Valorant Patch 13.09 Will Nerf Clove and Buff the Warden

Dataminer valohabercisi has revealed which changes may arrive in Valorant with patch 13.09, coming next week. According to him, Riot Games will nerf Clove and reduce the Warden rifle’s recoil. Dataminers also found ultimate nerfs for several Initiators in the game files, but those will most likely come later.

Clove is getting the most changes. The speed boost from Pick-Me-Up (C) will drop from 15% to 10%. Her Not Dead Yet ultimate is changing too: if you kill Clove after she activates it, enemies will get an ultimate point and a refresh of their signature ability. On top of that, after using her ultimate, Clove will no longer earn ultimate points from kills for the rest of the round. In other words, the developers want aggressive plays with Clove’s ultimate to come at a price.

The other changes involve the new Warden. The rifle, which only arrived in Valorant in September with patch 13.06, is getting a buff instead. The developers will slightly reduce vertical recoil on the first four shots:

• 1st shot: 0.6 → 0.45;
• 2nd shot: 1.5 → 0.9;
• 3rd shot: 2.5 → 1.8;
• 4th shot: 3.75 → 3.2.

On top of that, valohabercisi found several more changes in the early-access client with the new agent Hush that aren’t live in the game yet. All of them affect Initiator ultimates and make them weaker:

• Gekko: while controlling his ultimate, the minimap and field of view will be limited to 17 meters, where there was no limit before.
• Skye: while controlling Trailblazer, view distance and minimap range will drop from 22.5 to 19.1 meters.
• Sova: his ultimate’s beam will be about 6% narrower.
• KAY/O: the files contain a new version of the revive during his ultimate. Allies will have to stand within 2 meters instead of 3.25, and the destructible 500 HP sphere will be removed and replaced with a “MOVE CLOSER” prompt.

According to the leaker, these changes will most likely arrive after the Game Changers Championship, which runs in São Paulo from October 22 to November 1. So don’t expect them before November.

As a reminder, there were earlier rumors about buffs for Killjoy and other Sentinels, along with nerfs for Neon and Chamber. However, none of them appear in the list of changes valohabercisi published. This could mean Riot is still working on those adjustments and will release them in a later patch, or that the earlier rumors won’t pan out. Patch 13.09 will most likely arrive on October 27–28 alongside Hush, so that’s when we’ll find out which leaks were true.