VALORANT Patch 6.08: Bind's return, Killjoy’s Nanoswarm updates, and Shorty’s visual overhaul

A few weeks ago, the news of Icebox’s departure from the map pool was broken to the VALORANT community which received an extremely contrasting variety of reactions. However, Riot did good to soften the blow with the announcement of Bind’s return. Apart from this change, VALORANT patch 6.08 will also introduce updates to Killjoy, Gekko, and minor improvements to cosmetics on Shorty.

VALORANT patch notes 6.08: Agent Updates

Gekko:

• Wingman
  • The audio cues for Wingman's spike and defuse sound were unclear during hectic combat situations. Patch 6.08 introduces audio improvements to Wingman’s (Q) plant and defuse.
  • We’ve updated Gekko’s in-game portrait for better gameplay readability and quality consistency.

Killjoy:

Nanoswarm (C)

• Nanoswarm reveal radius increased 350 >> 525
• Nanoswarm audio has been updated such that audio loop turns off when disabled as a result of Killjoy being killed or suppressed. The feedback upon destroying Nanoswarm has also been improved. Nanoswarm will also now revealed when it is disabled. Other changes
• Updated visuals for Killjoy’s ultimate Lockdown (X) being destroyed.
• Removed the yellow warning UI Indicator for enemies Killjoy’s Lockdown (X).
• Updated deactivate sounds for Killjoy’s Turret (E) and Alarmbot (Q) to make them more distinct.

Shorty updates:

The following Shorty models received art updates without any gameplay implications:

• Default Shorty
• Wunderkind Shorty
• Sidekick Shorty
• Karabasan Shorty
• Prism II Shorty
• Doodle Buds Shorty

Map Updates:

Bind has officially returned to Competitive queue replacing Icebox in the map pool. However, it is not the same version of the map that was removed earlier in the year. It has been significantly reworked to improve gameplay experience.

Bug Fixes:

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed an issue where “Kick ally off” displays while defusing the Spike.
• Fixed a visual bug where the Spike progress bar for planting or defusing would speed up or reset while defusing.
• Fixed an issue where Yoru couldn’t drop his weapon while using Dimensional Drift (X).

Social

• (Fixed in Patch 6.07) Fixed a bug where the add/remove friend button wasn't available when right clicking a party member who had "Hide my name outside my party" setting turned on.
• (Fixed in Patch 6.07) Fixed a bug where banned players would not get removed from your party.
• Fixed a bug where party invites that were no longer valid were sometimes still showing as active for players.
• Fixed a bug where Team and All chat logs would be wiped after a match. Thank you to our Redditors for alerting us to this one.
• Fixed a bug where punctuation marks were not correctly displayed when in-game language