VALORANT Launches With New Agent and Game Mode

VALORANT, a first-person shooter from League of Legends developers RIOT Games, is releasing in most regions today, on June 2nd. The launch version of the game features few major additions, such as the new agent and the new game mode, as well as a great number of other improvements and changes.

The newest agent in the game is called Reyna and falls into the Duellist category. Upon killing enemies, the agent can consume their soul orbs to either heal herself or become intangible and invisible if her ultimate is active. Besides that, she can also nearshight enemies. Her ultimate allows her to significantly increase firing speed, as well as equip and reload speed.

While competitive mode will not be available right at the launch, the developers included a new game mode Spike Rush to the 1.0 version. The mode features shorter games, where everyone gets the same random weapon each round and all basic abilities are free. The teams switch sides after three rounds. Besides that, there are special power-up orbs spawned in random locations on the map.

Speaking of maps, the new map Ascent is set in Italy and have an open middle area. For the first few days after the release, the map will be more common in matchmaking. Besides that, the developers have updated Split, opening up the middle section of the map to make it easier for Attackers to siege the area.

Among other changes are agents balance updates, performance improvements, multiple bug fixes and more. The official changelog can be found here.