking closely at our Sentinels.
Stalling should be a reliable tool,
not a situation one.
Senties should be a clear answer
to fast and explosive team compositions.
Stalling abilities
have an important purpose in the game.
They allow players to reallocate
the resources around the map to force
a more strategic thinking, forcing
even the most mechanically gifted players
like Dan, to engage in round
strategy is part of the tactical loop.
So in patch 13.0,
we're also making a few changes
to some Sentinels
we feel need a little bit of love.
As just one example, Vito will be getting
some updates to help solidify
his rotational power and his ability
to disrupt sight hits with interceptor.
We'll continue to monitor
how these changes
play out across skill levels,
and you'll hear from us again
throughout the year
in patch notes and videos just like these.
Now back to Max.
Before we go,
we also mentioned at the start of the year
that we were working on a way for you all
to share your replay files
with your friends.
That feature is coming in patch 12.10.
Now, when you click on a friend's profile
and view their match history,
you'll see a new button to download
and view their replay.
Let the VOD reviews begin.
Okay, that was a lot.
But don't worry,
you can expect to hear a lot more from us
throughout the rest of the year.
Keep an eye out for the dev team
at our different VCT
events on creator content
and the comments and replies online,
and most definitely
with another dev update closer to Champs.
We've got some pretty sweet stuff to share
that we're hyped about,
and we'll be back in early September
to let you in on all the fun.
Happy gaming y'all!