Valorant
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How the Reyna and Yoru changes will impact the Valorant meta
Nicholas James
With patch 2.03 now officially launched, Valorant will be hit with yet another meta shake-up. While this patch had more to do in terms of gun changes, Riot Games also touched a few agents to give them some slight nerfs and buffs. Some people have been calling this patch the death of Reyna, but the changes to the agent may end up being healthy for the game in the long …
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BearClaw Gaming’s Valorant roster, staff claim missed payments
Olivia Richman
Another Valorant team has allegedly been terminated without payment. Shortly after Phoenix1 was accused of not paying its former Valorant players, BearClaw Gaming has come under fire for the same concerning reasons. According to general manager Steven Kim, BearClaw Gaming’s parent company, Plynius, has not paid any of its players or provided basic support for the Valorant team’s operations. Kim stated that nobody has been paid since the beginning of January, …
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Phoenix1 organization accused of not paying Valorant roster
Olivia Richman
The revival of the Phoenix1 brand is not going particularly well at this point. Former player Aiden King is accusing the organization of not paying its Valorant team. Every player on the Phoenix1 roster was dropped in January. While the squad did tease that they might be signed to another organization, it was never made clear why they were all let go from Phoenix1. Now, a month later, King has decided …
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Valorant patch 2.03 buffs Yoru, nerfs Frenzy and Stinger
Olivia Richman
Valorant developers have come through with their promise of rebalancing Yoru. In Valorant patch 2.03, developers have focused on the newest duelist and buffed him to make up for what has been found to be an underwhelming kit. The new agent hasn’t seen as much play as initially expected and has been given some buffs to compensate for that. Reyna was also given some interesting changes, while some of the …
Leaks reveal new Valorant skins, gun buddies based on agents
Nicholas James
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As chatter picks up regarding patches and balance changes fans have likely gotten a sneak peak at the next two skin bundles. Both bundles are for multiple weapons and include other cosmetics like gun buddies, sprays and player cards. Data miner ValorLeaks produced footage of the new skins in action, and they’re unlike anything seen to this point in Valorant. Celestial Bundle Showcase | #VALORANT ~ Celestial Phantom (1775VP)~ Celestial …
Yoru stinks and needs to be fixed, says G2 Esports’ Mixwell
Fariha Bhatti
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Months after his release, players are still not fond of Yoru. But G2 Esports’ Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas may know what’s wrong with the Japanese flasher. Yoru is still new to the roster, but it’s looking as though his kit is a bit underwhelming when it compares to other duelists. In fact, it’s possible he has the weakest kit of any agent in the game, period. That’s seen him sit near …
Valorant gets a new fast-paced Escalation mode
Fariha Bhatti
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Riot Games’ shooter is all set to get its first limited-time mode (LTM) Escalation, starting from February 17th. Valorant is still a relatively new game in terms of esports. However, a growing number of tournaments in the form of Valorant challengers series, First Strike, and many more have added a competitive finish to the game. Almost a year after its release, the game has evolved into a cutting esports that …
Valorant patches will change Frenzy, Stinger, and Marshall
Nicholas James
News
Valorant developer Nicholas Wu Smith revealed during a watch party of the North American Challengers 2 tournament that there will be some big changes in upcoming patches. Many fans and professional players have been asking for changes to SMGs and the Frenzy, and those calls have been heeded. Smith confirmed that the Stinger and the Frenzy will be receiving some nerfs in the next patch. There may also be changes …
Monkey Business officially revealed as OG’s Valorant roster
Nicholas James
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Monkey Business, an amateur Valorant squad that has been linked to the organization OG for weeks, has officially been signed by the organization. The team has been competing together since the beginning of 2021, starting in the Red Bull Home Ground tournament and into the European leg of the Valorant Champions Tour. Together, apes are much stronger. ????Time to unveil the world’s best protected secret. Monkey Business is coming home …
Valorant dev hints at nerfs to Frenzy and Stinger in patch 2.03
Fariha Bhatti
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Recently, a number of professional Valorant players have come forward, criticizing the pistol round meta. Riot Games heard those complaints. Valorant developer Nicholas Wu Smith brings glad tidings for Valorant players who are tired of the Frenzy and Stinger meta. The community complained that Valorant weapons’ erratic sprays are making pistol rounds a matter of luck rather than skill. 100 Thieves’ Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella addressed the problem with Frenzy, claiming …
Valorant adds more player penalties for AFK offenses
Nina Forneloza
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Progressive penalties have finally arrived for AFK players in Valorant. Long requested penalties for text-based and AFK offenses have been implemented into the game. Penalties for AFK and chat offenses include warnings, revoked XP after games in which a player was AFK, queue restrictions, ranked rating deductions, comms restrictions, and temporary game bans. This implementation comes after months of players asking for AFK players to be punished more harshly. Games …
Valorant player finds high ground spot on Ascent, no abilities needed
Olivia Richman
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A Valorant player found a super simple way to get an incredibly advantageous angle on Ascent. There’s apparently a way to get to the top of the boxes located in the A Site’s corner without abilities. Most of the previously discovered boosts in Valorant can’t be done without them, but this discovery opens things up in a big way. Players can do this with any agent, but they do still …
Dr Disrespect calls out Valorant, says it needs new maps
Olivia Richman
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Popular streamer Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm IV has been playing a lot of Valorant lately and he has some serious feedback for developer Riot Games. Dr Disrespect tweeted an intense moment from a Valorant match where he won the round by skillfully predicting what his opponent was going to do next. “I love this feeling,” the Doc said during the stream. “Just knowing that I can read the fucking situation …
Here is how Viper can help open C site on Haven
Fariha Bhatti
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Riot Games’ recent nerf to Omen has tempted the players to try out other controllers. Viper may become a top pick after learning that she can single-handedly block most angles at Haven’s bomb point C. Omen and Brimstone’s smokes are extremely viable to block out crucial angles. However, Viper carries some extra abilities in her toolkit that may help open C Site more effectively. A controller is expected to support …
Valorant developers reveal future Yoru buffs, new controller agents
Nicholas James
News
In a statement made by Riot Games about the state of Valorant’s agents, character producer John Gosicki talked about the upcoming agent release and the current balance of agent classes. The statement addressed many community questions about the controller class, Viper, Yoru, and even teased some aspects of the next agent to be released. Character Producer @RiotMEMEMEMEME returns to talk Viper and Yoru balance, with an added hint of our …
Other regions to watch i the Valorant Champions Tour
Nicholas James
News
As the Valorant Champions Tour heats up, many regions are fighting tooth and nail to claim a coveted spot in the next stage of Riot Games’ competitive circuit. There have been massive upsets and new challengers in both North America and Europe, but many of the best plays and series from the circuit have come from other regions. With the region locking of the tournament series, smaller regions have been …
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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