Valorant 9.03 patch notes: Sage Barrier Orb changes, better Ground Spreading & Map Targeted abilities, more

Valorant 9.03 patch on August 13 brings a ton of quality-of-life updates involving different Agents to ensure smoother gameplay. Here’s a rundown of everything from update 9.03 patch notes.

With Valorant patch update 9.03, both PC and console players can experience a slew of changes that will induce better communication among team members. The Ground spreading and Map Targeted abilities are the highlights of this update.

What’s new in Valorant patch 9.03?

Starting patch 9.03, you can see improvements to several Agent abilities like Brimstone’s Incendiary and Viper’s Snakebite, the ones that spread along the ground. This will be in the form of more consistent spreading and applying damage.

Additional icons and pings will now be visible for abilities of certain Controller Agents such as Brimstone’s Sky Smoke and Orbital Strike, Clove’s Ruse, and Omen’s From The Shadows.

You can also see Sage’s Barrier placement on the minimap and Pearl map is finally playable for Unrated and Swift Play game modes. You can check the full patch notes below.

Full Valorant 9.03 patch notes

All Platforms

General Updates

• Made improvements to how overlapping interactable objects work. You should now perform the desired action more consistently.
  • For Example: A dart from Cypher’s Spycam should no longer prevent you from attaching to a rope if you’re directly looking at it.

Agent Updates

• Ground Spreading Abilities
  • We’re making improvements to abilities that spread along the ground like Brimstone’s Incendiary and Viper’s Snakebite. Previously, these abilities had inconsistent effects depending on the exact location they landed, ranging from extremely different sizes or damaging through walls and in areas the ability wasn’t visually present. With this update, these abilities should spread more consistently and only apply damage in places that are consistent with the visuals.
• Map Targeted Abilities Improvements
  • You can now ping and see additional icons on maps used for ability targeting
    • Affected abilities: Brimstone’s Sky Smoke and Orbital Strike, Clove’s Ruse, and Omen’s From The Shadows.
• Sage’s Barrier Orb
  • Barrier Orb’s placement preview now also shows up on the minimap.

Performance Updates

• Improved the performance of Iso’s Kill Contract ability.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed issue where opening menus would reset your toggle crouch/toggle walk state.

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed a bug where pinging guns on the ground was not displaying the gun’s name in the text feed.
• Fixed a rare bug that resulted in the defuse timer showing up as ‘-00.00’ if the Spike was defused as the round timer hit 0.
• Fixed an issue with Ability icons not appearing on the minimap as an Observer.
• Fixed an issue where in certain scenarios, you can see an enemy but they don’t appear on the minimap.
• Fixed an issue where “DAMAGE TO YOU/YOU DEALT” is overlapping the Combat Report widget.
• Fixed font size readability issues with Combat Report in certain languages.
• Fixed an issue with auto re-scoping for Outlaw, Marshall, Operator staying active while the gun goes through a reload.

Maps

• Abyss
  • Fixed a spot in Mid Library where thrown abilities can clip through the shelves into gameplay space.
  • Fixed a spot where Agent utility could be thrown off the map and used as a platform.
  • Revised the message from the Scions of the Hourglass to fix text errors.
  • Fixed a minor visual issue for the railings around Defender Spawn.
• The Range
  • Fixed a bug where certain words in the Range were not being translated correctly into various languages.

PC

Bug Fixes

Client

• Combat Report
  • Fixed a bug where during pre-round, [Tab] must be held down while pressing the cursor toggle button to enable the cursor.

Console

Map Updates

• Pearl enters Unrated & Swift Play queues.

Known Issues

General

• Fixed issue where opening an Ability map and the Shop/Scoreboard simultaneously could result in a loss of input.
• Fixed an issue where pressing an Ability button while diffusing the Spike would equip a weapon.

Agents

• Harbor
  • Fixed an issue where Harbor’s High Tide wall would end prematurely.

While the new Valorant 9.03 patch is live, here’s when the next Night Market takes place.