Valorant Episode 5 Act 1: Start time, Patch Notes, New rank

Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 is nearly upon us, and players are wondering when the new patch is supposed to drop as well as what's coming with the update including a new rank, map changes, and more.

Riot Games' popular FPS title Valorant is set for a ton of new content in the game's upcoming patch. Although there isn't gameplay balancing coming, that doesn't mean Valorant won't change at all.

Here is everything you need to know about Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 including when it drops, new content, and more.

When does Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 launch?

Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 launches on June 22 at 6:00 PT / 9:00 ET . However, the update is only coming at those times for players in North America, Brazil, at LATAM.

To see when the update launches in your region, check Riot's official website for more information.

Valorant Episode 5 Act 1: Patch Notes

Here are the patch notes for Valorant's latest update:

NEW MAP: PEARL (JUN. 22 PEARL-ONLY QUEUE, JUL. 12 ALL QUEUES)

• Pearl-only queue
• This queue is a standard, Unrated mode that will give players a chance to practice the new map before they see it in Competitive play.
• Pearl-only queue will be available for 2 weeks, then after that Pearl will enter Competitive.

Map changes: Split

• We are temporarily removing Split from the map pool in Unrated and Competitive queues
• There are reasons! You can read more about our decision in our map pool update article.

Valorant Episode 5 Act 1: New rank

• Added an additional rank above Diamond, below Immortal, called 'Ascendant.'
• We believe our lower ranks have a few too many of you, especially Bronze and Silver. When we were looking at rank distribution, we realized that if we were to move some of you up and out of those lower ranks, it would overpopulate Platinum and Diamond. So by adding a new rank we can better distribute you across ranks, keep the prestige of high ranks, while helping better define the skill level of each rank.
• Moved the rank MMR targets that determine rank down, due to the addition of the new Ascendant rank, for all ranks below Ascendant. Moved the ranked target for Immortal 1/2/3 and Radiant up.
• These are the cut-offs that say 'You should be X MMR to reach this rank'. MMR targets determine your RR gains and help push your rank to match your MMR.
• This means players will go up in rank, if they are below Ascendant.
• To align with our expectations of what it means to be in the highest ranks of VALORANT, Immortal+ players will find it harder to climb back to their previous episode rank. This means Immortal will also have a smaller leaderboard population in all regions.
• Due to the seasonal reset, you may not see a rank increase at the start of the Episode without putting in some work; but the reset will be ''less harsh'' compared to the last Episode reset. So because we are pushing the player base upwards to fill Ascendant, the reset will not hit you as hard.
• Next time we reset ranks it will probably push you down more than this Episode's reset. Please remember that the ''less harsh'' reset is unique to this Episode because of the introduction of Ascendant.
• Grouping restrictions for Ascendant are 3 ranks above or below the Ascendant ranked player
• This fits in with our Platinum+ rule set for grouping.
• The highest placement allowed has increased to Ascendant 1 (previously Diamond 1)
• Five stacking 25% RR penalty now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3)
• Solo/Duo/5-stack restriction now starts at Immortal 1 (previously Diamond 3)
• Remember, Diamond 3 and above could previously only solo, duo, and 5-stack. This restriction now begins at Immortal 1.
• By adding another rank we were able to push the Five Stack penalty and Solo/Duo restrictions into Immortal. This makes it more straight forward, Immortal is where the leaderboard starts and because of this we try to hold players more accountable for their standings.
• Due to a naming clash with the new rank, we've renamed Sage's tier 8 Agent Contract unlock, the new Sage title is 'Dauntless'
• Renaming this title was not something we chose lightly, but after talking about the title we felt like it was a chance to give the title more meaning to Sage and her personality/theme

Valorant Episode 5 Act 1: Bug fixes

Maps

• Fixed a bug on Haven that was preventing players from using their spray on a wall in A Garden
• Shout out to @eminakob for passionately pointing out this bug

Agents

• Fixed a bug where Jett could equip a weapon during Tailwind
• Fixed a bug where Agents revealed by Sova's Recon Bolt or Fade's Haunt would sometimes briefly appear in an incorrect location on the minimap
• Fixed a bug where the scope visual effect would sometimes disappear when aiming with Chamber's Tour De Force

Game Systems

• Fixed a bug where using an Ultimate point orb or defusing the Spike at maximum range could cause channeling and progress bar animations to flicker
• Fixed a bug where the use channeling progression bar does not update if the player disconnects and reconnects during the match
• Fixed a bug where some weapon equips could play the wrong equip speed animation, which could visually misrepresent when you were able to fire. Some situations impacted by this bug were:
• Cypher exiting Spycam
• Capturing Ultimate point Orbs
• Canceling and completing Spike plant