Cover-Credits:
Valorant’s long-awaited Yoru rework has finally arrived in patch 4.04. After months of developer updates, players will finally get to try out a completely revamped version of Yoru. Valorant Patch 4.04 did not change the agent's core abilities but Riot has completely shifted how the agent functions.
In addition to the Yoru rework, Brimstone, Astra, Omen, and Viper have also received a number of balance changes to tune them for the current meta. Weapons have not been tweaked in Valorant’s update 4.04 but we did receive a large number of changes for the Icebox map.
Valorant Update 4.04 Patch Notes: Agent Changes
Omen
Riot Games undid a number of nerfs that were made to Dark Cover in the past.
Dark Cover
Cooldown decreased 40s >>> 30s
Cost increased 100 >>> 150
Projectile Speed increased 2800 >>> 6400
Shrouded Step
Cost decreased 150 >>> 100
Pre teleport delay decreased 1s >>> 0.7s
Paranoia
Added forward spawn offset, so players adjacent to Omen are not hit
Brimstone
Brimstone’s smokes got a few buffs which puts him on par with other Controllers in the game.
Sky Smoke
Deploy time decreased 2 >>> 1 second
Deploy radius increased 5000 >>> 5500
Smoke height increased to match other Controllers
Stim Beacon
Now also applies a 15% speed boost in addition to RapidFire.
Astra
Astra has been dominating the competitive meta for months and Riot Games has made some adjustments to her kit, which should bring down her overall power level.
Stars
Max Stars reduced 5 >>> 4
Cooldown on retrieving a Star increased 14 >>> 25
Astra can now pick up placed Stars during the Buy Phase to refund their charge immediately.
Max distance of Star Placement increased 10000 >>> 30000 to allow her to place Stars across the furthest corners of maps.
Gravity Well
Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
Gravity Well Size Decreased 525 >>> 475
Gravity Well no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Gravity Well.
Nova Pulse
Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
Nova Pulse no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Nova Pulse.
Nebula
Cooldown Increased 14 >>> 25
Nebula cooldowns are now sequential instead of simultaneous
Nebula size increased 410 >>> 475
While in Astral form, pings are no longer blocked by level geometry that Astra cannot see. Astra’s targeting ring in Astral form is reduced to one ring that reflects the now unified size of all her utility. The agent’s targeting ring no longer randomly disappears when aiming across some map locations. Riot also increased the speed of the overlay that covers Astra’s screen when transitioning in and out of Astral form.
Viper
Viper’s recent buffs made her a must-pick agent in some situations and Riot Games is dialling back on some of the recent changes to her kit.
Fuel
Fuel drain increased 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
Viper’s fuel bar now turns red when she does not have enough fuel to activate her abilities.
Toxic Screen
Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8
Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
Toxic Screen now has yellow lights that indicate when it is on cooldown
Removed delay on Toxic Screen disabling when Viper is suppressed.
Added a unique VO (Voice Over) line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.
Poison Cloud
Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8.
Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
Poison Orb now has a yellow light to indicate when it is on cooldown.
Removed delay on Poison Orb disabling when Viper is suppressed.
Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.
Snakebite
Duration decreased 6.5 >>> 5.5
Yoru
The long-awaited Yoru rework is here and only time will tell if Riot was successful in making the highly underwhelming agent finally worthy of a pick in the competitive meta.
Fakeout
Charges reduced from 2 >>> 1
Decoy HP: 150
Decoy is now a full running version of Yoru and can only be sent running forward
Right -click to place a stationary marker for the decoy
Reactivate similarly to footsteps to create the decoy that runs forward
Upon taking damage from an enemy gun, the decoy winds up, turns towards the enemy that shot it, and explodes after a short delay.
Enemies within the cone are flashed
Gatecrash
Charges reduced from 2 >>> 1
Decoy HP: 150
Decoy is now a full running version of Yoru and can only be sent running forward
Right-click to place a stationary marker for the decoy
Reactivate similarly to footsteps to create the decoy that runs forward
Upon taking damage from an enemy gun, the decoy winds up, turns towards the enemy that shot it, and explodes after a short delay.
Enemies within the cone are flashed
Dimensional Drift
Duration increased 8 >>> 10 seconds
Yoru is not revealed to enemies
Unequip delay time increased 0.6 >>> 1.2 seconds
Yoru is now able to cast all utility out of his ultimate
Yoru’s footsteps can now be heard within 15m of Yoru’s location
Cast delay added upon casting Dimensional Drift, preventing the invulnerability frame on cast
Valorant Update 4.04 Patch Notes: Map Changes
Ascent and Icebox received some tweaks in the new update. Riot Games completely reworked Site B on Icebox to make engagements a lot more manageable. Players can check out the visual preview of all the changes in the video below.
Valorant Update 4.04 Patch Notes: Competitive Updates
A new “deterministic map system” has been implemented in Latin American servers. The feature will roll out to other regions after some fine tuning if it is successful.
Deterministic map selection follows 3 rules when picking a map, after players have been selected to play a match.
The system will look at all maps players have played over the last 5 maps for that mode.
The system will remove any maps that a player has played twice in the past 5 maps.
The system will pick the least played map.
If all maps have been removed due to the “Twice Played” rule, those maps will be added back to the pool and the least played map will be picked.
The Valorant update 4.04 also includes some bug fixes and AFK players in Escalation mode are finally being accurately addressed by the game.
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