There’s also changes to Cypher, Fade and Harbor in this update.
The latest Valorant update has brought significant changes to some agents while also also introducing real time text message evaluation. This new feature will help mute toxic text messages much earlier than before, thereby providing a safer game environment for players. Here’s what we know about Valorant Patch 5.10 so far.
What is Real time Text message Evaluation?
We are launching a new feature to begin muting players in chat who send disruptive text messages in game. Interventions for disruptive text will now be applied sooner rather than later as we continue updating our systems to evaluate more types of text communication.
The new feature will begin muting players much earlier than the post-match review process before. What does this mean? Players who type disruptive text messages might receive penalties, including in-game mute while they are still in the match.
This feature will drastically improve the in-game experience for users who have to deal with such toxic personalities regularly.
With the implementation of more immediate text evaluation, we hope to detect and reduce disruptive situations while players are still in game and help you feel safer to engage in VALORANT.
The feature is limited to North America for now, presumably as Riot hopes to test it on a smaller group of English-speaking players. But if it is successful then we can hope to see the feature roll out to more regions in the future.
Agent Changes in Valorant Patch 5.10
The latest update brings some agent changes as well, most notably Cypher and Fade. The latest Valorant Agent, Harbor, also receives a few changes.
Cypher Changes
Trapwire
- Maximum Trapwire length increased 1000 >>> 1500.
Neural Theft
- Now reveals enemies two times. There is a four second delay between the reveals.
- Time restriction to cast on enemy corpses has been removed.
- Maximum cast distance increased 1200 >>> 1800.
Quality of Life
- Updated the yellow silhouette used for Cypher’s reveal on Spycam and Neural Theft.
- Yellow silhouette now disappears if the revealed enemy becomes visible to you to help reduce confusion of seeing two representations of the enemy in different places.
- Yellow silhouette now starts dimmer and fades faster to make it more distinguishable from an actual enemy.
- Cypher’s placed utility is no longer destroyed by allies’ AOE damage.
Cypher's ultimate will now show the enemy outlines twice - giving you an idea of their general movement. This also helps against mobility agents who often change their positions once revealed.
Cypher has been one of the most underwhelming agents in Valorant and these recent changes make him much better in pub and competitive play. The Yellow silhouette of an enemy's outline now disappears if the revealed enemy comes in your sightline. This helps reduce the amount of 'noise' on your screen and helps you aim better without distractions.
Another small improvement is that Cypher's utilities are no longer impacted by allies' AOE damage abilities.
Fade
Prowlers
- Duration reduced from 3 >>> 2.5 seconds. (Time the prowler is alive without a trail).
- Delay on bite after reaching target increased .4 >>> .6 seconds.
- Hitbox improvements.
- Nearsight duration on hit reduced 3.5 >>> 2.75 seconds.
- Prowlers now fizzle out and no longer debuff instead of debuffing its target if they teleported away before it finished its animation.
Nightfall
- Cost increased 7 >>> 8.
Fade's ultimate is one of the more powerful ones in game and is often used as soon as it is available. It can help clear out bombsites, giving out enemy locations over a vast area on the map. As such, Riot has now increased its price from 7 to 8. This is a small change that will have a much bigger impact on Fade games.
Meanwhile, Prowlers have also been balanced. there's an improvement for Fade players as well as opponents looking to counter Prowlers. With th duration reduced from 3 to 2.5, the Prowlers now have to be used from much closer which puts Fade at a bit of a risk when it comes to advancing opponents. There's also a slightly increased bite delay, giving opponents a chance to shoot it down.
The basic concept of prowlers still ensures that you have to shoot it, wasting bullets and giving away your position.
Teleporting agents such as Chamber, Yoru and more will no longer debuff if they teleport out just before the Prowler bites. This was a much-needed change and will improve the overall gameplay with and against Fade.
Harbor
Cascade
- Number of purchasable charges increased from 1 to 2
Harbor is the latest agent to join Valorant, but the agent has not had the most success when it comes to popularity and impact. Part of the reason was many players feel constrained when playing Harbor and so the latest update allows them to now purchase two Cascade charges instead of the one previously.
Cascade is a vision-blocking ability that moves forward in the direction it is cast. The wave will stop moving on reactivation and remain in place for a short duration. It acts as a temporarily vision-blocking wall that allows you to get into advantageous positions.
These updates, along with the real time text message evaluation feature will hopefully make Valorant more user-friendly. Quite often players from marginalized communities experience toxicity either via voice chat or via text. These players can now expect some better conditions, even though it's nearly impossible to completely eliminate such experiences. But it shows the Valorant devs are thinking in the right direction when it comes to improving the playing conditions in their FPS title.
You can read the full patch notes here.
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