Valorant
Valorant
What Valorant PBE actually is and how to register for it
Fariha Bhatti
Riot lets the Valorant community test out the significant Valorant changes through Public Beta Environment, but joining the PBE is more complicated than it seems. Since 2020, Riot has consistently rolled out patches to deliver instant bug fixes. However, some patches include game-changing nerfs, bugs, quality of life tweaks, and more that could be a hit or miss for regular players. So Riot whipped up a new way to see …
Valorant
You’ve been breaking Sova’s dart all wrong, here’s the right way
Fariha Bhatti
Breaking Sova’s dart usually involves revealing your position, but a less-known technique can keep you out of the crossfire. Valorant is almost three years old with more than 20 characters. But some agents are still unexplored. However, their complex kits have numerous easter eggs that will keep getting unveiled with time. Each Valorant agent is unique, with simple-to-use utility hiding tricks and techniques that only a few know. Content creator …
Valorant
Valorant’s female-only Game Changers posts incredible viewer count
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant’s esports scene is truly thriving in 2022 as the first international VCT Game Changers becomes the second most-watched female tournament. In March 2021, Riot Games lifted the curtain on Valorant’s premier league for marginalized genders. It wagged many tongues, but a year later, the small circuit has blossomed into one of the biggest female tournaments in history. Besides entertaining games, the final has posted incredible numbers, prompting the Valorant …
Valorant
This Viper setup on Icebox proves she’s still better than Harbor
Fariha Bhatti
The poison handler and second-in-command, Viper, remains the top controller even after Harbor’s recruitment. This new setup for Icebox B-site proves why she’s still the best. Valorant Episode 5 Act 3 rolled in with a water-based controller Harbor who is Viper’s twin. Unlike other smokers, Harbor followed Viper’s lead and brought walls and waves to the game. However, he’s still not as viable as the poison handler. Viper’s ability to …
Valorant
Cypher, Harbor finally buffed in Valorant patch 5.10
Fariha Bhatti
Competition in Valorant is about to get steep. Patch 5.10 brings Cypher back into the game, with some buffs for Harbor on the side. The latest Valorant patch is a big one. Besides some game changes, Fade, Cypher, and Harbor will get long-due tweaks to mix things up in ranked Valorant. The duo of Cypher and Fade has been on Riot’s radar for some time now, but Harbor’s low pick …
Valorant
How to get the VCT Game Changers drops by tuning in
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant Game Changers Championship is around the corner, bringing exciting free prizes and steam drops for the fans. Riot Games announced a year-long circuit for women and other marginalized genders to partake in Valorant’s cut-throat esports. In 2022, VCT Game Changers has developed enough to have its own Championship. Eight teams have made it to the ultimate podium of Game Changers from the globe, who will now lock horns for …
Valorant
Who is Harbor’s voice actor in Valorant?
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games recently unveiled the voice behind the beefy controller Harbor, and it’s a name familiar to League of Legends fans. Valorant agent 21, Harbor, recently joined the protocol with abilities to block bullets and sights. He loves cricket, enjoys a nice plate of samosa, and is currently on the run from REALM. Gameplay-wise, Harbor has been decent, but his cheeky voice lines have impressed the Valorant community. We finally …
Valorant
Riot explains why Valorant doesn’t have an esports franchise
William Davis
In a recent interview, Riot Games President of Esports John Needham explained the main differences between the esports franchises in League of Legends and a potential Valorant franchise. League of Legends and Valorant are arguably the biggest esports with some of the most popular international events in the year. While both titles are under the control of Riot Games, the developer has taken a vastly different approach when it comes …
Valorant cheater gets roasted on the internet for being bad
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant has its fair share of cheaters, but few are daring enough to be blatant about it. This TikToker went ahead and streamed live with cheats on. Riot Games has always been transparent regarding cheaters and bad actors: they are not welcome in Valorant. Reports and video proofs lead to instant bans from the game, which is why Valorant is still somewhat safe from serial cheaters. If anything, such players …
Cypher camera trick on Haven can help destroy enemies
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Cypher is yet to be buffed in Valorant, but some players are already making huge plays with his current toolkit. Some Valorant agents were spawned as all-powerful beings who barely had any counter in Project A. Riot Games’ efforts to balance the meta resulted in gradual but severe nerfs for such agents. So, for example, Cypher is no longer the master of intel and Reyna is struggling among the other …
Official Valorant YouTube channel hacked by crypto scam
Nicholas James
Valorant
The official Valorant Esports YouTube channel was briefly hacked on November 6, resulting in all of its videos going unpublished in favor of a scam stream promoting cryptocurrency. The pattern of malicious actors hijacking popular YouTube channels to promote cryptocurrency scams to their audiences isn’t new, but it’s the first time Riot Games has fallen victim to the scheme. The interruption was only brief, but it certainly kept things interesting …
Valorant map nine codenamed Jam could be located in India
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant’s next map is codenamed Jam, and while it doesn’t give away any key details, leakers have connected the dots to figure out the map’s origins. Earlier in 2022, Riot Games settled on the magic number seven for Valorant map rotation, kicking Split out of active duty. But that doesn’t mean that the developer would stop adding new locations. Similar to Apex Legends and other titles, Valorant might have rotations, …
Players are causing mayhem in Valorant with this Raze bug
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
A new Raze Boom Bot bug is creating a monstrous noise audible throughout the map. The party monster Raze is equipped with an Initiator-style robot that blows upon detecting enemies. It’s easily one of the deadliest damage-dealing abilities in Valorant, but it can also be used to blanket footsteps and just annoy enemies. A new glitch is making the rounds for that hilarious last reason. Players have discovered that the …
Is Toast going pro in Valorant? Dapr interested in joining team
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Popular Twitch streamer and OfflineTV member Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang is considering going pro in Valorant, but he wants the cream of the crop on his team. Valorant esports is at its pinnacle in 2022. Riot Games has announced a separate off-season when exciting third-party tournaments would occur, but professional teams also use this time for roster swaps. Plenty of top Valorant players are waiting to be picked and Disguised …
New Halloween Soulstrife skins bundle leaked for Valorant
William Davis
Valorant
Soulstrife skins will add gothic flair to any Valorant arsenal, but the knife is only appropriate for the edgiest of players. Prominent Valorant leaker ValorLeaks has revealed a new set of gun skins coming to the game. The set, titled Soulstrife, is a Halloween-themed bundle that takes inspiration from ghosts. Unsurprisingly, the Ghost, Phantom, and Spectre are all included in this bundle. Here’s what we know how much Soulstrife will …
How to unlock all Valorant agents quickly in 2022
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant currently has 21 agents, but the journey to unlock them all can be a tall order if you’re new to the game. Riot Games’ character-based FPS features an extended cast of 21 agents each capable of different actions. But players must work hard to unlock all characters as Riot only allows five free agents, which are as follows. Brimstone Sova Sage Phoenix Jett But it’s pretty easy to unlock the rest. There are …
Sova’s dart attached to Yoru’s clone is a hilarious but useful trick
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
A brand new way to scan information has arrived in Valorant. It uses a hilarious interaction between Yoru’s clone and Sova’s dart. Sova is quite a useful agent in large locations. His intel-gathering devices are helpful, but they’re no fun on their own. Luckily, players have discovered a hilarious way to milk out Sova’s dart and corner enemies. But you must have Yoru on your team to act out this …
Skilled players can now go pro in Valorant through Premier mode
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games is bringing a new way for hungry players to take the competition to a new level through Valorant Premier mode. Valorant Immortal leaderboards are crammed with skilled players to the extent that Riot had to cap the count. Clearly, Valorant has too many talented players that are hungry for more. So to quench their thirst for competition, Riot has introduced a new system that’d challenge players to achieve …
Sage’s bug that prevents resurrection still exists in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
An old Sage bug that blocks her revive is rare, but it still exists in Valorant. Earlier, players discovered a weird bug that undermines Sage’s ability to resurrect teammates. Many encountered a strange blockage in Sage’s ultimate that prevented her from reviving teammates. Since she’s the only healer in the roster as of now, this bug was quite a game-breaker. Still, players let go of it since it was scarce. …
Valorant rank variance might be why you can’t escape Silver in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant matchmaking and rank rating can be confusing for green players, but if there’s one thing you should boost, it’s your rank variance. Riot Games uses MMR (matchmaking rating) to create a pool of similarly skilled players who can compete with one another. But how do rank-ups happen if all players within the same MMR continue locking horns with each other? Rank variance decides the pace with which each Valorant …
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.
