How to play Valorant for Beginners | Valorant Beginner’s Guide

VALORANT may seem like a difficult game due to its various agents and different abilities. For new starters, we’ve created a guide which show how to play VALORANT for beginners and focus on key areas that will help improve your VALORANT gameplay.

Valorant beginner guide

Art by Aysrin | Twitter @aysrin

The basics of Valorant for beginners

Just like any other FPS game, VALORANT mostly relies on your aim and situational awareness. This game does not take long to get a hang of, but it does take a long time to master. Luckily, there are some surefire ways to get better over time.

Let’s go over the two main aspects of the game you need to learn.

Unrated vs Competitive Play (Plant/Defuse)

The primary game modes in VALORANT are “Unrated” and “Competitive” play. Both modes are plant/defuse based, and have similar game rules. Two teams of 5 players take turns trying to either plant or stop the plant of a bomb (Spike).

The two sides are:

  • Attackers: Win by eliminating all the defenders, or planting the spike and successfully defending attackers from defusing it. The spike can only be planted in select areas located in the bomb site.
  • Defenders: Win by eliminating all the attackers, defending the bomb sites by stopping attackers from plating the spike in 100 seconds, or defusing the spike.

The primary difference between them is Unrated is more casual, while competitive VALORANT games are more intense as they determine your competitive rank. To win, you must win 13 rounds in a combination on the attackers and defenders side, with the 12th round of a game switching sides.

It’s recommended that all VALORANT beginners play at least 200 hours before embarking into the VALORANT ranking system. This would mean at least investing 40 hours in 5 different Agents.

Agents

Valorant Agents

Credit: VALORANT

There are currently 26 different VALORANT agents, all with different abilities. However, while all abilities are different, there are a select few abilities that have similar effects. Common effects include: flashes, blinds, concussions and vulnerability.

  • Flash: Flashes disrupts players’ vision, with its duration mostly depending on the position of the flash. Players will be impacted the longest when the flash is directly on their screen. In comparison, if the flash is triggered in line of sight but behind/on the side of the player, they will only be shortly impacted.
  • Nearsight: Nearsights will dramatically shorten the vision range of effected players. Enemies blinded can only see a short distance in front of them, however, can see the general location of enemy fire outside the range.
  • Concussion: A concussed target will have their screen slightly distorted, audio impacted, and fire rate/movement reduced.
  • Vulnerable: Targets who are vulnerable will take double damage for the duration they are effected.

Mastering an Agent takes time and plenty of game hours. Each agent has their unique play style and different angles of approach on a given map. This means for each of them you need to learn a way of playing and behaving in a given match. The maps are the same, but the overarching approach to playing them depends on the Agent you play.

Pro Tip: In order to improve quicker, watch VALORANT Champions Tour matches to see the pros at it, and simply copy their style.

Read more: How to unlock Agents in Valorant

Three key Valorant tips for beginners

  1. The best way to counter flashes is by turning away in reaction to them. This however, requires a quick reaction time and conditioning. This happens especially on the defenders side, it is almost certain enemies will flash out in key entry points. Knowing this, beginners should stay out of line of sight from these points and only peak once the flashes have triggered.
  2. When nearsighted, there are two primary courses of action, push up, or run away. Pushing up to hold a closer position will allow you to maintain vision as enemies walk close by. Alternatively, when blinded, you may also choose to flee around the corner and wait out its duration. Staying idle when nearsighted is not recommended.
  3. Concussions place you at a major disadvantage in gun fights. It is best to utilize your abilities to stop enemies from pushing, giving you enough time to recover from the de-buff. If you end up concussed behind cover, see if you can wait the ability run out before showing your hand.

Best Valorant Agents for Beginners

Here is our top 3 easy to learn agent picks for VALORANT beginners. For a more comprehensive guide on all the VALORANT’s agents, view our VALORANT agents guide.

  1. Sage – Supportive character that is not only easy to play, but extremely useful. Sage has a heal ability, that can either restore her own, or her ally’s health. The wall is also basic to use, and in combination with the slow orb, she can buy sufficient time to call for backup.
  2. Brimstone – Brimstone can assist his team through smoke and stim beacons. Brimstone has an advantage for VALORANT beginners as his smokes are easy to deploy, and multiple can be sent at once.
  3. Jett – Learning how to play Jett in VALORANT as a newcomer is a must, as her kit is straight forward, making it easy for beginners to pick up. Jett is a highly mobile character that can position in various unexpected off angles, catching the enemy off guard for some easy picks. Jett also has a dash that allows her to get out of some sticky situations, a great tool for new players who may misposition.

Best ways to practice Valorant

  1. Shooting Range – VALORANT has an in-game aim training game in the shooting range. It ranges from three difficulties; easy, medium and hard. Even the best VALORANT players warm up in the shooting range, as it helps you train your flicks before playing a game (moving your mouse from one point to another quickly).
  2. Aimlab – One of many games that can help improve your reaction time, and aim. This game has various modes which can assist you in practicing your flicks, tracking and accuracy.
  3. Custom Game – Heading into a VALORANT custom game by yourself, or with a friend, can dramatically improve your mastery of an Agent. Customs allow you to learn line-ups in the shortest time possible, as cheats such as infinite abilities can be enabled.
Valorant Aim lab

VALORANT in AimLab

Best Valorant players to watch

  • Grim – A pioneer of Battle Sage, turning a supportive character aggressive with his off-angle and unexpected walls.
  • Seoldam – A highly mechanical Radiant player known for his extremely sharp aim and quick reaction times that bring out Jett’s maximum potential.
  • Boaster – The in-game leader for Fnatic, Boaster is one of the top VALORANT competitive players in the world. Boaster frequently teaches his stream by explaining his thought process in Radiant level games, allowing you to improve simply by watching.
  • Hiko – If you appreciate true aim and amazing map awareness, Hiko should be your go-to choice to learn the game, and particularly Sova as an Agent.
  • TenZ – Saving the best for last. TenZ is an absolute god in VALORANT, and his flick/aim speed is unparalleled in competitive play. If you want to see how it feels to push the game to the maximum, watch his stream. Also, copying TenZ VALORANT settings might not win you games on it’s own, but it’s a good place to start.
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