Way back in early August, Riot Games posted a very comprehensive blog post about Valorant’s hit registration. In this post, software engineer Kevin Lee explains that what we see on the screen when playing is different from what happens on the server.

"In a game like VALORANT, hit registration is arguably one of the most
important systems given that the difference between a win or loss can
come down to a single headshot. Our goal as developers is to ensure that
when a player fires a shot, the outcome of the shot is clear,
feels right, and is above all else, correct."

Just today, a new update for Valorant has been released, and there have been some changes made with regard to the effects the players see when taking a shot to hopefully avoid or lessen any misunderstandings.

Some of the major changes are the following:

• A new “small spark VFX” will show up wherever your shots land. This VFX will not move in order for you to adjust your aim. Just a heads up, though, that even if you do see this effect over an enemy, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you were able to hit them. This is because this new VFX is client-side. You will know if you do hit the enemy if the VFX moves along with them.
• The headshot VFX has been changed to something smaller, which will make it easier to track players through it.
• The hit effect for hitting an enemy has been tweaked, as well. This will now move or follow the direction of the part that you were aiming for. In other words, if the enemy you’re shooting at is in the process of crouching, the hit effect will not go over their head as this will make it seem like you scored a headshot that did not register. Instead, the hit effect will go downward, following their chest as they crouch.

You can check out the complete list and explanations of the VFX changes in Valorant’s patch notes. However, the important thing that you just need to take note of is that the small spark VFX will only tell you where your shots have landed in the client, whereas shots that hit will create a VFX that will move with the enemy’s body.

Moving on, this newest update has also brought about changes to the agents as well as the guns. It’s a big win for Viper in this patch since her Toxic Screen ability not only goes up faster, but it can be positioned through the spawn barriers even during the buy phase.

In addition to that, Viper’s Pit will now be visible on the minimaps of teammates. What’s more, her Decay damage from her smoke abilities will no longer affect allies.

The bad news is that Riot nerfed Sage’s healing. From 100 HP, Sage now heals for 60 HP. Also, it will now take twice as long when Sage heals herself.

"Our goal is to reduce the amount of healing done throughout the round.
Disincentivize Sage from self healing and make it more expensive to do so."

There have been changes made to Killjoy, as well. For one thing, there will now be a delay in Nanoswarm before it gets to inflict any damage, and will now only do 40 damage instead of 60. On the plus side, however, positive tweaks have been made to her Turret.

This new patch will now also give you the option to hide your name from members that are not a part of your party in order to avoid harassment.

Valorant’s most recent update is a big one, so we have only provided you with a summary. If you wish to read the complete details about this patch, you can check out the patch notes on the Valorant blog.