VALORANT Expands with New Content
Riot Games Reveals New VALORANT Map Summit and Retake Game Mode for Act 4
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Key Points
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Riot tied Summit’s setting to VALORANT lore, describing it as a Radiant training facility that was “formerly the site of the Radiant monastery where Sage studied.”
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Summit’s gimmick is more specific than just “droppable walls”: the map includes three droppable walls located on A site, B site, and mid—“shooting the respective nodes drops the wall,” cutting off sightlines for the remainder of the round.
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Retake has a clear match-length rule: “the first team to win five rounds will win the game,” after teams swap sides every round.
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Riot described Retake as using “single bomb sites from existing maps within a curated map pool,” while noting that the exact maps haven’t yet been confirmed.
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The Act 4 Blackspyre battle pass is tied to specific weapon cosmetics (not just a general theme), including skins for the Phantom, Sheriff, Spectre, and Ares, plus a new melee.
Riot Games revealed two major additions to VALORANT during the Masters London Grand Finals broadcast on June 21: a new 5v5 map called Summit and a permanent 3v3 mode called Retake. Both go live on June 24 with the launch of V26 Act 4, Riot Games confirmed.
Summit is set in a Radiant training facility in the mountains of China — the same monastery where founding Agent Sage once studied. Retake drops players into fast, post-plant scenarios and is built to work as a training tool as much as a game mode, according to VALORANT's official reveal.
Summit's Droppable Walls Rewire the Map Mid-Round
Summit's big mechanic is three destructible nodes — one each on A site, B site, and mid. Shooting a node drops a heavy wall from the ceiling, Esports Charts reported. The wall stays down for the rest of the round. It blocks both sightlines and movement, effectively reshaping the map's layout in real time.
Lead Map Designer Marcus Reid described the design goal plainly: "The droppable walls aren't just barriers; they are strategic triggers that force a team to commit or rotate instantly." The vertical design also sets Summit apart — the map has multiple elevation levels on each site, a rarity in VALORANT's mostly flat layouts.
Riot Eases Summit Into Competitive Play With a Grace Period
Summit enters the competitive map pool immediately on June 24, Bleeding Cool reported. But Riot is softening the blow: for the first two weeks, players will lose less Rank Rating (RR) on Summit. A Summit-only Swiftplay queue will also open so players can learn the map without ranked pressure.
The two-week window runs from June 24 through July 8. After that, Summit enters full competitive rotation like any other map. Walastech also noted that Summit replaces Breeze in the active pool.
Retake Mode Turns Post-Plant Chaos Into a 3v3 Game
Retake is built around the most intense part of a VALORANT round — the post-plant. The Spike auto-plants shortly after each round starts. One team defends it; the other tries to retake and defuse. Teams swap roles every single round, and the first team to win five rounds wins the match, EGW News reported.
There's no traditional buy phase. Instead, players pick from randomized loadout cards each round. Cards offer different weapon and armor combinations, and the quality of gear escalates as the match goes on. Retake uses single bomb sites pulled from existing maps, though Walastech noted Riot has not yet confirmed the full map pool.
Blackspyre Battle Pass Brings Sci-Fi Skins for Four Weapons
Act 4 also launches the Blackspyre Collection battle pass. The pass covers a sci-fi and mystical theme, Esports Charts reported. Weapon skins are included for the Phantom, Sheriff, Spectre, and Ares — four of the game's most-used guns — plus a new melee weapon skin.
Riot timed the reveal to coincide with peak viewership at Masters London. VALORANT Director Arnar Gylfason framed Retake as a direct response to player demand: "It's professional-grade training turned into a permanent, accessible mode." All three updates — Summit, Retake, and Blackspyre — go live together on June 24.
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