Over the past couple of days, Riot Games has posted several teasers hinting that something “cold” was coming toValorant. Some fans took this to mean the arrival of a newValorantmap set somewhere in the arctic. These fans were right. Using its many social media accounts, Riot Games has confirmed thatValorantwill be getting a new map called “Icebox” with the upcoming Episode 1, Act 3 update.
Valorantis currently nearing the end of its Episode 1, Act 2, which will come to a close in a little over a week on October 13. The moment it does, the Act 3 update will go live, and it will bring with it changes toValorant’s ranked mode, a new battle pass, a new Agent (potentially), and this newly announced Icebox map.
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Riot Gamesshowed off the new arena in a short teaser-trailer. As the name of the location suggests, the map will take place in an iced-over setting. From the looks of things, players will battle inside and outside of a frozen dockyard. There are massive ship containers scattered everywhere, and wrecked ships that have found themselves frozen in place. The arena seems to favor verticality and looks like it has ropes spread throughout it, similar to the map Split.
It’s somewhat of a surprise that anewValorantmapis coming this early. Anna Donlon, an executive producer onValorant, stated right after the game launched that Riot would only be releasing new maps every Episode, not every Act. With that in mind, most fans would have expected Icebox to arrive in Episode 2, which comes after Episode 1, Act 3, in a little over two months. Admittedly, Donlon also stated that Riot could deviate from this plan, but the fact that it’s doing so this early inValorant’s life is unexpected.
Nonetheless, it is a pleasant surprise. It’s hard to imagine that theValorantcommunity will complain about getting a new map earlier than anticipated, especially since they’ve been asking for new additions for a while now. When it arrives, Icebox will only beValorant’s fifth map, so as one can imagine, the map rotation can become a little stale when there are so few to choose from. It doesn’t help that someValorantplayers have found themselves queued up into the same map repeatedly.
Icebox should be a breath of fresh air when it arrives. Riot Games hasn’t confirmed if the map will be available on the same day as Act 3’s launch, but theAscent map was available at the same timeValorantstarted its Episode 1, Act 1, so it’s certainly possible. There’s only a week left before Act 3 begins, so the wait to find out won’t be much longer.
Valorantis on PC.
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