VALORANT Patch 12.09: what changed

Jumping with High Gear active no longer provides any speed bonus while Neon is airborne. Instead, Neon's air speed while sprinting will match melee speed.

Fuel will only regenerate with a kill when Neon's ultimate is active

• Fuel will still regenerate passively

Improved VFX to more clearly communicate the direction and origin of her slide

We're testing MMR changes for modes other than Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay. These changes should result in better, more consistent matches. We'll use what we learn to improve Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay in the future.

We've improved our Riot Text Evaluation system to better detect and apply penalties for text comms abuse in the following languages: Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese.

All shotguns are now less accurate when moving

• Run, walk, crouch-walk, and jump accuracy has been standardized across all shotguns

Crouching now provides a 15% accuracy multiplier for shotguns, matching rifles

Bucky: crouch accuracy modifier increased from 10 >>> 15%

Judge/Shorty: crouch accuracy modifier decreased from 25 >>> 15%

Judge/Shorty: crouch accuracy modifier decreased from 25 >>> 15%

Shotguns are now much less accurate while using ropes

• Standing still: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.075 >>> 0.75)
• Walking: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.09 >>> 1.5)
• Running: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.1 >>> 3.0)

Bucky pellet damage in the 0-8m range decreased

• Head 40 >>> 34
• Body 20 >>> 17
• Legs 17 >>> 14

Minimum spread increased from 2.6 >>> 3.0

Walking spread increased from 0.075 >>> 1

Running spread increased from .1 >>> 2

Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5

Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4

Minimum spread increased from 2.25 >>> 2.5

• Note: this will only apply to PC for now- this spread change will apply to console in Patch 12.11

Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1

Running spread increased from 0.75 >>> 2

Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5

Jump spread increased from 2.25 >>> 4

Fire rate decreased from 3.33 >>> 3.0

Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1

Running spread increased from 0.1 >>> 2

Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5

Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4

Added support for AMD Anti-Lag 2, which reduces input latency in certain GPU-bound scenarios. In order to use AMD Anti-Lag 2, you need compatible hardware, with updated drivers from March 9th, 2026 or later.

Updated tooltip description of Harmonize.

Updated tooltip description of Curveball

Fixed a bug where ADS-ing while firing Chamber's Headhunter created an animation that covers too much of the screen

Fixed a visual bug where Jett's Tailwind was not playing the intended first-person animations when left-handed setting is enabled

Fixed a bug where using Jett's Drift caused performance drops

Fixed bug where the preview cone for his ultimate would not show unless the ability was fully equipped

Fixed an issue where a full health Sage could use Healing Orb on herself while affected by Decay, because she is not actually losing any health. This would consume the ability needlessly, since her health returns to normal once Decay wears off.

Fixed issue where the Guided Salvo's equip idle sound kept playing long after cast.

Fixed a bug where Sova's Recon Bolt and Chamber's Trademark were not affected by nearsightedness in Viper's Pit

Fixed a bug where possessable drones (Sova's Owl Drone, Skye's Trailblazer, Tejo's Stealth Drone) would trigger the arming audio of Vyse's wall

Fixed an exploit with her Fast Lane where using specific NVIDIA graphics settings impacted competitive integrity. Neon has returned to the game.

Fixed issue where dailies shown while hovering over the icon did not match the dailies in the End of Game screen.