Gauntlet: Glitched throws out almost everything you expect from a standard Valorant match. There are no fixed Agents, no five-versus-five, and no 40-minute commitment. Instead, 16 players split into eight duos, build a hybrid robot Agent out of drafted abilities, and fight through short 2v2 rounds until one team is left. It arrives as an experimental mode with Patch 13.06 on September 22, 2026.
Quick answer: Eight teams of two play a tournament of 2v2 duels. Losing a round drains your team’s health, and reaching zero eliminates your duo. Each round you draft or upgrade abilities, and the last duo standing wins.
How the 8-duo format works
A match places 16 players into eight duos, then rotates them through a series of 2v2 battles. Every round your pair is matched against a different duo for a single duel. This structure is closer to an auto-battler lobby than a normal shooter, with the whole field whittling down over successive fights.
Losing a round costs your team health rather than instantly ending your run. Once your duo’s health bar hits zero, you are eliminated. That buffer means a single bad round is recoverable, so teams have time to rework their build before they drop out.
Games are designed to run 8 to 15 minutes, a much faster loop than a full Competitive match. You can queue solo or with a friend, and there are no rank restrictions on who you pair with. A Diamond and a Bronze player can team up together.
Building a hybrid Robo-Agent through ability drafts
You do not pick Jett, Sage, Omen, or any other Agent here. Everyone controls the same hybrid robot Agent, which resembles KAY/O, and then assembles a kit from abilities pulled off different characters. The approach is comparable to Dota 2’s Ability Draft, where you build a custom character from a shared pool.
Each round opens with a randomized set of ability options. You choose one that fits your current plan, so every match hands you a different combination of tools. Because the draft is random, you cannot rely on one fixed build. You work with what you are offered and look for useful pairings.
On each draft screen you decide between grabbing a brand-new ability or investing in one you already own. That single choice, spread over a full game, is what lets a kit combine mobility, smokes, recon, and crowd control in ways that are impossible in standard Valorant. Abilities already spotted in the mode include Tejo’s Guided Salvo, Deadlock’s Gravnet, Fade’s Haunt, Raze’s Blast Pack, Jett’s Cloudburst, Omen’s Shrouded Step, Astra’s Nebula, and Gekko’s Dizzy.
Ability upgrades from Level 1 to Level 3
Drafted abilities can be upgraded from Level 1 to Level 3. These upgrades are not simple cooldown trims. Higher levels can bolt on entirely new effects that push familiar skills far outside their normal behavior, which is where the “Glitched” name comes from.
| Ability | Agent | Upgraded effect |
|---|---|---|
| Fakeout | Yoru | The decoy can flash on destruction, and a further upgrade lets it fire bullets on its own |
| Trailblazer | Skye | The scouting creature becomes a giant wolf that can kill an enemy in one bite |
| Wingman | Gekko | Grows into a much larger version that still concusses the first enemy it finds |
One gameplay clip even showed a player spawning three Yoru Fakeouts at once, each heading in a separate direction. The intent is deliberate: rather than just swapping abilities between Agents, the mode twists them into forms that would never be balanced in ranked play.
How duo synergy shapes your build
A strong solo kit is only half the picture. Your abilities need to work with whatever your teammate has drafted. A mobility tool gets far more value next to a partner who can reveal or immobilize enemies, and a player stacked on recon can let an aggressive duo mate focus purely on movement and damage.
Two powerful individual builds can still make a weak duo if they leave the same gaps uncovered. Since the draft is randomized, teams have to judge each option against what they already hold instead of chasing one preset setup. The mode is built so both players feel impactful, avoiding the sense of one person carrying the other.
The four Gauntlet: Glitched arenas
The mode launches with four compact arenas built specifically for 2v2 duels. They draw on existing Valorant maps, most notably Breeze, Icebox, and Corrode, then rearrange recognizable pieces and stitch them together at visible glitching seams. The result is familiar but uncanny.
Shrinking the space is intentional. A full-size map would leave too much dead ground for two-player teams, so these arenas keep sightlines, cover, and movement routes tight enough to make drafted abilities matter almost immediately.
While you wait between rounds, you can practice your aim on floating targets from a platform overlooking the arenas, giving you something to do while other duos finish their fights.
Weapons and staged progression
For all the strange abilities, Gauntlet: Glitched is still a shooter. Regular Valorant weapons are in play, and the progression is staged much like Team Deathmatch. Teams move up from pistols toward heavier options, including the new Warden rifle, as the game goes on.
Release date and Patch 13.06
Gauntlet: Glitched goes live on September 22, 2026 alongside Patch 13.06. That same update is a large one, adding the Warden rifle and a revamped Agent Mastery system, so the mode is only one part of the release. If you enjoy experimenting with abilities and want a short, high-energy alternative to standard matches, this is the drop to watch for that day.
