Here are the notes and updates for VALORANT Patch 1.12

Riot is going easy on the updates in this week’s VALORANT patch following the problematic release of Patch 1.11. Several game-breaking bugs slipped through the cracks, resulting in a full rerelease.

The developers have been forced to “reevaluate” what it takes to “raise the quality bar” for patch days going forward. And while they aren’t skipping Patch 1.12, they’re giving it a “light touch.”

Updates to the Observer and the social panel are the focus of Patch 1.12, alongside a number of bug fixes. The in-match display of Act Rank Badges will continue to be suspected while the devs figure out what’s causing the ongoing performance hitches.

Here are the full list of updates for VALORANT Patch 1.12

Competitive updates

• Act Rank Badges are disabled in-game while Riot investigates a potential issue where they may be causing performance hitches in-game. Your Act Rank Badge will still display in Competitive lobbies, map load in, and on the end-of-game screen
• The Competitive team will continue to investigate the system to work towards a holistic fix in a future patch

Game systems updates

Observer

• Observers no longer hear ping audio
• Improved sightline visibility in well-lit areas
• Added Game State Modification cheat to allow moderators to adjust various aspects of the game (player stats, money, etc.) in a tournament setting
• Rolled back fixed team colors change from 1.11
  • This was causing some confusion as people have started to associate red with attack, and green with defense
  • There were a couple of bugs causing certain UI elements to display in the wrong color
  • Riot plan to bring this feature back in the future, when it finishes adding support for custom team colors.

Social updates

• Riot has redesigned the Open/Close Party toggle to make it easier for players to understand whether they are in an open or closed party
• Observers will now appear as “in game” in the social panel
• Observers can now view and type in /all chat in custom games

Quality of life

• Added a new user interface for custom game observers during character select

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug where leaving/disconnecting from a Custom Game would result in a VAL-51 error, requiring the game to be remade in order for the player to rejoin
• Fixed a bug in the end-of-game screen after an Icebox match that displayed Haven’s map, and would incorrectly display timeline markers
• Fixed issue where players could target mid-air (dropped) weapons with some abilities
• Left-handed mode: fixed recoil animation being incorrectly mirrored (mismatching actual weapon recoil)
• Fixed overlapping Observer UI when a player is planting/defusing
• Fixed inconsistent team coloring on minimap pings
• Fixed rare issue where Observer camera transition visuals could get stuck when swapping between player views