Riot Games has revealed new updates coming to the closed beta of their tactical first-person shooter VALORANT. The new patch, patch 0.5, is making impactful adjustments to four of the agents available: Sage, Cypher, Omen, and Viper. The goal is, as Riot Games says: "to better align them with their intended roles and to balance abilities that we found to be either too weak or too powerful in common situations."

For Sage and Cypher players, the patch isn't a joyful occasion. Sage's Slow Orb will last significantly shorter, dropping from a nine-second duration to lasting just seven seconds. Additionally, the effect of it has been toned down in power: instead of a 65% slow amount, it'll now reduce the speed of whoever is walking on it by 50%. To round up the nerfs to Sage, Riot is increasing her Barrier Orb cost from 300 to 400 credits. About the changes, the VALORANT developers state: "We all know Sage is OP. We’ve decided to try to reduce some of her stopping power while still allowing her to fulfill her role as the premier staller in VALORANT. These changes aim to reduce the overall efficacy of her Slow Orb, especially if they are chained back-to-back."

Cypher's Cyber Cage and Spycam are being lowered in power. Though he is meant to be an expert when it comes to gathering information, he was overperforming a bit in that area. Therefore, whenever an enemy walks through a triggered Cyber Cage, it will no longer reveal their silhouette. The Spycam goes on a longer cooldown: instead of being available 30 seconds after being destroyed, you'll now have to wait 45 seconds.

The sky is a lot clearer for fans of Omen and Viper, who both receive considerable buffs. Omen's smoke ability, Dark Cover, will last three seconds longer and now block vision for 15 seconds total. The orb also flies through the sky faster, making it more difficult for enemies to readjust their position quickly. To make Dark Cover not too overpowered, its cooldown is increased from 30 seconds to 35 seconds.

Viper's Snake Bite sees a pretty sizeable buff too—literally speaking. To match the area-denying power of similar abilities of other agents in VALORANT, the radius of Snake Bite is being increased. Instead of affecting an area 350 wide, the venom now spreads over an area 450 wide.

There are a few other, small tweaks made to agents in the patch. The Blast Pack of Raze is doubled in cost and will now cost 200 credits to purchase at the start of the round. The same goes for Phoenix's Curveball, and Brimstone's area-denying ability Incendiary goes up from 200 credits to 300 credits. Jett receives the only cost reduction: her ability Updraft goes down from 200 credits to 100 credits.

Riot Games is also making tweaks to rifles and maps in the latest patch. Read more about that here.

For more VALORANT news, patch notes, and guides, check out our dedicated VALORANT section!