All agent changes, new shield, and more

If you’ve been hungry for a meta-stirring VALORANT update, Patch 9.10 should satisfy your appetite. From huge agent updates to weapon and ability changes, Riot Games has touched almost every aspect of the tac shooter in this patch, so buckle up for a revamped experience.

Scheduled to go live on Nov. 19, VALORANT Patch 9.10 mainly focuses on balancing agents, including Sage, Phoenix, Omen, Cypher, and more, and fine-tuning the game’s diverse arsenal. It also brings significant changes to the tactical system by tweaking the way certain abilities and features work. The star of the patch, however, is a new type of shield that regenerates itself. It’s your day, duelist mains. 

Now that you have a TLDR of what’s packed in VALORANT Patch 9.10, let’s get in-depth with the patch notes, shall we?

All VALORANT Patch 9.10 changes

A new Regen Shield to spice up the meta

Sage and Skye can’t fix your broken shield, but how about a shield that can heal itself? Patch 9.10 adds a new defensive option called the Regen Shield to the Buy Menu—and just like its name suggests, it can regenerate over time after taking damage. 

The Regen Shield absorbs incoming damage of up to 25 HP—like the Light Shields—but also features a “Regeneration Pool.” After a brief delay following damage absorption, the shield starts regenerating its health using the points in its Regeneration Pool, which offers up to 50 HP. 

The Regen Shield costs 650 credits, and you can buy it from the shop before the round starts.

Cypher gets a minor but much-needed nerf

Riot has finally added some useful counterplay to the Moroccan spy, but don’t worry—he’s still a strong sentinel. 

Cypher’s Trap Wires now have a brief windup before revealing the enemy caught, reducing the opportunity for players to shut enemies down as soon as they walk into a wire. To top it off, you now need an extra point to charge up his ultimate. Here are all the Cypher changes in VALORANT Patch 9.10, detailed:

• Trap Wire now has a 0.5 second windup before the full wallhack reveal applies and fades in.
• Trap wire now has updated minimap icon treatment to better display what the trap wire is connected to.
• Neural Theft Ult cost increased from six to seven points.

The Sage buff we’ve been waiting for

Sage has been the weakest sentinel in the meta for a long time, and Riot aims to improve that with Patch 9.10. She can now heal herself beyond the incredibly restrictive 30 HP and recharge her ultimate slightly faster. Her Slow Orbs now reduce dash speed by 50 percent. Here are all the Sage changes in VALORANT’s Patch 9.10, detailed:

• Self Heal has been increased from 30 to 50HP. Healing time reduced to around five seconds, matching ally heal time.
• Slow Orbs reduce dash speed (Jett’s Tailwind and Neon’s Slide) by 50 percent.
• Resurrection Ult cost reduced from eight to seven points.

Deadlock gets a massive ult buff

Before Patch 9.10, Deadlock’s Annihilation would kill an enemy caught inside it only after they reached the end location. But now, the captured enemy dies at the end of the timer if their teammates cannot destroy the cocoon—regardless of whether the target reaches the end location.

The visuals on Annihilation Cocoon and Barrier Mesh have also been updated to make their health states more clear.

Omen one-ways nerfed

Omen can no longer throw certain one-way smokes, with Riot striving to add more counterplay to his kit and bring the versatile Dark Cover in line with other spherical smokes in VALORANT. 

Dark Cover now falls to level geometry where players can stand, preventing Omen from placing one-way covers on small ornamental structures (like the fuse boxes in the main of Split B).

Phoenix now has a new signature ability

Hot Hands is no longer a signature ability for Phoenix, with Curve Ball taking its place. Besides being able to flash his enemies more often, he can now heal even when he isn’t in contact with his flames and throw a wall that continues through walls. Here are all the Phoenix changes in VALORANT’ Patch 9.10, detailed:

• Phoenix now applies a Heal over time to himself whenever he touches his flames, which persists even if he leaves the fire.
• Curve Ball has been changed to the signature ability slot. A free charge is granted on round start and a two-kill reset to generate an additional charge has been added.
• Hot Hands has been changed to a non – signature ability and now costs 200 credits.
• Blaze’s initial projectile goes through walls, allowing it to function similarly to Harbor’s High Tide.

Small Clove and Jett changes

Not much here, but Jett mains may have a hard time.

• Clove’s Ruse now has updated visuals for dead and alive casts. Enemies a more red smoke than allies for better understanding.
• Clove’s Not Dead Yet kill timer has been reduced to 10 seconds from 12. This change was apparently made by mistake in Patch 8.11, but Riot decided to keep it.
• Jett can no longer Drift (float) when detained or suppressed.

Essential gameplay system updates to look forward to

These changes affect the way you play VALORANT by balancing its tactical opportunities.

• Utility usage details in Combat Reports now appear after the round ends. So, if you flashed an opponent or ally as a Skye, you can only see it after the round ends and not in between. You now see an animated hourglass in its place.
• Concusses now slow enemy Jett dashes and Neon slides by 50 percent.
• Overheal and Smoke visual updates for more clarity

Massive weapon updates

Patch 9.10 updates weapon inaccuracies across all categories except SMGs to “encourage intentionality in movement when shooting.” Here are all the details:

• All Pistols (except the Shorty): Moving while crouching inaccuracy increased from .1 to .5
• Ghost
  • Walking Inaccuracy: 0.84 >>> 1.1
  • Run Inaccuracy: 2 >>> 2.3
• Classic
  • Right Click Running Inaccuracy: 1.3 >>> 1.5
  • Right Click Burst Jumping Inaccuracy: 2.1 >>> 2.25
  • Walking Inaccuracy: 0.84 >>> 1.1
  • Run Inaccuracy : 2 >>> 2.3
• Rifles
  • Walk Inaccuracy: 2 >>> 3
  • Run Inaccuracy: 5 >> 6
• Machine Guns
  • Walk Inaccuracy: 2.4 >>> 3
  • Run Inaccuracy: 6 >>> 6.5

Besides this, the Phantom has received a major damage falloff multiplier buff to make it more viable in the present map rotation against the Vandal.

• Damage fall-off changed for the Phantom changed
• Previously
  • 39 damage per bullet (0 – 15m)
  • 35 damage per bullet (15 – 30m)
  • 31 damage per bullet (30m+)
• Now:
  • 39 damage per bullet (0 – 20m)
  • 35 damage per bullet (20m+)

Additionally, the Ghost now has 13 bullets in it, down from 15, while the Frenzy has 15 bullets, up from 13.

All bug fixes in VALORANT Patch 9.10

Here are the fixes we get in this patch:

• Fixed a bug with Killjoy’s Alarm Bot where it did not play the proper reactivation ceremony and would instantly reactivate when Killjoy reentered its range.
• Fixed a bug where Clove’s Meddle was hitting through level geometry.
• Fixed an issue where ambient audio elements were not playing pre-round for Pearl, Breeze, and Sunset.
• Fixed an issue in Premier mode where games in a best of three match were all listed as finals in Premier match history. Games are now correctly listed as Game one, two, or three.
• Fixed an issue in VALORANT console where sensitivity is severely reduced when using Jett and Raze ultimate abilities until engaging Focus.

You can check out the full patch notes here.