Valorant
Esports Betting
Sentinels vs Leviatan 2026 VCT Americas: Preview, predictions
Hannan Mundia
Leviatan may have survived elimination once against the odds, but the team will now face Sentinels in the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff, and our preview for the match brings you our best predictions for what could happen next. Sentinels may have been a powerhouse team in the past, but the roster changes have significantly affected its rankings. The team now struggles in every tournament and against most teams, even those …
Esports Betting
100 Thieves vs Sentinels VCT Americas Kickoff: Preview, picks
Hannan Mundia
100 Thieves and Sentinels have proven themselves strong enough to deserve a spot in the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff middle bracket, and our preview is here to highlight these two teams facing off with each other to determine which picks will prove correct. Sentinels and 100 Thieves both made major changes to their rosters heading into the new year. While added three new players to the mix, 100T tweaked its …
Esports Betting
LOUD vs 100 Thieves VCT Americas Kickoff: Preview, predictions
Hannan Mundia
The 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff’s mid bracket will kick off with a match between LOUD and 100 Thieves, and we’re here to preview this anticipated match and give our best predictions and picks for it. LOUD and 100 Thieves have both been knocked down to the event’s mid bracket, where the two teams will now compete against each other. The winning team will go down to the lower bracket and …
Esports Betting
G2 Esports vs 100 Thieves VCT Americas Kickoff: Best betting odds
Hannan Mundia
The odds state that G2 Esports is a favorite to win the VCT Americas kickoff tournament, but does 100 Thieves have any chance to cause an upset in the quarterfinals? After an unmatched VCT season last year, with the team dominating all three stages, G2 disappointed many by failing to deliver in the Esports World Cup or at VCT Champions. But the team’s domestic success ensured that its roster wouldn’t …
Esports Betting
Paper Rex vs G2: Valorant Radiant International 2025 betting odds, tips
Hannan Mundia
After narrowly qualifying for the 2025 Valorant Radiant International playoffs, G2 Esports will play against Paper Rex to determine which team moves on to the semifinals. The Valorant Radiant International 2025 tournament has been fairly surprising so far. Some powerhouse teams have failed to showcase the same performance that helped them succeed this year, while it already looks like other teams are using this tournament to get out of their …
Esports Betting
Valorant Radiant International 2025 betting preview, odds, schedule
Hannan Mundia
Slated to be the perfect way to wrap up the year for Valorant esports fans, the 2025 Valorant Radiant International tournament will pit teams from Asia and beyond against each other for one last shot at a trophy this year, and our betting preview includes the best odds for the event, its schedule, and more. Major tournaments like Champions and Masters for this year may have concluded, but that doesn’t …
Esports Betting
Team Liquid vs Shopify Rebellion: Game Changers grand final pick, tips
Hannan Mundia
After a long and eventful tournament, the Valorant Game Changers Championship grand final has been set between Team Liquid Brazil and Shopify Rebellion Gold as the two skilled sides face off once more. Most assumed that Shopify Rebellion Gold would breeze through the 2025 Game Changers Championship, just as the team had been doing in every GC tournament this year. With Team Liquid Brazil’s win over SR Gold in the …
Esports Betting
NRG vs G2 Esports Red Bull Home Ground 2025 final: Best odds, picks
Hannan Mundia
The grand final of the 2025 Red Bull Home Ground tournament is here, with G2 Esports and NRG slated to face off against each other. The 2025 Red Bull Home Ground tournament may not be as coveted as the recent Valorant Champions event, but it’s a great early indicator for how fans can expect things to play out next season. With so many roster changes confirmed or imminent, NRG and …
Valorant fans get an early look at skins exclusive to Valorant Mobile
Jared Wynne
Valorant
After much waiting, Valorant Mobile has finally arrived in China, and a new exclusive skin bundle has fans abroad feeling a little jealous. Valorant fans have been eagerly anticipating the game’s release, even if many of them across the world have been disappointed by its international release lagging well behind the domestic launch of the game in China. 18 agents have already been made available at launch, playable through 10 …
Valorant patch 10.04 brings Clove nerfs, new map rotation
Khizar Mundia
Valorant
Riot Games has released the patch notes for the upcoming Valorant 10.04 patch, with Clove nerfs highlighting the list of agent changes and a new map rotation coming into play. Valorant’s newest agent Waylay was announced during the Masters Bangkok 2025 grands finals, and fans were happy with the duelist’s abilities, which could be a game-changer. With the new agent’s addition, there are also the changes the new patch will …
New Valorant agent Waylay release date, abilities revealed
Khizar Mundia
Valorant
Riot Games officially unveiled Valorant’s Agent 28 on March 2 just before the Masters Bangkok grand finals, and we now know both when she’ll be added to the game and what her abilities are. Fans were overjoyed when Riot added its newest Initator agent Tejo in January and were in for another surprise. In the same month, fans noticed a mysterious figure in the background of Valorant’s loading screen. Leakers …
This is the best Valorant store checker app to use
Hannan Mundia
Valorant
While every player will see different items in their Valorant store, a good Valorant store checker app can make purchasing decisions much easier to make. One of the greatest appeals of a game like Valorant is the game’s unique store system. Instead of letting every player buy the same items whenever they want, Valorant’s store is unique for each and every player. Not only do the offerings differ between Valorant …
Explaining WestJett and his issue with ShahZaM in Valorant
Olivia Richman
Valorant
Valorant YouTuber WestJett was recently called out by former pro player Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan for continuing to make drama videos on him after a recent breakup. Just who is WestJett, and why is he a controversial figure in the the Valorant scene? YouTuber WestJett rose to fame making Valorant content, but his content has changed a bit over the years. He started his channel in 2020 and began to see …
Is Viper good or bad in competitive Valorant? It’s complicated
Steven Rondina
Valorant
The Valorant meta is ever-changing but with Viper being one of the most recognizable characters, it’s always worth keeping track of how good she is in competitive and professional play. Every hero shooter is different but there’s one thing they all have in common; it’s really hard to keep the characters balanced. Valorant hasn’t had the incredible struggles seen in titles like Overwatch, but that doesn’t mean all agents are …
These are the best agents to play with Tejo in Valorant
Nina Forneloza
Valorant
Tejo’s abilities are already fearsome when placed in the right hands, and with the right agents on his team, he becomes an even deadlier threat. Find all of the very best agents to play with Tejo in this quick guide. Valorant fans are no strangers to wombo combos. From Raze combining with fade to Astra working together with Killjoy, there’s no shortage of stellar combinations to experiment with. With the …
New research may answer why women struggle in esports, gaming
Steven Rondina
Valorant
The question of whether women are actually worse at competitive video games than men has long been debated, and more recently it has been formally studied, with an early outlook that shows cultural factors are more to blame than anything else for any meaningful difference in performance in competitive gaming and esports. The Alienware and Team Liquid Pro Lab is a “dedicated, collaborative and multi-year project…with the goal of setting …
The best drops from the new 2025 VCT Season Capsule
M Alzamora
Valorant
Valorant has announced the contents of the new 2025 VCT Season Capsule, and we’ve picked out the best drops from the new collection of loot. Esports teams often make most of their yearly earnings from merch sales, and Valorant competitors are no exception. In 2024, teams earned a combined amount over $44 million from the Champions Collection and Team Capsules during the Valorant Champions Tour. Much of the money raised …
Here’s the fastest way to level up in Valorant
Hannan Mundia
Valorant
Player level plays a huge role in Valorant, so players may want to learn the fastest way to earn experience and level up their accounts. Valorant is one of those games where players tend to sink countless hours into it without realizing just how much time has gone by, and most players would agree that playing competitively is more fun than regular game modes like unrated and swiftplay. The problem …
Valorant is banning in-game cheaters at a record rate
Hannan Mundia
Valorant
A Vanguard anti-cheat team member at Riot games has revealed that Valorant has hit a new record for cheating player bans. Competitive FPS games have seen a great rise in popularity. From the Counter-Strike series to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, countless players try their hand at climbing their favorite game’s ranks. But things can get infuriatingly unfair when cheaters are involved. Valorant is one of the many popular competitive …
Here’s how the new rank shields work in Valorant
Hannan Mundia
Valorant
Valorant has added new rank shields that will protect players from deranking after losing games, though there is a catch. Valorant’s competitive scene is quite robust these days, with many players logging in daily to climb the extensive ranks. While reaching the next rank gives players a feeling of accomplishment, it can be conversely demotivating when a player falls in rank just a few games after ranking up. Luckily, that …
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.
