VALORANT Unreal Engine 5 update release date and time

VALORANT is finally making the leap to Unreal Engine 5—one of the most advanced game engines available today—to deliver a smoother, more optimized experience. If you’re wondering what the transition is about or when the update is rolling out, here’s everything you need to know.

After running VALORANT on Unreal Engine 4 since its 2020 launch, Riot Games is now shifting to Unreal Engine 5 to futureproof the game’s development. But if you’re expecting major visual overhauls or more lifelike agent and weapon animations, don’t get your hopes up: Patch 11.02 isn’t that kind of update. And if you’re worried about a performance drop, you can relax: Riot has made it clear the transition won’t compromise gameplay performance. In fact, it’s going to make things faster.

Now that we’ve got you excited, here are the release date and time details for the VALORANT Unreal Engine 5 patch or Patch 11.02.

When is the Unreal Engine 5 update (Patch 11.02) for VALORANT?

The Unreal Engine 5 VALORANT update or version 11.02 is scheduled for release on July 29 and is expected to go live at the usual patch times. Here are the likely timings of the patch drop based on your region:

• North America, LATAM, Brazil: Aug. 29 between 8am to 1pm CT
• Korea, Asia-Pacific: Aug. 30 between 6am to 8am KST
• Europe: Aug. 30 between 2am to 5am UTC

Patch 11.02 will be substantially larger than regular VALORANT updates, so the server maintenance time before the patch goes live is expected to be longer, too. If you already have VALORANT downloaded on your PC, make sure to keep aside 30 GB of free disk storage for the Unreal Engine 5 update to avoid installation issues. If you’re short of space, you can uninstall and reinstall the game after the patch goes live.

While this storage requirement may sound scary, don’t worry—VALORANT’s disk space needs will significantly reduce (about half as it did before) after you install the update. Additionally, low-end machines are expected to see an improvement in performance after the transition, which isn’t what we usually see in games powered by Unreal Engine 5. This is likely because Riot has decided not to add any visual upgrades to VALORANT with this transition. 

We may see graphical enhancements utilizing UE5’s features in future updates, but from the developer’s words, performance and optimization will always be the first priority.