After a three-week gap, VALORANT is finally set to receive a new update with Patch 7.12, and it promises some exciting new features and meta-stirring agent changes, alongside inevitable bug fixes.
Slated to go live on Dec. 5, Patch 7.12 will be 2023’s (and Episode Seven’s) final VALORANT update before the Riot Games team heads onto its yearly holiday break. If you’re wondering how significant it’s going to be, besides a new Team Deathmatch map, the update buffs Gekko, brings a much-needed balancing nerf to Skye, introduces Party Invite Codes, and more. You decide.
Here’s everything included in VALORANT Patch 7.12.
What’s included in VALORANT’s Patch 7.12?
Drift, VALORANT’s fourth Team Deathmatch map
Inspired by Thailand’s beautiful and happening floating markets, Drift features the standard three-lane layout but with twists. While it promises predictable fights in its isolated lanes, its mid-section makes way for more dynamic engagements, thanks to the zipline that weaves the lanes together.
Also, there’s a beach resort, several shops, and eateries to behold while you’re there.
Gekko buffs that’s going to sting
Gekko’s Dizzy is getting super fast with Patch 7.12, thanks to the buff speeding up the creature’s splash projectile. To top it off, you’ll be able to reclaim Gekko’s orbs one second faster than before, making the action a bit less vulnerable. These are very strong updates for the agent, considering that it’ll let him use his abilities more freely and find and offer more value with Dizzy as well. Wasn’t it already difficult to dodge that splash?
Here are all the Gekko changes included in Patch 7.12, summarized:
Reclaim for Dizzy (E), Wingman (Q), and Thrash (X)
- Reduce reclaim channel time from two seconds >>> one second
Dizzy (E)
- Once Dizzy is ready to shoot and sees a target, they will shoot faster, and the projectile will travel faster.
- Pre-fire targeting delay decreased from 0.5 seconds >>> 0.35 seconds
- Missile speed increased from 7,000 >>> 10,000.
Skye nerfs that will finally let other initiators shine
Skye has been dominating VALORANT’s initiator meta for a very long time, so much so that a significant nerf to her abilities, especially her Trailblazer (her very good dog), had become inevitable. She had received a couple of changes in previous updates, but none of them affected her flexibility which allowed players to pick her on any map without consequences.
Patch 7.12 targets her Trailblazer specifically. Going forward, Skye will be making tougher choices between getting the extra distance with the dog’s leap or fully clearing multiple angles without the leap—now that the Trailblazer’s camera movement is disabled during the leap. Furthermore, enemies can now destroy the dog mid-air to avoid the concussive blast, which wasn’t possible before.
Here are all the Skye changes included in Patch 7.12, summarized:
Trailblazer (Q)
- Camera movement is disabled during the leap.
- When the Trailblazer is destroyed during the leap, it no longer causes a concuss explosion.
- Trailblazer plays the destruction voice line when destroyed during the leap.
- Trailblazer explosion now concusses allies as well as enemies.
Raw Input Buffer is finally out of beta
First introduced in VALORANT Patch 3.07 as a setting that can be toggled to reduce mouse input delay, Raw Input Buffer is finally becoming an official feature in the game. Patch 7.12 takes Raw Input Buffer out of beta testing and sets its value to On by default—previously, its value was Off by default.
For those of you wondering, while you might feel slight improvements in performance with Raw Input Buffer enabled regardless of the mouse you use, its advantage is only profound with gaming mice that support a polling rate of 8,000 KHz or above.
Party Invite Codes are here
Starting Patch 7.12, party leaders can generate invite codes that other players can use to join the same party. This eliminates the need for party leaders to add players to their friends list to be able to invite them to their parties.
All bug fixes included in VALORANT’s Patch 7.12
Patch 7.12 brings crucial fixes to bugs affecting certain agents, player behavior features, and the Premier mode. Here’s a list:
Agent bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where kills would not be awarded to the player while controlling an ability. This bug affected Sova getting a kill with Shock Dart (Q) while controlling Owl Drone (C), Gekko’s Mosh (C) kills while controlling Thrash (X), and Cypher’s Trapwire (C) kills while controlling Spycam (E).
- When KAY/O is downed during his NULL – CMD (X), the red portrait will now show for everyone in the game, including enemies and teammates.
Player Behavior
- Fixed an issue where in rare cases, someone would spawn in the next round after being detected AFK, preventing the pistol round bonus for their teammates.
Premier
- Fixed an issue during overtime voting in a Premier match where the “Waiting for Opponents” message appeared behind the voting team.
You can take a look at the full patch notes for VALORANT’s Patch 7.12 here.
