Valorant
Valorant
Will Valorant agent 20 replace Sova as the best initiator?
Fariha Bhatti
Bounty Hunter is already Viper’s favorite intel-gatherer, but will upcoming Valorant agent 20 finally dethrone Sova as the best initiator? Valorant has undergone numerous meta changes over recent months thanks to consistent updates. All agents have seen a decline in playtime at some point due to meta shifts, but Sova has remained a hotly contested hero throughout the game’s existence. The initiator is the top pick of professional players and …
Valorant
How to get out of Silver quickly in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Are you hardstuck in Silver? Fret not, that’s the case for most Valorant players, according to stats. Here’s how you can quickly get out of the Silver ranks. Valorant rank distribution has recently revealed that the majority of players stuck in Silver. No other rank abodes as many players as Silver does, which is astonishing. While Silver is often roasted for being the “bot” Elo, this stat confirms that it …
Valorant
How to get hilarious strat challenges from Valorant Strat Roulette
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant can be painfully competitive, but not when you incorporate Valorant Strat Roulette in your casual games. This random strat roller is both hilarious and challenging. Valorant continues to become more cut-throat as the game meta develops. More players are entering the fray and coming up with crazy strats, making Valorant one of the most competitive FPS titles. The skill-ceiling continues to rise and it often seems casual players can …
Valorant
This is how Naruto would look as a Valorant agent
Fariha Bhatti
Naruto may be the strongest shinobi, but does he stand a chance against the Valorant roster? A player has visualized Naruto as a Valorant agent, and it’s surprisingly accurate. Fans of the popular Japanese manga series Naruto don’t hold back when it comes to art dedicated to their favorite characters. Naruto has a massive and passionate fanbase that is now expanding into Valorant. A fan has combined the two in …
Valorant
Valorant agent tier list in Episode 4 Act 2
Fariha Bhatti
The new Valorant act is going in full force with impactful agent changes that have stirred the meta. This agent tier list in Episode 4 Act 2 should help you climb ranks faster. Riot Games’ shooter has evolved into a cutthroat game that has players spending hours in practice servers to get better. Even with good aim, some players still struggle to gain Rank Rating. The race to climb the ladder …
Valorant
Valorant agent 20 abilities leaked ahead of official release
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant agent 20’s abilities have slipped through the cracks just a month before the official release of the new agent. According to the leaks, new agent Bounty Hunter is an Initiator who’ll haunt the enemies with deadly tethers. Valorant agent teasers getting leaked is now customary, but Bounty Hunter’s entire kit has been disclosed. Players already had a good idea about the category and origin of Bounty Hunter, but a …
Valorant
Can coaching help you rank up in Valorant? Yes, and here’s how
William Davis
Coaching in Valorant is the perfect way for players to shoot up the rankings and stay there for seasons to come. Coaching is a core part of esports training, but you don’t have to be a pro player qualifying for the Valorant Champions Tour to get help. From brand new players to day-one grinders, everyone can use some help with improving in Valorant. Coaching services such as Metafy offer quick …
Valorant
Does the Valorant agent roster need a new healer after Skye?
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant currently has only two healers. With teasers of the next agent 20 showing yet another aggressive agent, players can’t help but wonder if the roster could use another healer and reviver. Valorant has four well-balanced agent categories. The class division assists in understanding roles better, which ultimately helps create balanced team compositions. A lot of the abilities in Valorant are quite similar, but healing powers remain scarce. Only a …
New Valorant glitch is preventing Sage’s ultimate from reviving teammates
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The sole revivor in Valorant is glitching after the recent patch. Sage’s ultimate is malfunctioning and players are panicking without any options to revive fallen allies. Sage is currently the only healer in Valorant who can bring back the dead. Her extraordinary power to breathe life into corpses has made her a consistent pick despite the addition of Skye. However, her signature ability is currently glitching, leaving players helpless and …
Riot drops first image for Turkish Valorant agent 20
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games has just confirmed that the new agent Bounty Hunter is indeed an Initiator, hailing from the land of hot air balloons and Lokum, Turkey. Agent 20 has ruffled the entire Valorant universe with snarky threat notes and blackmailing. The mysterious hacker-like character has caused mayhem and they haven’t even arrived yet. For a while, only vague clues have helped players put together a picture of the next agent …
JasonR and tarik get in heated debate over sexism allegations
Olivia Richman
Valorant
Streamer Jason “JasonR” Ruchelski recently called out friend and former pro CSGO player Tarik “tarik” Celik for not standing up for JasonR when he was accused of sexism earlier this year. In February 2022, multiple women came forward to accuse JasonR of purposefully dodging women in Valorant games. Other women also stated that JasonR will mute any female players on his team. When JasonR claimed that he wasn’t avoiding matches and …
This new double Yoru TP on Ascent is game-breakingly good
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
A new lineup proves that Yoru has become a true master of deception after his latest rework in Valorant. After a blockbuster release in 2021, Yoru turned out to be a massive disappointment. Developer Riot games quickly fixed the issue by rolling out a rework that changed how players looked at Yoru’s kit. The Japanese duelist is finally in good form, and players are generously picking him. To demonstrate Yoru’s …
Riot dev responds to complaints of boring Valorant skin bundles
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Each time Riot Games drops a new Valorant skin bundle, fans complain over its contents. One developer has finally explained why all of the included skins in the game’s skin bundles aren’t premium quality. Riot Games’ take on first-person shooters has quickly become one of the most popular games of 2022. While some grind for the golden badge, many play Valorant for its unique in-game content and dynamic agents. The …
This is what the Prime 2.0 Karambit looks like in real life
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant has many knives, but the Karambit 2.0 has its own fanbase. The sleek melee weapon is famous for its unique animation, and one player’s real version can do all the tricks. Riot Games has rolled out over a dozen Valorant knives in unique shapes, sizes, and patterns. Each blade has a cohesive fantasy and theme that makes them more enjoyable. The 2.0 collection doubled down on the hit Prime …
When is the Valorant Night. Market returning?
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant players may want to start saving money. The Valorant Night. Market date has finally been revealed for players to cop cheap weapon skins. Virtual items in shootesr can cost an arm and a leg. While Valorant skins are cheaper than those available in other first-person shooters, they can still put a strain on your wallet. Riot Games has introduced a couple of options for players to snag affordable skins. …
Riot disables competitive Valorant to fix secret Raze nerf
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant competitive queues have been disabled for the day to patch game-breaking bugs in Spike and Raze’s kit. Patch 4.05 brought several quality upgrades and a Brimstone nerf, but some secret bugs also tagged along. The latest update has glitched the Valorant system across all maps to the point that developers were forced to disable queues. Players will have to wait at least a day before entering competitive lobbies. Raze …
TSM Valorant drops Wardell, is he headed to 100 Thieves next?
William Davis
Valorant
TSM’s roster troubles continue with the surprise release of Matthew “Wardell” Yu from the organization’s Valorant team. TSM FTX has announced the departure of Matthew “Wardell” Yu from its Valorant roster. The announcement comes after the squad failed to qualify for North American VCT 2022 Stage 1 Challengers. TSM reports that the decision was a mutual one between Wardell and the organization. Fans are currently speculating who might replace such …
The new Endeavor skin bundle is perfectly minimal and sleek
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
The brand new Valorant skin bundle Endeavor is here with a perfectly minimal design, featuring all primary weapons. Riot Games has rolled out plenty of skins collections in sharp colors recently. The last few lines like Gaia and Ace have featured colorful skin lines. The new bundle brings a dash of black of white, with a sleek design reminiscent of the classic kingdom collection. Credible leaker ValorMike has provided a …
Brimstone is getting nerfed again in new Valorant patch 4.05
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Brimstone’s 15 minutes of fame are finally over. The controller agent has once again landed under Riot Games’ nerf hammer. After months of player requests, Riot Games has showed the controller category some love. Brimstone was one of the smokers to get a heavy buff to his Stim Beacon. The unique device boosted Brimstone’s pick rate to the very top, making him a must-have in ranked games. The developer has …
Why does Cypher keep dying in Valorant cinematics?
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant’s one-man surveillance network Cypher is terrible with the weapons, according to the official cinematics. We may have an explanation why Cypher keeps dying in Valorant. The official Valorant cinematics that often add to the lore are fast-paced and captivating. While players are too busy focusing on the storyline and action, they sometimes miss small details like Cypher dying every single time. Most Valorant videos that include shooting have Cypher …
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.
