Every few weeks Riot Games releases a new update for Valorant – and with it the patch notes. This guide is all about understanding them: what they contain, how often they appear and where to find the official version. Above all, though, we look at them with our skin focus: what does each patch mean for your skins, the shop and their value? And since every patch also brings datamines: we collect the leak situation around the next agent in our Agent 31 hub.
Every few weeks Riot Games releases a new update for Valorant – and with it the patch notes. They reveal what is changing in the game: agents, weapons, maps, bug fixes and, of course, new skins and bundles. This guide explains what the patch notes contain, how often they appear and where to find the official version. Above all, though, we look at them from a special angle with our skin focus: what does each patch mean for your skins, the shop and their value?
Riot releases a Valorant update with patch notes every few weeks. This guide explains what's in them, where to find the official version and what each patch means for your skins and the shop.
The current Valorant patch is Patch 13.05, released on September 1, 2026. These are the most important changes at a glance:
| Area | Change in Patch 13.05 |
|---|---|
| Agents | Important bugfixes for smoke abilities (Astra, Brimstone, Clove, Miks, Omen) that wrongly blocked flashes; plus fixes for Chamber, Cypher, KAY/O and Waylay. |
| Esports | Pick’Ems for Champions Shanghai start on September 10 – in the client (esports tab) and on the web, with rewards just for participating. |
| Fair play | New penalties against stream-sniping and instalock tools: temporary bans, escalating to permanent for repeat offenders. |
| Range | The Range gets new bot spawn options (10/5/1, default now 5). |
| Cosmetics | Dog Days drop (card, buddy, spray); in parallel the Run It Back V26 bundle has been in the shop since Sep 2. |
The next Patch 13.06 arrives on September 22 – with a big change: agent gear will be tied directly to how much you play each agent. Before this, Patch 13.04 (Aug 18) brought the start of Act 5, Abyss back into the Competitive pool and the melee-inspect fix. You can always find the complete official notes at Riot – our battle pass guide explains what new acts mean for your progress, and our bundle overview shows which skins are new right now.
The patch notes are a list, published by Riot Games, of all the changes an update brings. They are, in a sense, the game's "change log" and help you understand why Valorant feels different after an update – whether a weapon was adjusted, an agent is stronger or weaker, or an annoying bug was finally fixed. For the current edition we deliberately point to the original source instead of copying it here.
Valorant is updated on a fixed rhythm. As a rule, a new patch appears roughly every two weeks. Especially large updates come at the start of a new season or act – then there is often a new Battle Pass, fresh bundles and sometimes a new agent or a new map. Between these major milestones lie smaller patches with balance adjustments and bug fixes.
The most reliable source is always Riot Games itself. You find the complete, current patch notes:
Because the patch notes are Riot's copyright, you deliberately will not find them here as a full-text copy. Instead this guide explains them and puts into context what the changes mean for you as a skin collector.
Even though every patch turns out differently, the notes usually follow a similar structure:
For anyone who likes collecting skins, the cosmetics part is the most exciting. Nearly every larger patch brings new skin lines and bundles into the game. This has several effects at once:
In short: every patch changes which skins are currently available – and thus also what you can spend your VP balance on.
The good news first: the VP prices of the skin tiers are usually stable across patches. A premium skin generally still costs 1,775 VP, an ultra skin around 2,475 VP. What changes is mainly the supply – that is, which skins are currently purchasable. The typical tier prices serve as a rough orientation:
| Tier | Price (VP) | ≈ Euros |
|---|---|---|
 Select | 875 | ~€8.75 |
 Deluxe | 1,275 | ~€12.75 |
 Premium | 1,775 | ~€17.75 |
 Ultra | 2,475 | ~€24.75 |
More on this in our guides to Valorant Points prices and the skin tiers.
Every patch carries a number, for example „Patch 10.00“. Roughly: the front number stands for the current season or game year, the rear one for the respective update within that period. This way you recognise at a glance whether it is a big season start (e.g. „x.00“) or a smaller in-between update.
This is exactly why a look at the patch notes pays off for collectors: many popular skin lines entered the game via an update. A few well-known Vandal skins with real images and their prices as an example of the cosmetics a patch can bring:
More of these in our guides to the best Vandal skins and the most expensive knife skins.
The two most important terms in every balance patch are buff and nerf. A buff makes something stronger – for example more damage, a lower price or a better ability. A nerf weakens something because it was too dominant. Riot uses these adjustments to keep the game balanced: if an agent is too strong and on almost every team, a nerf usually follows. If an agent is barely played, they often get a buff. For you this means: after a patch it pays to check whether your favourite agents or weapons are affected – sometimes this changes what is currently especially effective.
Not every patch is equally significant. Broadly, two types can be distinguished:
For collectors the big patches are the most exciting, because that is when the most new skins appear. So a look at the notes at the season start is especially worthwhile.
A common worry is whether a patch changes the value of your own collection. The reassuring answer: as a rule, no. A skin’s value comes from its VP price, and that stays stable across patches. What a patch changes is availability – that is, whether a skin is currently purchasable. Skins from limited collections that are no longer available after a patch do gain prestige, but their official price stays the same. You can recalculate how much your entire collection is worth with Valorant-Spind calculator at any time – regardless of which patch is currently live.
New agents: when do they come into the game?
New agents are among the biggest additions a patch can bring – but they do not appear with every update, rather at larger intervals across the game year. When a new agent comes, it is always a big patch with a lot of attention. For you as a player this means: after the release of a new agent, a look at the notes is especially worthwhile, because team interplay can change. New agents are often briefly disabled in ranked at first, so not everyone jumps on them at once – that too is in the patch notes.
New maps and the map pool
New maps or changes to the map pool are also introduced via patches. When a new map is added, another is usually temporarily removed from the competitive rotation. These rotations are likewise in the patch notes. Anyone who wants to train specifically should therefore check after every big patch which maps are currently played – otherwise you might practise a map that is not in the pool right now.
How patches influence the shop and Night Market
Especially relevant for collectors: with the patches the offers change too. A new bundle appears as a featured offer and later shows up individually in the daily shop. Around certain patches the Night Market is also activated, where you get older skins at a discount. Anyone who divides up their VP balance cleverly factors in such moments and strikes exactly when it is worth it.
The test server: trying patches in advance
Riot sometimes tests larger changes in advance on a separate test server before they go live for everyone. There, selected players can try out upcoming adjustments and give feedback. For you this is above all a source of information: what appears on the test server gives a preview of what might come in one of the next patches. But do not rely firmly on it – quite a bit can still change before the final patch.
Is it worth buying right after a patch?
If a patch brings a skin line you like, there is nothing wrong with grabbing it – especially with limited bundles that are not permanently available. With regular skins, on the other hand, you are under no time pressure: after the featured period they move into the normal shop rotation and keep reappearing there. A good principle is therefore: for limited content, decide promptly; for regular skins, wait calmly – the skin might even come back in the Night Market at a discount.
Using patches cleverly for your budget
This way you ensure that every patch becomes a conscious event for you and does not lead to unplanned spending.
What patches do not change
An important point for everyone who cares about the value of their collection: patches do not take away your purchased skins and do not change their base value. A skin you have bought stays yours – regardless of whether it is later still available in the shop. You can check how much your collection is worth overall at any time: Valorant-Spind calculator reads your locker locally and automatically adds up the total value in euros.
Why do balance patches exist at all?
A game like Valorant thrives on staying fair and varied. Without regular adjustments, a few agents, weapons or tactics would quickly dominate, and the game would become monotonous. Balance patches counteract this: they strengthen weak options, weaken overly dominant ones and ensure that many different play styles remain possible. For you this means a game that keeps feeling a little new – and in which it pays to stay flexible instead of relying on just a single weapon or a single agent. Anyone who wants to climb in particular benefits from knowing the current adjustments and adapting their game to them.
Learning to read patch notes: a short guide
The notes often look long and technical at first glance. With a little practice, though, you read them in a few minutes. It is best to proceed like this:
This way you extract exactly the information important to you in a short time – without having to read every line.
Community and patches
No sooner is a patch out than the community discusses it lively – in forums, social media and streams. This is a good opportunity to better contextualise changes: experienced players often explain why an adjustment makes sense or how to exploit it. But take such opinions as inspiration, not law – you learn the most by trying the changes out in the game yourself. It gets especially exciting when a patch shifts the so-called „meta“, that is, changes which agents and weapons are currently considered particularly strong.
Patches and the long-term value of your collection
Over the years the patches add up – and with them the skins you have collected. Even though the official price of individual skins does not change, the total value of your collection grows with every purchase. Skins from earlier, limited collections in particular gain a special status with the community over time. You can have their euro equivalent – as pure orientation – shown at any time with Valorant-Spind calculator. This way you keep an overview across all the patches of how much is in your locker.
Patch or hotfix – what is the difference?
Both terms keep appearing. A patch is a planned update on a fixed rhythm with many changes at once. A hotfix, by contrast, is a small, quick update outside the normal plan – usually to fix an acute bug or an overly strong effect at short notice. Hotfixes are much shorter and often affect only a single point. For collectors they are rarely relevant, because they usually bring no new skins. Still good to know: if a small update suddenly comes even though no big patch was planned, it is usually such a hotfix.
Do I have to download again after every patch?
Yes, every patch comes with a download that Valorant installs automatically at launch. Big season patches are more extensive than small in-between updates. So plan some time for the download around an expected big patch before you can play. The update runs entirely via the official client – you do not have to download anything manually from third-party sites. Be suspicious if a „Valorant patch download“ is offered anywhere outside the game: that is never official and can be dangerous.
Conclusion
The Valorant patch notes are your compass through every update – from balancing to the new skins. For collectors the cosmetics part matters most: it determines which skins are currently available and what the VP balance is worth spending on. The tier prices stay pleasingly stable. Read the official notes at Riot, watch for the cosmetic novelties – and keep an eye with Valorant-Spind on how much your growing collection is worth.
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Currently (as of Sep 2, 2026), Patch 13.05 from September 1, 2026 is the latest version – with smoke bugfixes, new Range bot options and the start of Pick’Ems on September 10. Patch 13.06 follows on September 22 with the agent-gear rework.
As a rule, a new patch appears roughly every two weeks. Especially extensive updates come at the start of a new season or act.
Riot Games publishes the complete patch notes on the official Valorant website in the „Game Updates“ section, as well as an announcement in the game itself.
The VP prices of the skin tiers usually stay stable across patches. What changes is mainly the supply – that is, which skins and bundles are currently available.
No. Skins you have bought remain permanently in your possession, even if they are later no longer available in the shop. Their base value does not change through patches.
The front number stands for the current season or game year, the rear one for the respective update within that period. An „x.00“ patch usually marks a big season start.
