Valorant Patch 13.06 adds the Warden rifle and replaces ACS with a new Performance Score

Valorant players in Malaysia logging in this week will find big changes. Patch 13.06, which Riot's official notes date 22 September and which reached players around the world over the following day, brings a new weapon and a new way of scoring players after each match.

The patch is out while Valorant Champions is being played in Shanghai. It does not change any agents, so ranked players can concentrate on the new gun and the new scoring systems.

The Warden: a new scoped rifle

The Warden is a rifle with a 2x scope. Riot's patch notes give these stats:

• Price: 2,900 credits
• Damage: 50 to the body, 200 to the head, 42 to the legs
• Magazine: 18 rounds, with 36 in reserve
• Fire rate: 6.5
• Reload: 2.5 seconds
• Wall penetration: medium

The Warden deals 200 damage to the head, so any headshot is a kill, even through full shields. Its 50 body damage and 6.5 fire rate make it a precise, deliberate gun rather than a spray rifle. At 2,900 credits it costs roughly as much as the Vandal and Phantom, so it will compete with them in full-buy rounds.

Performance Score replaces ACS

For most players, the biggest change is on the scoreboard. Average Combat Score (ACS) is gone, replaced by Performance Score, which runs from 0 to 500. Riot says it measures "more than just damage and kills," although the patch notes don't give the full formula.

Performance Score now decides the match MVP and the scoreboard order. It is used in Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay and Premier.

Two other features come with it:

• Accolades track your best performances across different stats, for the current Act and your whole career. They appear on the end-of-game screen and in the Competitive Hub. They only count Competitive and Premier matches, and older matches don't count.
• Rank Legacy records how many times you have reached each rank. The count can go up once per rank every three Acts, and getting demoted doesn't add to it.

Agent Mastery resets

Agent Mastery now works per agent. Each agent has its own Act levels, Lifetime levels and reward tracks. You earn Mastery Points by winning and playing well. There are 10 main Act levels, with Portrait Accents at levels 4, 7 and 10, and Lifetime rewards are bought with Kingdom Credits. Everyone starts again from zero.

New mode and changes to the queue

Gauntlet: Glitched is a limited-time 2v2 mode. Eight duos fight across four arenas, drafting and upgrading random agent abilities from Level 1 to Level 3. "Glitched" upgrades give some abilities strange effects. You can queue alone or with a friend, and there is a Winner's Circle viewing area.

You can also use the Practice Range while waiting for a match. This doesn't work in Premier or Deathmatch, and it may not show up if the queue is expected to be very short.

Riot also fixed ultimate voice lines being cut off, a problem with flashes and possessable abilities, and a visual bug on Cypher's Trapwire.

What it means for Malaysian players

With Paper Rex and Malaysia's d4v41 playing at Champions, a lot of local players will be queuing this weekend. Expect the Warden in ranked games straight away, and expect debate about how Performance Score compares with ACS.

Key takeaways

• Patch 13.06 adds the Warden, a 2,900-credit 2x-scope rifle that does 200 headshot damage.
• Performance Score (0–500) replaces ACS and decides MVP and scoreboard order.
• Accolades and Rank Legacy add long-term stat tracking. Agent Mastery progress resets to zero.
• There are no agent balance changes in this patch.

FAQ

Is ACS gone from Valorant? Yes. Performance Score has replaced it in Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay and Premier.

Does the Warden kill with one headshot? It deals 200 damage to the head, which is more than a fully shielded player's 150 health and armour combined.

Did my Agent Mastery progress carry over? No. Riot says everyone starts again from zero under the new system.

Sources: Riot Games (VALORANT Patch Notes 13.06), Esports.net