This might be why players can't perform consistently in Valorant

Fariha Bhatti Published 24/01/2022

Do you also struggle with staying consistent in Valorant? Riot Games has acknowledged this problem, and it may not entirely be about your individual performance.

Have you ever dropped 30 kills in a Valorant ranked game but ended up on the bottom of the scoreboard in the next? It’s a common issue that many Valorant players have been dealing with, regardless of ranks. From Silver to Immortal players, everyone struggles with consistency at some point. It turns out personal performance isn’t all to blame.

Riot Games has revealed that it has been noticing these complaints and investigating what might be causing inconsistency in Valorant.

“We’ve been following along with the conversations here, and we’re in the middle of investigating the game-to-game inconsistency that the community has been discussing,” Valorant staff engineer Shaedyn said.

What causes inconsistency in Valorant?

Players have highlighted that Valorant servers may have something to do with unstable aim and performance, and Riot devs haven’t completely denied it. According to Shaedyn, Valorant buffering behavior could be why some players miss their shots.

Inconsistency is common in first-person shooter games, but whiffing all shots after performing your best is unusual. This is something that most Valorant players have been dealing with, and Riot has finally started an investigation.

According to Shaedyn, no concrete reason is known yet, but the infamous peeker’s advantage could be blamed. Due to the game server, frame rate, ping, movement input, and more, player peeking sees the stationary enemy first.

However, this is just a single instance. Many players complain that they struggle to land a kill even when they’re not over peeking on high ping.

Shaedyn believes some buffering is required to smooth out player movement accounting for ping variance and packet loss. So, this buffering player movement could be why the game often stutters, leading to whiffed shots. However, server issues shouldn’t always be blamed. Individual performance heavily depends on the enemy’s skill level. Your opponents might be the reason why you fail to transfer your previous 30K into a new game.

How to be consistent in Valorant

Consistency comes with great practice.

Try to adopt a pre-game aim regimen to help you warm your hands. A consistent practice routine will help you perform better in the game. Most importantly, develop healthy gaming habits by queuing with good players. Good aim won’t always stick, but team communication, game sense, and map knowledge can help you tackle inconsistency 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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