VALORANT Patch 4.08 is here and marks the arrival of Fade, the agent of nightmares. While you can see this update as the highlight of the patch, there are other important champion changes to examine.
Jett, Neon, and Sova got some changes to make them more balanced in coordinated play and in the game in general. We also get a new skin and battle pass! Let us check out the VALORANT Patch 4.08 Notes.
VALORANT Patch 4.08 Notes – Agent Updates
Fade
Abilities
Q – Seize
Equip an orb of nightmare ink. FIRE to throw the orb which will plummet to the ground after a set amount of time. Upon hitting the ground, the ink will explode and create a zone in which enemies who are caught in it cannot escape the zone by normal means. RE-USE the ability to drop the projectile early in-flight.
E – Haunt
Equip a nightmarish entity. FIRE to throw the orb which will plummet to the ground after a set amount of time. Upon hitting the ground, the orb will turn into a nightmarish entity that will reveal the location of enemies caught in its line of sight. Enemies can destroy this entity. RE-USE the ability to drop the projectile early in-flight.
C – Prowler
Equip a Prowler. FIRE will send the Prowler out, causing it to travel in a straight line. The Prowler will lock onto any enemies or trails in their frontal vision cone and chase them, nearsighting them if it reaches them. HOLD the FIRE button to steer the Prowler in the direction of your crosshair.
X – Nightfall
EQUIP the power of Fear. FIRE to send out a wave of nightmare energy that can traverse through walls. The energy creates a trail to the opponent as well as deafens and decays them.
Jett
Tailwind
- Upon pressing E, Jett consumes her Tailwind charge and after a .75 second delay, activates a 12-second window where she’s able to dash on next key press.
- Jett’s Tailwind charge can still be regained with 2 kills.
- To keep parity with the changes to Jett dash, the functionality for Dash during Knife rounds in Escalation will be adjusted.
Neon
General
- Battery energy received upon killing an enemy increased 25%>>>100%
High Gear
- Slide cannot be cast during equip delay.
- Velocity restriction removed.
- Neon can now slide sideways and forward, and only requires that she is moving.
- Energy drain increased 6.7/s>>>10/s.
Fast Lane
Wall damage removed
- This change is intended to push Fast Lane into a more attractive option for Neon, or for an ally by preventing the disruptive portion of doing incidental damage and by adding a bit of safety moving forward.
Sova
Owl Drone
- Duration reduced 10s >>> 7s.
- Health reduced 125 >>> 100.
Dart Reveal
- Number of reveal pings reduced 3 >>> 2.
- Initial delay before first ping reveals increased 1.2s >>> 1.6s*
*Delay between the first and second ping remains 1.2s
Quality of Life
- Changed crosshair color to green to better stand out against the white HUD.
- Removed delay on [Target Hit] confirmation text.
- [Target Hit] confirmation text now remains on the player HUD when transitioning out of Owl Drone.
- [Target Hit] confirmation text now remains on screen for 2s, previously 1s
- Adjusted audio on drone dart hits for both Sova, and the player hit, to make confirmations more noticeable
Fixed a bug with Owl Drone, where the Dart Cooldown UI element would not properly update after tagging an opponent.
Shock Dart
Max Damage decreased 90 >>> 75
- Radial damage has been scaled in accordance with new max damage.
Agent Ability Ammo
- Jett’s Bladestorm, Raze’s Showstopper, and Sova’s Hunter’s Fury will now show how much ammo they have left when equipped.
VALORANT Patch 4.08 Notes – Competitive Updates
5-Stack Queues
Reduced Rank Rating gain/loss penalty for different 5-stack configurations
- If EVERYONE in your party is Iron–Diamond 2:
- No RR penalty if within normal grouping
- 25% RR penalty for all players if any player falls outside of normal grouping
- If ANYONE in your party is Diamond 3–Immortal 3 (but no one in your party is Radiant)
- 25% RR penalty for all players
- If ANYONE in your party is Radiant
- 75% RR penalty for all players
Tuned matchmaking to reduce wait time for 5-stacks.
VALORANT Patch 4.08 Notes – Bugs
Agents
- Fixed a bug where Jett could find herself unable to use abilities or weapons when using Tailwind immediately after depleting her Bladestorm daggers.
- We fixed a bug where Yoru could teleport out of bounds when using Gatecrash.
- Fixed various exploits allowing Yoru to use weapons before fully decloaking at the end of his ultimate.
VALORANT Patch 4.08 Notes – Performance
- Fixed a bug in the Shooting Range where bots would respawn unarmed.
