Valorant Patch 11.02 Gives You a Free Gunbuddy

Get Riot’s new gun buddy before patch 11.03

Riot Games released Valorant patch 11.02, which is basically an upgrade from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.3. As a bonus transition patch, to not overwhelm players with a big patch, Riot is also giving out a cosmetic, the Hot New Engine gunbuddy.

Players can log in anytime while patch 11.02 is live until it runs out.

How to get the Hot New Engine gun buddy in Valorant

This cosmetic will be given automatically and will be stored in your inventory. No missions, no payments, and no redemption code needed.

Here’s how to get it:

1. Download patch 11.02, which will need up to 30 GB of space (of course consoles will have different limits).

2. Launch your game while patch 11.02 is live.

3. Check your inventory, and the gun buddy should be there.

After patch 11.03 goes live, players can no longer claim the Hot New Engine gun buddy. Riot hasn’t announced the exact date for patch 11.03 yet, but it’s reported to be August 12, 2025-ish. So players have about 2 weeks from when they got the gun buddy to log in and claim it.

Why Riot is giving away this gun buddy

Patch 11.02 is a big one. It’s a full engine migration from Unreal Engine 4.27 to 5.3. While this won’t change gameplay overnight, it will support longer-term updates and optimizations. But it comes with a bigger than usual download, and you’ll need to free up an extra 30GB of disk space. After installation, Valorant’s total size will actually shrink. This is a nice bonus for users with storage constraints.

The Hot New Engine gun buddy is our thanks for the storage and download time.

What’s new in patch 11.02?

Alongside the engine update, patch 11.02 includes several bug fixes and polish updates. No new agents or maps, but it cleans up many persistent gameplay issues.

Agent fixes

• Astra’s Gravity Well, audio cues now work.

• Gekko’s Dizzy and Thrash audio effects are back.

• Yoru’s glowing hand glitch fixed

• Killjoy’s turret and Alarmbot pathfinding issues resolved

• Phoenix, Cypher, and others got minor visual and audio updates.

Map fixes

• Corrode: Removed Raze, Deadlock, Jett, and Killjoy ability exploits

• Pearl: Fixed Raze’s Showstopper hit registration

• Split: Fixed Sage’s wall placement causing floating walls

Technical improvements

• Full migration to Unreal Engine 5.3

• Game size reduced after patch

• Minor performance improvements depending on system specs

Patch 11.02 rollout timing

Here is the regional rollout timing for the global patch 11.02.

• North America, LATAM, Brazil - July 29, 2025, at 06:00 PT

• Europe—July 30, 2025, at 04:00 BST

If you’ve already updated to 11.02, you’ll get a free gun buddy. Just make sure you open the game before 11.03 drops.

Don’t miss out

The Hot New Engine gun buddy is only for patch 11.02. This cosmetic will not be available after 11.03. It will not be in the store, or part of a bundle, or in any Battlepass tier.

Expected deadline: August 12, 2025 (subject to change)

Available on all platforms: No payment or Battle Pass needed.

Item type: Gunbuddy (will be added to your inventory)

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