With the launch of Valorant Patch 1.02, the game’s competitive ranked mode is now available to play. However, Patch 1.02 does include more than just that. Alongside a range of Agent updates and other tweaks, the new patch also includes several notable quality-of-life updates for the game.
Valorant Patch 1.02 – Quality-of-Life Updates
The first, and perhaps most significant, quality-of-life update which is included in Valorant Patch 1.02 is the addition of an Early Surrender option. This new feature allows players to choose to surrender out of a match early, before the match ends. To use this feature, players can vote for early surrender by typing; “/ff” “forfeit” “concede” or “surrender”. Note that every member of your team must vote ‘yes’ in order to surrender. Once a vote has been called, simply type “/yes” or “/no” to vote.
There are a few additional limitations on the early surrender function to prevent overuse and abuse. For instance, an early surrender can only be called once per half; players can’t spam the early surrender option. Additionally, you cannot call for an early surrender at all until you reach round 8. At that stage, if an early surrender is called, it will be queued to vote on for the next round. It’s also important to note that if a team surrenders early, their opponents will receive credit for winning every round necessary to get them up to the 13-round victory condition. Similarly, the surrendering team will get loss credit in the same way.
The second big quality-of-life update in Valorant Patch 1.02 is an update to the game’s tagging feature. (The feature which slows players down when they are hit by enemy gunfire.) The tagging effect’s impact on speed has been slightly reduced in this patch, from 80% to 70%. (And from 35% to 25% for wall penetration shots.) According to Respawn, this is meant to make tagging more forgiving. “If you are positioned close to cover, this should allow you to potentially escape when tagged more frequently than before. Also, the effect of being tagged should feel less jarring especially when playing with higher ping.”