If you loved warming up against tough bots on the Practice Range's Spike defuse and planning setups before diving into your ranked VALORANT games, Patch 9.02 is likely going to leave you quite disappointed.
Practice Range Changes in Valorant 9.02
Players initially pointed out that in a July 30th Reddit post, players indicated that the latest update removed the beloved Spike defuse and plant practice sites from the Range, with no indication of when or if they would return. Interestingly, Riot Games has replaced the Teleporters that led to those practice sites with the doors from the new Basic Training tutorial. The doors, oddly enough, do nothing, for now.
For those unaware, Patch 9.02 added the new Basic Tutorial system to VALORANT PC. Returning players can now select one of two scenarios from the Practice menu in the lobby: The Range of Basic Training. New players will have to complete the new tutorial, and will also have the option to play a practice game against AI.
According to our testing, after Patch 9.02, you can only load into the Spike defuse and plant practice scenarios if you choose to replay (or play) the Basic Training tutorial. Of course, it doesn't make sense to replay the entire introductory tutorial just to load into a practice scenario every time. Which brings us to the question: why would Riot remove the Spike defuse and plant scenarios from the Practice Range in the first place?
