All you need to know about VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1: Defiance

_{^{Image credit: Riot Games}}

Episode 8 Act 1 is upon us.

The 2024 season for VALORANT is officially upon us with the arrival of Episode 8 Act 1: Defiance. The latest patch just dropped on all servers worldwide with plenty of updates and additions to the game. This included a brand-new weapon to the game, the first since its launch as the Outlaw makes it way into the fray.

The agent meta also took a hit as one of the game's most-picked Sentinels gets nerfed. Even the map pool rotation was updated with Icebox making a return, albeit with a few changes. And that isn't the only map as Lotus also received some notable updates. And with every new episode, there is always the new battle pass to look forward to alongside plenty of new skins and bundles.

New Weapon: Outlaw

VALORANT's weapons list has stayed the same ever since its launch back in June 2020 and after three-and-a-half years, it has finally released its first new firearm. With the Operator being every sniper's go-to, the devs have decided to introduce the Outlaw, a high-impact double-barreled sniper rifle.

What makes the Outlaw a definite pick-up is its cost-efficient price at only 2,400 credits while the Operator is 4,700 credits. The Outlaw also does great damage when you hit your shots, which are slightly lower than the Operator but still enough to one-tap an agent or to put them at one-shot for the easy clean-up.

• Cost: 2,400 credits
• Fire mode: Semi-automatic
• Fire rate: 2.75 rounds/sec
• Magazine: 2 slugs
• Reserve: 10 (5 magazines)
• Reload speed: 2.3 sec (1 bullet), 3.8 sec (2 bullets)
• Equip speed: 1.25 sec
• Run speed: 5.4 m/sec
• Damage:
  — Head: 238
  — Body: 140
  — Leg: 119

Agent Updates

Only two agents received reworks during the patch 8.0 update alongside the Episode 8 Act 1 release with Deadlock and Killjoy being subjects. While Deadlock was released in the middle of last season, she was never really picked up in tournament matches whereas Killjoy seemed like an obvious choice. Being one of the best Sentinels in the game, it was only a matter of time before her turret got nerfed.

Deadlock

Sonic Sensor (Q)

• Sonic Sensors are now recallable in round.
• Sonic Sensor’s pickup distance increased 12m >>> 27m
• Decreased time to concuss once triggered 1.0s >>> 0.5s
• Decreased time for enemies to destroy Sonic Sensor once triggered 0.65s >>> 0.5s
• Deadlock and her allies can now hear Sonic Sensor’s audio lightly when they are in its area of effect.

Barrier Mesh (E)

• Increased the max length Barrier Mesh walls 6m >>> 10m

Killjoy

Turret (E)

• Vision radius reduced 180 degrees >>> 100 degrees
• Added a representation of the Turret’s vision cone on Killjoy’s minimap when she is placing the Turret.
• Added VFX and updated the Turret’s animations to communicate the Turret’s new vision radius.

Map Updates

Both Icebox and Lotus were hit with updates made to its surroundings and environment while the interactable doors have had its tech upgraded to smoothen the interactions with agents and its abilities.

Icebox

Icebox is back with a few changes to shake up Mid, B Green and B Orange. Our goal with these changes is to add value and impact to Mid for either team controlling it and simplify pathing toward B Site through B Orange and B Green to make fights more predictable.

Attacker Side Spawn

• Storage container has been added on the left side to block line of sight from Attacker Spawn to B Tube.

B Green

• The hanging container in B Green was creating a lot of complexity for both fights on the ground and people boosting up top. Moving the container out of the way should make combat here more manageable.

B Tube Exterior

• We felt that Mid could use more value for either team holding it. We've added a window toward the end of B Tube that overlooks Mid and can see towards A Site and Defender Spawn. It allows Attackers to assert a lot of pressure on rotators and Defenders should be able to hold more space when holding Mid from B Kitchen or Mid Boiler.

B Tube Interior

• Added two boxes stacked flush to the wall.

B Snow Pile

• There were multiple parallel paths leading from Mid to B Site. To reduce timings and create more predictable fights we've removed the B Orange route closest to B Kitchen.
• Adjusted the snowpile leading up to B Kitchen so you can now silently drop off the boxes.

Lotus

Attackers have felt fairly overwhelming to Defenders on Lotus. Because of this, we’re adding more options by adjusting neutral spaces and making some quality of life updates across the map so that Defenders can better hold sites.

A Main

• More room has been added to A Main along with a set of boxes to give Defenders some more options to fight for A Rubble control.
• The double stack of boxes outside A Stairs has been changed to non-penetrable to reduce the likelihood of being spammed.

A Link

• More room has been added near the breakable door. It was always a little awkward to fight out of the broken door, but now it should be easier to fight out from inside the connector room.

A Hut

• A Hut has been closed to help give some more readability to the plant site, making it easier to retake. A cubby has also been added to the back of A Hut for more defender options to hold the site.

B Site

• More room and boxes have been added to B Site to add some defensibility closer to the choke on site.

C Site

• The Spike plant zone and the stairs in C Bend have been adjusted to allow for more diversity of Spike plant locations in C Site.
• Boxes on the back of site have been adjusted.

C Bend

• More room and boxes have been added in C Main to also add some defensibility closer to the front of Main.
• Boxes have been added to C Bend along with some extra room to fight from.

Rotating Doors

• Rotating doors now take 10 seconds to fully complete their spin, up from 8 previously. 8 seconds was not enough time to use utility through the doors or fight, and make it through the doors on the same rotation. The extra time should allow for more fights to happen through the doors, and for almost everyone to get through the door on time.
  • Increased the time it takes for rotating doors to complete their rotation 8s >>> 10s

B Orb

• B Orb has been removed in order to bring it more in line with our other maps (with Fracture being the exception with 4).
• B Orb was very farmable by Attackers so it’s another way we are trying to address the Attacker sidedness of the map.

Modes Updates

Team Deathmatch

We felt that the Sheriff is overperforming in the Stage 2 weapon ecosystem and, as a result, other loadouts have been pushed to the side. This change aims to allow other weapons to be more viable when in an engagement against a Sheriff.

• Stage 2 — Sheriff Loadout
  • Heavy Shield >>> Light Shield

Map Rotation

• All modes (except Team Deathmatch and Custom games) will use the Competitive map rotation.
• Current rotation: Icebox, Lotus, Sunset, Breeze, Ascent, Bind, Split

Gameplay Systems Updates

Patch 8.0 of VALORANT will support third-party spatialization software for headphones. Head to the patch updates page to read more about spatial audio and how you can experience it in-game.

Spatial Audio is virtual surround sound for headphones. This software processes sound to help you differentiate sounds that are in front, behind, or even above you, while listening on headphones. For example, figuring out if those footsteps were in front of you or behind you. We are excited to announce that Patch 8.0 will include official support for 3rd party spatial audio solutions! This gives you choices beyond the HRTF option which was already available in VALORANT’s audio settings. In Patch 7.06, we made changes to the audio engine that caused issues for those of you who were already using third party spatialization software, which we did not support at the time. When 3rd party spatialization software was active in Windows settings in 7.06, sound levels went haywire and our only solution at the time was to guide those being affected to turn third party spatialization software off for the time being. We implemented a stereo-only fix in 7.07 that was compatible with Spatial Audio, but did not allow it to virtualize surround sound. In Patch 8.0, the Speaker Configuration in VALORANT’s audio settings will default to stereo, but you can enjoy all of the features that these spatial audio solutions provide if you choose to opt in by setting the Speaker Configuration to Auto-Detect.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed a bug with Raw Input Buffer where swapped primary/secondary mouse keys in Windows mouse settings was not being respected.

Known Issues

Team Deathmatch

• When the Outlaw is picked up from a weapon spawner, it does not have reserve ammunition. We are currently working on a fix.