Valorant patch 5.12 notes: New Swiftplay mode, agent changes and more

Titan Khan

❘ Released: 2022-12-06T14:00:00

❘ updated: 2022-12-06T12:14:37

Valorant’s last patch of the year is here with update 5.12 and there are plenty of changes as well as a brand new game mode for you to try. Read on to find out all about Valorant’s final update for 2022.

Episode 5 Act 3 in Valorant was mainly about balancing the agents with various buffs and nerfs. To keep up with the trend, update 5.12 introduced changes for almost all agents in the game. In addition, Riot introduced a brand new game mode that will be available until the end of this episode.

Given that Riot has confirmed that update 5.12 is the final patch of 2022 as well as Episode 5, it remains to be seen how the changes will impact in-game meta ahead of Episode 6. However, let’s dive in and take a look at all the changes that are coming with the new update.

Valorant 5.12 patch notes

With 15 agents affected by update 5.12, it’s safe to say that this is one of the biggest sub-patches in Valorant history. On top of that, the Specter has also received a notable nerf to balance its in-game performance.

Aside from that, Riot has also introduced some new damage interaction changes that will now cause some abilities to behave differently towards other abilities than before. Additionally, Riot is releasing a new beta game mode featuring much faster matches with a best-of-nine round structure.

With that in mind, here is the full list of changes in Valorant update 5.12 from the official patch notes.

Agent Updates

fracture

• Rolling Thunder (X)
  • Ultimate points increased by 7 >>> 8

chamber

• Headhunter (Q)
  • Updated stability curve
    • Increased spread after 2nd bullet when spamming. This is specifically to reduce low-precision body-shot spam as an effective ranged combat measure.
• Meeting point (E)
  • Chamber now places a single anchor that can be teleported to while in range
    • Radius increased by 7.5m >>> 13m
  • Removed height restriction for teleport activation
    • You can teleport to the anchor while in a different verticality as long as you are within its radius.
  • Increased weapon equip time after teleporting by 0.4s >>> 0.7s
    • Headhunter is not affected by this change
  • Destroying the Rendezvous Teleport Anchor now disables it for the rest of the turn instead of being placed on a cooldown.
  • Chamber no longer suffers an additional cooldown when recalling his anchor after teleporting.
  • Health reduced by 80 >>> 50
• Trademark (C)
  • The trap is now range limited
    • Trademark deactivates when Chamber moves out of range and reactivates once inside.
  • Can now be recalled mid-round without line of sight
  • The destruction is permanent
  • Initial arming time increased by 2s >>> 4s
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20
• Tour de Force (X)
  • Rate of fire reduced by 57.5%
• Slow
  • This applies to both trademark and tour de force
    • Reduced duration 6s >>> 4s

cipher

• safety wire (C)
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20

fading

• Drifter (C)
  • Health decreased by 100 >>> 60

Harbor

• flood (E)
  • Duration increased by 12s >>> 15s
• Cascade (C)
  • Duration increased by 5s >>> 7s

KAY/O

• ZERO POINTS)
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20
• NULL/Command (C)
  • Ultimate points increased by 7 >>> 8

Spoilsport

• Lockdown (X)
  • Health increased by 150 >>> 200
• Nano Swarm (C)
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20

omen

• Paranoia (Q)
  • Cost reduced by 300 >>> 250

Phoenix

• fire (C)
  • Cost reduced by 200 >>> 150

Ribbons

• Boom Bot (C)
  • Health decreased by 100 >>> 60
• Blast Pack (Q)
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20

sage

• Barrier Orb (C)
  • Reinforcement delay increased by 3.0s >>> 3.3s
• Healing Orb (E)
  • Total amount of self-healing decreased by 60 HP >>> 30 HP
  • Allies’ total healing increased by 60 HP >>> 100 HP

Sowa

• Recon Bolt (E)
  • Health increased by 1 >>> 20

heaven

• Trailblazer (Q)
  • Cost increased by 250 >>> 300
• Regrowth (C)
  • Cost reduced by 200 >>> 150

viper

• Viper Pit (X)
  • Smoke integrity regeneration time 5.0 >>> 25.0
  • Maximum time without smoke decreased by 15.0 >>> 8.0
  • Ultimate points required 7 >>> 8

You

• Gate Crash (E)
  • Health decreased by 100 >>> 60
  • Cost reduced by 200 >>> 150

Gameplay system updates

Support rear tuning

• Concussion, myopia, arrested
  • Auxiliary tail increased by 2s >>> 3s
• leave smoke
  • Auxiliary tail increased by 1s >>> 2s
• Slow
  • Auxiliary tail increased by 1s >>> 2s
• oppression

Damage interaction updates

• Abilities that deal damage now universally damage enemy objects that can be damaged. Exceptions are made for Skye Trailblazer & Cypher Trapwire which only deal damage to players.

sulfur

• arson now damage:
• orbital strike now damage:

Phoenix

• hot hands Bow Damage:
• Blaze now deals damage:

KAY/O

• FRAGMENT: KAY/O now has a voiceover that tells his allies the number of enemies suppressed when the knife hits.
• ZERO POINTS now damage:

Spoilsport

Ribbons

Sowa

viper

Damage multiplier updates

fracture

• Aftershock now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

sulfur

• Arson now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

KAY/O

• Fragment now deals 250% >>> 100% damage to non-players

Spoilsport

• Nanoswarm now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Phoenix

• Hot Hands now deals 100% >>> 50% damage to non-players

Ribbons

• 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

Immunity to friendly ability damage

chamber

cipher

fading

KAY/O

Spoilsport

Ribbons

heaven

Sowa

You

Weapon Updates

spook

• Added a third damage range to the Specter and updated the distances. New ranges and body shot damage are:
• For reference, the old ranges and damage were:
  • 0-20m, 26 damage.
  • 20m+, 22 damage.

modes updates

Swiftplay Beta

Swiftplay Beta is playable from December 6 to January 10, 2023.

• Similar to the standard 5v5 Unrated mode but compressed:
  • First to 5 rounds, 4-round half
  • Victory Conditions in Spike Mode
  • Set the credit amounts granted at the start of the round
    • 2400*
      • Not including the 600c bonus for winning the pistol round
  • Transferring weapons and credits is supported
  • +600 credit bonus for winning the pistol round
  • Standard Kill Bonuses (+200c) and Spiny Plant Bonuses (+300c)
  • At the beginning of each half, 2 ultimate points are awarded
  • The playing time is about 15 minutes

Troubleshooting

• Fixed an issue where Phoenix would not be decayed by Viper for a short time after dying while decaying during Run It Back. (Thanks for the report Iyerfire)
• Fixed an issue where Cypher couldn’t place trapwires on the glass panes next to the yellow box on Icebox.
• Fixed a bug where enemy spycams or turrets could trigger Cypher’s trapwires.
• Fixed a bug where enemy knives couldn’t damage Chambers Rendezvous teleport anchors.
• Fixed a bug where Boombot would explode on contact with Yoru’s Gatecrash beacons.

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So there you have it, that’s all that’s included in the Valorant update 5.12 patch notes. For more information on the game, check out some of our other Valorant content:

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