Valorant players won’t have to worry about teammates rushing to grab agents as soon as the match starts in a mad dash to make sure they get who they want.
Instalocking can be a frustrating experience for a team since players often prioritize their own preferred agent over the team’s composition. According to recent leaks, Riot Games is working on a solution to this problem with cascading pick orders.
Cascade picking solves instalocking in Valorant
According to a
prominent data miner
and leaker, Riot Games has taken inspiration from their other triple-A title,
League of Legends, in order to stop the issue of instalocking.
In MOBAs, it’s commonplace for character picks to be one by one with time separating them. This allows teams to slowly build out their roster without having to worry about the rush to pick your agent before somebody else does.
No more instalock Reynas or Jetts will plague the lobbies of players in either casual or ranked, and hopefully teammates will be less likely to stack on competitive roles like Duelist when preparing their team for a game. Most fans seem happy to be saying goodbye to the instalock Valorant era, but there will certainly be some one-tricks that are upset at the spent training muscle memory for the quickest agent select on the server.
Unlike League of Legends, Valorant’s new picking order will allow players who don’t pick immediately to have the agent select return to them later. In Riot Games’ other massive title, players who don’t select a character in time are fully kicked from the lobby and often given a dodge timer.
This will also kill the scramble to be the first player on your team to select a brand new agent after they hit the live servers. Overall it should make Valorant’s agent selection more cohesive and less of a time trial that tests your reflexes. Fans frustrated with instalocking will have a solution in a future act, though it’s not clear when.
Nicholas James
About Nicholas James
Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.
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