Valorant devs claim nerf to running accuracy is finally coming

Top pro Valorant players and casual gamers alike have been frustrated with the accuracy of running and shooting in Valorant since the game’s closed beta. Now it seems that Riot has finally decided to address this concern. 

In tactical shooters such as Valorant and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the usual technique is to strategically approach or guard a site by moving deliberately. This is in part because players are given higher accuracy while standing still. When a player is running, their accuracy is supposed to decrease significantly, just as it would in a real-life scenario. 

“Running and gunning,” as it’s become known, should only be used in certain situations where the player is confident that they won’t be punished for doing so. 

But the Valorant community quickly noticed that the accuracy of each weapon, even powerful ones such as the Vandal, are not so dramatically lessened when a player is running. This has made running and gunning an very powerful strategy at times. This can be a hard habit to kick for many legacy CSGO fans in particular, who often aren’t prepared for a player to suddenly charge them with a Phantom. 

Valorant developers respond to running accuracy nerf request

The power of running accuracy in Valorant has been a topic the community has discussed at length. It appears to affect every tier in the game as well, with Iron players and pro players alike voicing concerns with the accuracy of weapons while running in the game. 

100 Thieves’ Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella decided to voice his concerns directly to Valorant developers on Twitter. He joked that Riot decreasing the running accuracy in Valorant is his “number one wish.” 

One Riot developer decided to answer the tweet seriously, shocking many in the Valorant community. 

“In the spirit of Christmas, I’ll let you know that we are working on it,” senior game designer Max Grossman replied. 

The developer said that the nerf won’t be in the next patch but the design team has it at the top of their list of updates. 

This response was applauded by the Valorant community, who noted that responsiveness was something they didn’t see from competing developer Valve while still playing CSGO. Riot has been a lot more open to communication than Valve, often replying to tweets and Reddit threads answering concerns about their game. 

While the running and gunning nerf might not be implemented for another month, knowing it’s on the way is still a holiday miracle for many Valorant players.