Neon is going down... Check what's also changing in Valorant.

Game devs returned with a short video update of what's going to happen in next patch for Valorant! You can check it here yourself, and if you want to know all details, you will find it bellow.

Patch 12.09 focuses on Neon nerfs, shotgun accuracy reductions, and a set of agent, weapon, and behavior fixes across all platforms.

Neon Nerfs

Neon has been overperforming due to extreme mobility and evasiveness. Riot is dialing her back: High Gear no longer gives extra air‑speed while jumping. Airborne speed now matches melee speed. Fuel only regenerates on kill when her ultimate is active (still regenerates passively). Slide VFX improved for clarity.

Goal: reduce her combat dominance and create more counterplay.

Shotgun Nerfs (All Platforms)

Shotguns were too strong while moving or jumping. Riot is pushing them toward defensive, deliberate use: All shotguns are less accurate while moving (run, walk, crouch‑walk, jump). Crouch accuracy standardized to 15% across all shotguns. Rope accuracy massively reduced (huge spread increases).

Individual weapon changes:

Bucky

Pellet damage reduced (0–8m): Head: 40 → 34 Body: 20 → 17 Legs: 17 → 14

Spread increased across all movement states.

Judge

Minimum spread increased (PC only for now). Movement spreads increased.

Shorty

Fire rate reduced (3.33 → 3.0). Movement spreads increased.

Competitive & MMR Updates

Riot is testing new MMR behavior in modes other than Competitive/Unrated/Swiftplay. Goal: more consistent match quality and future improvements to core ranked modes.

Agent Bug Fixes

Chamber - ADS animation bug fixed. Jett - Tailwind animation bug (left‑handed mode) and Drift performance drops fixed. Sage - No longer wastes heal on herself while under Decay. Viper - Recon Bolt/Trademark now properly affected by nearsight in Viper’s Pit. Vyse - Drones no longer incorrectly trigger wall arming audio. Neon - Fast Lane exploit fixed; she returns to the game.

Player Behavior Updates Riot’s text‑abuse detection improved across 13 languages, including Polish, English, German, French, Japanese, and more.

PC‑Only Performance Added support for AMD Anti‑Lag 2 (requires compatible hardware + March 2026 drivers).

Console‑Only Fixes Phoenix Curveball tooltip updated.

Known Issues Skirmish Ascension modes have timer and combat‑report bugs.

Neo ain't dead yet, but games will be ahrder with her and easier against her! If you need help, we can do it! CHeck our offer here: Valorant Boosting