Valorant 7.09 PBE Patch Notes: Big Changes Coming To Cypher And Raze With Highly Anticipated Judge Nerf

Recently, Valorant announced the patch notes of the upcoming Valorant 7.09 Public Beta Environment (PBE), where agents like Cypher and Raze receive significant changes with a highly anticipated nerf for Judge. With the Valorant 7.09 PBE update, Riot is focusing on addressing the power balance of Sentinels, especially Cypher and other agents. The patch will revolve around Cypher's Trapwire and how the ability to interact with other agent and their utilities will work in his favour. 

Regarding firearms, players have considered Judge one of the most overpowered weapons. To balance it out, Riot has nerfed Judge by changing its magazine size and spread. Additionally, Premier Mode will see some changes as well. Valorant PBE is currently in action and will continue till 11 am PT on 30 October 2023. 

Valorant 7.09 PBE Patch Notes: Digging Deep Into The Changes

Agent Updates

After a long wait, Cypher mains can lock their favourite agent without hesitation. With the new patch coming, Cypher's Trapwire (C) will play a huge role in controlling a site since the Trapwires won't get destroyed on their own during any interaction with the enemies. If an enemy or their utility gets caught in the Trapwire and gets concussed, the Trapwire will re-arm itself after 0.5 seconds. Players will have to destroy the Trapwires physically.

Cypher
 

• Trapwire (C)
  
  • Decreased the time until the trap concusses a captured enemy 3 >>> 1.5 seconds.
  • After concussing an enemy or an enemy in the trap was killed, the Trapwire (C) no longer destroys itself but instead re-arms after 0.5 seconds, allowing it to ensnare another enemy.
  • Duration of tag slow when hit by the trap increased 0.75 >>> 2 seconds.

Skye's and Fade's adjustments are complementary to Cypher's buff. With Cypher's Trapwires being challenging to counter, Skye's Trailblazer's and Fade's Prowler's collision are adjusted so that the Trapwire's placement is not on point.

Skye
 

• Trailblazer (Q)
  • Adjusted Trailblazer’s collision so that it goes under Trapwires placed at mid-height. This won’t affect the hitboxes for weapon damage.

Fade
 

• Prowler (C)
  
  • Adjusted Prowler (C) collision so that they go over Trapwires placed at foot height and under Trapwires placed at head height. This won’t affect the hitboxes for weapon damage.

Raze receives a significant nerf regarding her Paint Shells (E) and Blast Pack (Q), impacting her mobility and firepower. 

Raze
 

• Paint Shells (E)
  • Primary grenade explosion radius 6m >>> 5.5m.
  • Secondary grenades explosion radius 6m >>> 5.25m.
  • Primary grenade explosion minimum damage 15 >>> 1.
  • Secondary grenades explosion minimum damage 15 >>> 1.
  • Damage multiplier to enemy utility 250% >>> 100%.
     
• Blast Pack (Q)
  
  • Satchel doesn’t deal damage until fully armed.
  • Satchel arm time increased 0.5 seconds >>> 1.5.

Judge

Players eagerly awaited for Riot to nerf Judge, and their wish had finally come true. The Judge's magazine size has been reduced from 7 to 5, with increased bullet spread during movements.

• Reduced max mag size from 7 >>> 5
• Increased Jumping spread from 1.25 >>> 2.25
• Increased Running spread from .10 >>> .75

Premier Mode also received significant changes with a reduction in the Playoff Qualification Threshold, changes in Timeouts, and more. Players can read more about Premier Updates and the rest of the minor fixes in the patch notes given below.

Premier Updates
 

• Premier Practice
  • There will be windows of time where you can queue for practice on select non-match days, check your calendars for the schedule! These matches will follow Premier match structure, but will not affect your Premier Score.
• Enrollment Updates
  • Teams created before or during the new 'Team Creation Window' will now be able to recruit members and participate in Premier at any point during the Stage!
• Timeouts
  • Every match, teams will have one timeout per side and an additional time out in Overtime.
• Premier Crests
  • Crests will now reflect your team’s performance and evolve over the entire stage.
• Playoff Qualification Threshold
  • We’re lowering the qualification threshold in this stage to 600 points. We recognize that during this busy time of the year, it can be harder to schedule your team’s matches so we wanted to make it more forgiving if you have to miss a week.
• Matchmaking
  • We've made some slight adjustments to find you fairer matches during the weekly matches.
• Zones
  • Some regions can't support the same number of divisions, so we've made adjustments to certain zones to support generally healthier queue times and improved match fairness.

Social Updates
 

• Updated the icons that appear in the Friends List when friends are playing other Riot Games.
  • We now detect people in Riot Mobile and TFT, and display unique icons for people playing these games.
    • People who are online in Riot Mobile have a "gray dot" Player Card Image.
  • The failsafe "Unknown Product" icon is now a red Riot fist instead of the gray dot.
  • Updated the icons shown for people in LoL, LoR and WildRift.

Bug Fixes

• Gameplay Systems
  • Fixed a rare issue where detaching from a rope would cause a footstep noise.