If you’ve ever sat staring at your Riot Client screen, watching the patch progress bar crawl forward at a snail’s pace while your internet works perfectly for every other app on your PC, you’ve probably asked yourself why does Valorant update so slow compared to other competitive shooters. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sat down to play a quick ranked match after work, only to be greeted by a 45 minute estimated update time that makes me miss my entire scheduled queue with friends. You’re not alone in this frustration: hundreds of thousands of players report slow Valorant update times every time a new patch drops, even with high-speed fiber internet connections. This guide breaks down the real causes behind slow updates, plus simple fixes you can implement in minutes to cut down wait times significantly.
Core Reasons Why Valorant Updates So Slow For Most Players
First, it’s important to understand that Valorant’s update system is built differently from many other popular games, and a lot of the “slowness” people experience is intentional for security and stability reasons. Riot uses a delta patching system that only downloads the parts of game files that changed between your current version and the new patch, rather than redownloading the entire 30GB+ game every time. Delta patching only works if your existing game files are 100% intact and match Riot's server versions. If any of your files are corrupted, even a tiny 100MB patch can turn into a 10GB download as the client replaces all mismatched files to avoid crashes or anti-cheat flags.
Another big factor is Vanguard, Valorant’s kernel-level anti-cheat system. Every time you install an update, Vanguard runs a full verification of all game files after the download completes to make sure no unauthorized changes were made. This verification process can take 10-20 minutes on older PCs, even if the download only took 2 minutes, and many players mistake this post-download verification for a slow download speed. Riot also enables a default bandwidth limit on the Riot Client for most users, to prevent game updates from eating up all your internet bandwidth while you’re using your PC for other tasks. Most people never change this setting, so their updates are capped at a fraction of their actual internet speed without them even knowing.
Client-Side Fixes To Speed Up Valorant Update Times
Most slow update issues are caused by easy-to-fix settings on your own PC, not problems with Riot’s servers. You can test these fixes in just a few minutes the next time you’re stuck waiting for a patch to install:
- Turn off Riot Client's default bandwidth limit: Go to Settings > Download > uncheck "Limit download bandwidth" to unlock full speed for your updates. You can turn this back on later if you need to use your internet for other tasks while the update runs.
- Close all background apps that use bandwidth, including streaming services, cloud backups, and other game launchers before starting the update. Even a single Netflix stream running in the background can cut your update speed in half.
- Pause and resume the update once if it gets stuck: This resets your connection to the nearest Riot patch server, often fixing slow download speeds instantly if you were connected to an overloaded server.
- Verify your game files once every 2-3 patches to avoid corrupted files forcing full redownloads of small patches. You can do this from the Valorant page in the Riot Client by clicking the gear icon and selecting “Verify”.
You can save up to 70% of update time by turning off the default bandwidth limit, as most users have the cap set to 10MB/s or lower even if they have 100MB/s+ internet connections. If you’ve tried all these fixes and your updates are still slow, check to make sure you have enough free space on your hard drive. You need at least 10GB of free space for the Riot Client to unpack and install patch files properly, and running low on space can make installation times 3-4x longer than normal. Never force close the Riot Client mid-update, as this can corrupt game files and lead to even slower updates next time. If your update seems completely stuck, wait 10 minutes before restarting the client to avoid damaging your game files.
When Slow Valorant Updates Are Caused By Server-Side Issues
Sometimes, slow updates have nothing to do with your PC or internet settings, and are caused by high load on Riot’s patch servers. This almost always happens right after a major patch drops, especially if the patch includes a new agent, map, or major balance changes that players are excited to try. Millions of players around the world try to download the patch in the first hour after release, and Riot’s servers can only handle so much traffic at once. To prevent total server outages, Riot automatically throttles download speeds for all users during peak launch windows to spread out the load.
Waiting 1-2 hours after a patch drops is the easiest fix for server-side slow update issues. I usually avoid updating right when a patch goes live unless I’m planning to play for the rest of the day, and I almost never have to deal with slow speeds when I update later in the evening. You can also check social media or community forums to see if other players are reporting the same slow update issues. If hundreds of people are complaining about the same problem, you know it’s a server-side issue and there’s nothing you can do to fix it on your end. Riot usually resolves server load issues within 2-3 hours of a patch launch, so you don’t have to wait long to get full speed again.
Common Mistakes That Make Valorant Updates Even Slower
A lot of players accidentally make their update times longer by following bad advice they find online, or by making small mistakes they don’t even realize are slowing things down. One of the most common mistakes is using a VPN while updating Valorant. Even premium VPN services route your traffic through a third party server, which adds latency and often connects you to a Riot patch server that’s thousands of miles away from your actual location. Using a VPN while updating Valorant almost always leads to slower speeds, even if you use a premium service. You should always turn off your VPN before starting a Valorant update, even if you use it for in-game ping reduction.
Another common mistake is installing Valorant on a traditional hard drive (HDD) instead of a solid state drive (SSD). HDDs have much slower read and write speeds than SSDs, so even if you download the patch in 2 minutes, the installation and verification process can take 20 minutes or more on an HDD. Installing Valorant on an SSD can cut installation time after download by 80% or more, and it also makes the game load much faster between matches. Many players also try to clear their Riot Client cache to fix slow updates, but if you delete the wrong files, you can force the client to redownload all previous patch data instead of just the latest update. If you’re going to clear your cache, make sure you follow official Riot guidelines to avoid deleting critical files. You should also avoid running other game updates at the same time as Valorant, as this splits your bandwidth between multiple downloads and makes all of them slower.
Next time you’re stuck staring at a crawling update bar and wondering what’s taking so long, you’ll know exactly why does Valorant update so slow, and which fixes to test first. Most of the time, the issue is either a simple setting you forgot to change, temporary server load right after a patch launch, or a small mistake like leaving your VPN on. You don’t need to be a tech expert to cut your update times down to a few minutes, and most of the fixes we covered take less than 60 seconds to implement. I’ve been playing Valorant since closed beta, and these tips have cut my average update time from 30 minutes to less than 5 minutes for most patches. Try them out the next time a new patch drops, and you’ll be back in your ranked queue before you know it.
