VALORANT Patch 10.09: Tejo Takes a Tumble Critical Nerfs

VALORANT Patch 10.09 is here, and it will take Tejo and Breach down a peg while opening up opportunities for other Initiators to shine. In addition, new Gifting updates will allow players to show appreciation to more friends, and Swiftplay will be smoother for Killjoy, Viper and Breach. Let's explore everything we know about Patch 10.09, including its in-depth agent and system changes and how they will affect the meta.

How Will VALORANT Patch 10.09 Affect the Meta?

Since Tejo's introduction in Patch 10.0, the game has experienced an initiator-heavy meta. Double-initiator comps are common in all ranks and nearly all maps, often with Tejo in tow. One of Tejo's most common double-initiator partners is Breach, whose stun and slow abilities work well with his Guided Salvos and Ultimate. The pairing provides a crushing amount of post-plant utility and makes it easy for initiators to solo carry and create impact with self-sufficient aggression. Teams like G2, DRX, Apeks and VCT China Stage 1 winners XLG have all been running this comp in pro play. The Tejo/Breach combo was so powerful for G2 that trent exclusively played Tejo during VCT Americas' entire first stage, and the team qualified for Masters Toronto.

Related Article: This VALORANT Pro Has Played a Single Agent the Whole VCT Americas Season

Patch 10.09's heavy Tejo adjustments will generally result in a nerf and mainly target his post-plant utility. His Guided Salvo will no longer recharge, meaning Tejo players must consider their uses more carefully. A range reduction also forces him to play nearer to the spike after planting, and his cheaper Special Delivery bomb encourages closer combat. In addition, Tejo's Ultimate will cost an extra point; this makes it harder for him to snowball and chain clutches throughout rounds. Essentially, this will push him closer to a traditional initiator function. Meanwhile, Breach stun changes will make it easier to dodge.

These changes may give other initiators time to shine. Sova, a popular pro pick outside Tejo and Breach, will probably see the most increase in the meta since his drone now has an equal price to Tejo's. Tejo's shorter Guided Salvo range will make fellow post-plant Initiator Fade another competitor. She is occasionally played in pro and has a healthy 50.9% win rate in Ascendant+ ranked according to tracker.gg. KAY/O is also increasingly viable in pro and regular Ranked after a big 10.06 buff, though his Ascendant win rate remains around 45%. Skye and Gekko are virtually unseen in pro, but have decent win rates in high ranks at about 50% each.

In addition, double-Initiator metas usually affect Sentinels and Controllers the worst. These comps easily bulldoze Sentinel utility while negating Controller smokes with constant information and flashes. Killjoy, Cypher, Sage and Vyse mains, alongside all smoke Agents, will enjoy 10.09 as it will be far easier to maintain map space.

VALORANT Patch 10.09 Winners and Losers

Let's explore the biggest winners (receiving buffs) and losers (receiving nerfs) of VALORANT Patch 10.09.

Winners:

• None (direct)
• Sentinels and Controllers (indirect)

Losers:

• Tejo (generally a nerf, though Special Delivery is buffed)
• Breach

VALORANT Patch 10.09 Agent Changes

Without further ado, here's a quick summary of Patch 10.09's Agent changes. Once again, these will mainly affect Initiators Tejo and Breach.

Tejo

Essentially, Tejo changes will generally nerf him while also encouraging closer-range combat. Developers have offered the following statements about Tejo changes:

"We hear you. And we agree that Tejo has been overperforming in some factors. We’re constantly monitoring the state of our Agents and feel that Tejo’s rockets have led to higher frequency of unhealthy game states, such as Tejo’s repeated usage of his rockets being able to swing rounds without sacrificing as much compared to other Initiators."

• Guided Salvo:
• Is now a non-rechargeable ability.
• Cost: 150 credits.
• 1 charge granted at round start.
• Each individual rocket consumes one charge.
• Cooldown removed.
• Map Targeting Range: 55m > 45m.

Devs state about Guided Salvo: "We want to maintain Guided Salvo as an ability that is very powerful and reliable at clearing space, but increase the commitment so that wasted or uninformed casts are less free, and so opponents have room to iterate and try different things round-over-round. [....] We’ve changed the Guided Salvo to be more flexible but have adopted the no recharge model (like on Skye) to maintain the power of the rockets while also increasing cost per cast. We’ve also reduced the ability to easily stall across the map in a handful of scenarios we felt wasn’t healthy."

• Stealth Drone:
• Cost: 300 > 400

• Special Delivery:
• Cost: 300 > 200

• Armageddon:
• Ult Points required: 8 > 9

Breach

Breach changes are more minor but will make his stun easier to outplay and dodge. Devs say:

"Breach’s Fault Line has felt below our counterplay bar for abilities. We want to increase the amount of situations where you could get out of Breach’s stun if you aren’t completely in the center."

• Fault Line:
• Time until detonation: 1 > 1.2 seconds

VALORANT Patch 10.09 System Updates

In addition to VALORANT Patch 10.09's Agent updates, smaller Swiftplay changes are arriving to ensure all agents can use their Ultimate during the mode's shorter matches. The gifting limit is also increasing, so players can drop their whole team buys IRL.

Swiftplay

• Breach, Killjoy and Viper: Starting Ultimate points 1 > 3

Gifting

• The gifting limit per day is now 10 instead of 5.
• This change will go live on May 15, when Riot Games releases its Give Back //V25 bundle. Each item in this bundle will donate to a charity, even if you gift it to a friend!

For a full list of updates, including in-depth bug fixes and known issues, check Riot Games' official VALORANT 10.09 Patch Notes here.

Related Article: Why Did Tenz Leave Sentinels? Full Story Explained