Passive Effects are ability-related effects that some individual agents can have. Having passive effects is not standard for most agents in VALORANT, but agents that do have these passives are able to make use of effects that are innate to them or utilized across multiple abilities of theirs.
Most of the passives listed as such on the VALORANT Wiki have either been explicitly stated or inferred to be passives/separate effects by Riot themselves, with any others additionally being identified as passives primarily for the purposes of simplifying documentation and consistency with observed behavior and documentation already present in VALORANT and other character-based games with abilities.
Definition[]
Passive effects used by VALORANT agents can belong to one of two groups, either being constantly available to them or being applied in addition to a preceding primary action. The following effects have been identified (either through information provided by Riot or by consistency with observed definitions and behavior) as being a passive effect that fits into one of these groups:
- Constantly available to be used: Unlike standard abilities, these effects do not go or cooldown or consume/require any charges to be used.
- Applied as an additional effect: These effects can be regarded as separate, succeeding secondary actions that are activated or applied as a result of a primary action, such as occurring in addition to either the main function of an ability or securing a takedown.
- Fade's Terror Trail
- Gekko's Globules
- Phoenix's Heating Up
- Reyna's Soul Harvest
- Viper's Toxin
Misconceptions[]
The following points address common misconceptions within the VALORANT community about how passives can be defined:
- "It's not a passive if you have to press a hotkey to activate it": This misconception comes from the belief that a passive is defined as an effect that requires no active input from the player in order to be put to use. However, whether they require active input or not from the player is irrelevant to whether these can be called passives. What usually makes these types of abilities that utilize a hotkey passives is that they are constantly available to the character. VALORANT already proves this as Jett's Drift, officially recognized by Riot as a passive, requires the player to use a hotkey in order to activate the effect.
- "A passive is a separate effect within the character's kit that they have in addition to their usual set of abilities": Without further context to the specifics of this new effect, this is not enough of a justification as this could just end up being another additional ability for the character. What defines whether these are passives comes down to the specifics of the effect in question itself, as set out in the definitions above. For example with Drift, what makes it a passive is that it is constantly available to be used at no cost, not because it is a separate effect from the rest of Jett's abilities. So long as the effect in question can be justified as a passive on its own, whether or not it is linked to the character's other abilities in some way does not affect whether it can still be called a passive effect or not.
- "It's not a passive if the effect can only be activated by casting an ability": This misconception can come from a mix of the previous two points; a belief that the effect should not have any association with the character's other abilities, and that the player shouldn't have to actively do anything in order to activate the effect, both of which are incorrect as explained above. This is then additionally disproven as well by existing passives in VALORANT. Heating Up and Toxin, two effects that have officially been recognized by Riot as passives, require their agent to have cast an ability first in order to be utilized. This type of passive is also often used and identified as such in the kits of characters in other character-based games, such as League of Legends and Overwatch.
List of passive effects[]
The following list of passive effects are sorted alphabetically by associated agent.
Astral Form[]
Astral Form is a Setup passive for 
Astra. Astra can use her ultimate hotkey to enter a higher plane that is a mirror counterpart of the entire map she is currently on. Astra is ghosted while in this plane, allowing her to move freely in the air using her movement keys and mouse to direct her. In the real world, her body remains in place in a channeling position which remains vulnerable to enemy gunfire and utility. A blue outline of her real body can be seen while in the Astral plane. Each time Astra enters the Astral plane, she will appear above and slightly behind this blue outline. As an Attacker, she can also see the location of the spike. Outlines representing allied or enemy agents will not appear in the Astral plane. Astra will still be able to hear anything that happens around her body in the real world as normal while in Astral Form.
While in the Astral Plane, Astra can place 
Stars, use her basic abilities by activating placed stars, and activate her ultimate, 
Cosmic Divide.
Astra will now be able to hear everything happening around her physical body while in Astral form.
Astra will now be able to hear everything happening around her physical body while in Astral form.- Increased the speed of the overlay that covers Astra's screen when transitioning in and out of Astral form
- Astra's targeting ring in Astral form is reduced to one ring that reflects the now unified size of all her utility
- While in Astral form, pings are no longer blocked by level geometry that Astra cannot see
- Astra's targeting ring no longer randomly disappears when aiming across some map locations
- Fixed the boom not showing up for Astra if planted while in Astral Form
Astra's targeting ring in Astral form is reduced to one ring that reflects the now unified size of all her utility
While in Astral form, pings are no longer blocked by level geometry that Astra cannot see- Will no longer equip weapons slower than intended after exiting Astral Form
- On Attack, Astra can now see the Spike’s location in Astral form
- This representation does not animate so it will not provide additional info on the status of the Spike
- Fixed an unintended dome in the sky that Astra saw if she came out of Astral Form while Omen is ulting
- Fixed a rare bug that could leave players unable to move or process inputs until they died when entering or returning from Astral Form
Astral Form •
Gravity Well • 
Nova Pulse • 
Nebula/Dissipate • Stars • Cosmic DivideTerror Trail[]
Terror Trail is an Intel passive for 
Fade. Her 
Haunt and 
Nightfall will mark enemies with a Terror Trail for 12 seconds, creating a black trail on the ground between the marking effect's point of origin and the affected agent, that Fade and her allies can follow. For the duration of the mark, Terror Trail will track the affected agent's movements, extending their current trail. The trail can only be broken by teleports (the trail will begin again from the agent's new position as long as they are still marked but will not connect to the original trail) or cleansed by Yoru's 
Dimensional Drift. When the agent's mark debuff expires, the trail will disappear.
Prowlers can be used to pursue trails. Upon pursuing a trail, the prowler will also reveal the exact identity of the agent to Fade. A prowler will follow the path of a trail until it encounters an enemy or the end of a trail, or until the trail disappears due to its agent's mark debuff expiring. An individual trail can only be pursued by one prowler with the pursuit causing the trail to become grayed out, though the trail will still remain visible and continue tracking so long as the target agent is still marked.
Globules[]
Globules is a Setup passive for 
Gekko. After using 
Wingman, 
Dizzy, or 
Thrash, each of these creatures will turn into a globule when they expire, falling to the ground if they were airborne at this moment. They will then remain there for 15 seconds, during which time Gekko can approach them and reclaim the globule over 1.5 seconds. Successfully retrieving a globule will then put that globule's ability on a 10-second cooldown after which it can be used again. If Gekko does not reclaim the globule within its lifespan, it will disappear from the map.
Thrash will only turn into a globule after the first time she is used in a round.
- Reduced time in world 20s >>> 15s
- Reclaim time increased 1s >>> 1.5s
Reduced time in world 20s >>> 15s- Reduce reclaim channel time from 2s >>> 1s
- Added VFX to when Gekko is reclaiming an orb, as well as when the globule reclaim is complete
- Improved visuals for enemy creature globules
- Fixed a bug where ally Gekko orbs were showing up as white outside of custom Replication.
Added VFX to when Gekko is reclaiming an orb, as well as when the globule reclaim is complete
Drift[]
Drift is a mobility passive for 
Jett. Whenever she is airborne, she can hold her jump key to reduce her fall speed and allow herself to glide down to ground instead. This can be used to safely fall from large distances without taking fall damage upon landing. Jett can still use her weapons and other abilities while using Drift.
- Can no longer float while suppressed or detained.
Energy[]
Energy is a Resource Bar for 
Neon which gives her 100 Energy. Activating 
High Gear or 
Overdrive requires Neon to consume Energy at a rate of 1 every 0.1 seconds (10/sec) for High Gear and 1 every 0.2 seconds (5/sec) for Overdrive. Neon will say a warning if her energy drops below 20. If her energy run out, the abilities automatically deactivate. When not active, Neon will replenish Energy at a rate of 1 every 0.2 seconds (5/sec) and will be able to reactivate High Gear once she has at least 2 Energy.
Whenever Neon kills an enemy agent, she will instantly refill her Energy.
- Time until Full Fuel Regen 60s >>> 20s
- Energy received upon killing an enemy increased 25% >>> 100%
Heating Up[]
Heating Up is a Sustain passive for 
Phoenix. His fire-producing abilities, 
Blaze and 
Hot Hands, will heal Phoenix over time instead of inflicting damage if he comes into contact with them, for a total of 50 HP over the full healing duration. Healing is applied upon first contact with the ability with 1 HP ticks spread out evenly over the full healing duration (1 every 0.16 seconds for 8 seconds).
- Phoenix now applies a Heal over time to himself whenever he touches his flames which persists even if he leaves the fire.
- Passive effect changed from Heal 3 HP every 0.25 seconds while in contact with fire >>> Heal for 50 HP total over the full duration of the ability while in contact with fire
- Blaze now heals 1 HP every 0.16 seconds
- Hot Hands now heals 1 HP every 0.08 seconds
Soul Harvest[]
Soul Harvest is a Setup passive for 
Reyna. If an enemy agent that she has dealt damage to within the last 3 seconds dies, they will drop a Soul Orb at their location that remains there for 3 seconds. If she has sight of the Orb, Reyna can use 
Devour or 
Dismiss to consume it.
- Fixed parts of Reyna’s Soul Orb feedback triggering when assisting kills on non-players
- Fixed Reyna’s Soul Orb timer not properly syncing with its actual duration
- Slain enemies that Reyna has damaged in the last 3 seconds now drop Soul Orbs, even if Reyna does not land the killing shot
- Soul Orbs are now spawned when Reyna kills Phoenix during Run it Back.
Fuel[]
Fuel is a Resource Bar for 
Viper which gives her 100 Fuel. Activating only 
Poison Cloud or 
Toxic Screen requires Viper to consume Fuel at a rate of 1 every 0.12 seconds (8.33/sec). However, Viper can have both abilities active, which consumes Fuel at a rate of 1 every 0.08 seconds (12.5/sec). If her fuel levels run out, the abilities automatically deactivate and Viper must wait for her fuel levels to replenish, which will happen at a rate of 1 every 0.3 seconds (3.33/sec).
Viper must have a minimum of 30 Fuel to activate a fueled ability.
- Minimum fuel needed to activate smoke increased 20% >>> 30%
- Max uptime on each individual smoke source reduced 13.5 >>> 12s
- Fuel drain increased from 1 every 0.135 to 1 every 0.12 s
- Fuel drain for both smokes being active increased from 1 every 0.09 to 1 every 0.08 s
- Max uptime on each individual smoke source reduced 15 >>> 13.5 s
- Fuel drain increased from 1 every 0.15 to 1 every 0.135 s
- Fuel drain for both smokes being active increased from 1 every 0.1 to 1 every 0.09 s
- This is an undocumented change
- Reduced regeneration per second 5% >>> 3.3%
- Regenerate to max fuel once empty 20s >>> 30s
- Fuel drain increased 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
- Fuel bar now turns red when Viper does not have enough to activate her abilities.
- Fuel will no longer continue to drain after Toxic Screen or Poison Cloud go down if Viper is suppressed right as she activates them
- Amount of fuel at round start increased 50 >>> 100
- Having both Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen active does not consume additional fuel beyond the cost of having one active
Toxin[]
Toxin is a Cripple passive for Viper. If an enemy agent comes into contact with her Vision Blocker abilities ( Poison Cloud, Toxic Screen, 
Viper's Pit), their health will begin to decay. They will instantly decay 30 HP upon contact, then continue to decay for 1 HP every 0.1 seconds (10 HP/sec). If no longer in contact, the debuff will briefly remain for 1.5 seconds before their health begins to climb back up at a rate of 1 HP every 0.04 seconds (25 HP/sec), up to a maximum of how much HP they would have if they had not been affected, taking any damage and healing taken while they were decayed into account.
- Art update for debuff VFX
- This is part of a miscellaneous change affecting the Decay debuff overall
- Decay inflicted on initial contact reduced 50 HP >>> 30 HP
- Fixed a bug when calculating if damage taken while decayed should be lethal for players with armor
- Most noticeably, this was causing Marshal shots when the target was decayed 50 to reduce the enemy to 1 health instead of killing them
- Now instantly inflicts 50 HP Decay on initial contact
- Decay over time decreased 15 HP/sec >>> 10 HP/sec
- HP regen delay once no longer affected by Toxin decreased 2.5 seconds >>> 1.5 seconds
- Decay on all smoke abilities no longer affects allies
- Enemy decay per second increased 10 >>> 15
- After exiting Viper's smoke, enemy decay sustains for 2.5 seconds before starting to fade
