Valorant 2.09 patch notes: Replication goes live, Breeze tweaks, and more

VCT Masters Stage 2 is coming soon, so Riot Games made it a point not to do too much in the way of balance changes. Today’s Valorant 2.09 patch notes include some exciting new things, nonetheless. We’re being introduced to a brand new game mode called Replication, which is live for a limited time and available to play as of the 2.09 update. Aside from the new mode, there’s a much-needed Viper instant decay adjustment, a few tweaks to the latest Breeze map, and various game system improvements and bug fixes. Get a complete look at the Valorant 2.09 patch notes down below.

Valorant Replication Mode

We’ve all heard about the new Replication Mode by now, but we finally have an official breakdown of how everything works from Riot Games. Here’s what Valorant’s replication mode is all about, or more specifically, the rules to the game:

• Best-of-nine Spike mode
  • 80-second rounds
  • 45-second pistol round, with 30-second subsequent rounds
• All players on the same team play as the same Agent (e.g. 5 Sages against 5 Jetts)
  • Agent selection is decided in pre-match voting.
• Abilities, minus ultimates, are refreshed each round
  • Gain +1 ultimate points per round at the start of the round (except Overtime rounds)
• Set amount of credits each round regardless of win/loss
  • Per-round credit amounts:
    • 900
    • 2400
    • 3900
    • 6000
• Weapon and shield are reset each round
• Being flashed twice within a 4 second window grants FLASHGUARD to the player
  • FLASHGUARD: Cannot be blinded
    • Duration: 5 seconds

Replication mode is currently available for two weeks as of today, which means it ends on May 25. After that point, Riot will be sure to update players on their plans for the future of the new mode. For now, it seems like this is a test-bed to see how everything goes. Valorant and Riot is always looking to expand to new game modes and explore new opportunities to figure out what the players want to have in rotation.

Valorant 2.09 patch notes

Here are the Valorant 2.09 patch notes, as per the official Valorant post:

AGENT UPDATES

VIPER

• The instant decay inflicted when entering Viper’s smoke or crossing her wall, reduced 50 >>> 30

MAP UPDATES

BREEZE

• Blocked vision of the gaps above Mid-Wood Doors and A Metal Doors
• Smoothed player collision in various locations

GAME SYSTEM UPDATES

• Added tactical timeouts to Tournament Mode Custom Games
  • 2 tactical timeouts can be called per game, per team.
  • Tactical timeouts last 60 seconds.
  • Tactical timeouts freeze all player movements for the duration of the timeout.
  • For technical pauses, the standard Pause Match Timer option is still available.
• Improved the visual synchronization of bullet tracers and impact effects for Observers
  • This should fix most cases where it looks like a player is killed before a bullet reaches them in our esports viewing experience.
• Adjusted color of placeable utility on the minimap to match team color for Observers
• Adjusted color of names in player loadout HUD to match team color
• Spaced the End Game Phase and Pause Match Timer options in Custom Games to prevent misclicks
• Improved feel on rope ascenders in high latency situations
• Minor performance optimizations to UI in matches

BUGS

AGENTS

• Added team colors for placed Agent abilities, for observers
• Fixed issue where Astra’s Nebula was slightly offset once fully formed
• Fixed bullet impacts on Sova’s Owl Drone wings appearing in the wrong locations
• Fixed issues across multiple Agents with incorrect damage icons for abilities showing up in the killfeed
• Fixed issue where Killjoy’s Nanoswarm audio would cut off if it was destroyed right after activation
• Fixed an issue where Skye’s Seekers did not show how many enemies were affected in the combat report
• Omen can no longer drop the Spike or weapons while casting From the Shadows
• Fixed an issue where Killjoy’s Alarmbot would display flashed visual effects while invisible

GAME SYSTEMS

• Fixed an issue where weapons could be instantly reloaded after spamming orb pick ups
  •  Thanks for raising this issue here!
• Fixed an issue where sound was lowered by 5dB

WEAPONS

• Fixed 1P snow impacts that occurred rarely in gun fights

BREEZE MAP

• Fixed a number of exploits around the map
• Fixed an issue where players could sandwich themselves in between Sage’s wall and the Mechanical Doors on Breeze (or Ascent)

COMPETITIVE

• Fixed a bug that was causing a player’s leaderboard rank to not show up on their Act Rank badge
• Fixed a bug that was showing the ranked rating threshold on the leaderbaord for previous Acts
  • Only the current Act should show a ranked rating threshold bar from now on.