The VALORANT patch 12.03 notes kick off the first international event of the season with the return of Pick’Ems.
The first international event of the season is just around the corner, and you can now start making your predictions. The VALORANT patch 12.03 notes introduce the Masters Santiago Pick'Ems, along with small buffs to Gekko and other updates.
Agent updates
Gekko will be the only agent receiving changes in the VALORANT patch 12.03 notes. According to Riot Games, the Initiator has been noticeably weaker than other agents in his role since patch 11.08. The update aims to unify how all of Gekko’s abilities function, give him greater flexibility when reclaiming his Globules, and provide a slight overall increase in power.
- Globules: Reclaim timer increased from 15 to 20 seconds
- Mosh Pit: Is now reclaimable
Some voice lines were also added to Viper, including conversations with Omen and Vyse.
General and competitive updates
In the VALORANT patch 12.03 notes, the audio occlusion will now respond to map doorways being opened, closed, or destroyed. Additionally, the Replays feature will now have a setting to skip spectating dead players.
In Competitive, accounts flagged for sharing, as well as all players ranked Ascendant and above in APAC, will be required to enable Riot Mobile multi-factor authentication (MFA). Other accounts remain unaffected.
Masters Santiago Pick'Ems
The Pick’Ems are back for the Masters Santiago event. You’ll be able to lock in your picks in the client or on the web starting Feb. 19. For the Swiss Stage, your goal is to predict which four teams will advance. To earn extra points, you’ll also need to guess which team will complete a flawless 2–0 run.
Just by participating, you'll get the "Cachando Todo" title. The remaining rewards will be given according to your position in the general ranking.
- ¡Rico, Po! Buddy - Top 50% players
- Pick'Ems Masters: ¡Rico, Po! Buddy - Top 20% players
- Perfect Title - Perfect bracket
VCT player stats are now available on the Esports Hub Teams page. Take a look and see how you compare.
VALORANT patch notes 12.03: New game mode
Skirmish 2v2 is coming to VALORANT for a limited time. In this mode, you’ll play on compact maps with no abilities and pure gunplay. Just like the original Skirmish, the focus is entirely on mechanical skill. So, grab your duo and put your aim to the test. Below, you can find all the mode details:
- 2v2 Matchmaking Queue (Solo queue or bring a partner)
- First to 10 rounds wins
- Full weapon selection each round (no economy)
- Abilities disabled
- No agent select–hop in and go next fast
- Skirmish A, Skirmish B, and Skirmish C are the available maps
- The map is randomly selected for each match
For the All Random One Site game mode, Riot has added weapons to a few stages and buffed some of the more niche options. The developers also fixed a bug that allowed Vyse to place infinite Razorvines during the Buy Phase.
Known issues
There are two big issues that Riot Games will be working to solve in the upcoming patches.
- Battlepass
- Hitting ESC will cause the Battlepass elements to disappear/reappear instead of taking you back a page. This will be resolved in patch 12.04.
- The scroll wheel currently will not work when navigating between the tiers on the battle pass or event pass. This will be fixed soon.
- Store
- The background for the accessories store is currently missing. This will be resolved in patch 12.04.
- The Reaver Bandit is showing up incorrectly as a limited edition item. This is not a limited edition and will be resolved in patch 12.04.
PC only updates
The event pass and battle pass have seen their layout and button visuals updated. You can now navigate through tiers using either your mouse or arrow keys. As always, you can check out the official Riot Games patch notes page.
