Valorant Patch 13.06: New Mode, Weapon and Mastery System

Riot Games used its September 14 "This One's BIG" dev update to lay out everything arriving in VALORANT Patch 13.06: a new 2v2 mode called Gauntlet: Glitched, a new rifle named the Warden, and a progression overhaul called Agent Mastery that replaces Agent Gear. The patch itself isn't live yet — Riot has it slated for September 22, 2026, as part of Season 2026: Act 5 — but the reveal gives a clear look at the biggest update the game has had this year, spanning a brand-new mode, a new gun, and a progression system meant to stick around for seasons to come.

01Patch 13.06 Arrives September 22

Everything below was announced, not shipped. Riot's own patch notes page for 13.06 currently carries an unreleased-content notice warning that details "may change drastically" before the update actually goes out, so treat specific numbers as a starting point rather than a final spec sheet. What is confirmed is the release date and the three headline additions: Gauntlet: Glitched, the Warden, and Agent Mastery, all landing together on September 22.

02Gauntlet: Glitched: Draft a Duo, Break the Rules

Gauntlet: Glitched is a round-based 2v2 mode built for eight duos — 16 players total — who face a different opposing pair each round in a tournament-style round robin until one team is left standing. Instead of picking a normal Agent, each player drafts a random set of abilities pulled from across the whole roster and combines them into a hybrid "Robo-Agent." Abilities can be upgraded as the match goes on, and the mode's "glitched" hook is that upgrades sometimes alter how an ability behaves in unexpected ways, so the same loadout won't play the same way twice. Riot has said rounds send teams into one of four arenas built from pieces of existing VALORANT maps, though it hasn't named which maps those pieces come from yet. Matches are designed to run 8 to 15 minutes, well short of a full competitive game, and you'll be able to queue solo or bring a friend.

03The Warden Joins the Rifle Lineup

The Warden is a new automatic rifle Riot is positioning as a middle ground between the classic assault rifles and the sniper class. According to the dev update, it carries a tighter Aim Down Sights zoom than the Vandal or Phantom, aimed at players who want to hold long sightlines without fully committing to a Marshal, Outlaw or Operator. Riot hasn't published the Warden's price, fire rate, damage falloff or magazine size yet — the current 13.06 wiki page explicitly leaves those stats blank pending the official patch notes — so anything you see cited as a hard number before September 22 should be treated as unconfirmed. The pitch is still clear from the dev update, though: a rifle that lets you challenge sniper sightlines without giving up automatic fire, sitting in the gap between the Vandal-and-Phantom tier and the Marshal-and-Operator tier rather than replacing either.

04Agent Mastery Replaces Agent Gear

Agent Mastery is Riot's new progression system for individual Agents, tracking playtime and in-match performance and turning that into cosmetic rewards tied to your Agent ID — think unlockable portraits, icons, borders and other flourishes tied to the characters you actually play. It replaces the existing Agent Gear system, and Riot confirmed that Gear cosmetics you've already unlocked carry over into the new Mastery tracks rather than being lost. The dev update also teased that competitive-specific Mastery rewards are being saved for the 2027 season, so the September 22 launch is really the foundation for a system Riot plans to keep building on.

05Champions 2026: Shanghai Event Pass

Patch 13.06 also brings the Champions 2026: Shanghai event pass, running September 24 through October 19 alongside the Champions world championship. Riot's wiki lists a total of 122,700 XP to fully clear the pass across six reward tiers, with cosmetics including the "Frag or Die: Last Strike" and "Frag or Die: Summit" player cards, the Fragment Shell gun buddy, an "Instinctual" player title, and 20 Radianite Points split across the tiers. As with the rest of 13.06, treat the tier breakdown as Riot's current plan rather than a locked list until the patch actually ships.

Riot's "This One's BIG" dev update, posted September 14, 2026, covering Gauntlet: Glitched, the Warden and Agent Mastery.

If you want the full picture before September 22, Riot's 13.06 patch notes page and the dedicated Gauntlet: Glitched wiki entry are both being updated as Riot confirms more details, and they're the best place to check for the finished stat blocks once the patch actually goes live.