Valorant Patch 13.03 Malaysia: Act 5 Live 18 Ogos 2026
Published: 2026-08-18
Riot pushed Valorant Patch 13.03 into a global maintenance window on 18 Ogos 2026, and Season 2026 Act 5 rides in with it: a soft rank reset, the Abyss map back in competitive rotation after five months out, and a fresh 1000 VP Battlepass carrying three new skinlines. Riot's NA maintenance opens at 4:30 AM PDT on 18 Ogos, which in Malaysia Time (GMT+8, no daylight saving observed) lands at 7:30 PM MYT the same evening, roughly two hours after peak KL office-hour close. SEA/AP servers usually catch Act 5 an hour or two after NA rolls, so most Klang Valley squads should expect Act 5 playable between about 9:00 PM and midnight MYT on 18 Ogos, with the odd late-night top on 19 Ogos if the SEA rollout drags. All times in the rest of this piece are Malaysia Time unless flagged.
What Patch 13.03 Changes for Ranked Grinders
Act 5 uses a soft reset, not the annual scorched-earth reset. Five placement matches are required before your new rank locks in, and most players drop three to six divisions from their Act 4 peak, tracking Riot's historical soft-reset curve since Season 2026 opened. Diamond 3 wakes up on Platinum floor; Immortal 1 can find itself back in Diamond 2. Enough noise to grind, not enough to erase Act 4 muscle memory.
Abyss returning is the loudest map news of the act. Per the official Valorant wiki, Abyss is the first map in Valorant with no outer boundaries and a mid death drop, which means one flat-footed peek near the Danger or Secret ledges can lose a round before first contact is even called. Split and Breeze exit competitive with the same rollover, leaving the Act 5 pool at Ascent, Bind, Haven, Lotus, Sunset, Corrode, and Abyss.
Riot also confirmed a full 1000 VP Battle Pass carrying the Gourmand, Verdant Cafe, and Last Stop skinlines. The paid Aeris melee bundle runs parallel through the same act window, and the third-tier Battle Pass upgrade path is unchanged from Act 4.
Paper Rex, d4v41, and Why Abyss Matters for VCT Champions Shanghai
Paper Rex, the Pacific super-team fielding Malaysian duelist Ahmad "d4v41" Khalish, locked their Champions Shanghai berth back at Masters London earlier this cycle. Champions runs 24 September to 18 October 2026 at Mercedes-Benz Arena, US$2.25 million prize pool, sixteen teams, per Liquipedia's Champions bracket. The tournament map pool tracks the live Act 5 pool, which is why Abyss returning this week matters for pro prep and scrim block scheduling, not next season.
Riot's own Patch 13.00 notes described the Season 2026 sentinel rebalance as "strengthening their defensive role," per the official patch 13.00 notes. Those same sentinel changes now interact with Abyss's cliff geometry in ugly ways for attackers: Killjoy's faster turret and Cypher's shorter trapwire windup punish sloppy jumps across the death drops on both bombsites. Malaysian scrim groups in PJ and Shah Alam who queue Act 5 the night it drops will have a two-week edge over teams that wait for the ranked meta to settle. Senang gila for anyone who was already running Cypher on Corrode last season.
What 1000 VP Costs Malaysian Players
The Battlepass is priced at 1000 VP flat, sitting inside the 1050 VP top-up tier on Riot's store. On the App Store in-app purchase for Malaysian accounts, 1050 VP retails around RM 60.90. Through REDX Game's DuitNow rail, that same 1050 VP moves at roughly RM 51 — a RM 9.90 gap per top-up on the exact same VP currency going to the exact same Riot ID. Buy the Battle Pass tier-skip on top and the annual saving pushes past RM 60 for the same three skinlines. Adding the Aeris melee bundle widens the delta further into the RM 100 range.
Heavier grinders who buy 3650 VP twice per act see the biggest gap in absolute ringgit. Riot's App Store price on 3650 VP is roughly RM 218.90; through DuitNow, the same tier runs around RM 168.90 on REDX Game, saving RM 50 in one swipe. That RM 50 covers a tier-skip with change to spare. Deliveries land in 1-3 minutes direct to your Riot ID via the REDX Game Valorant top-up page, no manual key redemption and no App Store forex surcharge tacked on top. Speed matters. Act 5 servers open, the Battlepass timer starts, and a slow reseller can burn a full weekend of your fifty-day window before the VP even lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Valorant Patch 13.03 go live in Malaysia time?
Riot opens the global maintenance window at 4:30 AM PDT on 18 Ogos 2026, which is 7:30 PM MYT the same evening. Per esportnow.gg, "usually, VALORANT's maintenance periods are over within a couple hours." SEA/AP servers roll in a staggered window, so expect Act 5 playable in Malaysia between about 9:00 PM and midnight MYT on 18 Ogos. Check Riot's status page for your queue before you sit down to grind out placements.
Is Abyss back in ranked immediately?
Yes. Abyss enters the competitive rotation the moment Patch 13.03 ships. Split and Breeze both leave ranked on the same rollover.
Do I keep my Act 4 rank after the reset?
No. Act 5 forces a soft reset. Five placements are required and most players drop three to six divisions from their Act 4 peak.
How much does the Act 5 Battle Pass cost?
The paid Battlepass costs 1000 VP, roughly RM 51 through REDX Game's DuitNow tier for Valorant versus RM 60.90 through App Store in-app purchase. Three skinlines are included: Gourmand, Verdant Cafe, and Last Stop.
Which maps rotate out with Act 5?
Split and Breeze exit competitive rotation. Fracture and Pearl were already out from earlier acts. The Act 5 pool is Ascent, Bind, Haven, Lotus, Sunset, Corrode, and Abyss.
Boleh saya bayar VP guna DuitNow atau Touch 'n Go?
Boleh. REDX Game menerima DuitNow, Touch 'n Go, Boost, dan bank transfer MYR untuk Valorant top-up terus ke Riot ID anda. Tak perlu tunggu lama.
Rank Reset Scams to Ignore This Week
Every act rollover pulls scam pages out of the woodwork faster than Riot can react. Rank-boost DMs offering to hold your account through placements almost always harvest login details for account resale in scattered regional Discords, which is exactly how Immortal accounts end up sold three times over. Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat also flags shared IPs, so a "cheap boost from Ipoh" usually ends in a hardware ban that survives account resale. Never share your Riot ID password with a boosting service.
Fake Battle Pass giveaway pages using Gourmand skinline art have already surfaced on Telegram; do not scan QR codes promising free 1000 VP for a "beta reward drop." Riot never gifts VP outside of official Prime Gaming rewards or Twitch drops. Legitimate Malaysian top-ups go through REDX Game's Valorant page or Riot Direct — nothing in between, ever.
Launch-Night Playbook for KL, PJ and JB Squads
Queue times get ugly on Act launch. Two moves help most: top up your VP before 6 PM MYT so payment rails stay uncongested, and lean on REDX Game's 1-3 minute delivery window (advertised) if you want VP credited before the Battlepass timer starts ticking. Squads in Johor Bahru sharing a home network should stagger their queue drops by roughly five minutes to avoid the matchmaking herd bug that sometimes clumps five friends into different lobbies. KL fibre players on Time or Maxis rarely see over 30 ms of ping to the Singapore server, so Abyss's tight jump timings should feel clean from Day 1 of the act.
REDX Game keeps MYR pricing pinned during Act launch spikes. That is where the App Store gap widens further because of forex swings on your card that day. Anyone gifting VP to a friend for their Battlepass can bundle the top-up through the Valorant MY checkout on REDX Game with a Bahasa or English receipt attached. Selesai.
