Valorant Episode 14 Act 1 patch notes — new agent, Sunset rework, ranked refresh
Valorant Episode 14 Act 1 launches with a new Initiator agent (Waylay), a major rework of Sunset, a fresh ranked split, and a new battle pass. Full patch notes.
OFFLANE StaffJul 30, 2026vEpisode 14 Act 1
Highlights
- **B-link** is a new connector between B-site and mid.
- **New reward** — Top 500 players in each region get a unique gun buddy.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where Sova's Hunter's Fury would occasionally not register damage.
- Fixed a bug where Reyna's Leer would persist after death in some edge cases.
- Fixed a crash when opening the battle pass page with low VRAM.
Other
- Episode 14 Act 1 ships with a new Initiator agent, a major Sunset rework, and a fresh ranked split. The patch is the first of the new "split" cycle — Act 2 lands in ~6 weeks.
- Waylay is a Thai-Indonesian Initiator with information-gathering utility. Kit:
- **Passive — Trail of Echoes**: Waylay reveals enemy footsteps she walks over for 4 seconds. Stacks up to 8 seconds.
- **Ability 1 — Resonance Pulse**: Fires a short-range sound wave that concusses enemies for 1.5s and reveals them through walls for 3s.
- **Ability 2 — Path Pin**: Throws a tracker that follows the nearest enemy for 8s. The tracker pings every 2s.
- **Ultimate — Echo Chamber**: Creates a 12m radius sound field. Enemies inside the field are deafened (cannot hear non-silent abilities) for 6s.
- Waylay is a strong pick for coordinated teams. Her ultimate combos with Sova and Fade to make a stack of information-gathering agents overwhelming on attack.
- The map is mostly unchanged, but Riot rewrote the B-site and added a new mid connector. The new layout:
- **B-site** is now larger and has an additional back-site corner.
- **Mid boxes** are slightly smaller to give defenders more cover.
- The rework is a buff for defenders — B-site is harder to take quickly.
- **Ranked split** — All ranks reset. Diamond+ players get a 1-game placement buffer.
- **RR changes** — Wins give more RR, losses give less RR. Net effect: rank-up is faster.
- **Vandal** — First-shot accuracy reduced from 100% to 95%. The change is designed to make the Vandal feel less oppressive at long range.
- **Phantom** — Bullet velocity increased by 5%. Better for long-range duels.
- **Operator** — No changes. Still a niche pick.
- **Killjoy** — Nanoswarm grenade cooldown reduced from 40s to 30s.
- **Cypher** — Trapwire cooldown reduced from 30s to 20s. Buff to encourage more Cypher picks.
Valorant Episode 14 Act 1 patch notes
Episode 14 Act 1 ships with a new Initiator agent, a major Sunset rework, and a fresh ranked split. The patch is the first of the new "split" cycle — Act 2 lands in ~6 weeks.
New agent: Waylay (Initiator)
Waylay is a Thai-Indonesian Initiator with information-gathering utility. Kit:
- Passive — Trail of Echoes: Waylay reveals enemy footsteps she walks over for 4 seconds. Stacks up to 8 seconds.
- Ability 1 — Resonance Pulse: Fires a short-range sound wave that concusses enemies for 1.5s and reveals them through walls for 3s.
- Ability 2 — Path Pin: Throws a tracker that follows the nearest enemy for 8s. The tracker pings every 2s.
- Ultimate — Echo Chamber: Creates a 12m radius sound field. Enemies inside the field are deafened (cannot hear non-silent abilities) for 6s.
Waylay is a strong pick for coordinated teams. Her ultimate combos with Sova and Fade to make a stack of information-gathering agents overwhelming on attack.
Sunset rework
The map is mostly unchanged, but Riot rewrote the B-site and added a new mid connector. The new layout:
- B-site is now larger and has an additional back-site corner.
- B-link is a new connector between B-site and mid.
- Mid boxes are slightly smaller to give defenders more cover.
The rework is a buff for defenders — B-site is harder to take quickly.
Ranked refresh
- Ranked split — All ranks reset. Diamond+ players get a 1-game placement buffer.
- RR changes — Wins give more RR, losses give less RR. Net effect: rank-up is faster.
- New reward — Top 500 players in each region get a unique gun buddy.
Other changes
- Vandal — First-shot accuracy reduced from 100% to 95%. The change is designed to make the Vandal feel less oppressive at long range.
- Phantom — Bullet velocity increased by 5%. Better for long-range duels.
- Operator — No changes. Still a niche pick.
- Killjoy — Nanoswarm grenade cooldown reduced from 40s to 30s.
- Cypher — Trapwire cooldown reduced from 30s to 20s. Buff to encourage more Cypher picks.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug where Sova's Hunter's Fury would occasionally not register damage.
- Fixed a bug where Reyna's Leer would persist after death in some edge cases.
- Fixed a crash when opening the battle pass page with low VRAM.
About 2 minutes read.