VALORANT Patch 12.03: Gekko buffed, Skirmish 2v2 arrives, Masters Pick’Ems open

VALORANT Patch 12.03 might look small on paper, but it delivers some impactful updates to the game, including meaningful changes to Gekko and a brand-new game mode. It’s also time to lock in your Pick’Ems for VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters Santiago 2026 and compete for exclusive gun buddies and titles.

Agent Updates

Gekko

The spotlight in Patch 12.03 is firmly on Gekko. Riot Games has heard the community’s calls for a buff, as many players felt Gekko was falling behind other Initiators in the current meta. This update gives him more flexibility with his Reclaim mechanic across all abilities, increasing his overall uptime and impact. The biggest change? Mosh Pit is now reclaimable, adding more depth to his utility usage and making him far more viable in competitive play.

Changes:

• Reclaim timer on Globules (Wingman, Thrash, etc.) increased from 15s → 20s
• Gekko can now reclaim Mosh Pit

Masters Santiago Pick’Ems

Pick’Ems returns for the first Masters event of the year. Starting February 19, players can submit predictions for the Swiss Stage both in-client and on the web.

You’ll predict which teams advance from the 8-team Swiss groups, and you can earn bonus points by correctly choosing the team that goes flawless with a 2-0 record.

Participating earns you a title automatically, with additional rewards up for grabs depending on how you stack up against the competition. Time to trust your reads.

New limited-time game mode

Skirmish: 2v2 hits matchmaking in VALORANT Patch 12.03. Queue solo or duo up with a friend and jump into compact maps built purely for gunfights; no abilities, just raw aim. Three maps (A, B, and C) are randomly selected each match. With no agent selection and unlimited economy, the focus is entirely on mechanical skill. First duo to 10 rounds takes the win.

General Updates

The patch also brings quality-of-life improvements:

• Audio occlusion now dynamically responds to map doors being opened, closed, or destroyed.
• In Replays, you can now enable a setting to skip spectating eliminated players.

On the competitive integrity front:

• Accounts flagged for sharing and all Ascendant+ players in APAC must enable Riot Mobile multi-factor authentication (MFA) to access the Competitive queue. Other game modes remain unaffected.

For more VALORANT news, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.

Featured image source: Riot Games