When is Breeze Coming Back to Valorant?

Breeze was the sixth map to be added to Valorant but the map was taken out of the competitive pool at the start of the year in January with the roll out of Patch 6.0. Now, nearly, after eight months, Riot Games has announced the return of this map in Valorant. Notably, when Breeze was removed, Riot Games stated that it felt the map had some room to improve in terms of agents and team comp diversity and also acknowledged that it needed simplification of the space.

With the map returning, the publisher has clearly reworked the space on Breeze and has showcased them to the player base. Here's all we know about the return of Breeze, the changes to the space, and other details.

Breeze: Changes, Return Date & More

In 2022, Riot Games made it clear that it wants to operate with a total of seven maps since best-of-5s in tournaments could have two map bans without any repeat picks. After working with the in-house esports team, surveying players and talking to professional organizations Riot decided to keep a 7-map pool and at first, it rotated out Split. Maps team design lead Joe “Pearl Hogbash” Lansford said, "The team thinks seven is a nice sweet spot that offers both variety and mastery. You don’t have to spend all your time learning new angles, lineups, and strategies."

Since then, the competitive and unrated queues have worked with seven maps and the last time around, Riot pulled Breeze and Bind from the rotation. But Bind made a comeback to the game with Episode 6 Act III and Icebox went out. Players should note that there is a total of nine maps in the game and they are as follows:

• Ascent

• Bind

• Fracture

• Haven

• Lotus

• Pearl

• Split

• Breeze

• Icebox

Now, it is Breeze's turn to return to the game with Episode 7 Act II and Fracture and Pearl will be rotated out.

Riot Games wrote, "Your stay in paradise has been upgraded. At the start of Episode 7 Act 2, Breeze will return to the map rotation with a few changes—Fracture and Pearl will rotate out."

The island map is returning with some massive changes across the entire space.

Riot Games has made the mid section of the map to be less open, making the pillar connected to the outside wall. The newly revamped Breeze will see the pillar in mid attached with the left-side wall, allowing attackers to reach a higher elevation, thanks to the boxes the developers have added.

Likewise, on B-site, Riot Games has added steps across its side and backside to allow defenders to see more clearly. This will also provide the defenders more cover and advantage while peeking.

The hallway in mid as you climb the ropes can no longer be accessed and it is more of a window. Down below, the developers have opened up the doors in mid and have added two boxes to provide for cover. Additionally, boxes have been added to A-shop and A-cave.

The last one is a visual change to the cones in A-site. Riot Games has added shrimp and crab decals to them to make calling out easy.

Valorant Episode 7 Act II will be releasing on 29th August. Along with this new act, players can expect to see a plethora of cosmetics making their way into the game.