Riot has also made improvements to ensure safer spawn points, removed the periodic location pulse, and added an automatic, immediate reload on every kill. Closer matches have a lighter impact on performance calculations.ĭeathmatch mode's player count has been increased from ten to 14 players and its match length increased-it's now first to 40 kills rather than 30. Instead, match performance will only be measured by the "decisiveness of the game outcome," meaning how many rounds your team won and lost. Immortal and Radiant players' individual performance in matches will no longer be factored into rank changes, according to patch 1.10. "We have also tightened our competitive matchmaking to reduce skill disparity," writes Riot. Riot hopes to have Icebox available in Competitive mode by October 27, which aligns with the launch of Valorant's new agent, Skye.Ĭompetitive mode players can now only queue with players within three tiers of their rank rather than six. Unrated players will find themselves placed in Icebox more often than other maps early on. It will only be available to play in Unrated, Spike Rush, and Deathmatch modes while Riot continues to optimize it and fix bugs.
Icebox is currently released in a "beta state," according to Riot, and will remain so for at least two weeks. The main highlights of Valorant's 1.10 patch include its new map, Icebox, a new rank disparity cap for Competitive mode queues, changes to the way Immortal and Radiant ranked changes are measured, several Deathmatch mode adjustments, and of course, the start of a new ranked season. Valorant patch 1.10 highlights from Riot Games. The team is aware of the issue and working on a fix. VALORANT October 13, 2020Īccording to the official Valorant account on Twitter, there is currently an issue disabling players from purchasing the battle pass. Yu also noted that “under current Riot tournament rulesets - once a map spends 4 weeks in ranked mode, it is eligible for tournament play.” This means, if Icebox fares well in its beta phase, it will become a playable map in the later stages of Riot’s upcoming First Strike tournament series.We're aware of issues with purchasing not working in NA/LATAM/BR regions-working on a fix, hopefully soon. But, after listening to feedback from the Valorant community, they decided to give the players what they want. They can also be used to gather information while playing the defender side.īut if you’re looking to play hyper aggressively, we suggest picking Jett, Omen, or Raze - agents who can more easily get to higher ground and catch opponents by surprise.Īdditionally, Riot’s Senior Producer, Dexter Yu explained that the new Icebox map was originally set for release during Episode 2. Use either Cypher’s Spycam and Tripwires or Killjoy’s Turret and Alarmbot to catch flanking opponents on attack. Similar to these suspenseful movies, players will constantly feel that something is waiting to pounce on them behind every corner.įor those who are anticipating to try the new Icebox map once it’s out on unrated on October 13, we suggest using agents like Cypher and Killjoy just to get a sense of how the enemy team plays the map. Riot’s Maps Art Lead, Devon Fay explained that the inspiration design behind Icebox are films like “The Thing” and “Aliens”. This is why players need to be patient and gather as much information, before using their abilities or committing to a push. Simply put, there’s just so much ground to cover.
Icebox Minimapīecause of the multiple spots players can hold in this new terrain, most agent abilities become less effective. Raze is another agent that could hold tight corners well with her Paint Shells and Boom Bot ability.Īccording to Valorant’s Level Design Lead, Salvatore “Volcano” Garozzo, “Icebox was designed to emphasize skirmishes, sharp aim, and adaptive play.” And, after playing the map for a short period of time, we believe they were able to achieve this goal exceptionally well. They will be able to buy time for the rest of their teammates to rotate and take the attackers from behind, or to reinforce the spike-site. Meanwhile, for defenders, Sentinel agents like Cypher and Killjoy will be the ideal characters to use.