Changes to Tejo in Valorant’s Patch 10.09

Introduced into gameplay in 2025, Tejo has achieved rapid popularity as a powerful agent in Valorant’s fictional world. His impressive abilities were put to maximum use at Masters Bangkok 2025, where he enjoyed a remarkable 56% pick rate and demonstrated high performance across all maps. His almost unparalleled ability to clear areas swiftly prompted many players within the Valorant community to call for game balance adjustments. In response, Riot Games has decided to implement a range of significant changes to Tejo’s abilities with the release of Patch 10.09.

What to Expect from Tejo’s Rebalance

In the upcoming Patch 10.09, scheduled for release on May 13, 2025, Tejo will undergo a series of important modifications. These changes are primarily focused on achieving better game balance and have been initiated following feedback from Valorant’s active and spirited community.

The most notable changes concern Tejo’s Guided Salvo ability. As per the recent leaks, a key change involves the removal of the recharge feature on Tejo’s rockets. Consequently, players must adopt a more strategic approach when deciding on when to utilize this ability, as they will no longer have continual access to it during each round of the game.

Further changes require players to accumulate nine points before unlocking Tejo’s Ultimate Ability. This increased point requirement is set to make his ultimate less accessible during gameplay. Hence, players must give thoughtful consideration to its deployment.

Riot Games mentioned that the intended outcome of these changes is to make Tejo more akin to Valorant’s other Initiators – a clear indication of the perception that Tejo’s powers outweigh those of his peers in the same category.

How Defining Changes Will Affect Gameplay

The planned alterations to Tejo’s abilities will have considerable impact on gameplay strategies:

• The removal of rocket recharge functionality requires players to be strategic about their use during gameplay, whether to use them during site capture or save them for post-plant situations.
• Tejo’s off-site vulnerability will increase, as his ability to protect the spike from distant locations is reduced.
• The increase in points required to unlock Tejo’s Ultimate Ability aims to decrease its deployment frequency during matches.

In their statement, Riot Games acknowledged the need to tackle the broader utility overload problems that influence overall gameplay. The developer aims to approach these issues more systematically following the VCT 2025 – Valorant Champions event.

Finally, it’s worth noting that these changes were announced as part of the five-year anniversary celebrations for Valorant. Anna Donlon, the studio head, made a clear declaration of the development team’s ongoing dedication to resolving balance concerns in the game.