Blades of Imperium

EP 7: Evolution, Act 2 · August 29, 2023 · 4,350 VP (individually) / 8,700 VP (full bundle). The melee from VALORANT's dragon themed Exclusive Edition Imperium bundle. Art Direction Senior Manager Kerwin Atienza said the team "were inspired by the dragons of the East and jewel materials." The official tagline reads: "Experience Imperium. Four ancient dragon kings drawn into jade and gold, reawakened in your hands." The Blades of Imperium is a dual wielded fist blade, one of the rarest melee archetypes in VALORANT at the time. At level 1 it functions as a single handed weapon, but upgrading to level 2 transforms it into a dual handed melee with a brand new alternate attack animation on right click, plus custom animations, VFX, and audio. The team capitalized on the dual wielding design, which was extremely rare in the game, and none of the other dual wielded melees at the time had special effects. The finisher summons a massive water dragon that the developers described as "the biggest finisher created to date." The dragon's appearance changes based on your equipped variant. The bundle includes skins for the Vandal, Operator, Judge, and Sheriff, plus two gun buddies, a player card, and a spray. Features 4 variants: the default jade green, Ruby (red), Pearl (white), and Obsidian (black), each with a unique dragon motif in the finisher animation. The skin line is themed around East Asian weaponry and armor with the dragon as its central element, drawing comparisons to Shenron from Dragon Ball Z among the community. Released alongside the new map Sunset and the official launch of Premier mode, making the EP 7 Act 2 patch one of the most content heavy updates at the time.