Valorant’s latest patch is secretly a huge Viper nerf

Valorant’s first patch in nearly three weeks has arrived, and the biggest change is a bug fix that’s technically a huge nerf to Viper’s Ultimate. The patch also includes more customizable crosshairs, and the ability to shoot through more parts of maps than before.

At the beginning of Valorant’s latest season, Riot released a patch that allowed Viper to place her Viper’s Pit Ultimate ability wherever her crosshair was pointing, rather than at her feet, like it was previously. This turned out to be a massive buff to the Agent, since she could place the ability in hard-to-reach places and throw it out while safe behind cover. The only problem was, Riot didn’t intend for this to happen.

Now in the latest patch, Riot has returned the Ultimate to casting where Viper’s standing, making her options a lot more limited. Since that initial change at the beginning of the season, Viper has become one of the strongest Agents in the game, which is probably why Riot decided to fix the bug and bring her win rate back in line.

This Valorant patch also includes several new options for crosshairs that will let players create custom options, like changing the center dot for sniper rifles or using regular crosshairs for shotguns instead of circles. On top of that, there will now be multiple crosshair profiles, in case you want to set a few and quickly change between. Finally, this patch also updates Radianite boxes to be penetrable from any angle, rather than only in specific places.

For a full look at Valorant patch 3.03, you can check out the official patch notes.

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Valorant patch 3.03 notes

Viper

• Fixed a bug where Viper’s Pit started forming at the cursor placement point instead of around Viper

OK so this is technically a bug fix, but it alters the way Viper’s Pit is deployed. We accidentally shipped a bug in 3.01 that caused her ultimate to spawn at her placement reticle instead of around her. We know a lot of Viper mains thought this was an intentional buff and might not be happy about this revert—we’re very sorry to cause pain for you all.

We think that Viper’s Pit can be a very potent tool for holding an area. Given that impact, it’s important that her team pays the cost of securing ground before she can place her ult, as opposed to being able to cast it forward into areas without giving up her position.

Gameplay technology updates

Crosshair Settings

• Turn on “Use Advanced Options” to additionally customize your ADS crosshair and sniper scope center dot!
• Added the ability to save and switch between multiple crosshair profiles

We hear y’all on wanting the ability to share your crosshair settings, and we agree! We don’t have an exact time frame on when that will be coming, but it is definitely on our radar.

• Added a setting to set a minimum firing error across all weapons
• Added a setting to use the primary crosshair with shotguns

Map updates

• You can now shoot through Radianite crates,with appropriate weapons, from all angles
• Previously, you could shoot through some crates from limited directions, but not others.
• Updated ziplines to allow the ‘Use’ key so you can detach at any point

Social updates

• Added a system that enables us to automatically revert any AFK penalties applied to you in the event of unexpected server instability

Competitive updates

• Autobalance button added for custom games with > 6 players based on players’ MMR

Network updates

• Improved the accuracy and responsiveness for the ping calculation
• Ping stats now show both the average and the max ping values to help you better understand your networking conditions
• The average value is calculated from multiple samples collected over a small interval of time—the max value is the largest value within that sample.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a big where Killjoy’s turret was not affected by concuss
• Fixed Astra’s Gravity Well from pulling people while they were attached to ascenders
• Fixed a bug where Astra could activate Dissipate while attached to ascenders
• Fixed Boombot, Owl Drone, and Fakeout from destroying Sage’s Barrier Orb if placed in a way that overlapped a segment of the barrier wall