Valorant patch 4. 08 notes: Jett dash and Sova darts nerfed, Fade added
Jett has long been one of Valorant‘s best agents, but the game’s latest patch is taking a bit of wind out of her sails. Valorant patch 4. 08 nerfs the dualist Agent, buffs Neon, and adds the new Agent Fade to the fray. This patch was just in time to release Wednesday’s update for Act 2.
The most prominent update in the patch is Jett’s Tailwind change. The previous version let her instantly dash from one spot to another, but the new version will take some premeditation. After the patch, Jett has to activate Tailwind, a process that includes a short delay, then use the ability within a 12-second window. Jett players will no longer be able to react immediately and must prepare their dashes prior to using the ability.
The patch also introduced Agent Fade who makes use of shadows to spot enemies. Sova also got a few nerfs with a shorter window to use his Owl Drone ability and less damage to his Shock Darts. Neon received a few buffs as well, smoothing her slide, and taking out damage from her walls. This allowed her to let her teammates safely walk through them.
For a look at all the changes in Valorant‘s 4. 08 update you can check out the full patch notes.
Valorant Patch 4. 08 notes
Agent updates
Fade goes live
Jett
The team loves what Jett has continually brought to the fight, but as the game has evolved, some of her impacts have pushed beyond what we think is healthy for the tactical promise of VALORANT. Our update to Tailwind aims to address these concerns while maintaining the aggressive site takes and awe inspiring highlight plays Jett should bring to the roster. Check out our full article on the Jett update here for a complete breakdown of our approach and the philosophies that drove this update. We expect this change to have ripple effects on the Agents around Jett and the ecosystem overall, so we’ll keep a close eye not only on Jett, but any cascading impacts on the entire roster.
Tailwind
- Upon pressing E, Jett consumes her Tailwind charge and after a . 75 second delay, activates a 12-second window where she’s able to dash on next key press
- Jett’s Tailwind charge can still be regained with 2 kills
- To keep parity with the changes to Jett dash, the functionality for Dash during Knife rounds in Escalation will be adjusted
Neon
We’ve been keeping an eye on Neon and wanted to make some quality of life changes to help remove some friction when playing as, or with, Neon.
General
- Battery energy received upon killing an enemy increased 25%>>>100%
High Gear
We’ve noticed Neon has faced some friction when using movement to lead into combat, specifically failed inputs due to the velocity restriction. We hope these changes help with making her slide a lot more natural when engaging in fights.
- Slide cannot be cast during equip delay
- Velocity restriction removed
- Neon can now slide sideways and forward, and only requires that she is moving
- Energy drain increased 6. 7/s>>>10/s
Fast Lane
This change is intended to push Fast Lane into a more attractive option for Neon, or for an ally by preventing the disruptive portion of doing incidental damage and by adding a bit of safety moving forward.
Sova
At high-level ranked or pro play, Sova’s been a staple for quite some time. Although his influence in coordinated situations is not as strong as Jett’s, it has been almost unbearable. The Owl Drone virtually guarantees a lot of space, so we wanted to address that and provide additional play options for our opponents. A reduced Drone duration means Sova has to incur more risk in his positioning to clear deeper angles, and the adjustments to ping reveal (below) give opponents more opportunity to mix up their repositioning without feeling forced to completely exit the area. Shock Dart has also taken a hit as we continue to sharpen damage outputs on non-ultimate abilities, so that they kill less frequently
Owl Drone
- Duration reduced 10s >>> 7s
- Health reduced 125 >>> 100
- Dart Reveal
- Number of reveal pings reduced 3 >>> 2
- Initial delay before first ping reveals increased 1. 2s >>> 1. 6s*
- *Delay between the first and second ping remains 1. 2s
- Quality of Life
- Changed crosshair color to green to better stand out against the white HUD
- Removed delay on [Target Hit] confirmation text
- [Target Hit] confirmation text now remains on the player HUD when transitioning out of Owl Drone.
- [Target Hit] confirmation text now remains on screen for 2s, previously 1s
- Adjusted audio on drone dart hits for both Sova, and the player hit, to make confirmations more noticeable
- Fixed a bug with Owl Drone, where the Dart Cooldown UI element would not properly update after tagging an opponent.
Shock Dart
- Max Damage decreased 90 >>> 75
- Radial damage has been scaled in accordance with new max damage.
Agent ability ammo
- Jett’s Bladestorm, Raze’s Showstopper, and Sova’s Hunter’s Fury will now show how much ammo they have left when equipped
Competitive Updates
5-Stack queues
- Reduced Rank Rating gain/loss penalty for different 5-stack configurations
- If EVERYONE in your party is Iron-Diamond 2:
- No RR penalty if within normal grouping
- 25% RR penalty for all players if any player falls outside of normal grouping
- If ANYONE in your party is Diamond 3-Immortal 3 (but no one in your party is Radiant)
- 25% RR penalty for all players
- If ANYONE in your party is Radiant
- 75% RR penalty for all players
- Tuned matchmaking to reduce wait time for 5-stacks
- You can read the basics on how Rank Rating penalties work for 5-stacks in our previous patch notes.
Bug fixes
Agents
- Fixed a bug where Jett could find herself unable to use abilities or weapons when using Tailwind immediately after depleting her Bladestorm daggers
- Fixed a bug where Yoru could teleport out of bounds when using Gatecrash
- Fixed various exploits allowing Yoru to use weapons before fully decloaking at the end of his ultimate
Performance
- Fixed a bug in the Shooting Range where bots would respawn unarmed