The new Ranked Shield arrives with VALORANT patch 10.01, stopping you from dropping ranks after you have a bad game.
Another fortnight has passed, which means Riot Games' popular first-person shooter gets an update. VALORANT patch 10.01 goes live and adds the new Ranked Shield to the game. We've got all you need to know about it here, along with a look at the rest of the patch notes.
How does the Ranked Shield work in VALORANT?
Ranked Shields, of course, are only available in VALORANT's Competitive queue. Each player gets two of them while in the first tier of any rank except Radiant. That means the likes of Silver I, Gold I, Platinum I, etc.
If you lose a game while at 0 RR, the first of your shields is consumed. Lose another game any time after that at 0 RR, then the second shield is consumed. Once that happens, you'll derank if you lose a game at 0 RR.
There are no Ranked Shields in the other tiers of the VALORANT ranked system. If you make it out of Gold 1 for example, you won't retain your shields in Gold 2. They'll only be usable in that first tier.
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Everything else in the VALORANT 10.01 patch notes
The Ranked Shields are definitely the most important part of VALORANT patch 10.01. Everything else in the patch notes are just bug fixes found across all platforms, and for PC and console specifically. So, here you are:
- Tejo
- Fixed an issue where players who exited then re-entered Armageddon's blast zone do not count as Displaced in the Combat Report.
- Fixed an issue where Guided Salvo's projectile would get stuck inside of Sage's wall when cast towards a path blocked by one.
- Fixed an issue where Stealth Drone affected by Nearsight could see enemy player models at certain distances.
- Improved an issue where Guided Salvo's smoke trail VFX could clip through walls and structures.
- Fixed an issue where Stealth Drone is slowed outside the AOE of Sage's Slow Orb.
- Fixed an issue where Guided Salvo's missile visuals are set to draw as a cylinder instead of a sphere, showing an incorrect damage zone.
- Fixed an issue where Artillery Missile loses functionality and appears as stuck if cast while being outside of the map.
- Fixed an issue where Guided Salvo damages players on elevation without showing a warning indicator.
- Bind
- Fixed an issue where invisible collision would sometimes impede Agent utility inside one of the teleporter rooms.
- Premier (PC Only)
- Fixed an issue where there were inconsistent font sizes on the Change Zone and the Delete Team pop-up screens.
- Fixed an issue where matches in match history did not show a mode tooltip when you hovered over them.
- Fixed an issue where the ineligibility warning tooltip in the lobby was very hard to trigger.
- Competitive Systems (Console Only)
- Fixed a bug where the queue timer overlaps with a portion of the Leaderboard page.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and VALORANT coverage.
