Hey everyone! As of 2026, Riot Games just dropped the preview for Valorant's upcoming Patch 5.10 on the Public Beta Environment (PBE), and let me tell you, the changes are HUGE. We're talking major shifts for two key agents, Cypher and Fade. In a game as competitive and finely tuned as Valorant, every balance update feels like a seismic event, and Riot knows we're watching closely. They even hopped onto the subreddit to explain their reasoning directly—big respect for that transparency. So, let's dive into what's cooking.

First up, Fade is getting tuned down, and honestly, it's about time for some of you out there. According to Riot's Community Manager, the main culprit is her Prowlers. Those creepy doggos have been way too versatile and frustrating to play against. The devs are hitting them with a duration nerf, meaning Fade players will need to be more deliberate about where they send their Prowlers to sweep. No more just throwing them out willy-nilly and hoping for the best! There are also some adjustments to make counterplay easier for the opposing team. On top of that, her ultimate, Nightfall, is getting a slight cost increase from 7 to 8 points. It's a small change, but every point matters in a tight round.

Now, for the main event... CYPHEEERRR BUFFS ARE FINALLY HERE! 🎉 The sentinel mains who've been suffering in silence, this is our moment. Riot is tackling two big issues: the predictability of his setups and the lack of reward for his ultimate. Let's break it down:

• Trapwire: The max length is getting a massive boost from 1,000 to 1,500. This opens up so many new, sneaky setups across maps. But wait, there's more! The BEST CHANGE in this entire patch, hands down, is that allied area-of-effect damage (like Raze grenades or Brimstone mollies) will NO LONGER destroy Cypher's own traps. I can't even count how many times my own team has accidentally wiped my setup. This is a game-changer for teamplay.

• Neural Theft (Ultimate): This ability is getting a complete overhaul to make it more impactful.

  • It now reveals enemies TWICE, with a 4-second gap between pings. No more one-and-done info!

  • The cast time has been REMOVED. Instant activation, baby! 😎

  • The cast distance has been increased from 1,200 to 1,800. You can now use a corpse from much further away.

These changes are designed to make his ult feel like a true game-winning tool, not just a slightly fancy recon dart.

Beyond the agent meta, we're getting some slick quality-of-life updates for the menu. Remember the one-click navigation between tabs like Home, Battlepass, Agents, etc.? It was removed a while back, but due to community feedback, IT'S BACK! You can now jump around the main menu with just one click from anywhere. Also, new tooltips will appear when you hover over icons, explaining what they do before you click. This is a godsend for new players still figuring out the UI.

Menu Improvement	What It Does
One-Click Navigation	Instantly jump between major menu sections (Home, Store, Agents, etc.).
Hover Tooltips	See descriptions of menu icons by hovering your mouse over them.

Finally, the patch squashes some bugs. Most notably, they've fixed issues with Harbor, our water-controller from India. His Cascade ability had a bug where the projectile could spawn under the map (oops 😅), and the range indicator was showing the wrong distance. Both of these have been addressed.

As always, this is the PBE preview, so the exact numbers might tweak before the patch goes live on the main servers. But the direction is clear: making Cypher a more viable and rewarding pick, reining in Fade's oppressive utility, and smoothing out the player experience. What do you all think? Are you excited to try out the new Cypher, or sad to see Fade get nerfed? Let me know in the comments! This patch is shaping up to be one of the most impactful in recent memory. GG go next!