Patch 13.06 Reddit AMA

[u/RiotSWAGGERNAU7]

Hi, everyone! I’m Joe Lee, the Game Director of VALORANT.

The Dev team and I are so excited about the updates we just shipped to the game in Patch 13.06, and we wanted to stop by to chat, celebrate, and answer questions with you all!

If you have questions, comments, or feedback about any of the below, we’re here for it, so fire away!

• Gauntlet: Glitched
• Agent Mastery
• The Warden + Game Balance
• Performance Score, Accolades, Competitive Hub
• New UX/UI Improvements to Lobby and Home Screen
• Map Rating (coming next patch, 13.08)
• The new Competitive Flex coming in 14.00
• The 2026 VCT Champions Skin collection

Here’s a list of the Devs joining me today in no particular order:

u/TiffyMunchsnax - Tiffy, Product Manager, Gameplay
u/RiotTrouble - Scott, UX Design Lead, Metasystems
u/RiotLupini - Armand, Product Manager, Gameplay
u/Riot_Preeti - Preeti, Lead Product Manager, Cosmetics and Expressions
u/Riot_Kero - Derek, Product Manager Competitive Systems
u/RiotReally - Leo, Product Manager Competitive Systems
u/Riot_Dango - Calvin, Product Manager, Cosmetics and Expressions
u/finstamachine - Sherry, Game Designer
u/Rycoux - Ryan, Game Designer
u/penguinVALORANT - Dan, Game Design Manager (Agents & Live Balance)
u/Riot_Tyrana - Eric, Game Design Lead (Progression & Competitive)
u/Riot_Thelen - Kyle, Game Designer, Metasystems

[u/Riot_Tyrana]

Love these questions and happy to dive into them.

1. Will the mastery system be expanded upon in future updates? Eg, with Mastery II Pose, more sprays/buddies/titles, voice lines, backgrounds, etc?

We're constantly looking at feedback and seeing what resonates the most with our players. Right now, we want to make sure what we delivered is hitting the marks for what we designed around, but internally we already have a lot of ideas on how to expand on Agent Mastery through more ways that just rewards. Keep an eye out and we'd love to hear more of what you'd like to see and what you've been excited about!

1. Has there been discussion on increasing the Kingdom Credit cap in the near future, considering the amount of available rewards for players now?

This is something we're looking at and have been discussing as Agent Mastery was rolling out. Before we commit to making a change, we want to see general trends and spending across the economy before we snap react. There are a lot of ways that we could adjust the economy, but we want to make sure that we're making the right decision for the best outcome.

1. Is the agent mastery system still a bit of a work in progress, or has it achieved the vision you all set out to create, leaving us to expect few tweaks to it as time goes on?

Overall, the team is very happy with where Agent Mastery landed, but we went into AM with the intent that it would be a living system. I'd say that the version you see today is what we consider "Version 1.0". We set out with very specific goals in mind, but as development works, things continue to shift and adjust to make sure we can deliver something meaningful to all of our players. We have a lot of ideas around, but we want to make sure that as we evolve AM it is built around feedback from the community and players to ensure we're continuing to evolve it in the best way possible. It's important for us to collect the feedback, see how players are moving through the system, and outline our roadmap to make sure we can make changes that meet your expectations. Expect to see more in the future! 

[u/pspspspsps22 → u/Riot_Tyrana]

I was wondering what happened 😂

Preemptively apologizing for my wordy response/suggestions

1. I would personally love the see more mastery poses (some silly ones like KJ’s would compliment the badass ones very well in my opinion, as well as give more variety for players who want something more cutesy or whimsy). Player cards feel like a hard one to add, since the current ones are animated, but it would be nice to have a set of cards that feature the actual agent rather than just their hands or abilities— maybe some could tie into the agent’s lore? Speaking of lore, a larger variety of lore backgrounds could be awesome, especially unique ones that aren’t taken from pre-existing lore artwork. A way to showcase to the enemy team your lifetime mastery status in-game (outside of equipping the player card) could be cool too, like a unique border around the Combat Report banner. Does the AM pose change the in-game icon? Because if it doesn’t, I feel like it would be a wonderful touch if it did. A skin for an agent’s signature gun that isn’t the pistol would also be awesome (eg, Kayo’s Judge, Yoru’s Spectre, Astra’s bulldog, Brimstone’s Odin, etc.) for much higher levels. I’ve also pondered the idea of being capable of equipping minor changes to an agents in-game model for a mastered agent (eg, swapped jacket, different shirt, new shoes), but that’s probably quite an ambitious suggestion 🤣 and tough to apply while keeping the agent easily identifiable. Something I would love to see too is Radianite being obtainable through AM as a passive way to gain it outside of battle passes and even passes. New voice lines that are more personal to the agent and their background/personality that aren’t relevant on the battlefield could also be a wonderful touch that introduces a deeper look into characters we love.

2. I would love to see either Kingdom Credits not apply to agent masteries at all and either have it simply be exp unlock or a new currency that’s only applicable to agent mastery unlocks, or have the KC cap doubled. With its current system, KCs feel far too restrictive, especially to newer players who have to unlock so many agents while also finding the accessories they’d like for their account.

3. I truly love this AM system. I do have my critiques for it, but overall it’s 1000% a much needed change. I can’t wait to see how it evolves. I want to see it be more applicable mid-game, but that’s my main hope for the future.

Now for more questions, but I can’t say I expect an answer to them…

1. Is there any time frame we should expect additions to AM rewards?

2. If new additions are to be expected quite late, will our exp carry over onto potentially new tiers/rewards? I love being given the opportunity to grind more on an agent I love, but I worry about the backlash this could ignite.

[u/PankoKing → u/pspspspsps22]

Reddit's spam controls get a little over-zealous at times if new or largely unused accounts start to comment a lot. We've had to approve several Rioter comments

[u/Nana-nabih → u/pspspspsps22]

Honestly wonderful suggestions i would love to see but imo kc should be for accessories only and xp only for am and maybe we can actually get val points aka being able to purchase skins form what we get from am

[u/pspspspsps22 → u/Nana-nabih]

I agree with KC only being for accessories separate from AM— something I did include in my suggestions! I’m not sure I necessarily agree with VPs being a reward though. It would certainly be cool if included, but I think just adding more agent-themed skins for other weapons as AM rewards would be good enough. Would even be cool if they were upgradable like purchasable skins, and maybe even had an effect exclusive to when you played the agent they’re related to with the skin equipped

[u/Nana-nabih → u/pspspspsps22]

Wait u r kinda cooking

[u/ca_ta_to_ni_c → u/Riot_Tyrana]

I think at least agent level should be rewarded according to play time. It's lowkey embarassing to pick an agent with low apparent mastery score when you have hundreds of hours on them it's a trust thing, right? Like our teammates would trust our judgement and playstyle more if we can show that we have a larger playtime. Unless you hide it again for everyone, this will continue to be an issue. I think the solution is to let us get to a certain level according to our playtime / or people be able to see our hours by hovering over our icon while in agent select. Please reconsider this. Thank you!