VALORANT 13.05 adds anti-tool penalties and smaller Range bot counts

What happened

Riot published Patch 13.05 on September 1.

The notes also preview an Agent Gear progression change planned for 13.06 on September 22.

The practical change: Remove prohibited helper tools and recheck Range settings before assuming the old bot count is still active.

Champions Shanghai Pick'Ems become available September 10 before group play on September 24.
Tool-detection penalties escalate from temporary to permanent bans for repeated use.
Audio sprays now attenuate so their sounds are heard only nearby.
Patch 13.06 is planned to tie Agent Gear progress directly to play on that Agent while preserving earned gear.

Third-party instalock or stream-sniping tools now carry an explicit account-ban risk.

Players grinding gear for an Agent they rarely use have a dated window before the planned progression change.

Riot does not list every detection rule and the planned 13.06 behavior remains subject to its own final patch notes.

01
Stop using prohibited automation or information tools.
02
Make Champions picks after September 10 and before group kickoff.
03
Finish any unusual Agent Gear target before verifying 13.06's final rules.

Primary factual source used for this report.