Valorant
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Valorant’s original character art shows the game’s origins
M Alzamora
Players are very familiar with Valorant’s unqiue characters by now, but they might hardly recognize them from how differnet they used to look. Game development is a trial and error process, and Riot Games’ Valorant wasn’t any different. While it borrowed heavily from the shooters that came before it, the game shines largely through its characters. These characters are the game’s main stars. And they went through many different changes …
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Game-breaking Killjoy bug discovered on Haven Valorant map
Olivia Richman
Killjoy mains have discovered a game-breaking bug with Valorant’s defensive agent. While playing a match on Haven, players discovered that Killjoy can deploy her turret under the ground. This is a game-breaking glitch that competitors have started taking advantage of. Killjoy’s signature ability is her Turret, which fires at enemies in a 180-degree area in front of it, dealing 11 damage per shot. The turret usually has 125 health, meaning …
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These are the best Valorant cosplays of 2020
Olivia Richman
Even though live conventions have been halted in 2020, cosplayers have not slowed down when it comes to creating amazing cosplays based on their favorite video game characters and icons, including some from new tactical shooter Valorant. Ever since Valorant was released earlier this summer, cosplayers have been inspired not only by the agents’ unique outfits but also their personalities and attitudes. It’s no surprise that many cosplayers have created …
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Best Valorant agent duos according to your playstyle
Fariha Bhatti
Riot’s tactical shooter Valorant is a team-based game which relies heavily on agents’ abilities to get through a round. In this tactical FPS, aim alone cannot carry your way to victory. Most people team up with a friend to maximize their chance of success, but selecting the right pair of agents is equally as crucial as tagging along with someone of the same mindset. In Valorant, agents have different abilities …
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Valorant developers hesitant about adding new community maps
Olivia Richman
Riot dropped a new Dev Diaries video that discussed the uncertainty of more map-related content in Valorant’s future. Maps have been at the forefront of the Valorant community’s discussions over the past few months thanks to the drop of Icebox. For many players, it was exciting to get a new map but disappointing to see how developers handled its quick release. The design also felt rushed and frustrating for many …
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Riot announces new pro Valorant Champions Tour set for 2021
Nina Forneloza
Riot Games has announced that its newest competition will kick off in early 2021 and will be called the Valorant Champions Tour. The competition is a season-long global tournament featuring competitions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The tour will take place throughout the entire year before crowning a global champion at the end of 2021. The VCT will feature three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters, …
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The best Skye flash guide for every map in Valorant
Olivia Richman
Valorant’s newest agent, Skye, has been a lot of fun for players to figure out. And used properly, she can be devastatingly effective. Her signature ability, Guiding Light, has been one of the reasons players keep flocking to the healing agent. Flashes are important in tactical shooters such as Valorant and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive because they throw off the enemy’s vision and ability to react. This often creates enough time …
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Here’s how to fix the most common Valorant errors
M Alzamora
Valorant’s mix of Overwatch’s abilites and CSGO’s precise gunplay has proven to be a hit among players, but constant errors have the community frustrated. Despite the game’s overwhelmingly positive reception, Riot’s updates have made the shooter more and more unstable over time. Frustrated fans and players have flooded the game’s subreddit and forums with complaints while begging for help. So what are are some of Valorant’s common errors and how …
How to peek corners in Valorant like a pro
Olivia Richman
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Tactical shooters like Valorant aren’t always all about headshots and flashes. They certainly aren’t a bad thing, but there are a lot of skills players must learn if they want to climb the ranks and stand out from from the pack in competitive. One of these important skills is peeking. Peeking is when a player stays at an angle, moving in and out of the line of sight. The goal …
Aceu thinks Valorant leaderboard is rigged, Tenz and Doinkmachine97 on top
Fariha Bhatti
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Riot has launched the Valorant leaderboards for North America, which shows Tyson “TenZ” Ngo as the second-best player. Doinkmachine97 is the underrated prodigy who has usurped Tenz from his number one spot. As if Doinkmachine97 replacing Tenz wasn’t enough to shock the fans, both the players have managed to acquire three spots on the leaderboard. Tenz continues to dominate the NA scene by sitting on ranks 2, 18, and 33 …
The ultimate Valorant rifle guide: The best use for each weapon
Olivia Richman
News
Almost every Valorant weapon has a purpose. This means that none of them are strictly bad. Players just have to find the proper use for each one, or figure out which weapon matches their personal preferences. Rifles are one of the most popular weapon categories in Valorant. These are a bit more costly, but also more powerful than some of the other options. With the right mechanical prowess, most rifles …
Valorant players suggest Riot add a new spectating feature
Olivia Richman
News
Valorant players have come up with a useful feature that they hope Riot Games will implement in a future update. The tactical shooter has gained a massive following and as the competitive scene grows, players are continuously looking for ways to improve at the game and climb up the ranks. One player recently suggested that Riot developers should add a feature that lets players spectate their friends’ matches. This would allow …
Valorant players calling for harsher abandon punishments
Olivia Richman
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Valorant players are calling on Riot to punish players who abandon matches early. Players leaving matches is a pretty big problem in ranked games, since losing a teammate will almost certainly result in defeat and a decline in rank for those left behind. The frequency of players abandoning has left many feeling unmotivated when it comes to grinding to higher ranks. One player said they were tempted to stop playing …
Learn the best Valorant agent for you according to CSGO styles
Fariha Bhatti
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Aim makes or breaks the game in most first-person shooters. However, to truly master a game, it’s important to understand all of its attributes. Crosshair placement in Valorant may help veteran Counter Strike: Global Offensive players to win a few rounds, but agent abilities can still be an alien concept for them. Valorant has a vast number of CSGO migrants. Ex-CSGO players who have moved to Riot’s shooter are finding …
Riot’s new approach to Valorant updates comes in patch 1.12
Olivia Richman
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After the problematic release of patch 1.11, Riot is taking a new approach to game updates. “Patch 1.11 is forcing us to reevaluate what it takes to raise the quality bar for patch days going forward. So, while we’re not skipping Patch 1.12, we’re giving it a light touch,” comms associate Jeff Landa explained. Landa also noted that they will be skipping the next patch cycle. This means patches will return …
Women are continuing to face harassment, toxicity in Valorant
Olivia Richman
News
Women are continuing to come forward with their negative experiences had while playing Valorant. Riot’s tactical first-person shooter has the same issues that many free-to-play titles have: hackers and toxic players. The Valorant community even asked developers to punish trolls more harshly as more and more players started to experience games being thrown and general toxicity. But one demographic has been targeted much more frequently than others is women. One …
Top NA Valorant teams qualify for the First Strike main event
Olivia Richman
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The First Strike main event has named its first four competitors, and they make for a strong early field. Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Envy, and Renegades each earned a spot in the First Strike main event over the weekend thanks to impressive performances at the Valorant First Strike Closed Qualifier. Four teams from the UMG Closed Qualifier later this month will also compete in the main event in December, fighting for …
shroud says there is no reason to play Valorant agent Skye
Olivia Richman
News
Former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has recently dedicated a lot of his streaming time to Valorant. Over the past few days, shroud has had a lot of time to dabble with Skye, the new Valorant agent. After practicing with her, the FPS expert told his fans that he probably won’t be playing with Skye in the future. With the ability to heal allies and control a pack …
Cypher hit with big nerfs in Valorant patch 1.11
Fariha Bhatti
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Valorant intel broker Cypher is one of the original agents released in beta version. The sentinel’s ability to gather information has made him a vital part of the game, but nerfs in patch 1.11 might take some of Cypher’s prowess away. Though the nerfs to Cypher were overshadowed by the launch of new agent Skye and new map Icebox, Cypher’s tripwire and camera took a big hit in patch 1.11. …
Riot looking to slow down Valorant update development
Olivia Richman
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The latest Ask Valorant blog offered players more insight into issues with Patch 1.11. Due to a lot of game-breaking agent bugs, Patch 1.11 was rolled back at the end of October. Even though the patch has returned, along with new agent Skye, players are still concerned with the buggy update and what it may mean going forward. Valorant developers decided to address this topic in their latest blog post. …
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.
