How to appear offline in Valorant

Valorant is best enjoyed with friends, but sometimes, you want to tune out all the noise and climb the ladder alone. You can achieve this without leaving your friends behind by appearing offline in Valorant.

Valorant has several rank restrictions for full-stacks, making it difficult to queue with friends at times. However, there are many other reasons why a player may choose to queue alone in Valorant.

Unfortunately, the game would always show you as offline, and you can’t really play alone without bailing on your regular lobby. 

• Related: Patch 8.11 to make all Valorant maps playable, with a catch

How to use Deceive to appear offline in Valorant

Thankfully, third-party software lets you go offline in Valorant. To do that, you’ll need to download an application called Deceive:

1. First, go to GitHub and download Deceive
2. Once downloaded, right-click the Deceive.exe icon and select run as administrator option
3. The application will open up and you should see a list of games by Riot
4. Select Valorant to appear offline to your friends
5. To change your activity status, go back to Deceive and select Status Type to go back online in Valorant

Once the software is running, you should see a tiny “Deceive Active” icon on top of your friend list. This means you’re successfully offline in Valorant. This way, you won’t receive any friend or lobby invites as you play your ranked game, polish aim, and do whatever you like without any noise. This is because your friends won’t see your profile icon at all. However, you can still invite your friends to your lobby. 

It’s crucial to be aware that Riot Games prohibits most third-party software used within Valorant. While Deceive is a reputable and widely used software in the gaming community, it’s important to understand the potential risks. There’s a chance, albeit small, that you may face consequences such as a ban. Therefore, using it sparingly and only when absolutely necessary is advisable.

For those who prefer to avoid third-party tools, there’s an alternative. You can unfriend those who inundate you with excessive invites when you’re online.