Peeker’s advantage in Valorant is a hot issue both among professional players and the casual base. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski has shared his thoughts on the subject and his fans are torn.
There has been a lot of controversies around peeker’s advantage in Valorant. Some players think it’s ruining their tactical experience and Riot Games isn’t doing enough to minimize it. The community isn’t a fan of dying to a pusher who one-taps them to death. However, CSGO pro Elige thinks that it’s not entirely bad.
On his recent Valorant stream, the Team Liquid pro said that the community is asking for something that it doesn’t understand. He explained that playing Valorant without peeker’s advantage is not “even possible” due to the consequences on utility overall gameplay.
“I think it’s good to have peeker’s advantage. You know how hard it would be to play a game that has zero pusher’s advantage. People are asking for something they don’t even understand,” Elige said.
Should Riot address peeker’s advantage in Valorant?
Peeker’s advantage refers to the edge that someone peeking around a corner has over an opponent on the other side. When a player is patiently holding an area, a pusher is bound to get the first peek due to several variables like movement input, game server, framerate, and ping.
Riot Games released an in-depth report in 2020 that addressed this issue yet players believe it’s a bigger problem. Elige disagrees.
The pro player thinks that peeker’s advantage isn’t necessarily a netcode problem. The pusher often has a better movement, pre-fire sense, and aim, leading to the first kill. But, the existing problem around peeker’s advantage provides players with an excuse to get upset after getting “destroyed.”
“People are always complaining about peeker’s advantage, which isn’t always about the specific netcode complaints. They’re upset that they were holding an angle and they got peeked and destroyed where they feel like they should’ve been rewarded for holding and chalk it up to peekers advantage,” He said.
However, the pro player doesn’t deny that peeker’s advantage is a real problem that impacts gameplay. It’s just not entirely a threat to tactical experience. Without the holder’s advantage, a pusher will have no other option but to use utility to get anyone out of any angle. Blaming minimal ping difference isn’t reasonable since there are still other factors in play that can give the first peeker an advantage.
Pusher’s advantage has been a controversial subject in many first-person shooter games. But, it’s become a hot topic of discussion in the online era of esports, where ping disparity is a real issue. While this problem is negligible in LAN events, it still exists, proving that it’s not a plain netcode problem.
Fariha Bhatti
About Fariha Bhatti
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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