Riot Games has released VALORANT patch 13.05, a minor update that brings a few fixes, the return of Pick'Ems predictions for Champions Shanghai, and significant changes to the way illegal tools are punished.
The most important news is the start of the introduction of penalties for players who are detected using tools for stream sniping and automatic agent selection, better known as instalock tools.
A temporary ban may become permanent
Players found by Riot to be using these tools may first receive a temporary ban. If they continue to use them, the fines will increase and may eventually lead to a permanent ban.
Stream sniping is monitoring the transmission of an opposing player in order to unfairly obtain information about his position, tactics or team movements.
Instalock tools enable automatic and almost instantaneous selection of the desired agent. This gives the users of these programs a technical advantage over other players who choose agents in the usual way.
Riot did not release the technical details of the detection system, which is expected because such information could help the authors of illegal programs to try to bypass the protection.
Pick'Ems returns for Champions Shanghai
Patch 13.05 also brings the return of the Pick'Ems system for VALORANT Champions Shanghai.
Prediction of the group stage will be available from September 10 through the game itself and the official website. Players will win points by predicting the teams that advance, with additional points for correctly hitting the final ranking.
Prizes will be available for just participating, and predictions must be locked before the start of the group stage on September 24.
Agent Gear system changes coming in patch 13.06
Riot also announced a significant change to the Agent Gear system coming on September 22nd with patch 13.06.
Players will keep any items they previously unlocked, while Kingdom Credits will continue to be used for future rewards. However, after the update, progress through Agent Gear will be directly related to time spent playing a particular agent.
If you're currently trying to unlock gear for agents you rarely use, Riot recommends you finish it before the next patch comes out.
Fixed a large number of issues with agents
Patch 13.05 brings fixes to issues related to Chamber, Cypher, Deadlock, Fade, KAY/O, Omen, Sage, and Waylay.
Among the more important corrections are:
- An issue where smoke abilities could block flash effects even after disappearing
- Performance drop when using Chamber's Headhunter for the first time
- Cypher's Trapwire effect that could remain permanently active on a new target
- Drop in number of frames during KAY/O NULL/cmd pulse
- An issue where Omen's Dark Cover was obscuring vision even after the smoke effect disappeared
- Several issues with Waylay's Saturate and Refract abilities
The PC version also got the option of choosing one, five or ten bots in Range Practice mode. The new default number of bots is five.
Riot states that patch 13.05 is a relatively small update that is primarily focused on fixes, while much more extensive content is expected in patch 13.06.
