Valorant Christmas Icebox map leaked & Snowball Mode explained

Riot Games are preparing for the release of a brand new Christmas themed Icebox map for its Winter update, and not just that – but a Snowball mode as well. 

The latest batch of leaks surfaced just after the arrival of Patch 1.14, which has made a whole host of changes in its own right.

However, if you’re more interested in what’s coming up in the first-person shooter, look no further.

Valorant Christmas update: Icebox map changes & Snowball mode

On December 8, prominent leak account ValorLeaks revealed a particularly interesting post for its followers. Said tweet included photographs of the never-before-seen Christmas version of the Icebox map, which has changed the way many features now appear in-game.

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As you can see, presents will be replacing all of the freight crates which dominate the Icebox landscape, and there’s some festive lights and decorations too!

In the official patch notes, Valorant devs confirmed: “Ready to have a Snowball Fight with your friends (and likely your foes)? The limited mode goes live on December 15 and will last for two weeks, on December 29. Play a match of Snowball Fight and you’ll also nab a themed Gun Buddy, delivered at a later date.”

If you’re wondering how the new Snowball Mode will work in Valorant, a number of details have already leaked ahead of schedule.

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The patch notes clarify that that Snowball Mode will follow this pattern:

• 5v5: Team Deathmatch
  • The first team to 50 kills wins
  • Respawns are enabled, so get back in there
• The snowball launcher is your weapon of choice
  • Killjoy has rigged a custom version of Brimstone’s molotov launcher
  • Projectile based snowballs have travel time and an arc (make sure to lead that shot!)
  • Infinite snowballs—don’t stop shooting!
• The gift that keeps on giving: Power ups!
  • Gifts spawn around the map, sometimes a portal appears and gifts come pouring out
  • Each gift contains a power up when opened (shoot to open)
  • You can only have one of each power up at a time, so make sure to share with your teammates
  • If you die, you drop your power ups and someone else can snag them
• Gift types
  • Rapid Fire: fire even faster
  • Growball: grows over time while traveling in the air
  • Ricochet: for all those snowball trick shots off the ground and walls
  • Skates: skate around quickly and in style. Jump higher!
• Maps
  • Week 1: Check out the festivities on the newly updated holiday version of Icebox (Snowball Fight only!)
  • Week 2: Snowball Fight can be played on all current maps
• Progression
  • Get 750 XP for each game completed, and 150 bonus XP for a win
  • Snowball mode does not progress missions

So get ready for a snowball fight to remember! It’s cool to see how Valorant has added a festive twist to an already iconic winter map, so get ready to dive in soon!