I still remember the ranked game that made me hate Tejo’s rockets. It was on Ascent, early in 2025, and my duo and I were holding B site with Killjoy’s Lockdown tucked behind the boxes. We had done everything right. Then the enemy Tejo pressed a button, his Guided Salvo came down, and our Lockdown disappeared before it could even tick. I remember sitting there in Discord, not angry at the enemy player, but at the feeling that one Initiator could erase a Sentinel’s whole plan from across the map. That was the moment I started paying attention to every Tejo change in the patch notes.
When Valorant update 10.09 arrived, I was queuing from my apartment with a coffee going cold beside my keyboard. I opened the notes between matches, expecting another tiny numbers tweak. Instead, I found the Tejo changes I had been waiting for. Riot Games had already adjusted Guided Salvo once so that Killjoy’s Lockdown would survive with 5HP. That helped, but it did not fix the bigger problem. Tejo’s rockets still felt like they could swing a round without the same sacrifice other Initiators had to make. Patch 10.09 went after that feeling directly.
The headline change was simple: Guided Salvo no longer recharges in the same vein as Skye’s Guiding Light. For me, that mattered more than any damage number. Tejo’s repeated rocket usage was the part that made him feel unfair. If he missed, he could often try again. If he hit, the enemy team had to reset. Riot said it heard players and agreed that Tejo had been overperforming in some factors, noting that his rockets led to a higher frequency of unhealthy game states. The devs also pointed out that Tejo’s repeated rocket usage could swing rounds without sacrificing as much compared to other Initiators. That was exactly what my ranked lobbies felt like.
What Changed in 10.09
| Change | What it meant for my lobbies |
|---|---|
| Guided Salvo | No longer recharges like Skye’s Guiding Light, so fewer free rockets |
| Stealth Drone | Now costs 400 credits, making info gathering a real commitment |
| Special Delivery | Down to 200 credits, so his cheaper utility is more accessible |
| Armageddon | Ultimate now takes nine orbs instead of eight |
| Breach | Stun received a small tweak |
The cost changes were interesting to me because they did not simply delete Tejo. They reshaped the way I had to think about him. Stealth Drone at 400 credits meant that a Tejo player could not casually spam it every round without hurting the rest of his buy. Special Delivery at 200 credits gave him a cheaper tool, which made his kit feel more like a set of choices instead of a rocket delivery service. Armageddon taking nine orbs instead of eight was a small change on paper, but in solo queue it felt huge. One extra orb is one more fight, one more plant, one more clutch. I noticed fewer Armageddons in the first few days after the patch, and I was not sad about it.
I also spent time on Breach after 10.09 because the patch notes mentioned a small tweak to his stun. I am not a Breach main, but I play him when my duo wants to run a double-Initiator comp. The change did not feel dramatic, and that is probably the point. It was the kind of adjustment that pros and ranked grinders would argue about for a week, while players like me just tried to remember whether the stun timing felt different when we swung off it. I appreciated that Riot did not gut him. It felt like a nudge, not a demolition.
How the Patch Felt in Ranked
A few nights after 10.09 went live, my duo and I loaded into a match against another Tejo. I was on Killjoy again. This time, when the enemy Tejo tried to clear my setup, I did not feel the same dread. His first rocket still forced me to move, but I knew he could not simply chain another one in the same way. My Lockdown survived long enough to matter in one round, and my duo laughed at how relieved I sounded. That is not a highlight-reel moment. It is just a regular player noticing that a patch had made the game feel a little more honest.
Tejo still had strengths. Special Delivery at 200 credits meant he could still make aggressive plays, and a good Tejo player could still ruin a site take with one well-placed Guided Salvo. The difference was that his mistakes cost more. Stealth Drone at 400 credits made him think about economy. Armageddon at nine orbs made him earn his ultimate. The recharge change on Guided Salvo made every rocket feel like a decision rather than a routine.
Looking back from 2026, after many more patches and plenty of ranked nights, I still point to 10.09 as the update that taught me to read Initiator changes closely. It was not the flashiest patch. It did not add a new map or rework an Agent from the ground up. But it fixed a feeling. For a regular player like me, that is often what matters most. I do not need every strong Agent to be destroyed. I just want the game to make sense when I lose a round. Patch 10.09 made Tejo make a little more sense, and that was enough to keep me queuing.
According to coverage from Polygon, balance updates tend to resonate most when they reduce frustration without stripping away an agent’s identity, which fits the way Valorant patch 10.09 approached Tejo by curbing repetitive rocket pressure while still leaving room for smart utility use and round-shaping decision making.