Valorant is a 5v5 competitive FPS game developed by Riot Games and it’s one of the most popular esports titles at the moment. If you are not familiar with Valorant imagine a game with the core gameplay and pace of CS:GO and characters with abilities from Overwatch. That’s Valorant.
The game is easy to learn but hard to master as there are many mechanics and features that you can use to your advantage. Especially with an ever-expanding roster of playable characters (Agents), it can get overwhelming. This is why we have this complete guide that will help you familiarize yourself with Valorant.
Setting Up Your Profile
Once you install Valorant and register an account (if you didn’t have one before) you can set up a few things in your profile for the best comfort.
Firstly, if you already had an account with an old name, you can change your name very easily. Be advised, you can only change your name once every 30 days.
The same goes for your region. If you recently moved you can change your Valorant region to have more up-to-date news and the local currency in the shop.
Quite often when you come back to your old account after a break you don’t play as well as others may expect judging by your level. In this case, it’s always a good idea to hide your level to prevent unnecessary toxicity from others.
Finally, if you have a bunch of friends that you know will ask you to play while you are practicing along, don’t forget to use Decevie to appear offline in Valorant. It’s a third-party software because the game itself doesn’t have the “Invisible” mode.
Agents
Each Agent in Valorant has a set of unique abilities and a story behind them. Learning what each Agent does and which agents are the best in the current meta is a first step to understanding how Valorant works.
There are 4 categories of agents:
- Duelists. First ones in and the first ones to start fragging. Duelists are the ones who enter the plant site and make space for their team to advance and get control of it.
- Initiators. Setting the team up for success. Initiators are packed with utility that will help Duelists enter the site. Whether it is by getting information on enemy locations or flashing the site.
- Controllers. Now you see us, now you don’t. The whole point of Controllers is to obscure the enemy’s vision. Whether it is a wall of water or shadow smoke, your enemies will have no idea what’s going on on the other side.
- Sentinels. The protectors of your property. Sentinels’ kits are usually built around slowing down attackers. They have tripwires, bots, and many more things that will give away information if an enemy goes through them. They are agents that can easily hold multiple entry points and cover flanks.
Find out which role suits your playstyle the most and start trying out different agents in it. But remember, it’s always better to be familiar with at least one Agent in each role as you never know what the team composition may need of you.
Basic In-Game Features
Once you get into the match there are quite a few features that you can use to make your games easier and more efficient.
Pings are an effective way to communicate with your team. You can ping enemies, and locations, ask for assistance, and weapons in case someone dropped an Operator. Although it’s preferred to use voice chat when possible, pings are another way to effectively communicate.
If the game is not going your way you can finish it early as long as your teammates are on board. There are a few ways to finish the game early:
- Remake. You can stop the match if your teammate was AFK for the entirety of Round 1 and it will not affect your rank. To initiate the remake vote type /remake in the chat.
- Surrender. You can finish the match and get an instant loss by surrendering. It will count as a loss in your career and will affect your rank. To initiate the surrender vote type /ff in the chat.
In both cases, 4 out of 5 players need to vote “Yes” for a remake/surrender to happen. Otherwise, the match will continue. Note that if you leave the match mid-game you will receive a penalty in form of a temporary ban from playing Competitive and Unranked.
Valorant Competitive
Eventually, you will want to start playing Valorant Competitive to test your skill and start getting better at the game. Valorant has an extensive ranking system that you need to be familiar with in order to start climbing.
If you have familiarized yourself with the ranking system, you probably have a general understanding of what is needed to rank up in the game. Pay attention to your performance tracker like ACS, or use a third-party software like tracker.gg
Getting Better at Valorant
No matter what whether you are Diamond or Bronze, there are always things you can improve at in Valorant. It’s a complex game with lots of mechanics and techniques that you can use to gain an upper hand.
Aim Training
One of the key parts to training in Valorant is your aim, especially if you are in lower elo. Good aim and crosshair placement is key to getting kills and learning to be decent at it, is not as difficult as you might expect it to be.
First of all, you’ll need a decent crosshair that you find the most comfortable. A list of the best crosshairs and crosshairs used by pro players is a good place to start. Try out a few different ones and tweak them to your liking.
After you are set with the crosshair, it’s time to get training. So far, AimLab is the best software to use for Valorant aim training. It is free on Steam and there is a variety of AimLab scenarios made to improve at Valorant specifically.
Graphics Settings
Valorant goes very light on hardware. It was made so that pretty much a fridge can run the game without many issues. The current Valorant system requirements are:
However, don’t rush putting everything on the highest settings if you have good hardware as it can give you a competitive disadvantage. Low graphics settings actually remove a lot of effects that can obstruct your vision. For example, Viper wall particles.
Needless to say that you should always try and optimize your graphics settings for the highest fps possible in competitive games.
Practice Angles and Lineups
Lineups are a great way to get an advantage over your opponents. They will allow you to place your utility at off-angles and will likely be much more efficient than the default you use so far. Lineups don’t have to be complicated, you can keep it simple by practicing throwing Fade’s Haunt on the roof.
But you will need a good place to practice all that, and the best one so far is custom games. Much like in other games you can freely customize the rules of the game and use it as a playground for your practice.
You can also use custom games to practice angles by yourself or with a friend. Simply start entering a site on any map and check every default angle without exposing yourself to other angles. And you can ask your friend to randomly sit at one of the positions for you to clear them
Right Peripherals
Although not that important, peripherals like your mouse and keyboard can make a difference when you are gaming. Gaming gear is much more comfortable for long-term use than your stock one and can prevent such long-term effects as wrist pain.
So make sure to choose the peripherals that suit you and your gaming sessions the most:
- 5 Best Gaming Mouse for Valorant (& What Pros Use) in 2022
- 5 Best Keyboards for Valorant (& What Pros Use) in 2022
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
Can I refund my skins in Valorant?
Yes you can refund your skins in Valorant as long as you haven’t equipped them in your collection
How to uninstall Valorant?
Uninstalling Valorant is a bit of a tricky process. You need to get rid of the Vanguard Anti-Cheat, then uninstall the game itself in Windows programs. After that, you can decide to remove the Riot Client as well and clean up the files by searching Riot Games or Valorant in Windows Explorer.
How to check my hours in Valorant?
The game won’t show you how many hours you’ve spent in the game. However, you can still check it by using third-party services.
Are there any codes for Valroant and how to redeem them?
Yes, there are occasional freebie codes that Riot gives away and there are also VP pack codes that you can buy. Each code type has a different way to redeem it.
