VALORANT 5.12 PBE Patch Notes: Massive Agent Nerfs & Buffs, Gameplay System Updates, & More

Riot Games has already teased us with all the changes they have in stock for the upcoming VALORANT patch 5.12.

VALORANT Public Environment or more commonly known as VALORANT PBE, is a game-testing platform where a few selected players can test new content on upcoming patches that are in development by Riot Games.

In VALORANT PBE patch notes 5.12, Riot Games decided to test many changes to agents and the gameplay systems. Unlike previous small-scale updates that featured subtle changes, Riot developers decided that it is finally time to completely shake up the current agent meta with future patch 5.12.

From Chamber to Brimstone, a lot of agents received several nerfs and buffs that might completely change how we navigate through the agent selection menu during intense ranked games or professional tournaments.

Read More: VALORANT New Map Rotation Changes 2023: Split Returning, Breeze and Bind Removed & More

Aside from all the agent-related changes, Riot also focused a lot on gameplay-related systems to make the whole experience better for players. Also, some weapons, like the Spectre, received subtle changes.

It is really obvious that the next VALORANT 5.12 patch is going to be a major one from Riot Games. Hopefully, the servers can handle all the players when this update drops in a couple of weeks.

VALORANT 5.12 PBE Patch Notes

AGENT UPDATES

We’ve increased the point costs of the Agent Ultimates that have large, site-wide footprints. We’ve also made a tuning pass on Agent ability economy.

Damage-over-time area abilities (like Brimstone’s Incendiary and Viper’s Snakebite) now damage enemy utility (read more in the Gameplay Systems Updates), so we’ve increased the health of 1hp destructibles so that they aren’t instantly vaporized—but can still be destroyed by one-shot in most situations.

Breach

• Rolling Thunder (X)
  • Ultimate Points increased 7 >>> 8

Chamber

• Headhunter (Q)
  • Updated Stability Curve
    • Spread increased after 2nd bullet, when spamming. This is explicitly meant to reduce low-precision body-shot spam as an effective combat measure at range.
• Rendezvous (E)
  • Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while inside its range
    • Radius increased 7.5m >>> 13m
  • Removed teleport activation height restriction
    • You can teleport to the Anchor while on different verticality so long as you are within its radius.
  • Increased weapon equip time after teleporting 0.4s >>> 0.7s
    • Headhunter is unaffected by this change.
  • Destroying Rendezvous teleport anchor now disables it for the remainder of the round, instead of being placed on a cooldown.
  • Chamber no longer incurs an additional cooldown when recalling his Anchor after teleporting.
  • Health decreased 80 >>> 50
• Trademark (C)
  • The trap is now range restricted
    • Trademark will disable when Chamber moves out of range, and reactivate once he is inside.
  • Can now be recalled mid-round without line of sight
  • 30s cooldown on recall
  • Destruction remains permanent
  • Initial Arm Time increased 2s >>> 4s
  • Health Increased 1 >>> 20
• Tour De Force (X)
  • Fire rate decreased by 57.5%
• Slow
  • This applies to both Trademark and Tour De Force
    • Reduced duration 6s >>> 4s

Cypher

• Trapwire (C)
  • Health increased 1 >>> 20

Fade

• Prowler (C)
  • Health decreased 100 >>> 60

Harbor

• High Tide (E)
  • Duration increased 12s >>> 15s
• Cascade (C)
  • Duration increased 5s >>> 7s

KAY/0

• ZERO/POINT (E)
  • Health increased 1 >>> 20
• NULL/cmd (C)
  • Ultimate points increased 7 >>> 8

Killjoy

• Lockdown (X)
  • Health increased 150 >>> 200
• Nanoswarm (C)
  • Health increased 1 >>> 20

Omen

• Paranoia (Q)
  • Cost decreased 300 >>> 250

Phoenix

• Blaze (C)
  • Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

Raze

• Boom Bot (C)
  • Health decreased 100 >>> 60
• Blast Pack (Q)
  • Health increased 1 >>> 20

Sage

• Barrier Orb (C)
  • Fortify delay increased 3.0s >>> 3.3s
• Healing Orb (E)
  • Self heal total amount decreased 60HP >>> 30HP
  • Ally heal total amount increased 60HP>>> 100HP

Sova

• Recon Bolt (E)
  • Health increased 1 >>> 20

Skye

• Trailblazer (Q)
  • Cost increased 250 >>> 300
• Regrowth (C)
  • Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

Viper

• Viper’s Pit (X)
  • Smoke integrity regen time 5.0 >>> 25.0
  • Max time out of smoke decreased 15.0 >>> 8.0
  • Ultimate points required 7 >>> 8

Yoru

• Gatecrash (E)
  • Health decreased 100 >>> 60
  • Cost decreased 200 >>> 150

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

Assist Tail Tuning

Assist tails are the “grace period” duration after a debuff has expired where a player will still be awarded an assist for debuffing the killed target.

• Concuss, Nearsight, Detained
  • Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s
• Exiting Smokes
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
• Slow
  • Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
• Suppression
  • Added new 3s assist tail

Damage Interaction Updates

• Abilities that output damage will now universally damage enemy objects that can be damaged. Exceptions are made for Skye Trailblazer & Cypher Trapwire that only deal damage to players.
  • We want to ensure that abilities are interacting in a consistent manner across the board. We want you to spend time thinking about how to approach utility in-game, rather than wondering if you can in the first place.

Brimstone

• Incendiary now damages:
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • KAY/0 Knife
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
  • Fade Prowler
• Orbital Strike now damages:
  • Chamber Rendezvous

Phoenix

• Hothands bow damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/0 Knife
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
• Blaze now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy Lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/0 Knife
  • Yoru Fakeout
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous

KAY/0

• FRAG/MENT: KAY/0 now has a voiceover that tells his allies the number of enemies suppressed when the knife hits.
• ZERO/POINT now damages:
  • Fade Prowler

Killjoy

• Nanoswarm now damages:
  • Cypher Trapwire
  • Killjoy Nanoswarm
  • Killjoy Alarmbot
  • Killjoy lockdown
  • Raze Blast Pack
  • Reyna Leer
  • Sage Barrier Orb
  • Sova Recon Bolt
  • Chamber Trademark
  • Chamber Rendezvous
  • Fade Prowler
  • KAY/0 Knife

Raze

• Blast Pack
  • Now damages:
    • Fade Prowler
• Paint Shells
  • Now damages:
    • Fade Prowler

Sova

• Shock Bolt
  • Now damages:
    • Fade Prowler
• Hunters Fury
  • Now damages:
    • Raze Satchel
    • Reyna Leer
    • Fade Prowler
    • Chamber Rendezvous

Viper

• Snakebite
  • Now damages:
    • Cypher Trapwire
    • Killjoy Nanoswarm
    • Killjoy Alarmbot
    • Killjoy lockdown
    • Raze Blast Pack
    • Reyna Leer
    • Sage Barrier Orb
    • Skye Seekers
    • Sova Recon Bolt
    • Chamber Trademark
    • Chamber Rendezvous
    • Fade Prowler
    • KAY/0 Knife

Damage Multiplier Updates

With damage-over-time area abilities now universally damaging utility, we took a pass on damage multipliers. These area damage abilities cover a wide space and deal large amounts of damage over their duration. We’ve reduced their non-player output to 50% of base damage to prevent instant destruction of enemy utility and to ensure abilities with higher health, such as Sage Barrier Orb, retain their relevant impact.

Breach

• Aftershock now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

Brimstone

• Incendiary now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

KAY/0

• Fragment now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

Killjoy

• Nanoswarm now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Phoenix

• Hot Hands now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Raze

• Blast Pack now deals 1200% >>> 250% damage to non-players
• Paint Shells now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-players
• Boom Bot now deals 100% >>> 250% damage to non-players

Viper

• Snake Bite now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Allied Ability Damage Immunity

The following abilities are now immune to allied damage.

Chamber

• Rendezvous
• Trademark

Cypher

• Spycam

Fade

• Prowler
• Haunt

KAY/0

• ZERO/POINT

Killjoy

• Alarmbot
• Lockdown

Raze

• Blastpack
• Boom Bot

Skye

• Seekers
• Trailblazer

Sova

• Owl Drone
• Recon Bolt

Yoru

• Gatecrash
• Fakeout

WEAPONS UPDATES

Spectre

• Added a third damage range to the Spectre and updated distances. New distances and body shot damage are:
  • 0-15m, 26 damage.
  • 15m-30m, 22 damage.
  • 30m+, 20 damage.
• For reference, the old ranges and damages were:
  • 0-20m, 26 damage.
  • 20m+, 22 damage.

BUGS

• Fixed an issue where Phoenix would not be decayed by Viper for a short period after dying during Run It Back while decayed. (Thanks for the report Iyerfire)
• Fixed an issue where Cypher wasn’t able to place Trapwires on the glass panels by the yellow crate on Icebox.
• Fixed a bug where enemy Spycams or Turrets could trigger Cypher’s Trapwires.
• Fixed a bug where enemy knives could not damage Chamber’s Rendezvous teleport anchor.
• Fixed a bug where Boom Bot would explode on contact with Yoru’s Gatecrash beacons.