The big patch is here: Valorant is switching engines. But in addition to frame rates, Chamber has also been secretly buffed.
Before the switch to Unreal Engine 5 in patch 11.02, there were mixed feelings in the community. In some places, there was a lot of fear that the update would destroy existing lineups or cause additional lag. Others, on the other hand, dreamed of new graphics and massive improvements.
The biggest patch in Valorant history
The switch to the new engine is a whopping 21 gigabytes (GB) in size, which is almost the entire game reinstalled. One immediately noticeable result: instead of the previous 58 GB, Valorant now only uses 24 GB of hard drive space.
The change is rarely noticeable in the game. Attentive players may notice the changed lighting: weapons with skins reflect slightly differently – they look a little darker and a little better in the shadows. However, Riot Games has deliberately refrained from making any further graphical changes.
What is noticeable about the update, at least for some players, is that a few isolated settings have been reset. Some users on Reddit and X report changes to crosshairs or the sudden activation of full-screen mode. However, no complaints beyond minor inconveniences have been reported so far.
Lags due to graphics drivers?
In terms of gameplay, everything remains the same: rehearsed line-ups still work and weapons feel the same as before.
According to Riot Games, the frame rate has improved slightly – some voices from the community confirm this. Others, however, complain about drops as soon as agents move across the screen. However, many players, especially those with low-end PCs, report no noticeable changes at all – the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
A possible solution for frame drops could be found in the graphics card driver. NVIDIA has responded to the Valorant update with its own driver update, which should work better with the new engine and thus fix graphics issues in Valorant.
Riot buffs Chamber – and forgets to mention it
An engine change and a handful of bug fixes – that was the content of the patch, at least according to the official patch notes. However, another change did make it into the game, and it’s not an insignificant one.
Chamber’s “Trademark” ability now remains active no matter how far away Chamber is. And that’s his most important tool for securing flanks – one of the main tasks of sentinels. The buff could even help the agent fight for a place in the meta of some maps, such as Icebox or Corrode.
