What’s New in VALORANT Episode 2 Act II

Is it really that time again? It seems as if you only just arrived at VALORANT Episode 2.

Astra keeps opponents in the dark with a new dimension of play, Prime//2.0 is this year’s highly anticipated upgrade, the newest Battlepass adds items for you to earn, and more—detailed below in our handy Act II guide.

AGENT: ASTRA

She’s got every corner of the universe covered.

Harness the cosmos to sway the battle as Astra, VALORANT’s next Agent. Go astral and recruit the stars to trap, concuss, and smoke your enemies. Call upon her Cosmic Divide to raise a wall that subdues audio and absorbs enemy fire into an abyss of stars.

See all of Astra’s abilities here.

WEAPON SKIN BUNDLE: PRIME//2.0

When you just wanna feel purple, gold, black, and white.

Prime//2.0 is the evolution to last year’s summer blockbuster, with a promise to deliver more action with a new cast of weapons: Phantom, Odin, Frenzy Bucky, and a karambit-style melee. Buy the bundle to nab the Gun Buddy, Player Card, and melee for zero extra VP.

ACT II BATTLEPASS

Play VALORANT during Act II, earn XP, and progress toward unlocking cosmetic items for your collection: weapon skins, Player Cards, Gun Buddies, Sprays, and Titles.

Buy the Act II Premium Battlepass to add another layer of goods like the Cavalier Vandal, POLYfrog Spectre or the Prism III melee axe with variants.

Learn more about VALORANT’s Battlepass system here.

COMPETITIVE: MATCHMAKING IMPROVEMENTS

Here’s another chance to improve your rank or maintain your reign at the top.

With these Competitive matchmaking changes, you can now queue with a wider group of friends at lower ranks, and only 1 placement match is required if you earned a rank during Episode 2 Act I.

Explore Patch Notes 2.04 for the full changes.

There are more updates planned throughout the Act that should improve the overall Competitive queue experience. You can read about those in the Act II plans article and the post on behavior detection and penalties.