Still seeing smurfs in VALORANT? It looks like Riot delayed Patch 7.05’s competitive update

Riot Games isn’t the kind that usually backtracks on promises, but apparently, it recently has, with one crucial feature of VALORANT’s Patch 7.05 missing in the game. The competitive updates that were promised with the Sept. 6 patch haven’t yet been implemented.

Originally, the 7.05 update was supposed to bring improvements to ranked by blocking Ascendant players from queuing with players below Platinum One, and it was to target the ever-growing smurfing and botting problem in VALORANT. 

I’m sure most of you who read the original patch notes took Riot at its word for implementing the change, and that smurfs and bots have learned their lesson—at least until they find a loophole.

Turns out, Riot has quietly removed the said competitive update from the 7.05 patch notes. Now, it’s hoping to curb the smurfing and botting problems with the upcoming Patch 7.06, and I only realized it yesterday after queuing up for a five-stacked Competitive game that had an Ascendant and a Gold player. So, don’t be surprised if you run into an all-bot lobby or an Immortal boosting their Gold friends.

While you won’t see the competitive changes listed in the official 7.05 patch notes, look into any outlet’s version of the patch notes, and you’ll see it. We also came across leaks claiming the same. It’s clear that Riot has delayed the feature last minute, but it hasn’t announced why.  

While the said ranked restrictions were tested in VALORANT’s PBE 7.05, interestingly, the same tweaks were also run in the recently concluded PBE 7.06. Besides this, the latest PBE only included a minor change to Combat Reports.

It looks like Patch 7.06 will primarily focus on the terms of competitive parties to reduce VALORANT’s blaring smurf and bot problem. Even after adding the updates, Riot said it’ll be closely monitoring botting abuse and ban any account suspected of such behavior.  

The devs might also be looking to add more screening processes to better secure VALORANT’s competitive experience, which has been plagued with throwers, bots, cheaters, and whatnot for the longest time now. Of course, if true, the delay would definitely be more worth it.