Valorant
Valorant
Valornt Kuronami bundle has a unique duel-wielding melee
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant players may want to save some money over the holidays because leakers have revealed a hot new melee as part of the upcoming Kuronami bundle. Riot has recently rolled out multiple well-received skin bundles, but skins just don’t create as much hype among the Valorant players anymore. This is likely because new designs are based on previous bundles, but it seems Riot is now experimenting with a new melee …
Valorant
How to get Valorant Flashback 2023?
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant is rolling out year in a review for 2023, and here’s how you can get yours. Valorant Flashback includes year-long stats for all players who played the game. This is Riot’s way of keeping players motivated, allowing them to share their achievements with their friends. This wrap includes stats that you may not find elsewhere. Valorant Flashback are sent to all players by default at the end of the …
Valorant
New Valorant sniper Outlaw price and details leaked
Fariha Bhatti
The leakers weren’t trolling. The Outlaw sniper is real, and it’s coming soon to Valorant. Credible leakers rocked the Valorant community in October when they shared an image of an unseen weapon. Shaped like a Marshal, the speculated Outlaw sniper stirred doubt among many regarding the leak’s authenticity, with most inclined to believe it was a doctored image of the in-game inventory. It turns out that Outlaw is, in fact, …
Valorant
Upcoming Valorant bundle Overdrive leaked
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant is getting a brand new bundle called Overdrive. The first look at the collection has been leaked ahead of time. Riot recently announced Sentinels of Lights’ return to the Valorant shop. The 2.0 bundle included similar SoL skins in a new range of weapons, so if you haven’t already purchased the guns, hurry up because a new bundle has been leaked. Overdrive will replace Sentinels of Light as the …
Valorant
New Team Deathmatch map getting revealed at Game Changers Finals
Olivia Richman
A new Team Deathmatch map is being revealed at The Game Changers Grand Finals. The Valorant Game Changers Championship is where all the best Game Changers teams will clash to crown the champion. To make the event even more of a spectacle for viewers at home, Riot will be showcasing a new Team Deathmatch map. Ever since Team Deathmatch was introduced to Valorant there hasn’t been a new map for …
News
Sentinels of Light returns to Valorant with a dual-wielding knife
Fariha Bhatti
It’s official. Sentinels of Light is returning to Valorant. Valorant has dozens of skin bundles, but only a few have managed to leave a lasting impression on the player base. One of those bundles is Sentinels of Light. Steeped in lore and immersive backstory, the Sentinels of Light bundle is also easy on the eyes. If you didn’t have the money to purchase the coveted bundle back when it was …
Valorant
Valorant patch 7.10 finally buffs underrated agent, Deadlock
Fariha Bhatti
Deadlock is finally getting some love from Riot Games. The developer has delivered a significant buff for Deadlock in the latest Valorant patch, 7.10. Deadlock’s cold personality and killer looks weren’t enough to pull Valorant players towards her. Her kit was lacking compared to other sentinels, making her one of the less popular agents in Valorant. The recent buffs aim to make her more meta. Valorant patch 7.10 significantly buffs …
Valorant
Valorant players left stunned by rare Iso and Kay/O interaction
Fariha Bhatti
Iso’s ultimate is extremely powerful, but Valorant players are smarter. The community has discovered a new loophole in his Kill Contract, which results in Iso dying. Iso’s Kill Contract activates an energy field, taking players from the map and teleporting them into an alternate reality. Here, both players are separated by three walls, which disappear after a few seconds. With both enemies exposed to each other, it’s almost impossible for …
Killjoy’s Lockdown won’t work on Iso if he pulls off this trick
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Didn’t think you could handle Killjoy at her prime, equipped with a deadly lockdown? Well, now you can — only if you’re Iso. Valorant’s agent, Killjoy, is by far one the deadliest sentinels in the game. Thanks to her path-blocking powers, enemies are forced to think twice before stepping into the site. While players have discovered many counters to her utility, it’s still tricky to deal with her Lockdown once it …
Aspas leads the way with the most kills of any VCT player this year
Tokoni Uti
Valorant
The former LOUD superstar Erick “aspas” Santos had the most amount of kills of any player in the Valorant Champions Tour this year, according to player data released by Riot Games today. This year aspas managed to rack up 1402 kills this year, with his teammate Felipe “Less” de Loyola in second place with 1308, according to the data. Other pieces of data were released, with Sentinels player Tyson “TenZ” …
Fnatic emerged victorious at the Red Bull Home Ground 2023
Tokoni Uti
Valorant
European organization Fnatic defeated Cloud9 in the finals of the Red Bull Home Ground 2023 Valorant event to take the trophy. Yesterday, Fnatic took down Cloud9 in five hard-fought maps to continue the European team’s dominance in the Valorant competitive circuit even outside of the Valorant Champions Tour, where the team won two major tournaments earlier this year. The Red Bull Home Ground 2023 was one of the largest off-season …
Devs tease new creepy monsters called Smiling Critters for Poppy Playtime Chapter 3
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Mob Entertainment is teasing new monsters for the upcoming Poppy Playtime Chapter 3, and players couldn’t be more shook. Poppy Playtime games have multiple toys with human-like souls creeping up the toy-manufacturing company, but there’s always one main antagonist. However, the developer may be breaking away from the tradition, introducing multiple monsters in the upcoming chapter — at least, that’s what the teasers suggest. After teasing the prototype and a …
This Astra trick is perfect to counter Iso’s ultimate
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Iso is bulletproof, but he is not invincible. In order to tackle his ruthless ultimate, players may want to have Astra in their corner. Iso has officially entered the Valorant protocol as a merciless aimer, equipped with a shield. Two of his abilities are centered around damage prevention, but the ultimate stands out as the most lethal of all. Turns out, Astra can help survive his ultimate. Players have discovered …
100 Thieves sign eeiu to the Valorant roster
Tokoni Uti
Valorant
North American organization 100 Thieves has signed former M80 player Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic to the Valorant roster, it was announced last night. Eeiu, known as one of the highest-performing players in the Challengers scene, but was unable to qualify for the Americas-partnered league following a defeat to The Guard in the grand final. But he’s got a chance to perform at the highest level following his pick-up by 100 Thieves. …
How to unlock the latest Valorant agent Iso
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Iso is the latest Valorant agent to join the duelist roster. Eager players can unlock the new agent right away or within 30 days, here’s how. Valorant patch 7.09 nerfs Raze and the beloved weapon Judge, but it also adds a powerful duelist to balance things. Iso joins the battle between the two earths as a stylish initiator-like duelist, weilded with a power to block bullets. Like every new agent, …
Valorant patch 7.09 nerfs a popular duelist, buffs Cypher
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Leakers have discovered significant nerfs for Valorant’s lively duelist Raze and trick-shot weapon Judge, but Cypher mains will be happy to read the 7.09 PBE patch notes. With each Act and Episode, Riot makes a point of tweaking gunplay or agent abilities to keep the meta in line with Valorant’s fundamentals. The upcoming Act will add a brand new duelist to the roster, skin bundle Valiant Hero, and roll out …
Latest Valorant bundle Valiant Hero includes a mouth-watering melee
Fariha Bhatti
Valorant
Riot Games has lifted the curtain upon a shiny new Valorant bundle dubbed Valiant Hero for Episode 7 Act 3, which also marks the entrance of Agent 25, Iso. Valiant Hero is inspired by Chinese mythology, including traditional art on weapons and a prolonged Staff for melee. Keen players have also noticed a League of Legends easter egg in the bundle’s animations. While skins have no tangible influence on gameplay, …
What is the Outlaw in Valorant? The rumored new weapon
Olivia Richman
Valorant
An accidental leak has given Valorant players their first glimpse at a new weapon, the Outlaw. Trusted leaker ValorantLeaksEN recently tweeted a screenshot from a since-deleted showcase video that was meant to show some new skins. Of course, sharp-eyed Valorant players immediately zoomed in on the new weapon instead. Here’s what we know about the potentially new weapon coming to Valorant. https://twitter.com/VALORANTLeaksEN/status/1717557842247364661?s=20 In the screenshot, we can see that the …
Newest Valorant Agent Iso abilities revealed
Tokoni Uti
Valorant
The newest Valorant agent set to be released later this month was revealed earlier today with professional players and content creators allowed to show off the new duelist. The duelist who hails from China, dubbed Iso, will be the newest agent in Valorant and will feature some cool new abilities. Most notably, Iso has an ultimate ability that will drag his opponent into an arena where he will take on …
Valorant agent 24 name leaked — a hint at their kit?
William Davis
Valorant
Valorant agent 24 details are still scarce, but their name may have already been exposed by some very reputable sources. Riot Games is finally teasing agent 24 with animated clips on social media, and all signs point to a fearsome duelist who either grants or rewards precise gunplay. While a few small details about their kit have been teased, very little about the character has been shown. However, with their …
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.
