Valorant update 2.05 patch notes: Sova & Astra changes, AFK penalties

Valorant patch 2.05 is here, and it’s all about AFK detection and improving the penalties for those caught breaking the rules.

Valorant players have always been pressuring Riot to implement some much needed changes to their AFK penalty system. While patch 2.03 laid the foundations for a better AFK punishment system, update 2.05 is clamping down on misbehaving players.

Additionally, those that dodge competitive games will also receive a small Rank Rating penalty for bailing out on their teammates.

Finally, adjustments have been made to Sova’s Owl Drone and Astra’s flying mechanic when she’s in Astral Form. Unique keybinds for each ability can now be set in the Options menu.

Valorant Patch 2.05: Full Patch Notes

AGENT UPDATES

SOVA

Added unique keybinds to the option menu for flying up and down when using Owl Drone

ASTRA

Added unique keybinds to the option menu for flying up and down in Astral Form

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

• The Career: Act Rank tab now has a toggle which allows you to choose to enable or disable your Act Rank
  • The default is on, but if you don’t want to flex your skills, you can always turn it off
• The Match History tab now allows you to filter your matches per mode
  • We know sometimes you just want to look at your Competitive matches
• Players will receive a small rank rating penalty for dodging Competitive games.
  •  For more context on this change see this post.
• Tuned Radiant Rank Rating gains and losses to be more consistent with Immortal rank rating behavior
• Custom Games layout and visuals have been updated

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Improved AFK Detection
• Updated Penalties for AFK offenses
  • This includes warnings, queue restrictions, XP denial, Competitive queue bans, and game bans
• Updated Penalties for chat-based offenses
  • This includes warnings, chat restrictions, Competitive queue restrictions, and game bans
• Reminder that zero tolerance offenses will result in game bans automatically
•  You can read more about our work to address issues and opportunities with player behavior in our past breakdown.

BUGS

• Fixed a bug where Ranked game icons were misaligned in Match History
• Astra now starts Spike Rush games with all 5 star charges
• Killjoy can’t place Lockdown off the ground by jumping and placing it on cosmetic pieces of geo on the walls anymore
• Fixed issue where Cypher’s Spycam dart could sometimes hit players that were on the other side of a wall
• Fixed Killjoy not getting charges from her Alarmbot and Turret back if they are recalled after she is resurrected
• Fixed dead enemies being counted as flashed enemies in the combat report
• Fixed Astra’s “Out of charges” VO not playing for her abilities while in Astral Form
• Fixed the deafening effect on nearsights not playing if Astra is in the game
• Fixed Cypher’s Spycam targeting going through Sage’s wall
• Fixed Astra having trouble placing Stars on the defender side boxes of Icebox mid from the A site
• Sova Drone and Astra ascend/descend binds now properly respect changed jump/crouch keybinds
• The defuse range circle indicator that shows after planting the Spike again displays properly.
• Fixed a rare bug that could leave players unable to move or process inputs until they died when entering or returning from Astra’s astral form, Sova’s drone, Skye’s scout, or Cypher’s Spy Camera.
  • We previously addressed some causes of this bug last patch, this fix should address the remaining known causes.
• Fixed an issue where the Stinger’s stock would appear detached on the ground
• Improved readability of player names in Observer
• Fixed an issue where Skye’s seekers did not visibly move on Brimstone’s tactical map
• Fixed an issue where scoreboard color doesn’t appropriately swap at side swap for Observers
• Fixed a bug that would cause the “Network Problem” icon to appear when no network issues were present