Valorant Patch Notes 5.0: New Map, New Rank & More

Episode 5 Act 1 is set to release on June 16th at 19:00 CET alongside Patch 5.0. Valorant Patch 5.0 introduces us to some wild new things, including a new map and a new competitive rank. There's also the side of bug fixes for you to enjoy with the best Phantom skins, so let's check out Valorant Patch Notes 5.0!

Patch 5.0 New Valorant Map: Pearl

The first and most exciting thing we have to check out is the inclusion of the new Valorant map Pearl! Located in an underwater setting in Portugal, Pearl will have 3 lanes: 1 middle section and 2 long-range angles:

• NEW MAP: Pearl goes live!
• Pearl-only queue: This queue is a standard, Unrated mode that will give players a chance to practice the new map before they see it in Competitive play.
• Pearl-only queue will be available for 2 weeks, then after that Pearl will enter Competitive.

Patch 5.0 New Valorant Competitive Rank: Ascendant

The next thing Riot Games gave us with Patch 5.0 is a new competitive rank: Ascendant! Here's everything you need to know about Ascendant in Patch Notes 5.0:

• Added an additional rank above Diamond, below Immortal, called “Ascendant.”

• Moved the rank MMR targets that determine rank down, due to the addition of the new Ascendant rank, for all ranks below Ascendant. Moved the ranked target for Immortal 1/2/3 and Radiant up.
• These are the cut-offs that say “You should be X MMR to reach this rank”. MMR targets determine your RR gains and help push your rank to match your MMR.

Players that were below the rank Ascendant will move up. Also, players that are Immortal and higher will have a tougher time climbing ranks with their best melee skins because of Riot Games' standard to hold higher ranks more accountable for their losses. And the rank reset in the new Act won't be as bad as the previous one, though you'll be climbing ranks a bit harder too. So you can expect the next rank reset to be harsher to balance things out for Ascendant.

• Grouping restrictions for Ascendant are 3 ranks above or below the Ascendant ranked player
• The highest placement allowed has increased to Ascendant 1 (previously Diamond 1)
• Five stacking 25% RR penalty now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3)
• Solo/Duo/5-stack restriction now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3)
• Due to a naming clash with the new rank, we’ve renamed Sage’s tier 8 Agent Contract unlock—the new Sage title is “Dauntless”

This is everything you have to know about the new Valorant competitive rank Ascendant. Whatever rank you are, the addition of this rank will affect you and your Vandal or Phantom for the next 2 Acts until everything's balanced out.

Patch 5.0: Split Removed from Valorant Map Pool

The map Split will also be removed for some time from Valorant. Some players say it has to do with pushing the new map, though that's simply not the case. It probably has to do something with previous bug fixes:

• We are temporarily removing Split from the map pool in Unrated and Competitive queues.
• There are reasons! You can read more about our decision in our map pool update article.

We saw Split's removal previously, but it seems like the bugs and glitches weren't quite fixed for the map. Speaking of bugs, let's check out all fixed bugs for Patch 5.0.

Patch Notes 5.0 Bug Fixes

Agents Bug Fixes

Sova, Fade, Jett, and Chamber bugs were fixed for Patch 5.0. Specifically, Sova and Fade's detecting abilities didn't work properly. You can check out all agent bug fixes for Patch 5.0 here:

• Fixed a bug where Agents revealed by Sova’s Recon Bolt or Fade’s Haunt would sometimes briefly appear in an incorrect location on the minimap
• Fixed a bug where Jett could equip a weapon during Tailwind
• Fixed a bug where the scope visual effect would sometimes disappear when aiming with Chamber’s Tour De Force

Map Bug Fixes

There weren't many Valorant maps bugs in this patch, with the exclusion of Split for unknown reasons as of the moment. The only affected map for bug fixing in Patch 5.0 is Haven:

• Fixed a bug on Haven that was preventing players from using their spray on a wall in A Garden

Overall Game Bug Fixes

Last but not least from the Patch Notes 5.0 we have general game fixes. They mostly have to do with some specific animations like with Cypher. Here are the general game fixes for Patch 5.0:

• Fixed a bug where using an Ultimate point orb or defusing the Spike at maximum range could cause channeling and progress bar animations to flicker
• Fixed a bug where the use channeling progression bar does not update if the player disconnects and reconnects during the match
• Fixed a bug where some weapon equips could play the wrong equip speed animation, which could visually misrepresent when you were able to fire. Some situations impacted by this bug were:
• Cypher exiting Spycam;
• Capturing Ultimate point Orbs;
• Canceling and completing Spike plant.

That's it for all the Patch Notes 5.0 in Valorant. Riot Games pushes for the best gaming experience, and so should we. So visit our Instagram account and tell us your best moments in Valorant!