Valorant is Riot Games new free to play tactical shooter. You gamers know that with any competitive game you got to know more to win. Yes, response time and actual mouse click accuracy play a part, but once you reach the major leagues that all about evens out. You’re going to get your edge by knowing more and studying up about plays, strategies and even settings. If you’re on this page then you’re probably interested in getting good so we’re here to help.
Know The Valorant Agents
Even if you don’t necessarily play all the agents you should know roughly how each of them works and what abilities they have. Knowing these abilities will allow you to take advantage of any weaknesses a certain agent may have. And keep you alive by knowing what moves to avoid. For example, if you see Sova you can keep an eye out and destroy his recon bolt. Or be on the lookout for traps if the enemy team has Cypher. Playing mystery heroes in Overwatch was actually a great way of learning all the characters as once. In Valorant however, it’s probably worth playing all of them in the arena once. For our full list of agent abilities and strategies on how to play them check out our previous article here.
Know Your Agent Role
Second part of knowing the agents is to know what role they play on the map. There are four roles: sentinel, initiator, controller and duelist. This basically translates into defence, damage, area control and PvP-ers.
• Sentinel: Sentinels are the defensive Agents on the roster. Their main purpose is to aid Duelists in combat. Sage, for example, can set up ice walls to cut off enemies, as well as heal teammates low on health. These Agents should be near the firefight, just at a safe enough distance that they can use their abilities effectively.
• Initiator: Initiators also focus on offense, but in a different way. These are the flankers on the team, the ones focusing on opening up new lines of attack. Breach’s abilities, for example, allow you to stun the opposing team, while Sova reveals enemy positions within a certain range. These are still offensive Agents, but they trade raw power for cleverness.
• Controller: Control agents are best for recon and controlling areas outside of the main firefight. Their goal is to control how the round plays out by setting up defences and quickly moving around the map. As a Controller, your goal isn’t to get frags. Rather, it’s to understand the flow of battle and how you need to react to it.
• Duelist: Duelists are the DPS characters on the roster. Their abilities focus on dealing damage, and that’s their main goal in combat. These Agents should be on the frontlines, ready for any combat encounter. If you’re still uncomfortable with your aim or want to avoid battles, a Duelist isn’t for you. If you want to get right in on the action, however, you’ll feel right at home.
Headshots
Like all shooting games, headshots are what you want to get and in Valorant headshots make a significant difference. Like Apex Legends headshots deal about twice as much damage as a body shot (leg shots deal even less damage). The difference from a game like Apex Legends is that you can’t run away. All things equal, the player that gets the headshot first is usually going to win the fight. That’s especially true given how tight Valorant‘s maps are, forcing you into most combat encounters.
So you may think you know how to fire off a headshot but in Valorant this also means mastering the recoil system. Each weapon’s recoil is a little different, so you’ll want to get familiar with your go-to loadout. For example, if you’re shooting an automatic weapon you’ll find the last couple of bullets are generally steadier. So don’t start your aim at the head straight away.
Alternatively, you can also shoot single shots or short bursts — referred to as “tapping” in CS:GO. This is a helpful tool in your arsenal, though you shouldn’t rely on it too much. If your opponent has mastered the recoil and you’re sending off a bullet or two at a time. Then they’re simply going to hit you with more bullets. This technique is best used in long-range encounters where your recoil is far more exaggerated.
How To Shoot In Valorant
Following up on headshots and recoil, you’ll notice there’s a slight delay in Valorant when you start shooting. This can be an adjustment if you’re coming from an FPS like Rainbow Six Siege or Call of Duty, where weapon accuracy is less sensitive to movement. So that means walking while shooting isn’t recommended, though transitioning from standing to crouching actually steadies your aim. But we’ll get into more detail for that later.
If you hold down Mouse 1, stand still, and point one of Valorant‘s assault rifles at the wall, they’ll draw a pattern of bullets that looks like a T from the bottom up. This is Valorant‘s recoil system. Each gun has a 2D recoil signature, and good players will know where the sixth or seventh bullets will fly. Your bullet position will deviate more from the centre of your crosshair the more shots you fire in succession.
If you’re spraying your bullets i.e. firing off a long stream of uninterrupted, full-auto shots. You can still be accurate if you lower your crosshair to compensate for the rising position of your bullets. If you want a headshot, maybe aim for their belt by your fifth or sixth bullet. Be patient in learning this technique—it can take a long time to get comfortable with if you’ve never played Counter-Strike.
Tapping – is making individual mouse clicks, letting the recoil of the weapon reset a little between shots. This is probably how you’ll want to shoot at longer ranges. But it is possible to score a frag with a spray at 30+ meters. Valorant‘s training area is a valuable tool for practising these techniques and tweaking your sensitivity. Which should probably be as low as possible to allow for micro-adjustments at range.