Valorant
Valorant
Riot has nerfed Valorant’s most deadly pistols in patch 6.11
Fariha Bhatti
Frenzy and Shorty, the top troll pistols, are getting long-due nerfs in Valorant patch 6.11. Frenzy and Shorty are viable weapons, but serious players rarely use them in high-stakes situations. To squeeze full juice out of these two, you need a tenderizing utility and excellent movement skills, especially in the case of Shorty. Still, the two pistols are uber-powerful, and Riot is now trying to balance them. Valorant patch 6.11 …
Valorant
Valorant patch 6.11 buffs Chamber, Viper nerfed
Fariha Bhatti
It’s a great day to be a Chamber main, as Valorant patch 6.11 aims to buff his kit. However, Viper mains will absolutely hate the new patch. Chamber has always been Riot’s trouble child. He was so powerful that Riot had to nerf him before even considering tweaks for fellow sentinels. However, after being nerfed to the ground, Chamber is returning to the field with a stronger Tour De Force …
Valorant
Riot unveils new design changes to Pearl’s B site
Fariha Bhatti
Pearl has undergone small but significant changes to better accommodate the defenders on map’s B site. Riot often takes maps into the workshop for regular tweaks to better suit the meta. This time, it’s Pearl that would be getting some tweaks to its B site to streamline duels. Most of the site remains the same, but four small changes will transform how duels pan out on this bomb site. Pearl …
Twitch
Stranger Things fame Grace’s signing to FaZe marred with drama
Fariha Bhatti
FaZe Clan recently signed Stranger Things star Grace Van Dien to their content roster, but not all FaZe members are on board with the decision. FaZe Clan recently went shopping despite their financial woes, adding a brand new Valorant streamer to their lineup. Grace Van Dien rose to fame after her appearance in Season 4 of Stranger Things as Chrissy Cunningham. However, she soon left the mainstream media behind, opting …
Valorant
Riot finally settles the Phantom vs Vandal debate in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
You no longer have to argue with your friends over the best rifle in Valorant. Riot Games has officially weighed in on the Vandal vs Phantom discussion with solid facts. The Vandal vs Phantom debate is as old as Valorant itself. Since 2020, players have been struggling to come to a conclusion about which weapon is the best. Vandal lovers think their weapon is superior, but Phantom users also have …
Valorant
Valorant ranks: How do they work in 2023?
Fariha Bhatti
Ranking up in Valorant is no easy feat. There are nine ranks, each with a competitive streak that is not for the faint of the heart. Still, want to play ranked? Then you better know how Valorant ranks work in 2023. Valorant has taken the gaming world by storm with its unique blend of strategy, teamwork, and fast-paced action. One aspect of the game that piques players’ interest is the …
Valorant
You can now swap sprays mid-game in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant players can now toss more color and fun memes across the map they’re playing with a new spray wheel feature currently being tested in PBE. Players have been pestering Riot for big changes to deathmatch mode, replay, timeout feature, and more. Now, Riot has undoubtedly been working, but on an entirely new thing that nobody asked for. Still, players are not complaining, considering how awesome the new spray wheel …
Valorant
Valorant trolls are tanking FPS with new Jett bug
Fariha Bhatti
Players have discovered a new Jett FPS bug that is so annoying it can force you to ALT+F4. Valorant is a team game, so all players need to coordinate with each other. For example, when your teammate asks you to walk, you must press down on the shift key as hard as possible to not make a sound. But, some malicious actors purposefully sabotage teammates. Now, a bug has fallen …
What happened to SicK? Timeline of pro’s encounters with the law
William Davis
Valorant
Sentinels’ Valorant pro Hunter “SicK” Mims continues to exhibit erratic behavior on Twitter. SicK’s situation has fans and fellow pro players worried. What happened to SicK? It seems to be an accumulation of untreated mental health issues. SicK first opened up about his mental health issues back in 2022. At the time, the player admitted that he had been struggling for some time and that he couldn’t fulfill his responsibilities …
Valorant rank distribution shows most players are Silvers
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Radiants are still rare, with Silver being the most populated tier. Here’s the updated rank distribution for 2023. Valorant players were overcrowding the Silver ranks, prompting the developer to squeeze in a green Ascendant badge between Diamond and Immortal. It did help with oversaturation but failed to destroy the ELO hell that still abodes most players. According to the updated Valorant rank distribution, Silver is still the most populated …
Valorant pro SicK arrested for criminal trespassing, again
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Sentinels’ benched Valorant pro Hunter “SicK” Mims is once under the spotlight for alleged criminal trespassing. According to sources close to SicK, the Valorant pro is not in his best mental state. SicK landed into the public eye after his online controversy related to his ex-girlfriend, who accused him of infidelity. As the situation exacerbated, so did SicK’s bizarre tweets. Soon after, the streamer and pro player got into bigger …
Leak reveals potential changes to Valorant map Icebox
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Icebox is going under the knife to prepare for its comeback, which is still months away. On April 6, 2023, Riot axed Icebox from Valorant to make space for a renewed Bind. The new map rotation sees each map going to the workshop for necessary tweaks. After Bind, Icebox is now getting a facelift to fit in the game meta. Riot still hasn’t shared the changes, as the next rotation …
“He’s not himself right now”: ShahZaM blocks SicK on Twitter
Olivia Richman
Valorant
The Valorant community is growing concerned for Sentinels’ former player Hunter “SicK” Mims as his social media posts become more perplexing. G2 pro Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan tweeted late last night that he blocked SicK on Twitter so he could warn others in the esports industry that he’s “not himself right now.” ShahZaM added that people should ignore his tweets and “erratic behavior” since this isn’t truly who SicK is. “Thanks …
Valorant team forfeits match due to one player’s Honkai: Star Rail addiction
Olivia Richman
Valorant
A Valorant team forfeited a Valorant Challengers League match due to one of the players deciding to grind Honkai: Star Rail. Honkai: Star Rail has become one of the most popular Gacha games, with over 20 million downloads in just one single day. The game has become many people’s obsessions, including some pro Valorant players, apparently. On May 2, Ghost CommandoS forfeited a Valorant Challengers League Taiwan/Hong Kong match against …
This Premier feature could end smurfing problem in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Premier’s air-tight smurf protection has reminded players of the terrible ranked situation, and now they want similar rules in the main game. Competition just got serious in Valorant with Premier, a queue that paves the way to VCT. It’s currently in beta, but players are already impressed by how Riot is tackling the new mode. No hacker or smurf can set foot into the queues. Of course, there are …
What is your Country Code in Valorant Premier Registration?
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Premier has a strict requirement policy and verification process. So, you may find yourself stuck at finding your country code to register for Valorant Premier. On April 25, Riot Games took the competition to a whole new level with Valorant Premier. An in-game mode that connects with Valorant esports, allowing everyone an opportunity to go pro. To ensure competitive integrity and fair competition, Riot has put serious rules in …
What determines your division in Valorant Premier?
William Davis
Valorant
Valorant is giving its players the opportunity to participate in a real competition with Valorant Premier. Because not every player is on the same level, Valorant Premier has a division system. Valorant Premier is similar to Clash in League of Legends, except it’s much bigger. For a limited time, players get the opportunity to come together as a team and compete in a flash tournament. This new mode allows players …
VCT Summer 2023 schedule explained
William Davis
Valorant
The competitive year for Valorant is just getting started. The VCT Summer 2023 schedule is packed from May all the way through August. 2023 is a special year for competitive Valorant with the beginning of the International Leagues. During the VCT Summer 2023, fans will enjoy the first International League playoffs, the Masters Tokyo, and the first Championship in China, among other events. Before any global event, the International Leagues …
Players urge Riot to ban agent insta-locking app
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
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 …
Exclusive Valorant Prime Gaming player card released
Nicholas James
Valorant
A new set of Valorant Prime Gaming rewards has dropped, allowing fans to get their hands on the gorgeous new Caught One player card. Amazon Prime Gaming is an ongoing rewards system for people who are subscribed to the Amazon Prime service. Tons of games offer free rewards, often refreshing regularly, that players can claim. In order to access Prime Gaming rewards, you’ll need an Amazon Prime subscription. The latest …
Riot Games has long looked to expand its footprint beyond the success of popular MOBA League of Legends, and one of its biggest successes to date in this regard is the tactical shooter, Valorant. Blending traditional first-person shooter elements with unique and flashy hero abilities, Valorant seeks to combine the best attributes of tactical shooters and hero shooters into one cohesive experience.
Based on player feedback, the game has largely succeeded in accomplishing those aims. It’s not an easy balance, and it’s one that is arguably still tenuous, but Riot Games seems to be doing as good a job of it as most fans have hoped for.
What type of game is Valorant?
Valorant is a first-person shooter that represents a unique blend of the tactical shooter and hero shooter subgenres. There are some games that represent similar gameplay elements, but not many that offer the exact experience that Valorant puts forward to players.
The tactical shooter genre is often considered to have been defined by the release of the original Counter-Strike, a multiplayer mod for famed single-player PC title Half-Life that later became a standalone game of its own. While most multiplayer FPS games to that point emphasized prolonged battles between opposing players zipping around the game at high speeds, Counter-Strike slowed things down significantly and made players much more susceptible to each other’s firepower, requiring players to take a more tactical approach to play.
That slower and more tactical approach, combined with the lightning-quick nature of action when it does occur, proved reliably popular. That popularity can still be seen today with the ongoing success enjoyed by the Counter-Strike franchise, and it’s this gameplay type that represents the core of Valorant. It’s no accident that former Counter-Strike developers were drafted by Riot Games to help create Valorant during the game’s formative stages.
What differentiates Valorant from CS and other tactical shooters it that each of the game’s characters, called agents, wield a number of unique abilities. Some are typical for tactical shooters, like flashbangs and smokes, while others are wildly different, such as an ability that transports two players to an isolated dueling arena for its duration.
These agent abilities are more reminiscent of hero shooters, a subgenre that arguably got its start with the Team Fortress games but has best been popularized by Blizzard title Overwatch. The abilities, combind with the tactical considerations that are at the core of Valorant, separate it from most any other FPS experience available for play.
How does Valorant esports work?
Like many other popular competitive shooters, Valorant does have a thriving esports scene. That scene is differentiated by the way it’s run and controlled by developer and publisher Riot Games. Riot uses a model based on the success of its League of Legends esports scene, which sees the globe’s competitive players and team’s separated by region. These regions play out their own competitions in their sections of the world before coming together at regular intervals for international tournaments featuring the best teams from each individual region.
While League of Legends once boasted a variety of regions and regional types, Riot sought to simplify that model when setting up esports for Valorant. The game has only a handful of major regions, and these regions are held as largely equitable, each sending their best teams to international events leading up to the year-end VALORANT Champions event.
