Patch 13.06 alters what players do before a VALORANT match, how the game judges them afterward, and what their Career page keeps on record. The update merges Home and Lobby, allows Range practice during eligible matchmaking waits, adds Performance Score, Accolades and Rank Legacy, and launches Gauntlet: Glitched as a limited-time mode. Riot has also named features for future versions, so not everything discussed around the patch is live yet.
The merged hub aims to cut out the trip between forming a party and picking what to play. Party members stay visible while events, missions, modes, the current map pool and leaderboards can all be reached from the same screen. Global navigation was rearranged as well. In Collection, a visual marker now flags rewards earned in recent games; viewing the item or finishing that game session removes the marker rather than leaving it up indefinitely.
The most useful pre-match change is an optional warm-up during matchmaking. Players can begin a search and then move into the Practice Range, or join the queue from inside the Range. The option is conditional: Riot may hide it when it expects a fast match and show it if the wait grows longer. Playlists that skip Agent Select fall outside the system, as do Premier and Deathmatch, so a missing button in those cases follows the published rules and does not mean the patch failed to install.
Performance Score changes the match summary
Average Combat Score no longer determines the MVP label or the order of the scoreboard in Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay and Premier. That role passes to Performance Score, a 0-to-500 rating that looks past raw damage and eliminations. The post-game breakdown shows which contributions shaped the total and how far the player was from a Masterful performance. Riot does not present this score as a new rank, rating or MMR value; it is better seen as a wider match-summary measure for the supported queues.
Accolades track notable achievements on their own timeline. They start collecting data with this release, log best performances for the current Act and across a player’s lifetime, and show up both after a match and in the Competitive Hub. Earlier match data is not counted, and only Competitive and Premier can grant them. Rank Legacy is a separate ledger that keeps a record of ranks already reached. Hitting the same rank can increase its counter once per three-Act block, while dropping back into it through demotion adds nothing.
These records live in a reworked Career area. The main view groups favored Agents, recent games and rank together, and Accolades and Rank Legacy each get their own Competitive Hub page. Other players can still see the public Career information and hub overview, but the deeper dedicated pages are visible only to the account owner. The split adds personal history without turning every detailed record into part of the public profile.
The post-match sequence follows the same logic. Performance, rewards and match information now run as one flow, highlighting promotions, MVP recognition and progress on the new records where they apply. The sequence advances automatically, though players can slow it down, open more detail, queue for another game right away or return to the lobby.
Riot also attached updated anti-boosting figures to the patch. Its detection program reportedly removes 1600 accounts each day and has passed 90,000 bans since July 20. These are Riot’s enforcement totals rather than proof that boosting has disappeared from ranked play. They indicate the reported scale of the current action while the company says the work continues.
Gauntlet adds a separate experimental loop
Gauntlet: Glitched is a self-contained experiment, not a reworking of Competitive. Its lobby holds 16 players split into eight duos. Each round pits a pair in a 2v2 fight against one of seven other teams. Losing a fight drains team health; when the reserve hits zero, that pair is eliminated and can leave for another queue without watching the remaining rounds. The weapon set changes as stages progress, and the health cost of losing grows later in the run.
Between fights, the pair assembles a kit from randomized Agent abilities. A pick can fill a new slot or upgrade an existing option from Level 1 toward Level 3, and rerolls offer a different set of possibilities. Reaching Level 2 can rarely trigger an intentionally odd glitched effect. Fights happen across four compact arenas built from recognizable environment ideas, but the drafted combinations and health loop exist only in this mode.
The roadmap in the notes needs its own boundaries. Map Rating is tied to Patch 13.08, not the current client update. Competitive Flex and a revision of the Radiant experience are assigned to Patch 14.00. Patch 13.06 delivers the consolidated front end, eligible queue warm-ups, the new evaluation and record systems, and Gauntlet now; the later items remain announcements.
Patch 13.06 focuses on the whole match routine more than on a single balance change. The lobby is simpler, some waits can turn into practice time, and the result screen gives a fuller account of performance and progress. Gauntlet offers a separate ruleset for experimenting. Map Rating, Competitive Flex and the Radiant work stay outside this release until their stated versions arrive.
