Season 2026 Act 3 of VALORANT Season 2026 arrives on April 29, and Riot Games is not holding back. The new act brings the competitive evolution of Skirmish with Skirmish: Ascension, a continuation of the fan-favourite Kuronami skin line, and a fresh Battlepass. Here is everything launching alongside Act 3.
Skirmish: Ascension
When Skirmish debuted in patch 12.03, player reception was strong, and the community was vocal about one thing: they wanted ranked. Skirmish: Ascension is Riot’s answer. Built as a competitive destination that stays true to VALORANT’s core identity, Ascension layers agents with limited abilities, staged weapons, and a proper competitive ladder powered by the For The Win (FTW) platform on top of the gunplay foundation Skirmish established.
Agent Roster
Rather than stripping out abilities entirely, Ascension takes a more deliberate approach: a curated roster of 14 agents, each equipped with a single ability from their kit. The selections are designed to test game sense and real-time decision-making while keeping gunplay as the primary skill expression. The available agents and their single equipped ability are as follows:
- Jett: Tailwind
- It’s gone: Refract
- Chamber: Rendezvous
- Cypher: Cyber Cage
- Omen: Shrouded Step
- Phoenix: Curve Ball
- Yoru: Clone
- Iso: Contingency
- Sage: Barrier Orb
- Raze: Blast Pack
- Higher: Arc Rose
- TO/OR: Flash/Drive
- Breach: Flashpoint
- Veto: Crosscut
Staged Weapons
One of the bigger additions over the original Skirmish is a weapon progression system that creates round-to-round variety. Rather than full weapon freedom from round one, weapons are tiered by round range:
- Rounds 1–4: Pistol rounds: Bandit and Sheriff
- Rounds 5–8: Low-tier rifles: Guardian and Bulldog
- Rounds 9+: Vandal and Phantom
First to 10 rounds wins.
Get your duo ready… Skirmish: Ascension is coming in Patch 12.08 pic.twitter.com/3TFgyTXnDO
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) April 27, 2026
Queues, Maps, and Leaderboards
Skirmish: Ascension supports both 1v1 and 2v2 queueseach with separate matchmaking and independent leaderboards. Maps remain the three warehouse layouts from the original Skirmish. The FTW competitive ladder is segmented by server, region, and platform, grouping players regionally for fair competition.
Rank is determined by a point system that factors in win/loss ratio against the skill level of teammates and opponents. In the event of a tie, the player with the higher number of games played receives the higher leaderboard placement. Rankings are tracked independently per mode. Performance in 1v1 does not carry over to the 2v2 leaderboard and vice versa.
Rewards
Two player cards are available for Skirmish: Ascension, plus titles for top performers.
Player Cards:
- Combat Ready: Awarded upon completing 3 Skirmish placement matches
- Trade Me: Awarded upon completing 15 Skirmish matches
Titles are awarded based on the highest rank achieved across either leaderboard during the Challenge Period:
- Skirmish Competitor: Gold to Platinum
- Skirmish Expert: Diamond to Immortal
- Skirmish Radiant: Radiant
Player cards are delivered as text codes via the FTW platform’s Rewards tab. Players are responsible for redeeming codes before the stated expiration date on Riot’s Code Redemption page or in the VALORANT client.
Eligibility: Participation requires a Riot Games account, a FTW account, meeting the minimum age requirement in your country, and residing in an eligible country.
Kuronami Collection returns in Season 2026 Act 3
Season 2026 Act 3 also marks the return of one of VALORANT’s most beloved skin lines. The Kuronami Collection is a direct continuation of the original Kuronami bundle, keeping the same core aesthetic, forged from the legacy of Sengoku-era shinobi, while expanding the lineup with new weapons and a standout new melee experience.
The original Kuronami Collection launched on January 9, 2024, alongside the Episode 8 Act 1 release. Priced at 9,500 VP as a full bundle, it quickly became one of the most popular skin lines in the game. The collection featured skins for the Vandal, Sheriff, Marshal, and Spectre, alongside the Kuronami no Yaiba melee — a dual-chain blade with a fan-favourite inspect easter egg that sped up the swing animation the more players pressed the inspect button.
Skins come with three colour variants: Purple, White, and Black, and could be upgraded further using Radianite Points. The aesthetic drew from a modernised take on ninja culture, weaving water elements throughout its animations and sound design. The standout feature was its finisher: enemies were encased in a bubble of water.
The collection includes the Phantom, Operator, Ghostand Guardianalongside the headline piece: a transforming Kunai / Katana melee.
The melee comes with a modified idle pose and custom inspect animations for both forms that transform the weapon from one stance into another:
- Kunai → Katana: A water blade materializes from the Katana with a hand gesture.
- Katana → Kunai: The water blade dissolves into droplets that float before being swooped into the Kunai with a hand gesture.
Bundle Details
- Bundle Price: 9,500 VP
- Weapons: Kunai/Katana Melee, Phantom, Operator, Ghost, Guardian
- Accessories: 1 Gun Buddy, 1 Card, 1 Spray
Battlepass: Season 2026 // Act 3
The Season 2026 Act 3 Battlepass is available for 1,000 VP and spans both a free and paid track.
Free Track Highlights
- Keys to Elysium Sheriff
- Boss Bear Spray
- Out for Blood Card (Lore Card)
- Last Light Buddy
Paid Track Highlights
- Keys to Elysium Melee
- Keys to Elysium Vandal
- Insidious Phantom
- Crash Out Bandit
- Outrun the Night Card
- Fearmonger Card
- Every. Single. Round. Spray
- Villain Era Spray
- Shadow Kitty Buddy
VALORANT Season 2026 Act 3 begins April 29, 2026.
