Valorant
Valorant
Stinger gets big accuracy buffs in Valorant patch 5.06
Fariha Bhatti
The Stinger is set to return to the Valorant meta after the recent 5.06 patch buffs. SMGs in Valorant were generally considered too powerful due to the low price and high stopping power. In patch 4.07, Riot nerfed the Stinger, changing the game meta. Players had long complained about the Stinger being OP relative to its small price tag. The SMG could wipe out multiple enemies in one spray at …
Valorant
Here are all the Pearl map changes in Valorant patch 5.06
Fariha Bhatti
The latest Valorant map, Pearl, is going under the knife after three months in the competitive pool. In Valorant Episode 5, Riot yanked Split out of the pool in favor of the underwater utopia Pearl. The small city locked under waves was an instant hit among the fans for its size, aesthetic, and competitive layout. However, some may think Pearl had many unnecessary frills and Riot Games has now removed …
Valorant
Valorant drops teaser for “god-like” ChronoVoid skins bundle
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games has unveiled a brand new skin bundle dubbed ChronoVoid, and it feels eerily familiar for dedicated players. Recent Valorant skins have been grand design-wise, but Riot Games deviated from the immersive themes. From XenoHunter to the Neptune collection, the skins lacked the soul that previous bundles like Reaver, Sovereign, and more had. However, Riot seems to be throwing it back to the good old beta days with ChronoVoid. …
Valorant
How to get the Running on Empty spray for free in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games has announced a brand spray, “Running on Empty,” for owners of an Twitch Prime or Prime Gaming account. Here’s how to claim the latest Valorant Prime Gaming loot. Extravagant Valorant skins aren’t affordable, but Riot Games’ regular free rewards let all players enjoy Valorant’s in-game cosmetics. These free items may not be as lavish as the pricy ones, but they certainly add some color to an inventory. Prime …
Valorant
Everything known about Valorant agent 21 Mage so far
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant Episode 5 Act 3 is a month away and excitement regarding agent 21 has reached a fever pitch. Here’s everything known about Mage’s abilities, release date, origin, and more. Nothing compares to the build-up towards a new agent release in Valorant. With leaks coming in from left and right, it’s tricky to differentiate between what’s real and what’s not. Similar to Chamber and then Fade, a string of rumors …
Valorant
The complete guide to playing Valorant war machine Kay/O
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant war machine Kay/O is unlike any other agent. All Valorant initiators are armed with powers that gather information in some sort of way. However, few can use this data to disarm opponents. Kay/O was rolled out as an antidote to Valorant’s over-the-top abilities, bringing a dagger that forces players to switch to guns. Some went ahead and labeled him as the savior of Valorant ranked matchmaking, which focused on …
Valorant
Killjoy Turret bug forces restart at VCT, what exactly happened?
Fariha Bhatti
A back-and-forth row between FPX and XSET at Valorant Champions Valorant Champions 2022 playoffs led to a long stretch of overtime all thanks to a Killjoy Turret bug. Day 13 of VCT 2022 saw the defending champions of VCT Copenhagen 2022 go up against North America’s XSET in a close game, with the former clutching a victory in 2-1 fashion. However, an odd bug in the final round of the …
Valorant
Riot reveals more nerfs are coming for Chamber in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games revealed that Chamber is still facing some rebalancing, and the overpowered initiator is in line for more nerfs to his toolkit. Few new characters in Valorant had the immediate impact Chamber did. The agent’s pick rate took off within weeks of his release, making him the centerpiece of most gaming-winning compositions. Players sent a litany of complaints to Riot regarding Chamber’s strength and the developer responded. His toolkit got hit …
Upcoming Indian Valorant agent teased with samosa chaat
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games has confirmed details regarding the character and role of the upcoming Valorant agent codenamed Mage. Agent 21 will be an Indian controller who seemingly likes samosas with a hot cup of tea. All Valorant controllers in the current meta are unique. No smoker is versatile enough to shine on all maps, especially large ones. While Brimstone is equipped with massive globes of smokes, his mini-map tools limit him. …
Here’s how to find the secret Parkour course in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant’s range is not just meant for polishing aim, a secret Parkour course within the map helps hone in-game movement. Movement is a big part of Valorant. Agents like Jett, Neon, Raze, and more are incomplete without impeccable mobility tricks. However, there’s no simple way to practice them. Players often look toward custom games to polish their mobility kits, but few know about a secret challenge Riot Games has added …
We now know when the Valorant Night Market will return
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Night Market is returning to Valorant, bringing premium skins at a steep disount. Valorant has pricy in-game cosmetics that can cost hundreds for a full arsenal. The expensive guns aren’t affordable for all players. Still, skin collectors make a point of buying extravagant weapons. In 2020, Riot introduced a way for all players to enjoy cosmetics through the Night Market. The digital pop-up store brings skins at a cut price …
This game-breaking Viper bug on Icebox requires a hot fix
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Viper is once again breaking the meta on Icebox with a Toxic Screen that tricks enemies into her crosshair. Icebox is Viper’s home turf. No other controller in Valorant handles the icy tundra as well as Viper, thanks to her site-splitting Toxic Screen. Her smokes do a great job at keeping bomb sites secure on defense and make them tough to hold while she’s on offense. Simply put, Viper doesn’t …
Complete guide to playing Sova, the best initiator in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
There are plenty of viable initiators in Valorant, but Sova stands above all with his deadly toolkit. Valorant has five initiators dedicated to garnering intel and tenderizing enemies. However, not all of them are equally useful across all maps. Most agents do better on certain maps, but Sova has earned his stripes on every map in the game so far. His darts, arrows, and drone work wonders on almost all …
Get a 1st look at Valorant’s new Kohaku and Matsuba bundle
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
There’s another aquarium-themed bundle in Valorant for fans of minimalist skins, with the Kohaku & Matsuba collection featuring tiny fishes on nondescript weapons. Most Valorant skins have recently been about over-the-top VFX, animations, and other flexes that may not sit right with all players. Some skin collectors are all about the Sakura, Wasteland, and Minima bundles, simple skins that add boldness to the inventory without being loud. The recent addition …
This bug lets you cure blindness from Skye flashes in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Skye’s flashes are the strongest in Valorant for their range and blinding power, but Skye herself may be the antidote. There are plenty of flashers in Valorant, but few are blinding. Breach, Skye, Yoru, and Kay/O are equipped with tools that paint screens white, but Skye remains the most powerful because her flashes also gather information. There are a few ways to dodge it, but a new bug was discovered …
The 5 best Valorant agents to play on Icebox in episode 5
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The icy tundra of Icebox is visually pleasing but competitively a menace, but these five agents can help carry you up the ranks in Valorant. Icebox is a small map with tight choke points, which is why fast agents with damaging abilities shine on this unique map. The snow-covered map features a giant battleship being pulled into a dockyard with large shipping containers. Parts of the location are wide open, …
How to use fiery entry fragger Phoenix in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Jack-of-all-trades Phoenix can be a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. His fiery kit is designed for smaller maps that may be a handful for other duelists. Valorant has six duelists, each suitable for different situations and maps. While most aggressive characters in Valorant require heavy support, some are self-sufficient. Reyna and Phoenix are excellent examples, as they’re perfectly capable of acquiring real estate on their own. …
Here are all the most important chat commands in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Communication is the key to unlocking a winning streak, so players may want to learn a few crucial chat commands in Valorant. Forming a synergy with teammates through communication yields unbelievably strong results in a team-based game like Valorant. Valorant’s ping system helps give timely callouts without a mic. The chat feature is also a great alternative for those who’d rather not use their mic. For this, players should learn …
This Fade trick lets her launch enemies into the air on Icebox
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Fade’s kit is relatively simple with nothing too game-breaking, but her Seize ability is the talk of the town due to its bungee effect. The newest initiator in Valorant is different from the rest of the crew. She doesn’t deal damage to enemies and instead uses a rubber band-like tool that can be even deadlier. It’s capable of hanging up to five bad guys, making her a huge menace to …
How to get a Valorant performance bonus and escape low ranks
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Looking to get that extra Rank Rating in Valorant? The performance bonus in Valorant is real, but top fragging may not be enough. The quickest way to rank up is by gaining more ELO on each map. To climb a single level, players need 100 RR, which accumulates after each win. You may need either 5 or 10 games to get out of a sub-rank in Valorant. It all depends …
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.
