The Valorant offseason is coming to an end, and Riot Games is starting preparations for upcoming tournaments. The main focus of the changes, of course, will be on agents, and we will learn more about them in the next patch, 9.11, which we’ll discuss today. Before we start, note that the update information is still in the early stages without detailed insights.Today, Riot Games released a patchnote for the upcoming update, which we will tell you about below.

All Changes in the Upcoming Patch 9.11

Neon Nerf

Unexpectedly, early details about the upcoming update surfaced today. Following the November 5 release of patch 9.09 details on the official Valorant Twitter account, a Riot representative commented on the changes. Game designer @penguinVALORANT remarked on patch 9.09 adjustments, noting the lack of changes to the agent Neon, who is currently considered quite strong.

He also stated that she would definitely be nerfed in the upcoming 9.11 update, making this the first confirmed change in the patch. As a reminder, Neon is currently one of the strongest duelists, according to Tracker.gg statistics. Her pick rate stands at 4.4%, with a win rate of 50.4%.

We’re reducing the power of Neon’s High Gear and Overdrive. These changes are intended to require Neon to play more intentionally as Neon’s abilities are highly reactive and impactful and should require more strategic use than they currently do.

High Gear

We believe Neon’s slide is correctly positioned as an aggressive combat tool, but making a call around when to cast should be more important than it is currently, and that she should pay more of a cost when she slides.

Additionally, we want to sharpen the slide as a close-quarters combat tool to reward Neon for sprinting up to her opponents rather than consistently beaming opponents at long ranges.

• Slides 2 >>> 1

• Accuracy during slide: Full accuracy >>> Crouch-walking accuracy

OVERDRIVE

We want to increase counterplay for Overdrive—giving opponents a potential window to stall Neon out or disengage. The amount of average round impact with her ultimate also justifies an 8 point cost.

• Duration of ultimate: 20s >>> 10s

• Ultimate points 7 >>> 8

Buffs for Deadlock and Harbor

It has also been confirmed that this agent duo will receive buffs in the next patch. In the comments regarding Neon, a player asked if there would be adjustments for Deadlock and Harbor, to which a Riot representative replied, "Yes."

This agent duo has been a topic of discussion among players, as they haven’t received the necessary attention since their introduction and remain some of the least popular agents. Currently, Deadlock is selected in 1.5% of matches, while Harbor is chosen in only 0.5%, making him the least popular agent.

READ MORE: 2024 Initiator List: From Strongest to Weakest

Vyse

Razorvine

We want to increase Razorvine’s ability to hold space as well as clean up some unclear gameplay situations where Razorvines that land on high objects could affect opponents with poor visual feedback.

Damage per tick of moving through Razorvine: 6 >>> 10

Vertical drop spawn height: 450 >>> 300

This means Razorvine will no longer affect players as far under it when spawning high up on objects/level geometry

Now slows enemy dashes similar to Sage’s Slowing Orb and concusses.

Arc Rose

Arc Rose is getting some minor quality of life updates that should make aggressing off its initial placement easier.

Equip speed after cast: Normal >>> Fast

Other Update

Ping System

The in-game ping system was created with the simple goal of allowing players to communicate with one another without using their mic. Over the years, unintended use cases of the ping system have emerged that give players in-the-moment combat advantages that go beyond the intended use of the system.

With that in mind, we’re making two changes to the ping system.

Smokes will block your in-world pings from traveling through them and instead land on the smoke.

Pings made on your map will no longer appear in the world and only display on the minimap.

To help you differentiate these ping behaviors in game we’re introducing new ping visuals and new ping sound for pings made on the map.

We’ll introduce a cheat function for allowing map pings to show in-world during custom games to aid labbing and lineups, but this will come in a future patch.

MODES UPDATES

Team Deathmatch

The Regen Shield has been added to Team Deathmatch in Stage 1. When using the Classic in Stage 1 you will now have the Regen Shield instead of Light Armor.

Stage 1 Classic: Light Armor >>> Regen Shield

SOCIAL UPDATES

PC ONLY

Updated the color of Party chat messages from Team chat messages.

Updated the appearance of Party flags in the Social Panel.

BUG FIXES

Progression

ALL PLATFORMS

Fixed a bug that incorrectly required 100 matches played to complete the Play A Match weekly mission.

Patch release date

Patch 9.11 for Valorant will be released this evening, December 10, 2024. Initially, it will be available in the American region, and on the morning of December 11 in the European and other regions. Stay tuned to our portal to learn more about all the changes in Valorant.