Valorant is a popular free to play, 5v5 character based tactical shooter. However, it’s not your typical tactical shooter; to win in Valorant, you need to actively think and strategize while you play. Valorant rewards good game sense. The game features multiple modes, including Unrated, Competitive, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Spike Rush, and Swiftplay. Among these, the Competitive or Ranked mode is the most popular.
[Written by our own FoolishPirate (@folly1423)]
What Happens in a Match of Valorant?
In Valorant, there are two teams: attackers and defenders. To win a match, a team must win 13 rounds. The teams switch sides after 12 rounds. The goal of the attackers is to invade locations on the map known as sites and plant a spike (a bomb) and the goal of the defenders is to prevent attackers from planting the spike, or defuse it if the spike has been planted.
How Do You Win a Round in Valorant?
In Valorant, a round can be won in several ways. If your team eliminates every member of the opposing team, you win the round. However, there are alternative ways to secure victory. If the spike explodes, the attackers win, even if all of them are dead. Conversely, if the defenders manage to defuse the spike, they win the round, even if the attackers are still alive. Each round lasts 1 minute and 40 seconds, not including the 30-second buy phase.
In this guide, we will dive into the different structures of the game, provide helpful tips & tricks, and present the most common beginner mistakes and how to avoid them.
To help you navigate, here is are the Contents list for the rest of this guide – the sections’ names are clickable:
- Agents and Classes
- Ranks
- Basic Tips
- Full Agents List
- Maps
- Which Agent to Choose
- Guns Tips & Tricks
- Utilities
- Final General Tips
Agents and Classes
Agents are the characters you play as in a match. All of them have different unique abilities and are classified into one of the 4 classes. The Classes are: Duelists, Controllers, Initiators and Sentinels.
Let’s dive into the different classes first, and we will cover agents further down the guide.
Duelists
Duelists are the ones who rush forward, and create openings for the rest of the team to take advantage of.
Controllers
Controllers control the field. They usually have a blind and smoke utility which can be used for creating cover/ blocking sight from the enemies.
Initiators
Initiators gather intel, they clear out locations so that the team knows from where the opposing team will attack from.
Sentinels
If Duelists are aggressive, sentinels are defensive. Sentinel’s block of areas and cover the flanks. They shine the most when planting or defusing.
Ranks
When you play competitive matches in Valorant, you’re placed in a rank. Good performance helps you progress in rank, while poor performance can cause you to lose progress.
Valorant’s ranking system has nine tiers:
- Iron
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Diamond
- Ascendant
- Immortal
- Radiant (top rank)
Basic Tips
The Buy Phase
Save during the first round of any half. Buy fully if you win and save again if you lose the first and second.
Communication
Clear and concise communication is the key to victory in a game like Valorant. You need to give calls to your teammates about everything you do, and be ready to act on information that your teammates relay.
The Spike
The Spike is the center of the round, the round revolves around planting or defusing the spike. If you are attacking and the site is clear, plant the spike. A spike explodes in 45 seconds after being planted, once planted get out of sight and camp the spike, defend it for 45 seconds. If you are a defender and see the spike but no attackers in sight, they’re camping the spike. Use a tactic known as a fake, start defusing and let go of the button instantly, this will make the people camping, come out, you can kill them(Experienced players won’t fall for a single fake, you’ll need to fake it multiple times)
Agent List
At the time of writing this article, there are 25 agents in Valorant. Let’s dive into them.
Controllers
- Brimstone
- Viper
- Omen
- Astra
- Harbor
- Clove
Duelists
- Phoenix
- Reyna
- Jett
- Raze
- Yoru
- Neon
- Iso
Sentinels
- Sage
- Cypher
- Killjoy
- Chamber
- Deadlock
- Vyse
Initiators
- Sova
- Breach
- Skye
- Kay/O
- Fade
- Gekko
Maps
- Ascent: has two sites, Duelists dominate here
- Haven: has three sites, Omen, Sage, and Chamber are ideal to play on this map.
- Split: has two sites, flashes are very effective on this map.
- Bind: has two sites, it is special because of teleporters that provide very fast rotations
- Icebox: has two sites, very easy to flank on
- Breeze: has two sites, Largest map ingame
- Fracture: has two sites, multiple Vantage points, Chamber dominates here.
- Pearl: has two sites, Underwater themed map, heavily favors defenders.
- Lotus: has three sites, Multiple entry spots. Neon and Jett have good potential here
- Sunset: has two sites, any agent type works well here
- Abyss: has two sites, and fast rotations
Which Agent to Choose, and How To Use It?
Some of the most popular agents in Valorant are Reyna, Jett, Sage, Chamber, and Phoenix. For beginners, Sage is arguably the easiest agent to start with. Play as Sage until you get the hang of the game. Once you’ve decided on an agent to main, focus on mastering that agent instead of trying to play all of them. It’s better to excel with one agent than to be average with many.
When you choose an agent, it’s crucial to understand all of their abilities and know when to use them. In this guide, I will use Sage as an example to illustrate this.
Sage is a Sentinel, so when playing as her, adopt a defensive playstyle. Let your team take the lead on offense while you focus on supporting them.
Slow orb: makes a puddle which slows down players caught in it (enemies and allies), essentially making them scarecrows, meaning they become easy targets.
Healing orb: look at an ally and fire to heal them, alt fire to heal yourself.
Barrier orb: places a barrier, you can rotate it using alt fire. Very useful for blocking points of entry, creating cover and getting in ideal positions.
Ultimate Resurrection: revive a dead teammate when looking at them and using your ultimate.
As Sage your goal is to support your team throughout the entire match. Do not push forward alone. Let a duelist like Reyna go ahead and support her from behind. At the beginning of each defending round, block off an entry point by using the barrier orb. This narrows where the enemy could be for a few seconds.
After a fight, you and your teammates will be injured, use the healing orb on the teammate who is performing well, and is essential for you to win the round. Don’t heal yourself, Sage can restore 100 HP of allies in 5 seconds, whereas if Sage heals herself, she will only restore 30HP in 10 seconds.
Use your Ult wisely. There is no need for you to use your ult to revive someone if there are only 2 people on the opposing team and 4 on your team. However, don’t be hesitant to use your Ult to give your team a numerical advantage when the field is even, meaning, when there are equal number of players alive.
Taking multiple fights at once is folly. If you see multiple targets on screen, do not engage. Retreat and slow them down, using the slow orb or the barrier while relaying this information to your team. Engage after your team arrives.
Similarly, don’t shy away from 1v1s. If you see a solitary person, engage in a fight, try to finish them before the enemy reinforcements arrive.
Guns Tips & Tricks
There are 17 guns in Valorant, categorized as Sidearms, SMGs, Rifles, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, and Heavy Weapons. The Sidearms include the Classic, Shorty, Frenzy, Ghost, and Sheriff. SMGs are the Stinger and Spectre. Rifles consist of the Bulldog, Guardian, Phantom, and Vandal. Shotguns include the Bucky and Judge. Sniper Rifles are the Marshal and Operator, and the Heavy Weapons are the Ares and Odin.
For beginners, pick Ghost in sidearms, Spectre in SMGs, Vandal in Rifles.
Aiming
Play around in the Range and find the sensitivity that suits you best. Build muscle memory to aim and tap, not spray. Fire only after the crosshair is on the enemy player, do not start firing early. Aiming is something that becomes better as you play the game.
Crosshair
Having the right crosshair can improve your aim significantly. Valorant offers a lot of customization for crosshair, Experiment around and create one which suits you.
Tenz: 0;s;1;P;c;5;h;0;m;1;0l;4;0o;2;0a;1;0f;0;1b;0;S;c;4;o;1
Above is the crosshair that Tenz uses, it is a clean small crosshair that makes it easier to aim on the head.
Utilities
Use your utilities at every moment you get, in the beginning, not many people use utilities. Use them as much as possible so that you get a sense of when and when not to use them. Press F1 In-Game to know more about utilities of your agent. Additionally, some agents have lineups. lineups are predetermined positions and angles from which a player can deploy abilities, that land in specific locations on the map. Learning the lineups of your agent will give you an edge early on when you start the game.
General Tips
To finish our guide with the best takeaways, here is a comprehensive list of general tips from us.
Choose the right agent.
Before the first round begins, you choose your agent. Make sure to discuss your choice with your team to avoid ending up with an unbalanced team where players can’t effectively support each other.
Reloading mid-fight.
One common reason players lose 1v1s they could have won is reloading mid-fight. In Valorant, once you start reloading, you can’t cancel it, and many players instinctively press “R” due to muscle memory from other games. To avoid this, try changing your reload keybind to “T.” This forces you to think consciously before reloading, helping you avoid unnecessary reloads in critical moments.
Crosshair
Having the right crosshair makes aiming much easier. Valorant offers extensive crosshair customization options.
Teamwork
Valorant is a team game, not a solo game. No matter how skilled you are individually, if you don’t play as a team, you’ll lose against even an average, coordinated team. 10 times out of 10. Communication is key: whether you’re using a flash, flanking, smoking, planting the spike, or using your ultimate, share that information with your teammates. In Valorant, sharing information significantly improves your chances of winning.
Team Synergy
It is always better to play with friends than to play with randoms. Team Synergy is very important as your regular teammates will know your play style and subconscious habits, and act on your non-verbal cues
Mouse
Sometimes its not you, its your mouse. Using any mouse can lead to the gameplay not being smooth, and latency. Avoid wireless mice as they have the most latency. A mouse with 1000hz polling rate is good for FPS games.
Screen refresh rate.
Even if your system is able to pump out good fps, you cannot see more fps than your screen hz, and that matters a lot in competitive games like Valorant. Recommended screen hz for Valorant is 144hz and above.
Adjust your settings
Valorant is an fps game, The more fps you get, the smoother it is and the more edge over other you get. Try to get as much fps as you can, maybe even at the cost of graphics.
Crouching mid-fight
I can’t stress this enough, Valorant rewards good aim and punishes spraying. Focus on tapping your shots rather than spraying. Recoil control in Valorant is challenging, and while crouching can help reduce recoil, don’t crouch before you start shooting. If you do end up spraying, crouch after you start to better control the recoil. Avoid spraying whenever possible.
Utilities and Ultimates.
Many new players overlook their utilities and ultimates, but these tools are designed to give you an edge in a fight. Make it a habit to use them effectively, learn the timing and situations where each utility and ultimate can turn the tide of a round. Clever use of these abilities can often secure a win, even in challenging situations. Use f1 in
Map
Map knowledge is crucial in Valorant. Familiarize yourself with the layout of each map, develop spatial awareness, and learn how to use the geography to your advantage. Knowing key peeking spots, common enemy paths, and the best positions for defense can significantly improve your gameplay.
- Do Not Over-peek.
- Warm up
Before playing competitive matches, take some time to warm up. Whether it’s playing an unrated match or practicing in the Range, warming up can help you get into the right mindset and improve your performance in crucial matches.
Posture
Your physical posture can impact your gaming performance. Keep a straight posture while playing to avoid strain and discomfort, which can negatively affect your focus and reaction times during long gaming sessions.
Mindset and Motivation
A positive mindset is key to consistent performance in Valorant. Discover what motivates you, whether it’s unlocking new skins, ranking up, or just playing with friends. For example, some players find that new skins boost their performance by making the game more exciting and engaging. Find what works for you and use it to keep your morale high.
Ranking up boost
If you have Xbox Game Pass, connect it to your Riot account for a 20% XP boost and instant access to all agents. This eliminates the need to grind for agent unlocks, giving you the flexibility to experiment and adapt your playstyle more freely.
Valorant Tracker App
Tracking your in-game statistics can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. Apps like Valorant Tracker allow you to monitor your performance, helping you understand where you need to improve and what you’re already doing well.
We hope you found this guide helpful. If you have any more tips, comment them below!
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