VALORANT Patch 13.02: What Phoenix's Ultimate Cost Increase Means

Riot's Patch 13.02 is not a sweeping balance pass. It is a small patch with one change that will be felt every round you play Phoenix: Run It Back now costs seven ultimate points instead of six.

Phoenix has one more point to earn

Riot says the change is meant to bring Phoenix's ultimate frequency closer to the rest of the roster. The ability itself is not being redesigned. The threshold is simply one point higher.

That matters most for players who build their rounds around a six-point ultimate. A Phoenix who has just used Run It Back will need one more kill, orb, death, or other point source before the next cast is ready. It is a small timing change, but it makes the difference between having the ultimate for a planned hit and arriving one round short.

The practical adjustment is straightforward: track the new seven-point threshold when you call for a fast ultimate cycle, and do not assume the old timing still lines up with your team’s buy pattern.

That changes the way Phoenix should talk about his next ultimate. “I have ult next” now needs a number behind it. If you are sitting at six points, you are close, but you are not ready. Check whether the next round gives you a realistic source of a point before building the buy or execute around Run It Back. An orb, a kill, or the round ending can be enough, but none of them is guaranteed on the schedule you want.

There is also a team-communication angle. Tell teammates when you are one point short, rather than announcing the ultimate as if it is available. That lets the caller choose a slower round, save a flash for the next attempt, or stop spending utility to force a timing that is not there. Phoenix still gets the same ability when the bar is full. The difference is that the old six-point assumption will create more false calls.

Retake gets three more maps

Split, Corrode, and Lotus are joining the Retake map pool. That gives the mode a wider set of sites to learn, and it is useful practice for players who want short repetitions on maps that do not always appear in their normal queue.

The important detail is that this is a mode update, not a change to the standard competitive map pool. If you are jumping into Retake to warm up, expect the extra maps there rather than in a regular match.

Retake is most useful here when you treat it as a short drill, not a verdict on your rank. Play a few rounds on each added map and pay attention to the first decision you miss: the plant location, the angle you clear, or the moment you stop moving. Then take that one problem into a normal match. The mode cannot reproduce every buy, timing or teammate call from Competitive, but it can give you more repetitions than waiting for a particular map to appear.

AROS: Replication is delayed

AROS: Replication will not launch with this update. Riot says it is still targeting a future release, but has not provided a new date in the patch notes.

That makes this one easy to miss if you only skim the agent and map sections. There is no new mode to queue for yet, so any guides or videos promising a live AROS: Replication strategy are getting ahead of the release.

The bug-fix list is longer than the balance list

Patch 13.02 also fixes a wide spread of agent issues. Omen’s Shrouded Step indicator, KAY/O’s NULL/cmd effects, Cypher’s Cyber Cage visuals, Gekko’s Wingman planting behavior, and Chamber’s Rendezvous are among the fixes listed by Riot.

There are map-specific fixes too. On Summit, utility should no longer be crushed by a door that has already closed. On Icebox, Waylay’s Lightspeed and Refract should no longer let her clip into B Tube. Console players also get fixes for Chamber, Yoru, Waylay, and the Agent Info menu.

The full list is worth checking if you play one of those agents regularly. Bug fixes do not always change a tier list, but they can remove the odd interaction that made an ability feel unreliable.

What to test after the update

If Phoenix is part of your pool, start by checking how your usual ultimate timing fits into a buy cycle. Then use Retake to get a few quick repetitions on Split, Corrode, and Lotus. You do not need to rebuild your whole playbook for this patch; you do need to stop treating six points as the finish line.

Read Riot's full Patch 13.02 notes for the complete bug-fix list and platform-specific changes.

Header image: an original editorial illustration made for Valorant Village. It is not a screenshot from a live match.