Patch 5.12 – Big Agent and Ability Changes are coming

Big changes are coming to VALORANT in preparation for the new year.

Riot Games is known for releasing small but consistent updates for its games. VALORANT, in particular, receives its share of updates and bug fixes over a two-week cycle. However, this still depends on whether some glaring issues require fixing in the current patch.

VALORANT fans can typically expect big changes at the start of every new Episode. However, this time around the devs has released one of the biggest single patches to ever be released for VALORANT, which is why the whole community will probably be shocked to see these many changes coming in Patch 5.12.

We have outlined the biggest Agent, Weapons, and gameplay changes coming to VALORANT Patch 5.12 in this guide.

Patch 5.12 Meta Rework

In Patch 5.12, the devs zeroed in on almost every Agent’s utility in the upcoming patch, reworking most abilities and how they interact with other utilities in the game. (For example, Incendiary now damages Killjoy’s Nanoswarm and Sage’s Barrier Orb).

Abilities like KAY/0’s Zero Point, Cypher’s Trip Wire, Chamber’s Trademark, and Sova’s Recon Dart, just to name a few, are receiving HP buffs to make them more durable and less likely to be destroyed when hit by a random bullet or ability. Other changes include balance updates to Breach, Fade, Harbor, Chamber, Sage, Yoru, Skye, Killjoy, Omen, Phoenix, Raze, and Viper.

Finally, the devs have also updated the damage behavior of most abilities in-game, causing some abilities to deal less damage to non-player units and others to become completely immune to any type of utility damage.

Chamber Rework

The devs have nerfed Chamber twice in the last few months in an attempt to bring his dominance under control. Despite the nerfs, Chamber remains a top pick in high-level play and is even the most-picked Agent in the VALORANT Champions Tournament this year.

With Patch 5.12, Riot Games hopes to bring the offensive Sentinel back down to earth by slapping another set of nerfs to all of his abilities.

• Headhunter (Q)
  • Updated Stability Curve
    • Spread increased after 2nd bullet when spamming. This is explicitly meant to reduce low-precision body-show spam as an effective combat measure at range.
• Rendezvous (E)
  • Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while inside its range.
    • Radius increased 7.5 >>> 13m
  • Removed teleport activation height restriction.
    • You can teleport to the Anchor while on different verticality so long as you are within its range.
  • Increased weapon equip time after teleporting 0.4 >>> 0.7s.
    • Headhunter is unaffected by this change.
  • Destroying Rendezvous teleport anchor now disables it for the remainder of the round, instead of being placed on a cooldown.
  • Chamber no longer incurs an additional cooldown when recalling his Anchor after teleporting.
  • Health decreased 80 >>> 50.
• Trademark (C)
  • The trap is now range restricted
    • Trademark will disable when Chamber moves out of range, and reactivate once he is inside.
  • Can now be recalled mid-round without line of sight.
  • 30s cooldown on recall.
  • Destruction remains permanent.
  • Initial Arm Time increased 2s >>> 4s.
  • Health Increased 1 >>> 20.
• Tour de Force (X)
  • Fire rate decreased by 57.5%
• Slow
  • This applies to both Trademark and Tour de Force.
    • Reduced duration 6s >>> 4s.

Agent Abilities General Rework

The devs made big changes with regard to how players can interact with most placed utility in-game. Below is a full list of changes made to utilities such as Cypher’s Trapwire, Fade’s Prowler, Killjoy’s Nanoswarm, and more.

Gameplay Updates

Assist Tail Tuning

The devs have also updated the Assist Tail Tuning a.k.a. Assist Window where a player can still be awarded an assist for inflicting a debuff on enemies before they are finally killed.

Patch 5.12 improves the assist window for abilities that detain, inflict consuss, slow, or cause near sight. Exiting smokes also received an updated Assist Tail and the devs added a new assist tail for abilities that cause Suppression.

• Concussed, Nearsighted, Detained
  • Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s.
• Exiting Smokes
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s.
• Slow
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s.
• Suppression
  • Added new 3s assist tail.

Damage Interaction Updates

Brimstone, Phoenix, KAY/0, Killjoy, Raze, Sova, and Viper will also be receiving updates that change how their abilities interact with other utilities in the game.

Cypher’s Trapwire and Skye’s Trailblazer will only damage players.

Damage Multiplier Updates

The devs also saw it fit to update the amount of damage some abilities deal to non-player units in-game. Some of the affected Agents include Breach, Brimstone, and KAY/0 among many others.

The updated damage curve falls within the VALORANT team’s intent to make utilities more resilient to random damage sources, and that “abilities with higher health, such as Sage Barrier Orb, retain their relevant impact.”

Allied Damage Immunity

The devs are taking things further by giving a number of Agents and their abilities immunity from allied ability damage sources. Previously, abilities such as Sova’s Shock Dart can accidentally destroy his teammates’ placed utility such as Cypher’s Trapwire. This is no longer the case when Patch 5.12 drops this December.

Weapons Update

The devs are once again updating the Spectre by adding a new damage range.

• 0-15m – 26 damage
• 15m-30m – 22 damage
• 30m+ – 20 damage

The new ranges will make the Spectre a more focused low-mid-range weapon and reduce its ability to deal significant damage above 15m.

For a full list of bug fixes, read the complete VALORANT PBE Patch notes here.

New Year’s Revolution

While the changes might seem small from a numbers perspective, the changes outlined in the recently concluded VALORANT PBE will shape the VALORANT meta now and for the foreseeable future.

The increased placed utility HP should make counterplays more intentional for all players from now on and make utilities more dangerous for all the Agents affected by the changes.