Valorant
Valorant
Valorant leak says skin level selector coming in patch 3.08
Fariha Bhatti
Players might finally be able to revert the levels of their Valorant skins, a leak ahead of patch 3.08 suggests. Valorant skin collections may be pricy, but a skin weapon has multiple variants, levels, and colors. This trait makes Valorant skins worth big money, but not all players are fans of the extravagant upgrades or might just prefer one specific look for a skin. Riot Games has likely listened to …
Valorant
Riot reverts VCT Game Changers EMEA event to allow only women
Olivia Richman
Valorant Champions Tour Game Changers EMEA Series 2 will be a women’s event after all. Riot Games announced this change on October 8 after facing criticism for initially making the Game Changers event open to both all-female and mixed-gender teams. “In response to community feedback and deeper discussions with existing Game Changers teams, we have decided that it is too soon in the development of EMEA Game Changers to explore …
Valorant
Ghost vs. Classic, which pistol is better in the first round?
Fariha Bhatti
Winning a game of Valorant depends heavily on how you tackle the first round. Making correct buy choices can help your team snowball early, forcing the enemy into making some difficult decisions. Tactical shooters aren’t all about aim and team coordination. Players must keep an eye on their economy to win games. Managing buy rounds, understanding eco rounds, and investing smartly is crucial to winning at a higher level. It’s …
Valorant
This new wall bang spot on Mirage is too OP
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s oldest maps continue to surprise players years after the game’s release. CSGO players have discovered a brand new wall bang spot on Mirage that is too overpowered. CSGO’s competitive map pool is smaller than other first-person shooters, which is why players have learned every corner by heart. However, Valve’s complex locations continue to bring something new to the table. This new find in Mirage’s B apartments is …
Valorant
Valorant dev explains how Riot Games is dealing with smurfs
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant has a smurfing problem and Riot Games is firing on all cylinders to tackle it, a developer has explained. It’s no secret that Valorant has a major smurfing problem. Riot Games has successfully dealt with cheaters compared to other FPS titles, but boosters seem to find loopholes in the system pretty easily. The issue has become a serious one recently, as lower queues become plagued with ace aimers from …
Valorant
Riot Games removes Viper’s swoop peek in Valorant patch 3.07
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant patch 3.07 is here and it brings a fix to what has unintentionally been one of Viper’s biggest strengths. Riot Games has patched up the smoker agent Viper a few times to make her viable in high-level play. Somewhere within these buffs and nerfs, the developer accidentally awarded Viper a secret feature dubbed the “swoop peek.” Patch 3.07 takes that tool away. “Updated the visuals for the dissolving effect …
Valorant
Valorant’s 1st StatTrak skins arrive in RGX 11Z PRO collection
Fariha Bhatti
Riot Games has finally introduced a long-awaited kill-counting skin feature in the brand new skin bundle RGX 11Z PRO. The developer recently launched a plain-looking agent-themed skin bundle Valorant GO! Vol. 2, which failed to leave as much of an impact. However, this new skin collection hits the mark with its unique translucent design and StatTrak feature. StatTrak skins keep a tally of how many kills players have racked up …
Valorant
New bug on Split lets Skye flash through the walls
Fariha Bhatti
Skye has turned “spooky” once again. Her flashes are squeezing through hard objects like metal to blindside the enemies. Valorant players have long been complaining about unfair “pennable” spots. The developer took the complaints seriously and fireproofed various boxes. However, it seems that Split’s walls are fracturing, as Skye can now send her flashes through metal vents and openings. No other agent in Valorant is capable of blindsiding enemies through …
Why shroud said he doesn’t like playing with pro players
Olivia Richman
Valorant
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek may be a talented Valorant player, but he really doesn’t like playing with pro gamers anymore. shroud has a background as a pro player in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He used to be one of the best CSGO players in the world, competing most notably with Cloud9. He retired to become a full-time streamer, eventually switching from CSGO to Riot’s newer first-person shooter. While shroud used to practice …
Valorant players should avoid this bugged spot on Bind at all cost
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
You’re not alone in whiffing unbelievably easy shots on Bind’s Hookah. The map has a secret glitched spot that everyone should avoid. Valorant is the latest cut-throat shooter game but it has its fair share of bugs and glitches. Fortunately, the developer is quick to take notes and patch them up. However, some bugs are too subtle to get hotfixes. They go unnoticed on lower levels of play but are …
100 Thieves blasts Riot Games over VCT NA Last Chance Qualifier
Olivia Richman
Valorant
The Valorant Last chance Qualifier is partly single-elimination, something that has frustrated teams competing in the tournament. 100 Thieves’ Valorant team has been especially vocal on Twitter about the structure of the North American Valorant Last Chance Qualifier. The official format was revealed on Twitter, leading to a lot of criticism from pros in the Valorant scene. Rather than a standard double-elimination or fully single-elimination event, the VCT’s NA Last …
Here’s what rare Valorant victory tags mean
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
At the end of each Valorant game, a tag summarizes every sound. These commendations can be a bit confusing but fret not. We have a proper explanation of what each one means. If you’re new to Valorant, or the first-person shooter genre in general, you may find it tough to comprehend the game glossary. The extensive lingo consists of slang words, community-made terms, and classic FPS jargon. But Valorant has …
Valorant Night Market returns
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Valorant Night Market is back and it’s more exciting than ever this time around. Riot Games has finally announced the much-awaited discount store for Valorant players. The Night Market will run from September 29 to October 12. “You never know what will be on offer at Night Market,” Valorant developers said, “and weapon vendors rarely offer the same prices twice.” https://twitter.com/PlayVALORANT/status/1443364975549075459 This act’s shop is going to be one of …
Female pro Slaze is suspended for boosting, claims Riot targeted her
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Female professional Valorant player Sophia “Slaze” Ramirez, who recently got suspended for boosting, has claimed someone on Riot Games’ anti-cheat team is conspiring against her due to personal grudges. Riot Games has previously taken strict actions against cheaters, account boosters, and bad actors in general, regardless of their popularity in the esports scene. Team Polaris’ Slaze has landed in hot water for account boosting this time around, but she’s resisting …
New Sova double-shock dart setup is a must-learn to win Fracture
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Sova is one of the best agents to run on Fracture thanks to a newly discovered post-plant setup. The newly released H-shaped location Fracture is turning out much more challenging to tackle than imagined. Not every agent is viable in this location unless you’ve mastered all lineups and setups. The complicated design and dangerous backlines make Fracture a hard nut to crack. Thankfully, Fracture has plenty of sky-cracks, which naturally …
100 Thieves drop Steel from active roster, moves b0i to starting five
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
100 Thieves has officially removed the in-game leader Joshua “steel” Nissan from the starting lineup, promoting Aaron “b0i” Thao to the main roster for upcoming games. The rumors of Steel stepping away from an active role in 100T were ripe following the team’s semifinal finish at the VCT Berlin Major earlier this month. The North American organization has finally confirmed the reports by bringing b0i to the starting five. https://twitter.com/100T_Esports/status/1442542323808702474 …
Hilarious new 1-way allows Viper to dominate on Bind
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Viper’s poison cloud is toxic, but it’s absolutely death-dealing when used tactically on Bind’s point B. Bind’s small size and numerous entryways require controllers to effectively use their smokes to block pushes. This new one-way lineup proves that Viper is one of the top picks of teams to carry out the job effectively and it’s actually a bit silly on top of that. Viper agent has only one smoke, but …
Valorant fan one-ups Riot Games with remade Smite skin
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
A Valorant player has revamped the plain Smite knife, and the new version looks straight out of Ultra class. Smite is one of the cheapest Valorant skins, but this reimagining by Thyros-exe transforms it in a big way. The overhauled knife is clean, whimsical, and hearkens to the League of Legends Summoner Skill of the same name. Riot Games has rolled out tons of over-the-top, extravagant Valorant skins that only …
Here’s how to learn every Valorant agent’s lineups for all maps
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Learning utility lineups in Valorant is now just a few clicks away, as this new website has cataloged all crucial lineups for each agent. Utility is key in Valorant. Winning a game at a higher level is impossible without putting smokes and incendiaries to their correct use. However, learning all lineups isn’t a cakewalk, which is why Valorant players have come up with a utility one-stop. Cutthroat first-person shooter Valorant …
Valorant’s agent 17 confirmed to be a Sentinel from France
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games has dropped a first official teaser for the upcoming French agent, who seems slick and sophisticated. Valorant protocol hasn’t seen an expansion in a while, and it seems that a new Kingdom employee is about the enter the picture. Many hints about agent 17 have slipped through the cracks, and now Riot Games has finally dropped the first official teaser this time. In a recent “State of the …
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.
