Valorant patch 2.06 is still trying to make Viper good

In the previous Valorant patch, Riot Games introduced new systems to combat toxic behavior. It didn’t do anything in the way of agent and weapon balancing. With patch 2.06, the Valorant team is giving Viper another rework, Yoru and Killjoy receive some buffs, and the Bucky shotgun gets more focused.

Patch 2.06 also adds some updates to Valorant’s newly introduced Escalation Mode. Raze’s Showstopper now comes with two Blast Pack Charges that refill when you touch the ground. The Snowball Launcher now comes with Skates to give you increased mobility. Big Knife gives you one charge of Jett’s Tailwind, which refills on kills. Plus, loadout variations shows up as rare surprises.

Valorant Patch 2.06 Viper, Yoru, and Killjoy changes

Viper’s Toxin gets some substantial improvements. When enemies touch Poison Cloud, Toxic Screen, or Viper’s Pit, they will instantly be inflicted with at least 50 Decay. The longer they remain in contact with the Toxin, the higher the Decay level will increase. While in a cloud of Toxin, Decay over time has been decreased from 15 to 10. However, when leaving a cloud, the delay before health regeneration has been reduced from 2.5 to 1.5.

Viper can immediately redeploy her Poison Cloud when she picks it up. But, picking it up will grant a temporary charge and not a permanent one. The pickup distance has been increased from 200 to 400. Plus, If Viper dies while Poison Cloud or Toxic Screen are active, the effects will linger for an additional two seconds. The final change to Viper in Valorant patch 2.06 is that her Snakebite equip time has been decreased from 1.1 to 0.8. Hopefully these changes are enough to make Viper more adaptable to enemy movements.

Yoru gets several small buffs with this patch. His Blindside flash activation time has decreased from 0.8 to 0.6. Plus, the flash duration has been increased from 1.1 to 1.5. Gatecrash will no longer refresh on kills. Instead, it will replenish every 35 seconds. The Gatecrash fragment’s lifetime has been increased substantially from 20 to 30 seconds. The range at which enemies reveal the fragment from stealth has also been decreased from seven to four meters. Yoru’s Ultimate ability, Dimensional Drift, now only requires six Ultimate points to charge – down from seven. And you can now activate Gatecrash while using Dimensional Drift.

Killjoy gets a minor buff. She can now pick up Nanoswarm grenades during the buy phase to get the charge back.

Bucky changes

The spread of the Bucky shotgun’s primary and alternate fire modes have been decreased. The primary fire is now 2.6, down from 3.4. The alternate fire has been reduced from 3.4 to 2.0. The damage curve for both fire modes has also been updated. The shotgun will now deal 20 damage per pellet under eight meters. Between eight and twelve meters, it will deal 12 damage per pellet. Beyond 12 meters, the Bucky will deal nine damage per pellet. The number of pellets shot when using the alternate fire has also been reduced from 15 to five.

Included with patch 2.06 is also the option to use Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF), which translates to 3D audio. The effect will apply to footsteps, reloads, and Deathmatch respawns. If you decide to try out this feature, Riot recommends you turn off all other 3D audio processing.

The patch also includes bug fixes, a quality of life update to the map, and some changes to viewing players on the leaderboards. You can check the complete patch notes on the Valorant website.