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Watch Your Eyes!

Valorant's latest patch finally buffs Phoenix, makes further changes to Yoru and KAY/O

New fight, new tactics. Keep it fresh, yeah?

From left to right, VALORANT agents Neon, Reyna, and Killjoy can be seen.
Kelsey Raynor avatar
News by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer
Published on

That time has rolled around once more, as the latest patch for Valorant has rolled out of Riot Games HQ with patch 5.01. This update is undoubtedly going to make a few players rejoice.

It's been an incredibly long time coming, but finally, Phoenix has been in receipt of a few small buffs. Phoenix, the fire guy, was one of the first agents in the Valorant roster of heroes, and has slowly slipped into the sidelines with the introduction of new, stronger characters to choose from.

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Fans have been demanding to see Phoenix and Cypher buffed for a while, and in a Reddit AMA about characters a short while back, developers confirmed that the two would be in receipt of some tweaks sooner or later. With Phoenix finally receiving his, it's only a matter of time before we inevitably see a few changes made to Cypher too. Well, we can hope.

That's not all, either, as patch 5.01 also makes some tweaks to the abilities of Yoru and KAY/O. So, what exactly has changed about the agents?

Phoenix's abilities have been adjusted as follows:

  • Curveball (Q) - Maximum flash duration is increased from 1.1s to 1.5s, and flash windup is decreased from 0.7s to 0.5s
  • Blaze (C) - Phoenix is now able to equip his weapon earlier if he stops bending his wall
  • Run it Back (X) - Pheonix will now respawn at the ultimate marker with the amount of shields he had when activating his ultimate

Yoru has also been privy to a couple changes, and these could be seen as buffs. However, I'd argue that these changes are simply smoothing out Yoru after his big ability overhaul a while back.

  • Dimensional Drift (X) - Duration of ultimate increased from 10s to 12s, unequip time reduced from 1.2s to 0.8s

Last, but not least, is KAY/O. These changes have been made to make KAY/O's kit a little more accessible.

  • FRAG/ment (C) - Zone diameter reduced from 10m to 8m, and damage now applies without needing line of sight
  • NULL/cmd (X) - Only allies will hear the full audio for reviving KAY/O, enemies will only hear a short cue once the revive has started

What do you think to the changes? While I'm not the biggest fan of Phoenix, I know plenty of Phoenix mains who are going to be over the moon right now.

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