Valorant screenshot of the Icebox map

A little while ago Valorant added its very first new map - the rather open and vertically focused Icebox. While things were looking quite positive during its initial run in unranked play, the moment Icebox became available in ranked things started getting out of hand very quickly.

The reason is that once players figured out the best routes and positions to take across the map, the vertical nature of Icebox resulted in most fights being one-sided ambushes. This was especially noticeable on the attacker side since they would need to clear a dozen different angles when entering A Site, with failure usually leading to a swift death.

In order to correct this, as well as bring Icebox to the level of the other maps, Riot has now reworked some of the most problematic areas. Some of the vertical areas have been lowered, corners and walls have been reshaped to allow easier scouting, while enemies on the dreaded yellow container should now be much less cumbersome to aim at.

Rather than babble on about visual changes that need to be seen in order to properly understood, allow me to share with you the full patch notes. They feature a couple of animations showing off the changes, so they should give you a pretty good idea of just what's being reworked on Icebox.

Have fun with the new changes, and I'll leave you with the original Icebox trailer, just for comparison's sake: