As 2023 draws to a close and players prepare for the final ranked climb before the reset, Riot Games has released patch 7.12, the final update for Valorant Episode 7 Act 3. While this patch is relatively smaller in scope, it introduces significant buffs to Gekko's Dizzy ability and nerfs to Skye's Trailblazer.
Alongside the introduction of the new Thai-inspired Team Deathmatch map, Drift, fan-favourite initiators Gekko and Skye are in for adjustments to key components of their kits.
Without further delay, let's delve into the three most exciting aspects of Valorant's patch 7.12!
Major buffs to Gekko’s reclaim and Dizzy
The much-adored Hispanic-American agent, Gekko, is set to receive some love in patch 7.12. One of Gekko’s unique strengths is being able to reclaim and redeploy his creatures. This recent buff to his kit aims to make reclaiming faster, which encourages players to rescue them even in tricky situations and provides more windows of opportunity to redeploy them later in rounds.
In addition, Riot aims to increase the reliability of Dizzy (E) to increase Gekko’s confidence when using the ability and to provide more incentive for players to engage with its reclaim.
- Reclaim for Dizzy (E), Wingman (Q), and Thrash (X)
- Reduce reclaim channel time from 2s >>> 1s
- 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 0.5s >>> 0.35s
- Missile speed increased from 7000 to 10000
Significant nerfs to Skye’s Trailblazer
The changes implemented in patch 7.12 aim to encourage Skye players to exercise greater deliberation when using Trailblazer (Q). By locking the camera on Trailblazer during a leap, players must carefully consider the trade-off between gaining extra distance with the leap and fully clearing multiple angles without it
On top of that, Trailblazer will no longer concuss enemies if destroyed mid-leap.
Additionally, Trailblazer's concuss explosion now affect allies and enemies. Making the concussion universal in terms of how it affects allies and enemies brings it in line with other abilities like Gekko’s Thrash. This requires greater coordination and intentionality for Skye and her team to effectively utilise Trailblazer.
- 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.
Introducing the new TDM map Drift
Inspired by Thailand's vibrant floating markets and set against the backdrop of the iconic Pixel building, Drift emerges as Valorant's latest addition to the Team Deathmatch (TDM) map roster.
At first glance, Drift's layout appears similar to Piazza, District, and Kasbah, featuring the characteristic three lanes. However, according to Lead Map Designer Joey Simas, the design team wanted to experiment with something different: In terms of gameplay, the focus was crafting a long-range space that players would enjoy fighting over. While there are lots of aim duels to be had there’s also a rope overhead that players can jump up to and quickly swap lanes.
As such, unlike Piazza, District, and Kasbah, Drift’s side lanes are isolated, which allows players to take more predictable fights. The overhead zipline also offers another layer of tactical gunplay.
Those were the three things that we're most excited about in the Valorant patch 7.12 update! You can find the full patch notes here.