Valorant is an incredibly complex game. Underneath the cartoon-ish graphics and fun character designs, there’s a lot of things that make the game a lot more complicated than meets the eye. The maps, the agents, everything about the game lends itself into intricate gameplay. Today, we’ll show you 10 cool Valorant tips that will help you get better in the game. These are mechanics that, along with Valorant elo boosting, will help you climb up the rating ladder quickly and efficiently.
Table of Contents
Abuse the Wallbang
One of the most underrated aspects of Valorant is the wallbang mechanic. Similar to Counter-Strike and other first-person shooters, certain barriers in the game can be shot through to deal damage. Usually, these “wallbang” spots look intuitive enough: see-through walls or wooden walls that look like bullets would pass through them.
However, there are certain maps that have wallbangs that look impossible at first glance. Spots like the wall at B Lane in Ascent or the wall on A Ramp in Split look like concrete, but can be shot through with a Vandal or any other high-penetration weapon. Look for these spots, and cheese your enemies by killing them through it.
Counter-strafing
Most people that play Valorant know that you can’t shoot accurately while moving. If you didn’t know that, a few games of running and gunning will teach that lesson to you the hard way. It’s a mechanic that the game has borrowed from Counter-Strike.
While you can simply just let go of the movement buttons to shoot accurately, there is a faster and more efficient way of shooting accurately after moving: counter-strafing. The core idea of it is to press the movement button opposite of where you’re going to instantly stop your momentum and allow you to be accurate immediately. It takes some practice, but once you master it, you’ll be unstoppable.
Choose your gun wisely
The Vandal vs. Phantom debate is one that has been highly contested since the launch of the game. Fans of the former argue for its superior damage and one-tap potential at all ranges. Fans of the latter point to the easier spray control and faster fire rate as reasons to pick it.
The truth is… the best gun depends on where and how you’re playing. If you’re holding a long angle (Breeze Halls, B Backsite in Icebox), a Vandal will suit you better. If you’re playing closer angles (Mid Split, B Arcade in Fracture), the Phantom’s quick fire rate will suit you better.
Don’t shift-walk peek
I get it: you want to be sneaky-beaky like in Valorant. Shift-walking makes you silent, and camouflages your position well. It lends well to lurking, and can earn you some big plays when you get the timing right. It’s a very useful feature to abuse…
Well, not really. Shift-walking is amazing, yes. However, you need to be careful not to shift-walk while peeking angles. The slow speed you have while shift-walking will make you an easy target for anyone holding the angle, so be very careful. If you need to peek an angle, make sure you counter-strafe and do a normal peek so that you don’t make any noise.
Reposition!
Look… you’ve probably seen a lot of Valorant highlights. You’ve seen pros lock down sites by holding a single angle. Or you’re seen someone miss an OP shot, then repeek and hit a nasty flick. You likely think that it looks easy, and that you can do it yourself.
In reality, you’re likely not good enough to hold one angle from more than one player. When you get a kill, or even just get spotted by the enemy, leave and reposition yourself in a better angle. If you don’t reposition, the enemies will likely just prefire your position and you’re dead.
Dead-end Angles
This next Valorant tip is one that many players likely overlook. When holding areas such as A Heaven on Haven or Mid Vents on Split, choose where you hold wisely. Hold the angle in such a way that you’re still able to escape when you miss your shots.
One slightly underrated example of this would be holding C Long in Haven from the Platform. It looks like a decent angle… until you realize that it’s a one-and-done spot. Unless you’re playing as Jett, Raze, or Chamber, there’s really no way for you to escape if more than one person is pushing that site. You’re better off holding from the back of the big boxes and repositioning to C Link when you get pushed.
Pinging the Bomb
This is another tip that’s severely underutilized in lower elos in Valorant. A common tactic many players do when they’re trying to defuse the spik is to throw a smoke on them to hide their position. This often bamboozles lower-ranked players, leading to some unfortunate ninja defuses.
An easy way to get around this is for a dead teammate (or you, if you’re already dead) to ping the spike when the defuse sound is heard. That way, your team has a general idea of where they could be, and you could spray through the smoke. This is especially useful when the spike is planted in an open spot (planted for A Cave in Breeze, or planted on Generator in A Ascent).
Abuse the Teleporter
The Teleporter in Bind is an area that is used by many Valorant players wrong. Often, when the A players hear people pushing Mid, they’ll instantly jump out of the Teleporter to peek, often dying in the process. I’ve seen it happen way too many times.
If you’re using an agent with a throwable ability (Sova, Cypher camera, or anyone with nades), try throwing your utility through the teleporter first. Afterwards, peek immediately, as it will take the enemies by surprise.
Don’t reload!
This one infuriates me the most personally. All too often, I see Valorant players immediately reloading their gun after killing one person. The problem is that usually, as they’re reloading, they immediately get refragged by the enemies, and they’re left helpless as they’re stuck in the reload animation.
A good rule of thumb is that if you still have more than 10 bullets in your magazine, it’s better for you not to reload. You have more than enough to kill your opponents, even if you hit all leg shots.
Don’t be toxic.
This one might be the hardest for players to follow. We understand that Valorant can be a bit tilting at times. Players not playing up to their rank, toxic teammates throwing the game, backseat gamers, those factors can cause you to rage.
However, you shouldn’t fight fire with fire. Instead, what you should do is keep a positive mindset and encourage your team. If they become too toxic, just mute them and communicate only the vital information (enemy positions, utility used, HP left).
Conclusion
That’s basically it! Just follow these 10 pro Valorant tips, and you’ll become a better player in no time. So what are you waiting for? Log in, and go tap some unfortunate heads in Valorant!
