Riot Games released Patch 13.09 on October 27, 2026, adding Hush as the ninth Duelist agent in Valorant. The update also buffs the Warden rifle’s handling, nerfs Clove’s post-resurrection movement speed, introduces two new official buff terms—Haste and Snapshot—and adjusts several competitive rating systems including Performance Score and Map Rating.
Hush Brings Telekinetic Displacement to the Duelist Role
Hush hails from Guangdong province, China, and was first shown to the public on October 18 during Valorant Champions. Riot Games described her as a precision fighter who “redirects her combat utility in midair to disrupt and displace the enemy team before suspending them helplessly for the killing blow.”
Her kit is built around repositioning—both her own and the enemy’s:
- Telekinesis (Passive): Increased interaction range with weapons, the Spike, and switches.
- Displacement (Signature): A throwable that pulls players toward its center and concusses them on collision. The charge resets every two kills, making it a potent post-plant or retake tool.
- Flashbulb: A throwable flash that affects all players looking at it, including teammates—positioning matters.
- Flow: Creates an anchor point, levitates Hush briefly, then propels her toward the anchor. This is her primary entry and reposition tool.
- Suspension (Ultimate): A forward-cast projectile that levitates all players caught in its detonation radius.
The Displacement reset on two kills is the detail that will shape how teams draft around her. A Duelist whose signature ability comes back mid-round after a double kill can chain entries in ways other Duelists cannot. Flashbulb’s friendly-fire flash adds a coordination tax that solo-queue teams will feel immediately.
Warden Gets the Handling Buff It Needed
The Warden, introduced in Patch 13.06 at 2,900 credits, has drawn consistent feedback that its recoil pattern punished sustained fire too harshly for its price tier. Riot Games said it had “been monitoring player feedback on how the Warden has been playing out in games” and that the changes aim to improve the gun’s “base versatility and handling to better fit its current 2900 pricing.”
The specific adjustments:
- Pitch recoil smoothed for the first few bullets.
- Second bullet spread error reduced from 0.25 to 0.2.
- Third bullet spread error reduced from 0.6 to 0.5.
These are modest numbers on paper, but the Warden’s problem was never single-shot accuracy—it was the wall players hit when trying to tap-fire beyond three rounds. Smoothing the early pitch recoil and tightening the second and third bullet spread should make controlled bursts more forgiving without turning the gun into a spray-and-pray option. At 2,900 credits the Warden sits between the Spectre and the Vandal, and this change is Riot’s attempt to justify that slot.
Clove Loses Speed, Enemies Gain Rewards
Clove’s Pick-me-up movement speed bonus drops from 15 percent to 10 percent. Riot Games framed the change as aligning Clove with “roster-standard values,” which is developer shorthand for: the number was an outlier and it made Clove harder to trade against after a resurrection than intended.
The more consequential change is the new kill reward. Killing a Clove who has activated Not Dead Yet now grants the killing player one ultimate point and one signature ability refresh. Previously, securing that kill gave nothing extra beyond the standard credit reward. This creates a concrete incentive to hunt down a resurrected Clove rather than repositioning or playing for time, and it partially offsets the frustration of losing a fight to someone who got a second life.
New Buff Terminology and Competitive Adjustments
Riot Games introduced two new official terms to reduce confusion in the HUD and in replays:
- Haste: The official name for increased movement speed buffs. Waylay’s Convergent Paths buff was renamed to Haste because the two effects are identical. This is distinct from Combat Stim, which increases fire rate, equip speed, reload speed, and recovery speed.
- Snapshot: The official name for the still-image silhouette reveal debuff, associated with Cypher’s Neural Theft and Spy Cam.
Riot Games said the distinction “should add clarity to when you receive or refresh a Combat Stim buff, a Haste buff, or both.” For players who have been calling every speed boost a “stim” in comms, this is a vocabulary correction that will matter more for spectators and content creators than for in-game decision-making.
On the competitive side, three systems received adjustments:
- Performance Score on Hush: Riot Games warned that “your scores on Hush may be a bit bumpy in the first few days as we tune what good utility use looks like.” Hush is the first agent released since Performance Score launched, so the system has no baseline data for her kit.
- Act Best Match and Map Rating: Act Best Match now carries a larger weight in Map Rating calculations each Act, intended to “better highlight consistency and peaks.”
- First Blood Accolade: The threshold to earn the accolade was raised, making it harder to obtain. Historic counts are unaffected.
Two smaller notes: Jett’s passive was removed from the Buy Menu for consistency with other non-purchaseable passives, and Korean players can now purchase Radianite Points directly in-game.
What This Means for Ranked Players
If you main Duelist: Hush’s Displacement reset on two kills makes her a strong pick on maps with tight chokepoints where a double kill is achievable before the site hit. Flow gives her a vertical entry option that no other Duelist currently has. Expect a learning curve—Riot has already flagged that Performance Score will be unreliable on her for the first few days.
If you main Clove: The 5 percent speed reduction on Pick-me-up is small in isolation but compounds with the new kill reward. Enemies now have a mechanical reason to chase you down after Not Dead Yet rather than letting the timer expire. Adjust your post-resurrection positioning accordingly.
If you buy rifles: The Warden’s recoil smoothing makes it a more viable option in the 2,900 slot, particularly for players who prefer tap-firing at medium range. It will not replace the Vandal for long-range duels, but the handling improvement should make it less punishing in close-to-mid engagements.
If you track your rating: Act Best Match now matters more for Map Rating. One strong performance in an Act will move the needle further than before, which rewards peak games but also means a single bad Act can hurt more. The First Blood Accolade change is cosmetic for most players but will matter to those chasing completion milestones.