Valorant
Valorant
New Valorant Christmas bundle Snowfall leaks, doesn’t impress fans
Fariha Bhatti
New Valorant bundle Snowfall is full of Christmas spirit, and it adds a unique crystal knife to the game’s melee collection. Valorant is popular for its cut-throat gameplay and agent tactics, but players love the animated skins that Riot Games continue to put out. The developer doesn’t usually roll out bundles to celebrate festivals and events, but Christmas gets its exclusive skin line just like last year. The collection isn’t officially …
Valorant
Patch 3.12 brings agent profiles, team damage penalties to Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant patch 3.12 is finally here, and it brings exciting changes for versatile players who like to swap agents. Riot Games has finally rolled out a brand new patch, tackling the toxicity issues and adding a brand new feature for versatile players. The latest update is expected to improve game quality and rank experience in Valorant significantly. https://twitter.com/PlayVALORANT/status/1468233857564659726 Valorant has 17 agents, each of them having distinct powers that players …
Valorant
Valorant fan creates a real-life version of the Glitchpop dagger
Fariha Bhatti
A Valorant player has brought the game’s premium and high-demand Glitchpop dagger to life in his 3D creation. Riot Games’ tactical shooter has changed the FPS genre with the twist of abilities, but that’s not all that keeps players hooked to Valorant. The pricey animated skins add to the game’s entertainment value, and while they may cost big bucks, they’re worth every penny. Valorant’s extravagant skins can put a strain …
Valorant
How to convert your CSGO sensitivity to Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are generally good at Valorant when they make the switch. Transferring your CSGO sensitivity to Valorant might help you to adjust to the new game ever quicker. Valorant and CSGO have a lot in common, but both shooters are unique in their own way. While CSGO players may have difficulty adjusting to Valorant’s agent abilities, most FPS skills easily transfer from one game to the other. …
Valorant
This Cypher bug got a team punished during VCT Champions
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games has delayed the Group A matches at VCT Champions to review the original decision of taking away a win from Vivo Keyd over the exploiting of a game-changing bug. Valorant Champions Tour is finally going down in Berlin to crown the best team in the world after a series of tournaments. However, things aren’t going as smoothly as expected. A months-old bug has cost Vivo Keyd a significant …
Valorant
Friendly fire penalties are coming to Valorant next patch
Nicholas James
Toxicity and game-ruining behavior are issues that Riot Games has been working to address throughout Valorant’s lifespan, and that continues with a change to friendly fire penalties. The developer has already made changes to monitor voice communications, and accurately detect smurfs. Now it’s looking to address players using Valorant’s friendly fire to negatively impact games. According to one of Valorant’s foremost data miners, these changes are ready to go and …
Valorant
Who is TenZ? Everything to know about the best Valorant player
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant esports is packed with talented players who transferred from other games, but Tyson “TenZ” Ngo’s captivating journey sets him apart from the rest. Sentinels duelist TenZ is considered one of the most mechanically gifted players to have ever touched the game. Since Valorant’s initial release in 2020, TenZ has switched two teams and even briefly given up on competitive play. But his comeback changed Valorant esports for good as he made …
Valorant
VCT Champions 2021 schedule, prize pool, teams, and more
Fariha Bhatti
The Valorant Champions Tour has reached its final stage as Riot Games comes closer to finding the best Valorant team in the world at the prestigious stage of the VCT Champions 2021 event in Berlin. The Valorant Champions Tour is a year-long global circuit featuring three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters, and Champions. The first Valorant major was initiated in 2020, and Riot Games has since unearthed unmatched talent via …
New Viper bug gives her wallhack vision inside her ultimate
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Viper’s poisonous pit no longer blocks her entire vision, and players think her wallhack ability is game-breaking thanks to a new bug. Valorant’s feisty controller spent months on the sidelines till she finally received a much-needed rework from Riot Games. The new Viper is impeccable, but bugs like these make her insanely and unfairly overpowered in ranked Valorant games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPl_OifCoh8 Recently, a clip of Viper’s wallhack vision inside dense poison …
Valorant pro Okeanos cut for leaking explicit underage pictures
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant team Virtuoso has dropped its fresh recruit Anthony “Okeanos” Nguyen after community backlash over the player’s past wrongdoings. Team Virtuoso recently announced its comeback into the professional Valorant scene with a new roster. However, community backlash over new member Okeanos’ past has resulted in Virtuoso cutting him off after just two days with his new team. The team is once again looking for a fifth player to complete its …
How to get Valorant gun buddies from Prime Gaming loot
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games has announced a brand new gun buddy, “Outta this World,” for owners of an Amazon Prime account. Here’s how to claim the latest Valorant Prime Gaming loot. November has been an exciting month for Valorant fans. To celebrate its first biggest event VCT Champions, Riot Games rolled out plenty of exclusive in-game items for players to shop through. From VCT dad hats to an extravagant karambit, the developer …
These are the must-learn Viper lineups on Bind
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Few agents are equipped with suitable tools to tackle a map as complex as Bind. But these Viper lineups on Bind prove that she’s one of the best picks on this hard map. The poison handler is ruling the active Valorant protocol with her deadly toolkit. While she’s often picked for her unique smokes that render damage, her Snakebite is just as toxic. The molotov is capable of killing a …
How to get 2021 VCT spray and gun buddy from Twitch drops
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant’s year-long esports circuit, the Valorant Champions Tour, is finally wrapping up and Riot Games has rolled out exclusive merch and goodies for dedicated fans. This includes a free VCT Twitch drop spray, gun buddy, and player card. Riot Games has been throwing free items at players lately between the 2021 League of Legends World Championship and the RiotX Arcane event to celebrate the premiere of the animated series. That’s not …
Combining Raze’s Boombot with Astra’s pull is quite hilarious
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Raze’s boombot is capable of hilarious tricks, but this new one is just as funny as it’s useful. Loud and cheerful duelist Raze carries death-dealing nades that are easy to use. The agent deals heavy damage and gathers information, something that few other agents can do. Fortunately, her viable toolkit is easy to use, but skillful players keep finding complex tricks that take her abilities to another level. Picking first …
What ranks can play together in Valorant? We have the answer
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Episode 3 Act 3 begins with the new patch featuring changes to the game’s competitive ecosystem. The changes allow all Valorant ranks to play together, but there’s a catch. Riot Games has continued to make necessary changes to Valorant’s ranking and queue system since the game’s release in 2020. However, the new act changes everything. In order to combat smurfs, the developer has gone an extra mile, allowing five …
Valorant terms and phrases that everyone should learn
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant, like any other first-person shooter game, has a loyal player base that communicates in a specific language. We have compiled a list of Valorant terms and phrases that everyone should learn. Riot Games’ dipped its toes in the FPS realm with animated shooter Valorant in 2020. Since then, the game has roped in a large chunk of players from competitor FPS and other genres, becoming one of the most …
These are the best agents to play in Valorant Episode 3 Act 3
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Episode 3 Act 3 has just rolled out with a bang, introducing a fresh new act to the agent roster. With Chamber in, we have a new list of the best agents to play in Valorant’s the new act. Riot Games has added a brand new agent to Valorant’s agent roster in Episode 3 Act 3, furthering the game’s appeal. Chamber brings cutting-edge weapons to Valorant, and players are …
This new wallhack bug is helping players get kills on Fracture
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant players have discovered a strange glitch on Fracture that looks a lot like a wallhack. This new bug doesn’t require intel gatherers like Sova or Cypher’s help to expose enemies through a wall. Players can see a purple speck on Fracture that denotes the enemy’s location, providing them with a massive advantage. A player named JoelTommy shared a clip from a ranked game where an attacker Sova got exposed …
How to best use Valorant agent Skye
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant’s wild initiator Skye hails from nature, but she’s not all kind and mellow. The flasher agent can be deadly for opponents to run into. Skye entered the active protocol in patch 1.11 and became a centerpiece of every successful agent composition. It took players a while to figure out her kit, which is extremely rewarding. The initiator is perfect for the current fast-paced meta where intel-gathering is the key …
How to boost teammates to elevated areas in Valorant
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant doesn’t have a particular way of reaching the high ground, but players have worked around movement mechanics to get to innovative angles. Riot Games’ shooter has tons in common with classic FPS games, but it doesn’t allow players to boost on elevated areas. Teammates can’t use player models as step-stool, like in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. However, cunning players have found a trick to utilize all Valorant angles. Previously, players …
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.
