Gaming Tips And Tricks

When it comes to the competitive FPS Valorant, there's a bit of a learning curve. Today I'll give you some tips and tricks to get you up to speed.

Recoil

Your first three shots will land in a tight grouping. Your next three shots will then land a little looser. After that, the gun sprays up and to the right in a somewhat randomized pattern.

Once you get past that sixth shot, you're fighting against RNG recoil. This makes sustained fire spray patterns and other full-auto situations much more challenging to control than in games like CS: GO.

CS: GO's weapons have fixed recoil patterns that persist for every shot in the magazine. Each gun has a recoil path; there is a slight randomness that changes where one path of each bullet lands, but with some practice, you can get a tight grouping even in full auto.

Since the recoil system is different in Valorant, burst firing is even more critical. You only want a fire and burst of six rounds or less.

As for spray transfers, when you keep firing while transitioning from one target to another, it's much easier to pause briefly while switching targets. It's not impossible to fully-auto spray transfer in Valorant, but it's easier to burst-fire multiple enemies.

Shooting Through Walls

Shooting through walls isn't just limited to hero abilities. Most weapons can penetrate doors, walls, and cover. Weapons like the Operator and LMG can deal pretty decent damage, even through some walls. So keep that in mind when an enemy sneaks behind the cover.

Corners are particularly easy to shoot through; even pistols do moderate damage. So if you're fighting around a door or a corner, don't hesitate to try spraying through it instead of peeking around it.

Patience With Up-Time

Speaking of peeking, every weapon and ability has a ready uptime. So if you switch weapons or activate an ability, you must wait a split second before using it. You open yourself up to a quick death if you switch weapons or start your abilities as you come out of cover.

Be patient and wait for these animations to finish before rushing in. Also, remember that most abilities can be bounced off of walls or around corners. You don't always have to peek at risky angles.

Aiming Down The Sights

There are several reasons why I recommend against aiming down the sights (ADS) on most weapons. The biggest one is that while you're ADSing, it slows your movement speed. It also won't automatically aim down sites when holding the fire button.

All guns are as accurate from the hip as they are when ADSing. The critical difference is that ADSing reduces the recoil a bit. That said, I'd recommend against ADS on basically every gun except the Operator, which is the only gun in the game with inaccurate hipfire.

Finally, ADSing only gives you a mild zoom. Beyond that, hip firing is faster, just as accurate, and doesn't add additional complexity to a gunfight.

You might have noticed that I said the only gun that isn't accurate from the hip is the one-hit-kill sniper rifle, the Operator. The other sniper rifle, the Marshall, is almost a hundred percent accurate from the hip. It also has very minimal recoil.

Using the scope makes getting those critical headshots much more manageable. If you're not moving, the Marshall can be used from the hip to take out targets at all ranges.

LMGs vs. SMGs

When money is low, and you need to win rounds against enemies flush with cash, you should consider buying LMGs over SMGs or pistols. The Ares, in particular, does a lot of damage.

It has a 50-round magazine, and it's also very accurate. Picking it over the specter is probably a no-brainer in dire situations. It's only a hundred dollars more, but it deals more damage and can take out multiple enemies with ease.

The major drawback is the reduced movement speed the LMGs give you. The slowdown is on par with the assault rifles, so it's not like you're at a massive disadvantage in later rounds.

In the first few rounds of a half, it's wiser to go with the SMGs because everyone's likely using them and has low to no armor. But later on, LMGs can be a deciding factor, especially in eco rounds.

Pistol Kills

The classic pistol has a deadly burst fire. It shoots three rounds at once and can kill an enemy with no armor instantly. If you want to sneak minor extra damage, firing a single shot and then quickly right-clicking gives you a four-shot burst that will kill an enemy with partial shields, assuming you land a headshot.

That's all the tips I have for you. This article should be an excellent place to start when building up your skillset for Valorant. These tips can help improve your gameplay during the closed beta, giving you an edge when the game gets fully released.