VALORANT Patch 6.03: Killjoy and Raze nerfs, Swiftplay mode becomes permanent, and quality of life changes

VALORANT game developers are consistently working on enhancing the game's features and refining existing aspects to ensure a better user experience. In the recent 6.03 update, significant nerfs have been applied to the utility kit of both Killjoy and Raze, along with the announcement that the Swiftplay mode introduced earlier this year is here to stay.

Killjoy and Raze Nerfed

The developers at Riot credited these changes to the increased usage of Killjoy following Chamber’s utility nerf they introduced with Patch 5.12 and Raze’s Boom Bot being seemingly overpowered.

Killjoy

• Turret (E) health decreased 125 > 100
  • Reducing the total health of the Turret will make it easier to destroy.
• Lockdown (X) point cost increased 7 > 8
  • Increasing the point cost of the ability will help to balance out its current overuse, ensuring that players cannot rely on it as frequently as they have been.

Raze

• Boom Bot (C) duration decreased 10s > 5s
  • By reducing the duration of the ability, players will have to use it more selectively, limiting its capacity for recon and preventing it from being too powerful.

Modes and Gameplay updates

Swiftplay is here to stay

Swiftplay was initially introduced with Patch 5.12 for beta testing. It was a long-awaited change of pace that featured the fast-paced fun element of spike rush, while simultaneously mirroring the structure and organized formatting of a standard unrated match. Considering the success and engagement it garnered in the relatively small beta period, developers decided to enable it permanently with Patch 6.03.

Gameplay updates

• Adjusted the Firing Error graph to use worst case error represented as degrees from the aim direction. The graph now reports the worst-case error degrees of a possible bullet vector—before it didn't account for the generation of the actual error vector.
• Introduced a new setting “Operator (Hold)” which allows those of you in Toggle Mode to hold Secondary Fire to go to Level 2 zoom.
• Restored weapon zoom to pre-Patch 6.0 behavior when transitioning from weapon equip to Zoom/Aim Down Sights.

Social updates

Added Real Time Text Evaluation (NA only to start) to the Agent Select screen.

Bug fixes

• Adjusted Sage, Neon, Jett, and Yoru’s hair heights to fit within our standardized vertical range
• AI (such as Skye’s Seekers [X]) will now travel through the crouch-only connection on Pearl near the Defender’s spawn area
• Fixed a bug where KAY/O would sometimes be able to move after being downed during NULL/cmd (X)
• Fixed a bug on Fracture where a player could fall off and die if two players ride the zipline at the same time. Thanks for the report on Reddit!
• Fixed a bug where disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times in a round could cause a door on any map to incorrectly appear open or shut.
• Fixed a bug where rapidly spamming the Marshall’s zoom button could cause the scope to get stuck cycling in and out.