Valorant
Valorant
How to get Valorant gun buddies from Prime Gaming loot
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
Valorant
These are the must-learn Viper lineups on Bind
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
Valorant
How to get 2021 VCT spray and gun buddy from Twitch drops
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
Valorant
Combining Raze’s Boombot with Astra’s pull is quite hilarious
Fariha Bhatti
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 …
New spike trick discovered that instantly destroys Sage wall
Nicholas James
Valorant
Sage’s wall is one of the most powerful disruptive tools in Valorant and knowing how to deal with it effectively is critical. The power to summon a solid piece of terrain to block enemies’ paths, provide cover for allies, and boost to unexpected angles can swing the course of a game. However, fans have discovered a strange new way to shred through Sage’s wall at an incredibly high speed, as …
Champions bundle brings new limited edition skins to Valorant
Steven Rondina
Valorant
Riot Games is doing something special for Valorant players to celebrate the upcoming Valorant Champions 2021 event. The new Champions Bundle has been revealed in Valorant, commemorating the upcoming VCT event that will crown the first ever Valorant world champions. The skins are set to be true limited-edition options, with a run in the store from November 24 to December 12. Once December 13 hits, the skins will be gone …
Riot Games releases VCT Champions song “Die For You”
Nicholas James
Valorant
Riot Games is continuing its tradition of creating custom musical anthems and animated music videos ahead of their biggest competitive esports events with a new track, “Die For You” featuring Grabbitz. The video focuses on three agents, Sage, Brimstone, and Phoenix, as they try to defuse a spike. The gorgeous animated track takes clear inspiration from previous songs and videos for League of Legends’ World Championships. In the video, Brimstone …
Valorant wins Esports Game of the Year at 2021 Esports Awards
Olivia Richman
Valorant
Valorant has officially been named Esports Game of the Year at the 2021 Esports Awards. Valorant has been a big deal since it was first released in 2020. Riot’s tactical first-person shooter was immediately celebrated by competitive and casual players alike for its blend of shooting mechanics and ability-related strategies. It quickly became one of the most-viewed games on Twitch, and many veterans of such titles as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive …
Omen almost received some ridiculously OP buffs in Valorant
Steven Rondina
Valorant
Omen has historically been one of the best agents in Valorant yet Riot Games was actually looking to make him even stronger. Back in October, rumors swirled that some big buffs were incoming for Omen in the form of Paranoia no longer blinding teammates and his ultimate having the extra ability to blind enemies. Almost two months removed from those rumors nothing has been seen to suggest that this was …
Here’s what top Valorant pros think about new agent Chamber
William Davis
Valorant
Chamber is polarizing the Valorant player base. Here’s what pro players have to say about the agent. Chamber is Valorant’s 17th agent, and he’s already making a big splash in online play. Valorant fans always worry whenever a new agent comes out, as it can disrupt gameplay or throw balance out of whack. WIN.gg was able to connect with several Valorant pros through the Red Bull Home Grounds event to …
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.
Valorant
Valorant
Valorant
Valorant
