VALORANT Episode 9 Act 2: Release date, new agent, bundle, and everything else we know

VALORANT players won’t have long to adapt to the new changes at the conclusion of Act One, with Episode Nine, Act Two going live almost immediately following the prior act’s conclusion. As always, the new Act will introduce several changes to shake up the meta.

After adding Abyss to the competitive map pool and bringing lots of quality-of-life changes for the agent select screen and training range, Episode Nine Act One is a few days away from ending, with the in-game timer showing Aug. 27 as its final day.

With the last agent being Clove, added in March, the Riot developers are also dropping hints in-game about the upcoming character, Agent 26. Here’s all the info you need to know if you’re wondering when and what content is coming your way in VALORANT Episode Nine Act Two.

VALORANT Episode Nine Act Two release date and time

VALORANT Episode Nine Act Two goes live on Aug. 27 in North America and the early hours of Aug. 28 for the rest of the world. Riot will perform server maintenance for a couple of hours shortly after Act One ends. Considering this is the second Act in Episode Nine, your ranks get a soft reset instead of a hard reset, which happens at the start of every new Episode.

Here’s the countdown to VALORANT Episode Nine Act Two’s exact date and time:

Agent 26 in VALORANT Episode Nine, Act Two: What we know

It’s been five months since Clove’s addition, and the developers have been dropping clues about Agent 26 in VALORANT since the start of Episode Nine in June. The latest update confirms that the new agent will be a female character, with one leaker claiming the agent’s role as Initiator.

Riot will showcase Agent 26 at the beginning of the VALORANT Champions 2024 finals weekend on Aug. 23. The developers are yet to announce the release date for the next agent; however, we can expect the agent to be available during Episode Nine, Act Two.

New bundle in VALORANT Episode Nine, Act Two

Riot revealed the upcoming bundle Wonderstallion on Aug. 13, expected to be available in the store when Episode Nine, Act Two goes live. While the devs have yet to confirm the bundle’s price, leaks suggest the bundle will be up for grabs for 3,400 VP, the usual price for Select category bundles.

Apart from these additions, we don’t expect changes to the map pool in VALORANT Episode Nine, Act Two. This is because the lead producer for the VALORANT maps team Al Robles confirmed in a State of the Maps post that Icebox and Lotus would be removed to bring Split and Pearl back into the active map pool with Patch 9.08.

Sunset will also get a design update with Patch 9.08, likely the first patch of Episode Nine, Act Three. With these significant changes already in the developers’ roadmap, we can expect the current maps to remain untouched in the upcoming update.