Valorant

Valorant is a first-person hero shooter game. It is set in the near future in an alternative universe, with players taking the part of agents (this is what heroes are called in this game), choosing from characters taken from all sorts of cultures and countries all over the world.

About the Game

The teams are comprised of five agents on each side, and must either attack or defend according to the AI’s whim. Agents all have unique skills which must be charged up before use, through kills, deaths, orbs or spike actions. All these actions all earn currency which can be spent on extra weapons and abilities.

Pro-tip: Orbs are found objects that give you ULT points, which boost your agent’s Ultimate ability bar. Spikes are bomb-like devices which must be planted and activated in order to succeed in your mission.

The Nitty Gritty

There are 16 agents altogether, and you must put together the best five from the full list to assure your victory. The sixteen are: Astra, Breach, Brimstone, Cipher, Jett, KAY/O, Killjoy, Omen, Phoenix, Raze,. Reyna, Sage, Skye, Sova, Viper, Yoru. These agents fall into four different categories: duellist, sentinel, initiator and controller, each of which has different benefits and abilities in the game.

Kills you make generate green first aid boxes which boost health, armour and ammo. If you are killed you will automatically respawn elsewhere on the map. There are a total of four game maps to play across in the various game modes.

Ways to Play

There are five different game modes, so everyone is sure to find their favourite way to play.

Unranked: You play the best of 25 matches in this game mode. The attacking team must take their Spike to one of the designated spots and protect it for 45 seconds. If they do this, it blows up the defenders and the attackers win a point. If the defenders defuse it or the 100-second timer expires before the spike is activated, the defenders will gain a point. If all the members of a team are taken out before spike activation, the opponents gain a point

Spike Rush Mode: Play the best of seven rounds, or first to four points. All agents’ abilities, except their ultimate ability, are fully charged from the start, and the ultimate ability charges twice as fast as usual. All players carry a Spike, but only one spike can be activated at a time. In this mode, weapons are randomised and everyone starts out with the same gun. Look out for multiple power-up orbs for a real boost!

Competitive*: This mode is something like ‘Unranked’ but for players who have earned a rank. This happens after you’ve played five games although you will need to win ten unranked games before you can play competitive games. The first team to 12 wins. In the event of a very even match, a 2-point lead will be needed to win the game. You can vote to end the game resulting in a draw, as long as enough team members agree to it

Deathmatch: A glorious nine-minute free-for-all. You spawn into the game with a random agent and no abilities, from which point you must race around and make 40 kills as fast as you can, only using gunplay. With each kill you get a green health pack that restores you to full health, armour and ammo (unless you are using a machine gun, in which case you get an extra 30 bullets)

Escalation: A team-based mode, with five players on each team. The game provides a randomly selected array of weapons to work through and each team must achieve a certain number of kills to move onto the next weapon. There are two ways to win: by getting through all twelve weapon levels, or being on a higher level than the other team after ten minutes of play. Again, the game relies on gunplay, but with some abilities activated for all to use

NB *Competitive play starts at Iron and rises to Radiant which has 3 levels. Immortal and Radiant are for the top 500 players are awarded their own stats board which is visible to all.
Valorant is a fast-paced strategic shooter, needing you to think on your feet in order to achieve victory.