New VALORANT Game Mode Swiftplay goes live in Patch 5.12

VALORANT Patch 5.12 goes live with a new game mode: Swiftplay! It also brings in a lot of Agent changes, especially to wide range ultimates.

VALORANT Patch 5.12 Notes

New Game Mode: Swiftplay

Swiftplay is the game mode many have been requesting for almost as long as the game has been up. It's a more condensed version of Unrated, while following similar rules.

Making it a shortened version of Unrated makes sure that it doesn't intersect with Spike Rush in other ways apart from having shorter play time. There is no news whether this will be a Rotating Game Mode or permanently available once it leaves beta status, but we could only assume that it will be the latter due to how many players in the VALORANT community have been waiting for something like Swiftplay to be implemented. However, only time will tell.

Swiftplay will follow this ruleset:

Similar to the 5v5 Unrated mode but a shorter game time.
- Five rounds to win
- Four rounds per half
- Spike mode victory conditions
  - Single Spike carrier
Credits granted at the start of each round per half
- 800
- 2400
  - Not including 600c bonus for winning Pistol round
- 4250
- 4250
Weapon and Credit carries over
600 credit bonus for winning Pistol round
Standard Kill bonus (+200c)
Spike Plant bonus (+300c)
2 Ult points granted at the start of each half
Sudden death overtime
Approx. match time is 15 minutes

Swiftplay will be in Beta for the entirety of the patch, meaning you can play it from December 6 through January 10, 2023. Here is an outline of Swiftplay.

Agent Updates

This includes all of the nerfs we talked about before! All of the Ultimates that have “large, site-wide footprints” have had their point costs increased. Some of the abilities are also having their prices adjusted. Most AoE abilities that deal damage over time (most mollies) will now damage enemy utility, the HP of these utilities are being adjusted accordingly.

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

Game System Updates

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.

Additionally, damaging abilities will now damage enemy utility to improve consistency and predictability of the abilities all across the game. The only exceptions to this rule are Skye's Trailblazer and Cypher's Trapwire, which will only deal damage to players and not utility.

Assist Tail Tuning

Concuss, Nearsight, Detained
- Assist tail increased 2s >>> 3s
Exiting Smokes
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
Slow
- Assist tail increased 1s >>> 2s
Suppression
- NEW: Added 3s assist tail

Damage Interaction Updates

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 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
- 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

Damage multipliers are also getting some tuning with the utility damage being added to them. Their non-player damage output is being changed to 50% of base damage so it won't always one-shot enemy utility.

Some abilities are now also immune from being damaged by ALLIED util.

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

Weapon Changes

The intention behind this change was to stop the Spectre from crowding other options on partial buys.

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.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where Phoenix would not be decayed by Viper for a short period after dying during Run It Back while decayed.
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 Boombot would explode on contact with Yoru’s Gatecrash beacons.