Valorant update 7.08 patch notes: Smoke changes, Premier updates, more

Sourav Banik
Omen's smoke in Valorant with new visual effect in patch 7.08.

Valorant patch 7.08 brings Smoke changes along with updates to the Premier game mode and in-game store. Here’s a rundown of everything included in the Valorant update 7.08 patch notes.

Kicking things off this update, Smokes of some Agents in Valorant will become more beginner-friendly with patch 7.08. These abilities will have a 1.5-second audio and visual cue when they are about to fade. Along with that, the eighth patch for Episode 7 also tweaked the queue time for the Premier Playoffs Tournament.

Certain elements of the in-game store will also get some UI updates to make it more user-friendly. With that said, here’s a rundown of everything in Valorant update 7.08 patch notes.

an image of Valorant patch 7.08 highlights
Valorant patch 7.08 brings the new Smoke change.

Valorant update 7.08 patch notes

The first major change that Valorant patch 7.08 brings relates to Smokes. The abilities of Agents like Astra, Brimstone, and Omen will play an audio and visual cue for 1.5 seconds right at the time when they are about to fade. While Valorant pros are critical of the new smoke changes, it feels like it’s directed more toward newer players.

Allies can no longer hear the equipping sound of your Agent’s abilities when in close proximity. Riot has reduced the queue time for the Premier Playoffs Tournament to 15 minutes only from 1 hour. In case your team fails to queue up and stay queued within this 15-minute window, you won’t be able to play in the Tournament.

The in-game store has also undergone some UI tweaks which makes it easier for players to navigate and find items. Here are the full Valorant 7.08 patch notes from Riot Games.

General Updates

  • We made a slight adjustment to the rows of Agents you can select from at the bottom of the screen in order to make room for future Agents.

Agent Updates

  • Smoke Visual Update
    • Some of the key smokes can manipulate the play space for a good chunk of time and we feel it is important to be able to make the right decisions in the moment. We’ve added audio and visual cues at the end of our longer lasting smokes to give you a bit of a heads up for when the smoke will disappear.
      • Smokes play an audio and visual cue 1.5 seconds before they are about to fade. The following Agents’ smokes have been affected:
        • Astra
        • Brimstone
        • Omen
  • Ability equipping sounds are no longer audible to your Allies.
    • Previously, the sound of you equipping abilities as certain Agents could be heard by allies that were very close to you. Hearing this audio was inconsistent with equipping guns, which are silent to allies, and resulted in confusion around if enemies were able to hear these sounds. We hope this change will make the rules around equipping gun and ability audio more consistent and make what can be heard by enemies easier to learn and understand.

Premier Updates

Premier Playoffs Tournament Queue Changes

  • The Playoffs Tournament Queue is now only 15 minutes instead of 1 hour. If you don’t queue up and stay queued within the 15 minute window, your team will not be able to play in the Tournament.
  • At the end of the waiting period, all teams that are still in the queue will be matched at one time into evenly distributed brackets seeded by Premier Score.
  • This change ensures that having a better regular season record gives you a higher seeding in your tournament.
an image of the in-game store after Valorant patch 7.08
Valorant patch 7.08 also brings UI changes to the in-game store.

Store Updates

  • Your Level Borders and Player Card collection UI is getting an upgrade! You’ll now be able to search, navigate, and equip your Level Borders and Player Cards using our grid UI.

Bug Fixes

Agent

  • Deadlock
    • Annihilation (X) can no longer open Bind’s automatic doors from outside the teleporter rooms.
    • Annihilation (X) can no longer open Breeze’s Mid Chute trapdoor from below.
  • Neon
    • Fast Lane (C) now more reliably fully extends through Fracture’s A Door when cast from the outside, behaving the same as when used from inside A Hall.

General

  • Fixed a bug where the music would hitch/skip while loading into a map or the Range.
  • Fixed a bug where shooting range bots would not reset their hitbox position properly when respawning.

Player Behavior

  • Fixed a bug so that you’ll receive the correct Ranked Rating penalties for disruptive behavior.

Weapons

  • Fixed a bug where killbanner audio was playing too quietly.

That’s about everything included in the Valorant 7.08 patch. For more about the game, make sure to check some of our other Valorant content:

VCT 2024 rostermania tracker | What is Valorant Premier? | How to play Valorant Premier Stage 1 | What is the Night Market? | How to get Gun Buddies | All Valorant skin bundles | Best Valorant Agents | When is Valorant on Mobile coming out? | Best Sentinels | Best Initiators | What is Econ Rating? | How to get free loot drops | Best Duelists | Is Valorant on Mac? | Best Controllers

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About The Author

Sourav is a Games Writer at Dexerto, specializing in writing tips and guides for a number of games, including Apex Legends, Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo 4, Palworld, The Finals, XDefiant, and occasionally Tech. He is also passionate about esports, following games such as Valorant and Rainbow Six Siege. He previously wrote for Sportskeeda. Contact Sourav at sourav.banik@dexerto.com