Ahead of Valorant’s Episode 5 Act 1, Riot Games has revealed a brand new map inspired by Portugal.The trailer is pearl The unveiling at 6pm BST will soon be followed by a plethora of community games between developers livestreaming and content creators.
Riot also kindly gave me access to the map for a while, and needless to say, Valorant players will get to know the ins and outs of PEARL when it launches on June 22nd.
New Valorant map, PEARL
PEARL marks Valorant’s eighth map since it first launched more than two years ago, and will be the first map set in Omega Earth, kicking off a new narrative arc for the story of Valorant and its twenty agents. The map also has no fancy mechanics like gates and teleports to consider, and focuses on three lanes surrounded by water and the two sites it hosts.
The two-dot map is entirely geographically driven and heavily inspired by Portuguese culture. In some cases, certain areas of the map are authentically created by Portuguese artists, and the map is vibrant and alive. I can already see that this underwater city is a favorite of many.
PEARL will officially introduce Valorant on June 22, and the map will be unavailable for competitive play for two weeks after launch, giving players time to get used to the map first. You can also join the PEARL-only queue, so you can practice unrated games as much as you want on the map.
New competitive tier, Ascendant
That’s not all that the first act of Episode 5 brings players, though. Patch 5.0 will introduce one of the bigger changes we’ve seen in recent months, a brand new competitive tier called Ascendant.
This rank will be above Diamond, but below Immortal, and has been introduced to help with rank distribution. Riot is well aware that there are too many players outside of the Bronze and Silver tiers, but they don’t want to overpopulate the Platinum and Diamond tiers; therefore, we’ll see Ascendant players soon.
New Sci-Fi FPS Skin Pack, Chaos Prelude
The skin lines in Episode 5 Act 1 are heavily inspired by sci-fi FPS games. Prelude to Chaos will feature spray, companion, and melee skins, plus more skins for Vandal, Operator, Shorty, and Stinger. Considering it’s an otherworldly dual-wielding sword, Melee is sure to impress some.
This bundle will cost 8700 VP.
Episode 5, Act 1 Battlepass revealed
Episode 5, Act 1 The Battle Pass consists of various sprays, buddies, and three different skin lines.
The Shimmer Skin Line is a pink, shimmer, unicorn lover’s dream. Mystery skins are available for Classic, Judge, Bulldog and Stinger. Ares, Ghost, Guardian and Operator can all use the Spitfire skin, which is a simple hot skin. Finally, those who pass the Battle Pass will receive Task Force 809’s Frenzy, Marshal, Phantom, and Spectre skins. There’s also a Task Force 809 melee weapon, and these are honestly the least appealing skins.
Riot’s producer Laura Baltzer shared that the team wanted to boost player morale with this battle pass, “We wanted to create items that made players feel like they were the best.”
Laura details some examples, “We Can Do It spray shows our favorite Aussie initiator encouraging her teammates. Your Task Force 809 Phantom can do a few repetitions with a heavy lifting buddy and keep firing. Even Yes Tactibunny can also use the Tactibunny Terror Player Card. You can even use the Waddle Walk Animated Spray against teammates and enemies.”
These are just a few of the featured items in the Battle Pass that you can look forward to polishing when it arrives on June 22nd.
Traditionally, Battlepass will cost 1000 VP.
From June 22nd you’ll be able to check everything out for yourself, but in the meantime, what do you think of the new map PEARL and the introduction of the Ascendant tier?
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