Valorant
Valorant
Valorant agent 21 release date is further back than you thought
Fariha Bhatti
The upcoming Valorant agent codenamed Mage is on the verge of joining the protocol, but what is the release date of agent 21? Fade’s addition to the Valorant roster was packed with action. The Turkish initiator was detained and taken to a VP base, convinced to join after terrorizing the crew. Similarly, all Valorant agents have different reasons to join the battle. It’s unknown what the motivation is for Valorant …
Valorant
Here’s everything in the Valorant Episode 5 Act 2 battle pass
Fariha Bhatti
The Valorant Episode 5 Act 2 battle pass contents have slipped through the cracks, and they’re breathtaking for the game’s fans. Here’s what’s included. A new Valorant patch is here, bringing life improvements into player crosshairs. Players can now select a custom crosshair color from settings and even copy a teammate’s crosshair in the middle of a game. Besides that, this particular update doesn’t have massive gameplay changes as it’s all …
Valorant
Get a taste of Ion 2.0 Valorant skins with this fan-made Sheriff
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games recently surprised everyone by releasing Reaver 2.0 skins, renewing hope among the fans of the Ion bundle. One fan showed how an Ion 2.0 release might look. During the two years of Valorant’s existence, Riot Games has dropped more than 30 skin bundles. Some collections hit the mark, becoming a staple in player inventories. Reaver, Glitchpop, Champions, RGX, and Ion are a few skin lines to name that …
Valorant
New Valorant deathmatch mode HURM leaked, here’s how it works
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant deathmatch is getting a revamp in a game mode dubbed HURM, that’d include agent abilities. Riot’s first-person shooter adds a ton of twists to the traditional tactical shooter format. Its unique blend of lore and abilities makes Valorant a much more attractive FPS game for modern players. Still, shooting is at the heart of Valorant, which is why the deathmatch mode puts abilities aside. Players hone their aim in …
Valorant
Here’s how to get free Valorant Champions 2022 Twitch drops
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games’ grand celebration of Valorant esports is in full swing. After unveiling the exclusive bundle, the developer has rolled out free Valorant Champions 2022 Twitch drops. Valorant Champions is fast approaching, and the developer is ensuring that players worldwide can celebrate it online. The year’s biggest Valorant event will include top teams hailing from different regions across the globe. Last year, Riot Games introduced a tradition to mark the …
Valorant
Champions 2022 bundle revealed with magical butterfly knife
Fariha Bhatti
Couldn’t cop the rarest Champions 2021 skin bundle in Valorant last year? Fret not, because the new Champions 2022 bundle with its butterfly knife is worth its weight in gold. In 2021, Riot Games introduced a new tradition to commemorate the year’s biggest Valorant esports event, VCT Champions. The Champions 2021 skins are unlike any other in the game as they are rare, costly, extravagant, and come with a sound …
Valorant
Valorant pro Zellsis banned on Twitch, and here’s why
Olivia Richman
Valorant pro Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro has been banned from Twitch after claims that he used a hateful slur. Zellsis is a popular player on Sentinels, known for his skilled gameplay and for his large following on Twitch. He currently has around 135,000 followers on the streaming platform, where he is known for his sarcasm and blunt personality. But it seems that his outspokenness has gotten him into trouble with Twitch, …
Valorant
Riot introduces new Challengers system after T2 teams quit
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games’ partnership model drove numerous teams to pull out of the Valorant esports, but a new announcement may tempt them to reconsider. In April, Riot Games announced a partnership program that shifted its open tournament Valorant esports to a closed league system. Due to limited slots in three regions, numerous organizations had shut down their Valorant divisions, including esports heavyweights like Luminosity, Complexity, and others. The highly exclusive model …
Stats show Valorant Episode 5 ranked is easier, silvers rank up
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Overhauled ranks have had quite an impact so far, as an updated Valorant rank distribution in 2022 shows. Most players are still lingering in Silver, but the ascension has become smoother. The nine rank badges in Valorant aren’t easy to unlock. Each level challenges players to hone their skills in order to hop up to the next one. Players must continue to improve in order to rank up the ladder …
Sage can drive the enemy team nuts with this Barrier Orb play
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Sage may not have deadly utility to help her in Valorant’s post-plant meta, but her Barrier Orb is equally powerful. Agents like Viper, Brimstone, and Kay/O have top-tier kits, but low-ranked players pick them for the incendiaries. These agents enjoy massive success in Valorant’s post-plant meta. Molotovs flying in can secure an easy round win compared to aggressive and difficult duels. Sage has become an unlikely addition to the post-plant …
Cooldown announces free £1,250 Valorant 1v1 tournament
William Davis
Valorant
Aspiring Valorant players in the United Kingdom can 1v1 for £1,250 for free in a new tournament being presented by The Cooldown. Esports watch party host The Cooldown has announced a grand finale for its £1,650 1v1 Valorant circuit. Players near inner London will be able to compete in-person at swanky gaming bar Meltdown. The top eight players will receive shares of a cash prize totaling £1,250. Valorant Royal Singles …
Sentinels eliminated from VCT NA Qualifiers, was shroud good?
Olivia Richman
Valorant
Fans have been hyped about FPS veteran Michael “shroud” Grzesiek joining the Valorant roster of Sentinels ahead of the VCT NA Qualifiers. While viewership of Sentinels’ matches were high thanks to the addition of the former Counter-Strike pro, the team’s performance didn’t live up to expectations. Sentinels recently faced 100 Thieves in the last chance qualifiers and fans had high expectations, but shroud and his squad fell short and were …
This Fade lineup on Bind reveals defenders in every corner
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Bind’s rat corners are tough to crack. Fade’s Haunt is the ultimate antidote to those tricky rat points. Valorant’s latest initiator, Fade, came as a direct competitor to Sova, but her nightmarish kit provides her a slight edge. The agent can double down on Intel gathered with her Prowler ability, which weakens the enemy. While Sova’s shock can do the same, Fade’s learning curve is much lower. Due to these …
This game-breaking glitch is why Valorant queues are disabled
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant competitive queues have been disabled to tackle a game-breaking flash bug. Valorant has plenty of long-standing bugs that don’t necessarily meddle with gameplay. In each patch, the developer makes a note of tackling these exploits. However, some bugs are more urgent than others and require an instant fix. A similar bug has been discovered that prevents agents from getting blinded by tweaking an in-game setting, and trolls are milking …
Fade’s Haunt lineup on Ascent catches enemies in every corner
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The spooky and stylish Fade is the top initiator on Ascent. Her Haunt ability is truly hair-raising, and this lineup takes full advantage of it. Fade entered Valorant as a direct competitor of Sova, but both agents have managed to keep their unique place in the protocol. While Sova deals damage and gathers intel, Fade menaces enemies by following them across the map. But her new lineup proves that she’s …
First look at Reaver 2.0 bundle reveals new unique melee
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The highly awaited Valorant skin bundle Reaver 2.0 has been unveiled, and it’s everything fans had expected and more. Reaver is one of the oldest skin collections in Valorant, but it’s still relevant in Episode 5. The deep purple gun skins left a lasting impression on players with its immersive theme and sound elements that had an electric feel. Fans have long been requesting that Riot bring the iconic Reaver …
Neon receiving huge changes to ult in Valorant patch 5.03
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant patch 5.03 is a big one, as it brings much-needed agent balances to Neon and Chamber. Leaks had already revealed that the all-powerful sentinel Chamber was in line to receive some massive nerfs. Alongside dialing him down, Valorant developers are also focusing on Neon’s Overdrive. The duelist is picked for her ultimate, which can be very impactful. The new changes will ideally keep Neon viable but make her tougher …
Developer explains why ego peeking in Valorant is a good thing
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Are your teammates always calling you out for ego peeking your enemies? It’s not entirely a bad thing and might even be good, as one Valorant developer has explained. You can’t be too cautious in tactical shooter games. One wrong move could spell victory for your enemies, so it’s good to tread carefully. But sometimes aggression is the key to unlocking wins. But it’s difficult to pick fights when you’re …
Fans put CSGO skins on Valorant weapons and it’s amazing
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s iconic Asiimov skin has inspired Valorant players and yielded an exquisite fanmade Asiimov Vandal. Valorant skins seem as cheap as chips compared to top-end cosmetics in CSGO. Some weapon skins in CSGO can cost an arm a leg, eventually becoming a commodity. Players can potentially trade in these skins to make money in real life, whereas cheap Valorant skins are pure virtual items. However, the animated weapons …
Here are all 7 Valorant Episode 5 maps, ranked by difficulty
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The seven maps in the active pool of Valorant are all challenging, but some are easier than others. Here’s how each map ranks based on difficulty. Riot Games recently settled on the magic number seven for Valorant’s map rotation. After the addition of Pearl, the game had eight maps, prompting the developer to remove Split. One of the original maps was initially unique in its inclusion of ziplines to, adding …
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.
