Players urge Riot to ban agent insta-locking app

Fariha Bhatti Published 28/04/2023

Imagine being able to insta-lock Jett from your loo break. As wild as it may sound, it’s now possible with the Recon Bolt app, and players are not happy. 

Sometimes, the Valorant queue can be so long that you must wait for long minutes to find a game. Players often get water, food or take a toilet break in the meantime. But these breaks come at the cost of risking letting go of your main agent. If you’re still away while the match locks in, you can’t possibly insta-lock Reyna or Jett. 

The Recon Bolt app was introduced to solve that issue, but it’s turning out to be too powerful and even game-breaking. 

“Can Riot do something about this recon bolt app? It actually has ruined ranked so much. People can find out who you are while playing streamer mode, so many more people are just stream sniping,” professional Valorant player Will said. 

What’s the Valorant Recon Bolt app?

Recon Bolt is an app that allows players to see their enemies’ real names and match history, even if they have streamer mode on. Due to this, streamers have noticed a spike in stream snipers since the app’s launch. Not just that, the worst part is the app’s main feature: Locking agents from anywhere. 

While being able to lock agents from your living room sounds fantastic, the timing makes this feature problematic. Apparently, app owners get the agent screen preview way before the PC users do. This allows them to lock in their preferred agents before the screen even loads up for others. On their own computers, Recon Bolt owners spawn into the agent screen with their selected agents, refusing others to pick the locked-in characters. 

Using the app, players can also see the starting side, which is equally game-breaking, if not more. Now, serious ranked players are hoping that Riot would do something about this urgent issue that’s likely behind the stream-sniper spike in Valorant. 

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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