VALORANT has officially entered its fourth year since its release in 2020, with the beginning of 2024 marking the start of Episode 8 Act 1. Similar to its previous episodes, Episode 8 will also be divided into three different Acts, during which players will see a wide range of changes, map rotations, nerfs, buffs, and a lot more.
With that said, fans are super excited for the arrival of a brand-new Episode and everything it’ll feature, from a new battle pass to several changes to new agents. Here’s everything there is to know about the upcoming Episode, including its release date and what it’ll feature.
When will VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 be released?
VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 is set to come out on January 9, 2024, meaning that Episode 7 is going to end earlier on the same day. Moreover, according to previous Acts, Episode 8 Act 1 will go live only a couple of hours after the end of Episode 7. Although it’s expected to go live at 2 PM PT (5 PM ET/10 PM BST), similar to previous Acts, the release time is actually always subject to change since it’s a new Episode.
Like always, Riot Games will end the Ranked queue sooner so that the servers can easily go under maintenance for the smooth transfer from one Episode to another. The Night Market is also set to come to an end a day prior to the release of Episode 8 Act 1.
What’s new in VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1?
As of right now, we know from Riot Games themselves that Icebox will be returning to the competitive map pool in the next episode, and Haven will be removed. This will make the map pool consist of Ascent, Bind, Breeze, Icebox, Lotus, Split, and Sunset. This means that Lotus will be the only map left in the pool with three bomb sites, making it stand out even more from the rest.
Riot Games also plans to implement new changes to Lotus and Icebox to make them more balanced in Episode 8, however, we don’t know as of writing this article if these changes will be introduced in Act 1 or in the future Acts. Other than this, it is also rumored that Riot Games will finally introduce a new weapon to the game for the first time since its launch. Players can also expect some balancing changes to Agents going into the next Episode, as usual.
