Valorant v0.49 Patch Notes: Ranked play, Omen tweaks, Map updates and Observer mode changes

Three weeks into the Valorant closed beta and onto the second major patch and this one has what we have all been waiting for... a tweak to the Omen agent!

No, of course not, it's ranked mode! But also, changes to Omen plus a few map updates and that new damage and health feedback that was promised earlier in the week.

(Credit: Riot Games)

The patch will be released tomorrow 29th April with the EU servers going down at 3:30 am CEST and coming back on around 9 am.

The NA servers will go down at 4.30 am PT and return at 10 am PT.

Ranked mode, or "Competitive mode" will be turned on when Riot feels the patch is "stable" which could mean a matter of hours or days, but it is expected to be available later in the day on the 29th.

Omen nerf?

Credit: Riot Games)

Omen is the only agent with major changes to his character but it looks like the changes to his blinding ability - Paranoia - discussed by Valorant's lead character designer "RiotMorello" have yet to make it in the game.

Instead, we have changes to his From The Shadows teleport ability, with him now being vulnerable to enemy fire when teleporting with added visual clarity of when shooting him will get you the kill vs sending him back.

• Read more: Valorant: Omen Agent guide - abilities, strategies, tips and tricks

There has been a slight decrease in the noise he makes when re-entering his body making him slightly more sneaky.

There will also be an updated look for Omen with his player model looking more representative of the artwork like that displayed above.

Competitive / Ranked mode

The big change coming to v0.49 is the introduction of the ranked mode or Competitive mode.

Players will need to play 20 placement matches to gain their initial rank.

Valorant's ranked mode will feature eight levels, each split into three tiers:

• Bronze |-|||
• Silver |-|||
• Gold |-|||
• Platinum |-|||
• Diamon |-|||
• Immortal |-||| 

The mode is expected to be turned on when Riot have rolled out the patch across all regions and it is considered "stable".

Valorant v0.49 full patch notes

Gameplay and Balance

Omen

• Omen now immediately becomes vulnerable and no longer appears dark after he leaves his alternate shadow form
  • If you were to find enemy Omen teleporting in, it was often confusing when you should shoot him to get the kill (vs. sending him back). This change is to both account for an invulnerability bug and score some extra points of clarity
• The attenuation radius of the arrival sound on Omen's From the Shadows has been reduced to 2250
  • Attenuation is a big word, but the short of it is you have to be closer to Omen to echolocate where he’s teleporting to. We’re trying to give him some spook back since if you do find him, you should now have him dead to rights

Character Updates

• [Omen] Updated Omen’s visuals
• [Breach] Updated Breach’s visuals

Map Updates

• Added curtains to the top of double doors on Haven to remove the Sage Barrier Orb boost that allowed players to see through a sliver of the door at the top
• Fixed issue with Cypher camera being placed on the Haven A Main boxes
• Multiple fixes to the geometry on Haven, Bind, and Split to fix exploits and help optimize gameplay—massive thanks to all of the folks who helped to identify these! We see you
• Updated materials on Bind and Haven to make surfaces more consistent overall
• Changed color of Radianite crates in order to unify overall visuals

Competitive Updates

• Added Competitive mode and ranked matchmaking, to go live in the near future

Observer Mode

• Added “Ghost cheat” as an option to custom games with cheats enabled, allowing you to fly around the map in no-clip mode
• Ability HUD no longer displays when entering drone camera as an observer
• Exiting drone camera will now swap back to the most recently viewed player if they’re still a valid view target
• Swapping through players to view will now iterate through an entire team before going to players on the other team

HUD & UI

• In-game
  • New directional damage indicator visual
  • New low health and low ammo visuals
  • Removed character portrait from player’s minimap icon to better distinguish player icon; icon will receive additional color and polish in the future
  • Voice activity is now shown above allies’ heads
  • Added color to spike icon above ally’s head to make it easier to see
  • Fixed the ultimate ability icon above teammates’ heads showing as charged after gaining 1 ult point instead of when actually charged
  • Ping elements now fade when under player aim; previously only text faded
• Out-of-game
  • Relocated Find Match button from social panel to Play screen; renamed to Start
  • Relocated Practice button from social panel to Play screen
  • Added Play Again button to End of Game screen
  • Made the flyouts on the nav progression widget clickable
  • Made main navigation button click targets easier to click
  • Added an option to orient the fixed minimap so that player’s starting side is always at the bottom
  • Adjusted all map assets so that full fixed orientations consistently place attackers at bottom and defenders at top
  • Added hover tooltips to thumbnails in the Collections view to show item name
  • Scroll speed tweaked to make scrolling social panel smoother
  • Made crosshair preview in Settings shorter to make more room for controls

Quality of Life

• Added the ability to abandon a multiplayer Custom Game. Using the “Leave match” button in the ESC menu will allow you to permanently leave the match without penalty. Leaving the custom game in any other way (exit client, alt+f4, etc.) will still allow you to return to the match
• Updated the audio occlusion system to help players better differentiate audio distancing cues. For example, Haven B to A short, you should perceive sounds from their correct distance and not as if they were right next to you
• Players who abandon matchmade games, or dodge agent selects, will now experience penalties that prevent them from queuing for a period of time. Frequent offenders will experience higher queue time penalties. Leaving ruins the match for everyone else, and should only be a last resort
• Enabled the ability to see VALORANT players online in Riot games
• Adjusted play flow UX moving queue buttons into lobby screens
• Adjusted social panel UX to accommodate additional space
• Adjusted End of Game UX to clean up design of various widgets
• Adjusted chat disconnect error state to be less… intimidating
• Spawn practice bots option in the shooting range moved from the F3 menu to an in-world shootable switch
• For all shotguns, moved the crosshair’s center dot by 1px to center it on the screen. The devs expect shotgun lethality to increase by 4,000% as a result (this is a joke)

Bug fixes: In-Game

• [Phoenix] Fixed a bug where Phoenix would get teleported back to an ascender (rope ladder) after respawning, in cases where Phoenix died while Run It Back was active and he was attached to an ascender
• [Phoenix] Fixed a bug where, for a brief time after Run It Back ended, Phoenix could be damaged in the place where he fizzled
• [Viper] Updated the appearance of Viper's Toxic Screen on the minimap to show gaps in the wall
• [Viper] Fixed Viper being able to animation-cancel Viper’s Pit
• Prevent “Spike Planted” announcement from playing after a round has ended and hiding the round end announcement, which should clearly indicate the result of after-the-buzzer plant rounds
• Fixed Bomb Carrier Killed announcement from also showing Ally Defusing
• Fixed a rare issue where players’ weapons would float in front of them; too spooky
• Fixed a rare issue where third-person player models could get desynced from the server when double tapping a defuse, causing some shots to miss
• Fixed aim issue that caused some players who were using low sensitivity to have small mouse movements dropped
• Fixed issue where canceling a plant or orb pickup could sometimes play the wrong (slower) re-equip animation, making it look as if the player could fire too quickly after canceling (timing was correct, animation wasn’t)
• Fixed map region names as they appear below the minimap from not localizing properly
• Smoothed out movement during player-to-player collisions
• Fixed a bug where item UI prompt in the game world would appear to block bullets
• Fixed a bug where the Z ping wheel could be opened alongside the map ping wheel, creating a scenario where multiple ping wheels could be open at once
• Fixed a bug where ping wheel wouldn’t show disabled when direct bound pings were used to reach usage limit
• Fixed a rare bug where either team could win a round by elimination on the same frame that the spike was defused, granting two points for that round.
• Fixed overlap in ally planting announcement
• Fixed a bug where the VO radial wheel would hit the rate limit by opening and closing it without selecting a VO option
• Minimap will no longer randomly hide for all players in a game
• Update to Bucky’s alternate fire to instead apply instantaneous, hitscan damage
  • Alt. fire was previously a projectile that was able to kill enemies shortly after the user was killed. No other weapon works this way so now it performs as a hitscan.

Bug fixes: Game Client

• Fixed an issue that allowed players to purchase items not available in their respective store
• Fixed an issue that let players equip content they didn't own
• Fixed issue where display settings would get re-applied when joining/leaving games, which could move the window or change display mode in rare cases
• Fixed network stability indicator sometimes appearing when setting was disabled
• Line of sight is no longer required to pick up the spike when overlapped by a player
• Fixed issue where the spike would sometimes become unretrievable
• Fixed an issue preventing some player reports from submitting
• Fixed various connection issues with voice chat
• Fixed various connection issues with text chat
• Fixed various issues with player state being incorrect in social panel
• Fixed an issue where some players could not requeue after a game without relogging
• Fixed issues with receiving party invitations
• Fixed transparent player card icons in Custom Game lobbies
• Fixed resetting controls for Voice Chat in settings
• Fixed voice defaulting to automatic transmission for Custom Games
• Fixed voice being interrupted when navigating Custom Game options
• Fixed a handful of localization issues across menu screens

The full patch notes plus more can be found on the Riot Games website.