Overview

Riot Games is a well-known game developer for League of Legends. However, over the past year, the company has created games such as Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra and now - Valorant, thereby Riot is actively stepping on the heels of Blizzard and Valve. But what is Valorant?

Valorant is a new competitive free-to-play FPS tactical shooter where players choose 1 out of 10 characters and group up to play 5 vs 5. Once a player decides the character to play, the player stay with him for 24 rounds where 13 rounds must be won to get victory. However, the weapons are not sticked to a character so each player can purchase a weapon at the beginning of round.

Characters

Ten characters called Agents will be available, but one of them was not shown to us.

All abilities in Valorant are divided into three types: signature, ultimate and additional. Each hero has the first ones by default, they are free and available from the start of the round. Ultimates must be accumulated - they cost 6-7 units. local energy. You get this resource for killing enemies and winning rounds, or you simply pick it up on the map - in very dangerous places.

1. Phoenix (United Kingdom; Duelist) - Owns a powerful arsenal of attacking abilities that are effective in an open battle with the enemy.

Hot Hands - throws a ball of fire that sets fire to a small area when dropped to the ground. Deals damage to enemies, but heals your hero.
Blaze - creates a wall of fire that blocks the view and causes damage to anyone who passes through it.
Curveball - is a blinding grenade.
Run it back (ultimate) - marks your current location and starts the timer. When the countdown has come to an end, you will be reborn in the marked place with full health. The ability acts in the same way if you are killed during the countdown timer.

2. Jett (South Korea; Duelist) – A fast and agile character who specializes in roundabout maneuvers and point attacks from the back

Cloudburst - throws a smoke grenade that limits visibility in a small area.
Updraft - after a little preparation, the hero makes a high jump.
Tailwind - quickly overcomes a small distance in the direction of travel.
Blade Storm (ultimate) - uses several throwing knives that deal moderate damage and can kill an enemy when hit in the head. Each kill increases the number of daggers. They can be thrown one at a time or all at once.

3. Viper (USA; Controller) - uses toxins and toxic gas in battle. Some Viper abilities consume a secondary resource called fuel.

Snakebite - releases a projectile that creates an acid puddle on the surface.
Poison Cloud - throws a gas bomb that emits a cloud of toxic smoke. It consumes fuel.
Toxic Screen - creates several gas emitters that can be manually activated to create a toxic gas wall. It consumes fuel.
Viper’s Pit (ultimate) - creates a poisonous cloud and covers them with a large area. Trapped enemies is an easy prey for Viper.

4. Sova (Russia, Initiator) - a well-aimed archer, whose abilities help to track the movement of enemies.

Shock Bolt - launches a projectile that emits destructive pulses of static energy upon impact.
Owl Drone - uses drone for map scouting. Can mark enemies with darts.
Recon Bolt - fires an arrow with a sonar that detects and marks nearby enemies while they remain motionless.
Hunter’s Fury (ultimate) - releases up to three energy charges that can move along the entire length of the map, breaking through the walls. Affected players take “almost fatal damage” and their location is revealed to the Sova team.

5. Cypher (Morocco; Sentinel) - A spy soldier who specializes in detecting the enemy and traps.

Trapwire - "stretch" between the walls, which detects and immobilizes opponents for a short time. It can be reused after good release.
Cyber Cage - set a trap that, when activated, slows down enemies passing through it. Installed traps can be exploded one at a time or all at once.
Spycam - allows you to work remotely to shoot darts at enemies.
Neural Theft (ultimate) - steals information about killed enemies.

6. Brimstone (USA; Controller) - controlling various types of orbital weapons. It can bombard a map, create smoke screens or damage enemies.

Incendiary - throws an incendiary grenade that covers a large area with fire.
Stim Beacon - summons a special beacon on the map, which increases the speed of fire to any nearby ally.
Sky Smoke - causes several smoke screens on the map that block the view of opponents.
Orbital Strike (ultimate) - causes an orbital strike on a small area that deals deadly damage in a few seconds.

7. Sage (China; Sentinel) – Medic support who can revive allies and slow down enemies.

Slow Orb - creates a zone that slows down anyone who passes through it, and also does not allow heroes to jump.
Barrier Orb - creates a large impenetrable wall.
Healing Orb - heals Sage or her ally within seconds.
Resurrection (ultimate) - the ability allows you to revive an ally and completely restore his health.

8. Omen (N/A, Controller) - can teleport on the map, destroy or blind enemies.

Paranoia - launches a shadow clone, which for a while blinds all enemies that touch it.
Shadow Walk - Teleports Omen a short distance.
Dark Cover - throws a ball that explodes when it hits the ground and releases a spherical shadow, blocking the view of the opponents.
From The Shadows (ultimate) - allows you to teleport to anywhere on the map after a delay of several seconds. Enemies can see the “shadow” of the character at the destination and cancel the teleport, killing her. After teleporting, Omen becomes invulnerable for a short time.

9. Raze (N/A, Duelist) – an explosives expert who deals massive amounts of damage.

Boom-bot - deploys a robot that moves ahead and then explodes when reach an enemy.
Blast Pack – sticky Blast Pack that explodes if detonated manually.
Paint Shells – cluster grenade that does enormous damage
Showstopper – a rocket launcher that does huge damage when it hits the target.

Weapons

There are six types of weapons in the Valorant arsenal that will be familiar to all players who played CS:GO. These are pistols, SMGs, assault and sniper rifles, shotguns and machine guns. Two types of armor - light and heavy. Both absorb 50% of the damage taken, but the first breaks after 25 units. damage, and the second after 50 units. Despite the futuristic style of the shooter and its somewhat fantasy orientation, the arsenal of the game similar to CS:GO.

Pistols:

Name: Classic
Price: Free (All players start with it)
CS:GO similarity: Glock-18

Name: Frenzy
Price: 400 credits
CS:GO similarity: CZ75

Name: Ghost
Price: 500 credits
CS:GO similarity: USP-S

Name: Sheriff
Price: 800 credits
CS:GO similarity: Desert Eagle (Deagle)

Name: Shorty
Price: 200 credits
CS:GO similarity: Unknown

SMGs:

Name: Stinger
Price: 1000 credits
CS:GO similarity: MP9

Name: Specter
Price: 1600 credits
CS:GO similarity: Unknown

Rifles:

Name: Bulldong
Price: 2100 credits
CS:GO similarity: Famas

Name: Guardian
Price: 2700 credits
CS:GO similarity: No

Name: Phantom
Price: 2900 credits
CS:GO similarity: M4A1-S

Name: Vandal
Price: Owned
CS:GO similarity: AK-47

Shotguns:

Name: Bucky
Price: 900 credits
CS:GO similarity: No

Name: Judge.
Price: 1500 credits
CS:GO similarity: No

Sniper Rifles

Name: Marshal
Price: 1100 credits
CS:GO similarity: SSG-08

Name: Operator
Price: 4500 credits
CS:GO similarity: AWP

Machineguns:

Name: Ares
Price: 1700 credits
CS:GO similarity: M249

Name: Odin
Price: 3200 credits
CS:GO similarity: Negev

Maps

For now, 3 maps available for players Bind, Haven, Split, however, 1 map leaked from Riot called “Bonsai”. Bonsai has a high potential to be the next map in Valorant.

1. Haven

Haven is a three bomb plant map where defenders will need to think over thee strategy to cover all three plants.

2. Bind

Blind is a two-bomb plant map however, the map doesn’t have mid area familiar to all. Moreover, the map includes teleports that help to move between bombsites and kill enemies from unexpected spots.

3. Split

Split is the newest map that was added as of the first day of closed beta. Defenders have more advantage on Split. The win rate for attacking team is much less.

Cross platform?

For now, it is a early to ask “is Valorant cross platform?” Riot Games announced that Valorant coming on Xbox, PS4 and Switch, however, PC is the only available platform for now.

Valorant system requirements

Minimum (30fps)

OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel i3-370M
GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB VRAM)

Recommended (60fps)

OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel i3-370M
GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB VRAM)

High-end (144+fps)

OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti (1GB VRAM)

How to get access?

The Valorant closed beta starts on April 7 on PC. Only players from Europe, Canada, United States, Turkey, Russia and CIS countries can participate in beta. Than each player must do the following steps:

Register Riot account
Register Twitch account
Link Riot account to a Twitch account
Watch specific Valorant closed beta streamers highlighted Twitch
Cross your fingers!

During the streams on April 3, 25,000 viewers received drops granting them access to the beta. April 7 will be the first-time viewers will be able to watch people play the game live. And 75,000 more Twitch viewers will be rewarded with access to the beta.

Don't buy a closed beta account, or you could be banned by Riot

Eager players wanting to get into Valorant's closed beta have gone so far as to purchase accounts with access for $150. Riot has warned that these accounts will be sought after and banned as soon as possible, so think twice before wasting that cash.

When is Valorant's release date?

Riot Games hasn't officially confirmed a release date for Valorant, but it's planning to release it in the summer of 2020. The exact release date will depend on feedback received during Valorant's beta.

Good luck and have fun!

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