VALORANT: New map, new rank… Find the changes of patch 5.0

Scheduled for June 22patch 5.0 of VALORANT bring with him a new card, Pearl! The latter will not be immediately available for competitive games. It will be necessary to wait two weeks after patch deployment to play on this map as well in unclassified than in competitive mode.

This patch announcing the start of Episode 5 Act I, also adds a new rank between Diamond and Immortal. named Ascendingthis rank aims to better distribute the different players. Finally, the Split map has been temporarily removed from the map pool competitive and unranked modes.

The developers want to keep the playable number of cards to 7 in order to allow players the possibility of mastering the cards while having a good variety. Split was chosen after an analysis of different factorsbut the developers reassure fans of the map, it will its return in future updates.

Find the patch notes via this link or just below:

MAP UPDATES

PEARL

• NEW MAP: Pearl is online!
• Queue for Pearl only

  • This queue is a standard, unranked mode that will give players a chance to practice on the new map before seeing it in competitive mode.
  • The Pearl-only queue will be available for 2 weeks, after which Pearl will enter competitive mode.

SPLIT

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

NEW RANK: Ascending

• We’ve added an additional rank above Diamond, below Immortal, called “Ascendant”.

  • We think our lower ranks have a few too many of you, especially Bronze and Silver. When we looked at the rank distribution, we realized that if we moved some of you up and down from those lower ranks, it would overcrowd the Platinum and Diamond ranks. By adding a new rank, we can therefore better distribute you between ranks, retain the prestige of high ranks, while helping to better define the skill level of each rank.

• Moved MMR targets that determine rank down, due to the addition of the new rank of Ascendant, for all ranks below Ascendant. Moved up rank goal for Immortal 1/2/3 and Radiant.

  • These are the thresholds that say “You should have X MMR to reach this rank”. MMR goals determine your RR gains and help push your rank to match your MMR.

• This means that players will rank up, if they are below Ascendant.
• In order to match our expectations of what it means to be in the highest ranks in VALORANT, Immortal+ players will have a harder time getting back to the rank of the previous episode. This means that Immortal+ will also have a lower ranking population in all regions.
• Due to the seasonal reset, you may not see your rank increase at the start of the episode without putting in a bit of effort, but the reset will be “less harsh” than the last episode. So, as we’re pushing the player base up to fill the Ascendant, the reset won’t hit you as hard.
• The next time we reset the ranks, you will probably be affected more than in this episode. Remember that the “softer” reset is unique to this episode due to the introduction of the Ascendant.

• Group restrictions for Ascendant are 3 ranks above or below the Ascendant ranked player.

  • This matches our Platinum+ bundling rules.

• The highest placement allowed has changed to Ascendant 1 (previously Diamond 1).
• The 25% RR penalty when stacking five players now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3).

• Solo/Duo/5 stack restriction now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3).

  • Remember, Diamond 3 and above could previously only play solo, duo, and stack of 5. This restriction now starts from Immortal 1.
  • By adding an extra rank, we were able to change the stack penalty from five and Solo/Duo restrictions to Immortal. This makes things clearer: Immortal is the starting point for ranking and that’s why we’re trying to make players more responsible for their ranking.

• Due to a naming conflict with the new rank, we have renamed the level 8 agent contract unlocked by Sage – Sage’s new title is “Dauntless”.

  • We didn’t choose to rename this title lightly, but after discussing the title, we felt it was an opportunity to give it more meaning for Sage and his personality/theme.

BUGS

Cards

Officers

• Fixed a bug where Jett could equip a weapon during Tailwind.
• Fixed a bug where Agents revealed by Sova’s Scouting Bolt or Fade’s Haunting would sometimes briefly appear in the incorrect location on the minimap.
• Fixed a bug where the scope visual effect would sometimes disappear when aiming down sights with Chamber’s Tour de Force.

gaming systems

• Fixed a bug where using an Ultimate Point Orb or defusing the Spike from max distance could cause channeling and progress bar animations to flicker.
• Fixed a bug where the channeling progress bar would not update if the player disconnected and reconnected during the match.
• Fixed a bug where some weapon gear could display an incorrect gear speed animation, which could give the wrong impression of when you could fire. Here are some situations affected by this bug

  • Cypher coming out of Spycam
  • Capture Ultimate Point Orbs
  • Cancellation and realization of the Spike plant