When is the next VALORANT Act and Battle Pass?

VALORANT Season 26 Act 1 is edging closer to a conclusion, and players are eagerly awaiting the launch of Season 26 Act 2.

Upcoming Act updates bring a variety of fresh content and changes to Riot Games’ FPS title, including a brand new Battle Pass and a skin line that will be available in the game’s store.

Moreover, VALORANT Season 26 Act 2, in particular, will expand the agent roster to 29 and will reset the competitive ranks of all players. Here’s everything there is to know about VALORANT’s next Act and Battle Pass, including its release date, content details, and more.

According to the in-game countdown, VALORANT Season 26 Act 2 will release on March 18th, depending on regional time zones.

So far, Riot Games has confirmed the addition of Agent 30 through multiple teasers. Meanwhile, the mysterious Agent 8 still hasn’t shown any signs of life.

Based on the coordinates mentioned in the Masters Santiago cinematic trailer, the new agent is expected to be Croatian. That said, fans can expect the publisher to reveal its gameplay during the VCT event’s Grand Final day on March 15th.

Season Act 2 might also introduce agent balance changes, but that has yet to be confirmed by Riot Games.

While players will be able to purchase the Season 26 Act 2 Battle Pass for 1,000 VP starting March 18th, it will also offer free rewards. These will include weapon skins, player cards, gun buddies, and more. However, the publisher hasn’t shared specific details on what will be on offer.

So, for now, the focus should be on completing the current Battle Pass, as it will become unavailable in less than a month.

Before the new Act releases, VALORANT will be taken down for maintenance to prepare the previous servers for the update. Along with this, the competitive queue will also be disabled so players don’t face any disruptions mid-match.

Similar to previous updates, maintenance for Season 26 Act 2 is expected to begin at different times across multiple regions and will last about four hours. Here are the timings for each region:

Season 26 will have a total of six Acts; however, Riot Games hasn’t revealed its exact schedule as of now. That said, each Act will run for roughly two months and will continue to add new content such as agents, maps, and more.

Below is the release schedule for all announced VALORANT Acts in 2026 as of this writing:

VALORANT Season 26 Act 1 kicked off with patch 12.00, which added Breeze back to the competitive map pool with a major rework after a year and a half. Moreover, a new pistol called the Bandit, often described as the Guardian of pistols, also made its way to the game.

The revamped Breeze was loved by the wider community and pro players. This was evident from the fact that it became the most-picked map during VCT EMEA Kickoff and the second most-picked map in China Kickoff.

Apart from this, the update also buffed Harbor, Breach, and Vyse to help them potentially find the place they lost in the meta. However, these changes didn’t have much impact as all three agents were rarely picked in VCT Kickoff.

Tejo also received some balance updates, and its pick rate saw a minor uptick compared to Champions Paris. Harbor and Gekko were then slightly buffed in patches 12.02 and 12.03 in hopes of them crawling their way back into the VCT meta. However, these changes will be implemented in pro play at VALORANT Masters Santiago.