Riot has confirmed that the VALORANT 2025 season, the first official “season” now that the developers are pivoting away from episodes, will be primarily focused on improvement. There will definitely be new content across the six acts planned for 2025, but the priority will be getting the the game into “its best shape ever,” according to the most recent dev diary.
What does this mean for VALORANT in 2025? It means balancing some of the most powerful and weak agents, improving the ranked experience, keeping the map rotation fresh, and saying hello to two new mystery agents.
VALORANT 2025 Agent Changes
Agents continue to be the primary focus for VALORANT in 2025, as the unique cast of characters is what sets the game apart from other tactical shooters. After several balancing changes in 2024, more are set for 2025.
Iso, the recipient of a massive buff to his Double Tap shield in Patch 8.11, will receive some “power budget redistribution.” The agent team for VALORANT was hesitant to commit to changes to Neon though. They will revisit her “if they need to” after her drastic but necessary Patch 9.11 nerfs.
The team did commit to improving two of the least popular and least powerful agents: Deadlock and Harbor. With Deadlock, the team says they are aiming to make Sound Sensors more valuable, and to give her more aggressive potential. With Harbor, they want to make him “more satisfying” to play as.
Ranked and Map Pool Changes
With six acts planned for the VALORANT 2025 season, Riot has committed to changing the active map pool each act. At the start of each act, Riot will rotate in two maps and swap two out, but have said the number “might change” throughout the year.
As for the VALORANT’s competitive mode, which is now the official entry point into the esports ecosystem, two crucial changes should make the climb easier. Players will now be granted a “rank shield” that protects them from dropping between skill rank divisions right away. This shield gives you one more opportunity to win before falling from Gold I to Silver III, for example. Finally, rank rating rollbacks (or refunds) will be added in 2025. If If a player is banned for cheating, you get refunded the RR you lost playing against them.
For more VALORANT coverage, check out the full ability kit for the newest initiator agent, Tejo.
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