Valorant 8.01 Update: Patch notes and everything we know about

After a few days in the PBE, update 8.01 of Valorant is ready to be released into the live version of the game. Even though this update comes after the start of Episode 8 Act 1, it features a couple of tweaks for several agents.

Now that the full patch notes are available, we have gathered all the important info so you can keep track of all the changes and know what to expect before you start playing again.

Release date

The Valorant 8.01 patch is set to go live on Tuesday, January 23, exactly two weeks after the launch of Episode 8 Act 1.  Before its release, servers will go down for maintenance as developers make the necessary preparations.

The downtime period should begin around 6:00 PT for North America, LATAM, and Brazil servers. Maintenance usually lasts close to 4 hours, which means the update should be available at 10:00 PT. 

European users might have to wait a little bit longer because their servers will go down at 4:00 GMT on Wednesday, January 24. This means that the new patch will be available at 8:00 GMT on that same day.

Patch notes

As revealed on the official website, here are the full patch notes of update 8.01 for Valorant:

Map Updates

Breeze

• A Hall reopened

Agent Updates

Skye

• Guiding Light (E)
  • Guiding Light no longer regenerates charges during a round.
  • Guiding Light now automatically activates the flash at the end of its lifetime.
• Seekers (X)
  • When a Seeker gets close to its target, the target player will now get a yellow directional warning indicator.

Iso

• Double Trap (E)
  • Shootable orb duration increased 2 >>> 3 seconds 
  • Initial buff and shield duration increased 15 >>> 20
  • Shield width reduced 120 >>> 100
• Contingency (C)
  • Cost reduced 250 >>> 200

Raze

• Blast Pack (Q)
  • Audio for Raze traveling through the air with Blast Pack is now louder when she is traveling towards you

Gameplay System Updates

Projectile Jump Throw Normalization

We have implemented a feature to make jump throw lineup behavior more consistently reproducible. If you press the throw projectile input within 100 ms of jump start, the projectile will consistently have the same amount of velocity imparted from the thrower and as a result land consistently in the same location.

Most existing jump throw lineups should still behave as they have in the past while being more consistent in output. In some cases, some minor adjustments may need to be made.

HRTF

• HRTF will now be enabled if ticked and using Stereo speaker configuration.

Performance Updates

• Improved boot and match load times by optimizing file IO performance.

Player Behavior Updates

• Added additional details to our behavioral messaging system in order to improve clarity and visibility into our Terms of Service and our Penalties and Bans FAQ.

Bug Fixes

Agents

• Gekko
  • Fixed a bug where occasionally Thrash's (X) explosion was blocked from affecting enemies due to corners of geometry.
• Iso
  • After eliminating practice bots in the Range, Iso’s energy orbs will now spawn. They will still not spawn in Shooting Tests.
• Reyna
  • After eliminating practice bots in the Range, Reyna’s Soul Orbs will now spawn. They will still not spawn in Shooting Tests.

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed an issue when transitioning from inspect to scope using the Outlaw.
• Fixed bullet tracers with Chamber’s Tour De Force (X) and the Operator when penetrating through corners.
• Fixed a minimap visual issue where when you first load into a match, it showed a similar VFX to Omen’s From The Shadows (X).
• Fixed an issue where the Spike’s white circle indicator on the minimap did not appear when Spike was dropped on the edge of someone’s minimap.

Maps

• Breeze
  • Fixed a bug where the A Hall Door was starting in the open position.
• Lotus
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on top of the crumbled pillar on C Site.
• Icebox
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on the container in B Green.
• Split
  • Fixed a bug where you could stand on a vent in B Garage.

Modes

• Team Deathmatch
  • Fixed a bug where, if the Outlaw was picked up from a weapon spawner, it had no reserve ammunition.

Premier

• Fixed a bug that was causing Premier Standings to not load your zone/division the first time you click into it.
• Fixed a bug that was causing teams to not appear on the Standings tab right after their Season Match.

Make sure to bookmark the site so you don't miss any news about Valorant or any other of your favorite shooters. Similarly, follow us through our social media channels to stay on top of the news of every game and their esports scene.