Neon and Shotgun Nerfs are here! VALORANT Patch Notes 12.09

VALORANT Patch 12.09 officially delivers the long‑awaited nerfs to Neon and shotguns. As announced a few days ago, the Filipino speedster receives several hits to her speed and mobility. Neon has been a menace in both matchmaking and esports, making her adjustment a top priority. And a nerf to Neon wouldn't be complete without tuning down her favorite weapon class: Shotguns.

All three shotguns, namely the Shorty, Bucky, and Judge, received necessary tweaks in patch 12.09. The update arrives in‑game today, and all the changes coming with the patch are detailed below.

Neon Slows Down in Patch 12.09

Here's what the developers had to say about Neon's current state in VALORANT and how the Patch 12.09 changes will affect her:

“Her current role in breaking timings and creating pressure is correct, but her movement and evasiveness are pushing too far into combat space. We want to encourage Neon players to be intentional and make more meaningful decisions while playing her, so we’re making changes to her mobility in the air and giving her a greater resource tradeoff on High Gear.”

Below are the changes to Neon’s High Gear in patch 12.09:

Jumping with High Gear active no longer provides any speed bonus while Neon is airborne. Instead, Neon’s air speed while sprinting will match melee speed.
Fuel will only regenerate with a kill when Neon's ultimate is active. (Fuel will still regenerate passively.)
Improved VFX to more clearly communicate the direction and origin of her slide

These adjustments create more room for counterplay without diminishing the Agent's overall impact. Neon can still take space as a Duelist, secure kills with her kit, and enable fast rotations. While her core identity remains intact, her ability to wreak havoc effortlessly has been rightfully scaled back.

If these changes don't sound sufficient, the shotgun nerfs outlined below should provide additional clarity, as it is the most popular weapon choice among Neon players.

Shotgun Nerfs Aim To Reduce Accuracy

In the latest patch, Riot Games nerfed all three shotguns (while also introducing small positive adjustments) to curb their overpowered nature and encourage players to use them more defensively. In the patch notes, VALORANT developers addressed why these changes were necessary:

“Shotguns are intended to be most effective for holding tight angles and clearing close range spaces, but right now they’re a bit too effective in high-mobility situations. To reinforce their ideal usage, we are reducing shotgun accuracy while moving.”

Below, we've detailed all the shotgun changes in Patch 12.09 as listed in the official patch notes. We'll start with the common changes before moving on to individual adjustments.

All shotguns

All shotguns are now less accurate when moving.
Run, walk, crouch-walk, and jump accuracy have been standardized across all shotguns.
Crouching now provides a 15% accuracy multiplier for shotguns, matching rifles.

In relation to the last point, here are the new crouch accuracy modifier values:

Bucky: Increased from 10 >>> 15%
Judge/Shorty: Decreased from 25 >>> 15%

Below are some more changes coming to all shotguns in VALORANT:

Shotguns are now much less accurate when using ropes
Your shotgun spread will increase significantly when you're on a rope, especially if you're moving:
Standing still: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.075 >>> 0.75)
Walking: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.09 >>> 1.5)
Running: Accuracy reduced (spread increased from 0.1 >>> 3.0)

Bucky

Bucky pellet damage in the 0-8m range decreased
- Head 40 >>> 34
- Body 20 >>> 17
- Legs 17 >>> 14
Minimum spread increased from 2.6 >>> 3.0
Walking spread increased from 0.075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from .1 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4

Judge

Minimum spread increased from 2.25 >>> 2.5
Note: this will only apply to PC for now- this spread change will apply to console in Patch 12.11
Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from 0.75 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 2.25 >>> 4

Shorty

Fire rate decreased from 3.33 >>> 3.0
Walking spread increased from .075 >>> 1
Running spread increased from 0.1 >>> 2
Crouch-walk spread increased from .05 >>> .5
Jump spread increased from 1.25 >>> 4

Competitive Updates

Riot Games is testing MMR changes for modes other than Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay. These changes should result in better, more consistent matches. This will further be used to improve Competitive, Unrated, and Swiftplay in the future.

Player Behavior Updates

The Riot Text Evaluation system has been improved to better detect and apply penalties for text comms abuse in the following languages: Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Chinese.

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Featured Image Credit: Riot Games

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