Another day, another Valorant patch. The newest patch, 1.03, introduces big changes to the Guardian as well as some map and quality of life tidbits.

The Patch Notes

The Guardian is Valorant’s semi-automatic sweetheart and Riot gave it some buffs to give it its own unique spot in the game. Its price was reduced from 2700 to 2500 while also having its rate of fire decreased from 6.5 to 4.75.

To make it punchier, its penetration power was increased from Medium to Heavy while also having its input queue updated from 0.083 to 0.1175. Riot hopes these changes will make the gun “a long-range, versatile weapon” with a focus on precision shots. It kind of sounds like an OP without a scope.

As for the maps, they fixed a spot on Haven where the Spike could not be retrieved when dropped. As for the other maps, they fixed several clipping locations for both players and Sova’s sensor arrow.

Spike Rush got a new orb that when captured, releases two wolves which will track down the two nearest enemies.

Lastly, the quality of life updates include several bug fixes and changes to the surrender mechanics. The requirements for a surrender vote to pass in Unrated have been changed from 100% to 80% of the players while the requirements remain 100% for competitive. Lastly, a surrender vote can now be called on round five instead of eight.

Overall, this was a shorter but pretty relevant Valorant patch. It’s good to see Riot bringing changes to weapons they want to see used differently and perhaps the OP will be in their scope next.

What do you think of the patch? Let us know in the comment section below and keep it tuned to Run It Back for everything Valorant!