While VALORANT doesn’t have real-world seasons like summer or winter, its progression system runs on a unique model with yearly “Seasons,” each featuring six “Acts.” If you’re looking for a list of all the Seasons (and Episodes) so far or when the next VALORANT Act starts, you’ve come to the right place.
Every Act comes with a significant update, treating players to new content like agents, maps, and modes, as well as balance and visual updates. To help you keep track, here are the start and end dates of all VALORANT Episodes, Seasons, and Acts so far.
In a nutshell
- New Episodes and Acts are usually the torchbearers of VALORANT’s biggest updates each year, keeping the meta fresh and exciting.
- VALORANT is currently in its Season V25, Act Six, which is this year’s final Act.
- Act Six has brought a plethora of changes so far, most notably the major agent updates in Patch 11.08 and Harbor’s rework in Patch 11.10.
- The next Act will mark the start of a new Season and will begin on Jan. 7.
Table of contents
All VALORANT Act start and end dates
To make it easier, we’ve added separate tables for Acts in the old Episode model and the current Season model.
All VALORANT Seasons and Acts (2025-present)
| Seasons and Acts | Start date | End date | Major changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season V25, Act one | Jan. 7, 2025 | March 5, 2025 | New agent: Tejo, New cosmetic type: Flex, other agent and feature changes |
| Season V25, Act two | March 5, 2025 | April 30, 2025 | New agent: Waylay |
| Season V25, Act three | April 30, 2025 | June 25, 2025 | New features: Gifting system, Ranked Gun buddy, various agent changes, and game updates |
| Season V25, Act four | June 25, 2025 | Aug. 20, 2025 | New map: Corrode, agent and map pool changes, hard rank reset, new features, and general game and UI updates |
| Season V25, Act five (ongoing) | Aug. 20, 2025 | Oct. 15, 2025 | Map pool changes, agent and feature tweaks, bug fixes; New agent: Veto and New game mode: Skirmish in surprise patch 11.07b |
| Season V25, Act six | Oct. 15, 2025 | Jan. 7, 2026 | Map pool changes, major agent changes across all roles, Rank Manipulation report feature, Harbor rework, and more |
| Season V26, Act one | Jan. 7, 2026 | TBA | TBA |
All VALORANT Episodes and Acts (2020 to 2024)
| Episodes and Acts | Start date | End date | Major changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode One: IGNITION | |||
| Episode One, Act One | June 2, 2020 | Aug. 13, 2020 | New agent: Reyna, New modes: Competitive and Spike Rush, New map: Ascent |
| Episode One, Act Two | Aug. 4, 2020 | Oct. 13, 2020 | New agent: Killjoy, New mode: Deathmatch |
| Episode One, Act Three | Oct. 13, 2020 | Jan. 12, 2021 | New agent: Skye, New map: Icebox, New mode: Snowball Fight, First Night Market |
| Episode Two: FORMATION | |||
| Episode Two, Act One | Jan. 12, 2021 | March 2, 2021 | New agent: Yoru, New mode: Escalation |
| Episode Two, Act Two | March 2, 2021 | April 27, 2021 | New agent: Astra |
| Episode Two, Act Two | April 27, 2021 | June 22, 2021 | New map: Breeze, New mode: Replication |
| Episode Three: REFLECTION | |||
| Episode Three, Act One | June 22, 2021 | Sept. 8, 2021 | New agent: KAY/O |
| Episode Three, Act Two | Sept. 8, 2021 | Nov. 2, 2021 | New map: Fracture |
| Episode Three, Act Three | Nov. 2, 2021 | Jan. 11, 2022 | New agent: Chamber |
| Episode Four: DISRUPTION | |||
| Episode Four, Act One | Jan. 11, 2022 | March 1, 2022 | New agent: Neon |
| Episode Four, Act Two | March 1, 2022 | April 27, 2022 | Major agent rework: Yoru |
| Episode Four, Act Three | April 27, 2022 | June 22, 2022 | New agent: Fade |
| Episode Five: DIMENSION | |||
| Episode Five, Act One | June 22, 2022 | Aug. 23, 2022 | New map: Pearl, Competitive map rotations |
| Episode Five, Act Two | Aug. 23, 2022 | Oct. 17, 2022 | Major agent, weapon, and map changes, Minor changes throughout |
| Episode Five, Act Three | Oct. 17, 2022 | Jan. 10, 2023 | New agent: Harbor, Huge agent changes |
| Episode Six: REVELATION | |||
| Episode Six, Act One | Jan. 10, 2023 | March 6, 2023 | New map: Lotus |
| Episode Six, Act Two | March 6, 2023 | April 25, 2023 | New agent: Gekko |
| Episode Six, Act Three | April 25, 2023 | June 26, 2023 | Map rotation and agent changes |
| Episode Seven: EVOLUTION | |||
| Episode Seven, Act One | June 27, 2023 | Aug. 29, 2023 | New agent: Deadlock, New mode: Team Deathmatch, New mode: Premier |
| Episode Seven, Act Two | Aug. 29, 2023 | Oct. 31, 2023 | New map: Sunset, various agent and map updates |
| Episode Seven, Act Three | Oct. 31, 2023 | Jan. 9, 2024 | New agent: Iso, New Team Deathmatch map: Drift |
| Episode Eight: DEFIANCE | |||
| Episode Eight, Act One | Jan. 9, 2024 | March 5, 2024 | New weapon: Outlaw, major agent and map rotation updates |
| Episode Eight, Act Two | March 5, 2024 | April 30, 2024 | New agent: Clove |
| Episode Eight, Act Three | April 30, 2024 | June 25, 2024 | New map: Abyss |
| Episode Nine: COLLISION | |||
| Episode Nine, Act One | June 25, 2024 | Aug. 28, 2024 | VALORANT console release, agent, mode, and map updates |
| Episode Nine, Act Two | Aug. 28, 2024 | Oct. 23, 2024 | New agent: Vyse, Competitive mode releases on console |
| Episode Nine, Act Three | Oct. 23, 2024 | Jan. 7, 2025 | New Team Deathmatch map: Glitch, various agent and feature updates |
How Seasons and Acts work in VALORANT
Starting in 2025, VALORANT transitioned to a new seasonal format, featuring a year-long Season that comprises six Acts, each lasting two months. Previously, “Episodes” ran for six months with three two-month Acts. Everything is essentially the same with the new Season system, but players can now enjoy a seamless yearly transition instead of a major “Episode” switch every six months.
New Acts typically introduce a set of significant changes, which may include new content or modifications to existing features. The biggest changes of a Season, however, drop every three Acts (previously marked by new Episodes). This design gives players enough time to enjoy the additions without overloading them with too much new content at once, keeping the meta fresh and fun.
When is the next VALORANT Act?
According to the in-game timer under the Act Rank tab (Career page), Act Six of VALORANT Season V25 ends on Jan. 7 (CT). The next Act, which marks the first Act of the new Season V26, should start on Jan. 7. For APAC and EMEA regions, however, Act six will go live during the early hours of Jan. 8. The dates may shift if Riot runs into an unexpected hiccup, but the chances of that happening are quite low.
On the day the new Act’s scheduled to commence, the game servers will be taken down for maintenance, which may run for a couple of hours. The Act will officially go live after Riot finishes preparing the backend for the update. If you didn’t get the option to download the patch before maintenance, you should see a pending update in the Riot Client app once it ends. Download it and launch VALORANT to start experiencing the new Act. You may turn on automatic updates from the Riot Client settings if you don’t want to keep track of these patches manually.
Based on old release times, it’s possible to predict when the update for VALORANT Season V25, Act six, will go live, according to your region. Mark the following times:
- North America, LATAM, Brazil: Jan. 7 between 8am and 1pm CT
- Korea, Asia-Pacific: Jan. 8 between 6am and 8am KST
- EMEA: Jan. 8 between 2am and 5am UTC
These timings aren’t confirmed and are subject to change based on the update’s size or if Riot changes its plans.
FAQs
When will the next VALORANT Act and Season start?
The next VALORANT Act, Act One, will begin on Jan. 7. The new season, Season V26, will start on the same day and continue for a year.
Can I preload VALORANT updates?
There’s no official way to preload VALORANT updates, even the big ones marked by new Acts or Seasons. That said, in some regions, Riot has been releasing updates before server maintenance for the past few Acts. This wasn’t always the case: Previously, updates went live only after Riot finished its mandatory pre-patch server maintenance.
Can I play VALORANT during server maintenance?
No, you won’t be able to launch VALORANT while server maintenance is underway. If you try to launch the game at that time, you’ll likely encounter a connection error.
What should I do if I encounter issues while downloading the patch?
You may occasionally encounter errors when installing a new VALORANT patch. Don’t worry; these are usually internal issues that Riot fixes promptly. That said, you can try a few general workarounds, like checking your internet speed and quality, disconnecting from VPN, and restarting the client or your device. A common error that players run into is “the update being stuck at 0.1KB/s.” If you’re facing this issue too, check out our error guide to fix it.
Published: Nov 12, 2025 10:18 am