The Valorant Team

Hey there friends!

It’s John Gosicki, character producer here for another look at our Agents today and tomorrow. We skipped January, but we’re here now! Let's go into it. Last time we hit two big topics: Controllers and hinting at Yoru…who well, isn’t a secret anymore, he’s here, in the game now, shooting people o_o

With Brimstone and Omen changes live since 2.0, we’re seeing them settle into some healthier places. Right now, there is a more even choice competition between the two of them that highlight their respective strengths.

That leaves us with one more Controller though.

...

Q 

Last year, you mentioned looking into Agent-specific keybinds. Do you have any updates?

A

While we have no specific timing to give you today, believe us that this has not dropped off our long list of priorities for this year. Our hope is to find a version of this around Episode 3.

Q

Are you considering extending the period for a match remake vote?

A

We recognize there are some problems with the remake system and are actively looking at improvements. We were relatively strict in our initial approach to ensure competitive integrity and avoid any matchmaking abuse, but agree that this has limited the feature’s usefulness. 

Extending the available window, automating the remake function in particularly fast AFK cases, and creating clarity on when a remake is being initiated versus a surrender, are all piece...

Hey everyone! I’m Jon Walker, aka Riot EvrMoar, and I’m here to add some extra detail behind the changes to Competitive in Patch 2.02 and talk about the ranked changes the Competitive team is working on for the rest of Episode 2.

With our ear on various channels and some time at the drawing board, we’re now ready to tell you how ranked will change based on your feedback. I’m going to explain some of the changes we’ve released, or are working on, in order to give perspective of how and why we ranked will improve in early 2021.

THE PATCH 2.01 FIX

• Reduced the Queue time for high MMR players

The team saw (and heard) one too many of you at the highest MMR queue for more than an hour. After making some tweaks, we’ve been able to reduce that time to about 10–15 minutes, while maintaining match quality/fairness for these players.

PATCH 2.02 CHANGES

• MMR to Rank Convergence increase.
...

This is the patch where we start to tackle the feeling that running accuracy isn’t where it should be. As we’ve mentioned, we’re taking this on in increments and are ready to jump in if you’re not comfortable with the changes.

There are also a few shifts to the Competitive system that together should go a long way to getting you to your proper rank faster and stabilize the battle for rank at the top. We recommend you check out our deep dive (there’s some Act II info too!).

...

VALORANT competitors, players, and fans in Oceania: we have exciting news! Oceanic esports tournament organiser and broadcasting media company LetsPlay.Live (LPL) has been chosen to be our official partner in bringing you the 2021 VALORANT Oceania Tour.

For the first time, VALORANT players in the Oceanic region will be able to compete for an opportunity to play at the international level. The tournament, beginning February, will run in three stages - Stage 01, Stage 02, and Stage 03. Each stage will end with a Regional Finals which in turn will culminate in the Oceania Championship. Each stage offers a $10,000 AUD prize pool for the top 8 teams, and the Championship an additional $20,000 AUD prize pool.

The 2021 VALORANT Oceania Tour will serve as the official pathway for players in the region to qualify into the combined NA + OCE Last Chance Qualifier, which offers competitors the opportunity to qualify for the VALORANT Global Championship event. LetsPlay.Live will l...

Q

Last month, you mentioned you’re working on decreasing the running+shooting accuracy, can you update us on the progress or what you are looking to adjust?

A

We have some changes planned for Patch 2.02 that should help address sentiment on running accuracy with rifles. Keep in mind, we're making sure not to change too many systems at once to ensure that shooting doesn't feel so dramatically different that you’ll have to relearn habits. As always, we'll keep an eye on the change and will continue to adjust as necessary.

Q

At the start of the Act, it seems like I can rank higher and faster with my alternate accounts, whereas I’m stuck in the much lower ranks for longer with my main account. Is the new ranked system working as intended?

A

We saw this weird pattern developing soon after launch and made changes to help solve ...

Last week, we announced the schedule of 2021 VALORANT Challengers NA - Stage 01. Today, we welcome our first partner who will help shape the future of North America’s VALORANT esports scene.

We’re excited to announce Aim Lab as the official FPS training partner of VALORANT Challengers NA. The popular FPS/TPS training solution currently has over eight million players around the world, including a growing passionate community of VALORANT players.

As part of this collaboration, Aim Lab will create specialized training programs for VALORANT esports to help aspiring competitors hone their skills to compete at the highest level. Players who use Aim Lab to train will have the opportunity to earn in-game rewards for completing programs and achieving certain milestones.

...

Hey everyone, it’s Matt “K3o” Paoletti here on behalf of the VALORANT Anti-Cheat team for an update on anti-cheat in Episode 2.

With the kick off of a new Episode—and the changes to the game and our competitive system that come with it—there’s never been a better time to regale you with all the dope stuff we’re doing to maintain a high level of competitive integrity in VALORANT.

ANTI-CHEAT IN FIRST STRIKE

We believe our game set a high standard right out the gate for our competitive experience, particularly with anti-cheat. An “esports ready” experience was our goal, and First Strike—our first major tournament series—was our team’s largest test. We wanted this to feel as close to LAN as possible, and a large part of that was making sure everyone played fair.

We were able to perform an in-depth review of every participating account in every region, both before and after First Strike. The learning curve was steep. The logistics behind a massive...

It was only the second time VALORANT had released official North American leaderboards, but people were already asking one question:

Who is DOINKMACHINE97?

You might know him simply as Poiz, bladestorm, or shadowGOD399 — all account names he’s managed to place in the NA top 25. He plays Jett and has every intent to become known outside of the leaderboards.

“A lot of people say ranked skill doesn’t really translate to tournament skill. So hopefully I can prove people wrong,” Poiz said, referring to his current trajectory to play on a tie...

Red Bull Campus Clutch, the world’s first global university VALORANT esports competition, launches today!

Red Bull Campus Clutch, the biggest global university esports event to ever take place, launches today, offering students a unique opportunity to compete in one of the fastest growing and most talked about games, VALORANT.

Sign-ups are opening now to university students in every corner of the globe, offering the ultimate opportunity to shine in VALORANT. The groundbreaking competition challenges players of all levels to team up, represent their campus, and compete on the world stage to make history for their university and country.

To take part, student teams of five around the globe are invited to sign up to compete across three electrifying phases: the Qualifiers, National Finals, and World Final. Qualifiers will take place from February until May 23 across each participating country. All National Champions will head to the prestigious W...

Didn’t think we’d patch again so soon?

Consider this the Split overhaul patch, and part 2 of the continued Controller role balance.

We also added two oft-requested features: the ability to hide custom matches from your Match History, and an adjustment of queue restrictions, which hope to forgive the unintentional AFK, while still punishing the habitual AFKer.

AGENT UPDATES

...

Last November, we previewed the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour, a global competitive ecosystem that will enable VALORANT to become the next great, multi-generational esport. Today, we’re thrilled to provide more details on Stage 01 of the VCT in North America, and unveil our long-time partner, Nerd Street Gamers, as the official tournament operator and producer for this first stage.

Beginning January 27 and running through March 21, Stage 01 will provide a mix of open and closed qualifiers to ensure opportunities for both amateur and established orgs to qualify into the Masters. The first stage will consist of three Challenger Weekends, which function as closed qualifiers to determine who moves on to the concluding Masters event. A weekly open qualifier will determine which teams compete in the Challenger Weekend.

To ensure the safety of all participants as the global COVID-19 situation evolves, all competitions, including Masters tournaments, will remain intraregional ...

With the start of Episode 2, we’re removing the ambiguity in how close you are to ranking up, making it easier to compare how you stack up against the best of the best, a better rewarding of your time invested in ranked, and making a number of other quality of life changes based on your feedback.

A quick summary:

• Regional leaderboards displaying stack rank for Immortal and Radiant players
• Shift to solo/duo premade cap for Immortal and Radiant players
• Rank rewards and end of Episode changes
• Progression arrows, replaced with progress bar and numerical progress for more rank granularity
• Many other quality of life improvements

REGIONAL LEADERBOARDS

Everyone wants to know who’s king of the mountain. Each region will be able...

Just because you’ve seen some of it, doesn’t mean you know all of it.

The start of Episode 2 adds Yoru to the roster as well as small but important tweaks to two of our Controllers, Brimstone and Omen (Viper is on the way).

Competitive is aiming for the quality of life award with substantial updates that we’ve summarized here, but laid out in detail in a dedicated article separately. This includes regional leaderboards, more granular rank progress info, ranked rewards, and a ton more.

Read about that and more below.

...

VALORANT endures into 2021 with the start of Episode 2: Formation. 

In Act I, Yoru comes at you from outta nowhere, the core Competitive system is overhauled, a new Battlepass drops, regional leaderboards go live, and more. Read below in this guide to all things VALORANT Episode 2 Act I.

AGENT: YORU

Second guess what you see or he’ll drop you, lowkey. 

Yoru lets you blindside enemies with the ability to tear into reality, crash the enemy position with a teleport tether, and fakeout clu...

Q

The ranking system feels harsh right now, it seems hard to climb out of lower ranks and easy to derank. What are you doing to address this?

A

We hear you on this, too often one bad day of play can result in significant rank loss and a good day doesn’t help you climb as much as you’d like. Our rank distribution bands are unforgiving and we have limited protection against rank demotion. We’ve been feeling this ourselves, and we’ve made some changes to address this with Patch 1.14, and more substantive changes will follow at the s...

Greetings from the Audio discipline!

We work on the pods that bring you Agents, Weapons, Maps, Modes, and more. Whether it's voice over, sound design, or music, we've got it covered.

VALORANT's writers and VO directors traveled the world to give voice to our global Agents. It was the Audio discipline's job to polish those recordings and trigger them at the right times. We needed the Agents to express themselves without compromising competitive integrity. We wanted to amplify your big moments and fuel your curiosity about the world of VALORANT.

We can't wait to share what we have in store for 2021!

We turned to Lick and composer Jesse Harlin to bring VALORANT's fresh style with attitude to our in-game music. Episode 2 brings some new vibes to the VALORANT universe, and the music will be evolving, too.

We knew audio would play a key role in your gameplay experience, as you listened for any clue you could hear before you could see your enemy—and they ...

Hello VALORANT Esports community!

Thank you for your support of esports during the past year! At every step of the way your enthusiasm fueled us to take whatever plans we had, and find ways to dial them up to eleven. 

  Seeing millions of you drive viewership records during the beta inspired us to create more opportunities to watch high level competitive play. As global fandom grew during the Ignition Series, it gave us the confidence to go big with our future plans for First Strike and the Champions Tour. We listened closely on social about what you wanted to see from our spectator client, leading to a whole suite of new features: sightlines, Agent select screens, round rollback features, colored visual cues, a new esports HUD, and many more improvements. 

Your ideas helped sharpen our thinking on which formats worked best for VALORANT, resulting in competitions that continued to set viewership records around the world.

First Strike barely scratched the...

Hi VALORANT community, 

So Creative Team here!

Wait, who dat?

Well essentially, we are a broad collective of people that spans audio, narrative and art, that specifically works with ALL the various teams that create the beautiful VALORANT content we’ve released to you in 2020.

It’s our goal to make sure that all the various pieces of the game feel part of a distinct, cohesive creative universe.  One way we do this, is to drive a lot of the details that you see in our world. For example:

• Inspire the design of Agents, menus, maps and music.
• Inform cinematics, in game VFX and Audio, props and environments.
• Feed curiosity, passion and theorycrafting amongst YOU, our community, around the world lore, its conflict, backstories and narrative journey ahead.

In 2020 we worked on areas as diverse as:

• Character backstories - Who are these Agents and what is VALORANT Protocol?  Wha...