VALORANT Patch 9.05 notes – All buffs, nerfs, and changes

The first mid-season patch of VALORANT’s Episode Nine, Act Two is here, bringing a bunch of huge agent, ability, and weapon changes, as well as some much-needed performance and player behavior updates to the tac shooter. 

Besides bringing the usual list of bug fixes, Patch 9.05 buffs Astra and Chamber, restores the low-cost LMG Ares to its former glory, improves your recoil control experience while stimmed, adds stricter features to deal with disruptive player behavior, and more. 

Now that we’ve your attention, here are the full VALORANT 9.05 patch notes you’ve been looking for. 

VALORANT Patch 9.05 notes: Biggest changes across platforms

Astra gets her star back… finally

In 2022, Patch 4.04 brutally nerfed Astra for the notoriously overpowered agent she had become, taking away one of her crucial stars and leaving her with high-ability cooldowns. Needless to say, it made her an incredibly situational controller in the meta, and she fell down the popularity ladder soon after. 

Thanks to the latest patch, Astra has her highly missed fifth star back, so you can offer your team support from the skies without worrying about running out on charges. Acknowledging her struggle against other controllers in the game, Riot thinks this change should give her “more freedom to use her other pieces of utility without sacrificing her ability to smoke throughout the round.”

Chamber gets a Rendezvous buff

If you are among the several ex-Chamber mains, Patch 9.05 will surely leave a wide smile on your face. 

Similar to Astra, Chamber’s history of changes have been nothing less than disheartening. Aiming to curb his broken design, Riot took away his double teleport anchors while nerfing his traps, Headhunter, and Tour De Force sniper to the ground over multiple patches. Naturally, after the nerfs set in, it didn’t take long for his overwhelming popularity to sink in VALORANT. 

While his kit’s one-sidedness needed to be checked, the nerfs did way more damage to the French weapon designer’s reputation than was possibly intended. Thankfully, Patch 9.05 should fix the damage significantly, with Chamber’s Rendezvous getting a much-needed buff in its radius.

Spray all you want while stimmed

If you weren’t happy with how recoil patterns switched upon receiving a combat stim buff in VALORANT, Patch 9.05 fixes your dilemma for good. 

Starting now, buffs that increase your weapon’s rate of fire exhibit a recoil control pattern consistent with the default rate of fire when un-stimmed. So, you no longer have to change how you control your spray when abilities like Reyna’s Empress and Brimstone’s Stim Beacon are active. This change doesn’t affect the applied spread reduction. 

The Ares is back… from dead

Switching things up in the weaponry department, Patch 9.05 buffs the Ares, bringing back its former state of power. You can now get the same 40 percent crouch benefit as the Odin with the Ares, as well as two-headshot an enemy in the 30-meter range.

According to Riot, these changes should “make headshot damage more consistent with competitors” and “encourage its capability at holding down a location against multiple enemies.”

Omen gets more voice lines

Patch 9.05 updates Omen’s voice lines and adds new interaction lines with Viper, Clove, Iso, and Vyse to reflect the lore. 

PC-exclusive changes in VALORANT Patch 9.05

Performance updates

Patch 9.05 optimizes threading logic and ordering of files on disk to improve load times in the game, but expect an increase in patch download times due to this.

Player behavior updates

The Riot Voice Evaluation (RVE) experience has been updated in certain regions where voice recording is enabled to monitor player behavior. The new module ensures you understand the behavioral expectations and technical implications associated with RVE and voice chat.

Premier mode updates

A minor yet welcome quality-of-life change now adds a button to let you view the maps available in Playoffs. You can see the Playoff map pool by clicking Playoffs Event in the schedule on the Premier hub and then clicking the “Show Map Pool” button in the center of the hub.

Console-exclusive changes in VALORANT Patch 9.05

Client updates

You can now view Agent gear in the objectives panel on the progression screen if there are open slots after you complete Basic Training, Battlepass, and Event Pass objectives. 

Gameplay system updates

You can now use a Map Cursor Speed slider to speed up or slow down cursor movement on the megamap and maps for agent abilities.

Maps updates

With Patch 9.05, console players welcome the Breeze map to Unrated and Swiftplay queues.

All bug fixes in VALORANT Patch 9.05

All platforms

Client

• Fixed an issue where some letters with special characters in Polish, Russian, and Japanese were not returning the correct result when searching using the Search bar on the Spray screen collection page.

Maps

• Abyss: Fixed a spot where you could land on a ledge that is out of bounds on the map.
• Lotus: Minor art fixes around the map.
• Icebox: Fixed a gap where you could shoot through the door frame in A Pipes from Mid Boiler.
• Sunset: Fixed a gap in the retractable roof above B Boba. Fixed the box at Mid Top to display the correct bullet penetration decals.
• The Range: Removed a placeholder object in the vista.

Console

General

• Fixed an issue where the Base Aim Curve setting was being applied to cursor movement on the megamap and maps for Agent abilities.

Agents

• Ability Targeting: Fixed an issue where Deadlock’s Sonic Sensor, Cypher’s Spycam, and Vyse’s Arc Rose could not be placed on some map walls during the BUY PHASE.
• Vyse
  • Fixed an issue where KAY/O’S ZERO/POINT was destroyed by Shear.
  • Fixed an issue where Shear’s collision would linger after being placed on sloped surfaces. 
  • Fixed an issue where Shear could extend over gaps improperly.
  • Fixed instances where Shear’s destruction voice line was not properly playing.
  • Fixed instances of Arc Rose voice line being cut off prematurely.
  • Fixed an issue where the combat report would show the incorrect abilities for Vyse.
  • [PS5] Fixed rare client crash instances related to Steel Garden.
• Omen
  • Fixed an issue where From the Shadows (ult) was not cancellable with certain bindings. Fixed an issue where Dark Cover would move slower than intended.
• KAY/O
  • Fixed an issue where KAY/O’s Ability HUD was ordered incorrectly.