Learn some of the most effective things you can do to improve your Valorant playing skills that make good use of your time.
The Most Time Efficient Ways to Boost Your Skills in Valorant
Valorant is a free-to-play first-person shooter that was officially released in June of 2020. It was developed by Riot Games, the same people who created League of Legends. Since its release Valorant has proven to be extremely popular, maintaining an average of over 12 million players every month in 2024 and those numbers continue to go up.
In Valorant 2 teams of 5 players each are pitted against each other. Players are ranked based on their performance, similar to the PvP arenas in world of Warcraft, although there the similarity ends. Attaining a higher rank can be difficult and requires constantly working to improve your skills.
Valorant is a somewhat complex game with a steep learning curve and it can be frustrating trying to make any significant progress as a new player. If you enjoy Valorant and are determined to get better, we have provided some basic tips that if implemented will definitely help you improve your skills.
Top Tips to Improve Your Valorant Skills
The following are some basic tips that if followed will lead to improvement in your Valorant skills.
1. Put time into the Practice Mode:
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Like getting good at anything, improvement in Valorant comes with practice. A lot of new players want to jump right into playing competitively which in most cases doesn’t work out well. Valorant has an excellent Practice Mode with four different settings; Open Range, Shooting Test, Spike Planting and Spike Defuse. You will be able to try out different operators and learn their abilities, practice movement and aiming and get a taste of what the action will be like by competing against the AI. Putting the time into practice will have positive results starting with your placement games.
2. Work on Your Aim:
Working on your aim is critical in first-person shooters. Games like Valorant and CSGO have whole guides devoted to helping you improve your aim so we won’t go into it too much in-depth here. It would behoove you to check out some of the many available guides online and to spend some time in the Shooting Test setting of the Practice Mode.
3. Stand Still to Shoot:
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Shooting continuously, even when walking or running is a temptation many new players succumb to in the heat of battle. If you want to see your accuracy increase dramatically, stand still to shoot and avoid indiscriminately spraying while you are running or walking. When you have to move try taking a step, pause to shoot and resume movement.
4. Practice Movement:
Movement in Valorant is as important as aiming and good movement is critical to your success. Valorant has some complicated movements but knowing some of the basics like jiggle peeking and jump peeking will help. You should also know counter-strafing to enable you to come to a quick stop to shoot, and when and when not to crouch among other things. Also try and keep your movement unpredictable. If you make the same move in certain situations a good opponent will recognize this. Good movement helps you get the angle on your opponents while avoiding getting hit in return which is what the game is all about. As with aiming, there are many guides and videos available online for improved movement.
5. Learn the Weapons:
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Players can choose from a total of 17 different weapons in Valorant. Agents have a primary weapon slot (rifles, shotguns, snipers, SMGs and heavy machine guns), a secondary sidearm slot and a knife. Each weapon has different characteristics including damage output, primary and alt fire settings, recoil pattern, magazine capacity and the ability to pierce walls. You should know which weapons work best in which situations to select the best for the job at hand. Most players have a preferred weapon but you should be somewhat familiar with all of them as sometimes you may be faced with using something other than your favorite. Learn the recoil for the different weapons and their spray pattern.
6. Manage Your Money:
Like CSGO, Valorant has an economy and each player has to purchase their own weapons, armor and abilities at the beginning of each round. The first round is the pistol round and every player starts with the same number of credits. In subsequent rounds the number of credits per player depends on whether their team won or lost, how many kills they have and whether they planted or defused the spike. There are times when you will have to conserve your credits and purchase lesser equipment in order to purchase better gear in later rounds.
7. Make Use of the In-Game Minimap:
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The minimap provides tons of useful information. This includes the map in its entirety, your location as well, the location of your teammates and any spotted enemies. It also displays bullet sounds, unless from suppressed weapons. Location markers can be set by players to show points of interest and when Visual Cones are enabled you can see what direction a player is facing. All the information provided makes it easier to work together with your team and adjust your strategy on the fly.
8. Remember You Are Part of a Team:
Working well with the rest of your team is essential to your success in Valorant. You can’t win if your team doesn’t win. Good communication is critical in order to strategize and organize an effective attack and defense.
9. Learn From the Experts:
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You can learn a lot that will help you improve your game by observing matches between top players on platforms like Twitch. Watch their games and see how they react in different situations and what strategies they employ. Some of the top players also provide free guides and tutorials that can help you with specific aspects of your game that you are having problems with.
Using these tips will definitely help to boost your Valorant skills. On a final note, put the time in. All the tips in the world won’t help you get better if you aren’t playing on a regular basis. With regular play employing the above tips, you will be moving up the ranks in no time.