Valorant
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Try these quick tips to fight lag and improve ping in Valorant
M Alzamora
Valorant is a great game, but it’s not immune to the one thing that affects all multiplayer online games. Lag is a player’s worst enemy, slowing down the connections between computers and causing hitches, dropped frames, and other issues that can ruin a player’s experience. No one likes to have a bad ping. But there are some ways to control lag and its effects it can have on a player’s …
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100 Thieves’ Asuna gets prettiest ACE seen in Valorant so far
Fariha Bhatti
In a match against NRG Esports, 100 Thieves’ Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk gave a lesson on how a duelist should be played. In the VCT Challengers 3 North American division, NRG locked horns with 100 Thieves, one of the top teams in the region. The two teams put on a great show for fans, taking the best of three to a contentious decider. However, the entire series’s highlight was Asuna’s ruthless …
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Valorant players dismiss instructions to avoid teabagging during VCT
Fariha Bhatti
During a Valorant Champions Tour match, European Valorant players were explicitly advised not to teabag or shoot the enemy’s corpse. The instructions were brushed aside as clips of teabagging surfaced after the G2 esports versus Team Dfuse game. In professional matches, there are a strict set of rules that must be followed during the game. For example, cheating, hacking is prohibited to ensure fair play. But some other rules exist …
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Riot makes changes after complaints over Prime 2.0 karambit knife
Olivia Richman
The melee weapon in Valorant’s Prime//2.0 skin line was not a hit with the game’s community. Valorant developers have continuously dropped creative weapon skin lines that not only change the appearance of the game’s weapons, but have unique animations and sound effects. Players can even “level up” most skins by using Radianite, Valorant’s in-game currency. This upgrades the weapon’s visuals and sounds, creating a customizable and monetizable experience. The Prime//2.0 …
Valorant’s new agent Astra can pull campers out of Bind’s teleporters
Fariha Bhatti
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Astra swished in Valorant with tons of new skills, but her ability to root out campers tops the list. The fourth controller and 15th agent is a breath of fresh air in Valorant’s current meta, which was dominated by the five aggressive duelists. Yoru’s recruitment in the roster only bolstered the duelist roster, leaving the ability aspect of Riot’s shooter in the shade. The addition of a versatile controller balances …
How to break open Icebox’s A site as Viper without teammates
Fariha Bhatti
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Entering the lion’s den that is Icebox’s A bombsite is tough, but Viper can help make it easy. Viper can single-handedly push to the site. Valorant controllers are expected to support aggressive duelists but Viper’s utility can help her teammates execute a lethal execute at bomb point A that will force defenders but back off. Viper is equipped with smokes, two molotovs, and a thin-but-deadly curtain. Using all of her …
Watch shroud get 3 clutch kills with 5 bullets in Valorant
M Alzamora
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Former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star Michael “shroud” Grzesiek might have returned to his streaming roots after retiring from pro play, but he still has the skills that made him a legend. Valorant’s abilities often take center stage in Riot’s shooter, especially with the release of the game’s latest agent, Astra. But while playing out a match on Icebox, shroud showed that just because a game has powerful abilities doesn’t mean …
Viper, Yoru buffs are coming to Valorant, but not for a while
Fariha Bhatti
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Valorant patch 2.04 is out, but one of the most notable things about the patch was the lack of buffs to Yoru and Viper. Many were surprised by this, but Valorant’s developers addressed the reason behind the delay. Since the game’s official release, Riot Games has introduced 15 agents into the game, divided into four categories. Most agents are viable, but a few others are still struggling to find a …
Use these Sova shock dart lineups to protect the Spike on Icebox
Fariha Bhatti
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Valorant hunter Sova may seem like a passive gatherer of intelligence to some, but his arrows can be deadly when properly used on the attacking side. Valorant’s newest map, Icebox, is finally becoming less vexing as players are adapting to its cool scenery and tight choke points. With Icebox becoming more popular, players’ schemes around the map are also developing. Icebox is turning into a competitive location that calls for …
New Valorant agent Astra uses her stars to create one-way chokes
Fariha Bhatti
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There’s no need to mug up tactical one-way smokes anymore if you have an Astra on your team. Riot Games’ newest agent Astra is already under the Valorant specialists’ microscope for being too powerful. The agent manipulates space and stars to get control of the map, but there’s more that she’s capable of. Unlike Viper and Brimstone, Astra doesn’t deal damage. The new star exploit changes that. Team Liquid’s streamer …
New agent Astra and ranked changes coming in new Valorant patch
Fariha Bhatti
News
The wait’s over. Valorant’s much-anticipated patch 2.04 is out and it features the galactic agent Astra, extended queues, ranked changes, and a new skin line. The first extension to the controller roster had players hyped for Valorant patch 2.04. Apart from Astra, Episode 2, Act 2 addresses some restricted lobby issues. After patch 1.10, players could only match up against opponents with three tiers rank gap. The latest update changes …
How to play Valorant’s brand new 15th agent Astra
Fariha Bhatti
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Valorant’s agent 15 is not your regular controller with basic smokes and molotovs. Astra may require a galaxy brain and tons of patience to be viable in competitive games. Since its release in 2020, Valorant has extended its roster to 15 agents with unique abilities. All agents share some similarity based on the category they’re spawned it. Agent 15, however, carries a miscellaneous kit that can be tricky to tackle. …
New Prime skins coming for Phantom, Frenzy in new Valorant act
Fariha Bhatti
News
Ready to make your Valorant guns look prettier? Valorant’s new skin bundle, Prime 2.0, is set to go live on March 3rd. Valorant Episode 2, Act 2 brings back the fan-favorite Prime skins, revamped with a modern touch. The bundle will be available for 7,100 VP, with four weapon skins on offer and a knife skin. Each weapon skin will have seven tiers of customization, while the karambit-style knife will …
Valorant’s 1st international LAN coming in VCT Masters Stage 2
Olivia Richman
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“We’re going international!” Riot dropped huge news on fans of Valorant’s growing esports scene. The Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2 Masters event will be the first international VCT event in the tactical shooter’s short history. The top 10 teams from around the world will come together to compete in-person in Reykjavik, Iceland on May 24. We’re going international! VCT Stage 2 Masters will be our first international #VCT event. 10 …
All about Valorant’s error code 39 before Act II’s big patch
M Alzamora
News
Valorant’s Act 2 battle pass is right around the corner, which means players might see a few Valorant error codes on patch day. Whenever a game is patched, players all over the world get caught up in errors and game codes trying to fix their game. But Valorant’s error xx is a special one and it’s actually a good one for players. Error 39 is a common code to see …
Valorant’s Act II Battlepass new melee weapon and skin line revealed
M Alzamora
News
In just a few days, players will be able to get their hands on Valorant’s new skins. Valorant’s skin lines are dialed in and each family has a theme that ties it together, and Act 2 is no different. Riot has doubled down on the idea for Valorant’s Episode 2: Act II Battlepass. The next Valorant battlepass releases on March 2 with a ton of new items for players 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.
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