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New world of online competition #TonyTries #Valorant #Episode01

This blog post explores what it takes to become a high-ranking gamer in a competitive-online shooter: Valorant. We have identified three main areas to focus our attention on namely aim, agents and maps. This skill requires no upfront investment if you already own a Windows PC.

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We here are keen on trying new hobbies to increase our repertoire of skills that we have. Whether you’ve stumbled across this for the first time or are a regular, thanks for taking the time to look through what I have created. Read on to start your journey towards mastering skills that you are passionate about.

Today we are looking at mastering a new sensation of online-competitive multiplayer games. Valorant is a game created by Riot Games which is part of the MMO genre. The game offers players either a casual gaming experience or a competitive experience. Today we are looking at getting better at the game thereby climbing the competitive ladder up to whatever level we can achieve.

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Five unique champions with different roles that make up a team

I first started playing Valorant back in the early days of its release. It was a nice balance between casual and competitive gaming. Valorant is a 5v5 PvP game that has one team defending and another attacking. At half point, 12 rounds later, the teams switch. The first to 13 round wins the game. Valorant has a competitive game mode that ranks you in a division based on your skill level. You start off by playing five games after which you are placed in a division. From that point, you can make your way all the way up to Radiant, where you’ll be a part of the top 500 players in that region.

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List of lower to higher divisions from left to right

Investment required: $0

Assuming that you have a PC that has minimum specifications required to run Valorant

Here are some of the lessons I learned from trying to level up my Valorant skills:

Lesson 1: Improve your aim

The only variable that you have control over is your performance. The more kills you accrue before dying gives your team the highest chance of winning. Better aim usually means more kills. There are many ways to improve your aim:

Aim Lab

This is a free-to-play game on Steam that focuses on improving your aim. According to this Reddit thread, opinions on the usefulness of Aim Lab seem to be varied. I agree with u/FAR1X’s view that aim training is similar to exercises on the guitar. It helps focus on individual mechanics such as switching targets and reaction speeds. Therefore, practising aim training through Aim Labs seems to be beneficial in improving.

Practice arena in Valorant

Valorant offers a platform to perfect your aim as well. It consists of a shooting range where you can modify game mechanics to best suit your training needs. This can be done after practising your aim with AimLabs to get used to using the guns in Valorant. Spending time in this mode allows you to understand the various guns in the game better in terms of recoil and spread.

Lesson 2: Two champions for two roles

There are four major roles in Valorant: Sentinels; Controllers; Initiators; and Duelists. It is essential to have a mix of roles in your team to utilise the champion’s ability. As a solo player, getting acquainted with two champions in at least two roles makes it so that you can assist your team in any way. The roles that I was drawn to were Sentinals (Cypher and KillJoy) and Duelists (Reyna and Jett). This way, I am able to focus on learning mechanics for just four agents out of 19. This particular lesson would require more time and attention to become acquainted with.

Lesson 3: Get acquainted with angles for maps

Each map has pressure points that need to be properly utilised by both the attacking and the defending teams. Holding a point that provides good disengage potential while putting pressure on an attacking team is essential while defending. Similarly, knowing where to be cautious while attacking so that any defending players are eliminated while attacking is also important. This would also require at least a week of learning to master the angles.

For now, I plan to continue my journey by dedicating three competitive games a week by following all the lessons I have learned this week. I believe each of the lessons above would require a week’s dedication.

If you plan to start playing Valorant competitively, focus on lessons one through three and aim to improve through iteration.

That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading my journey to mastering a competitive game to reach Diamond or equivalent (SK1). I think it’s going to be a long journey before I can get anywhere near diamond Division. Do leave a comment and subscribe if you want to see more skills delivered to your inbox

Until next time,
Tony

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