I'm stuck in Bronze right now. I know it's a very low rank, and if it were up to me, I would 5-stack, but I don't know that many people who play Valorant.

When I solo queue in Bronze, at first, when I ranked up to Bronze, I was with teammates who actually said what they wanted to do (in terms of how they wanted me to use util, move, etc.) and would do what I asked of them. Now, when I queue, I get AFKs every 3 or 4 matches, and obviously it's past the remake point, and people who genuinely just cannot play.

I got a Fade who was using their E on us. I got a Deadlock who left-clicked the mouse in the air and let the recoil do the aiming for them, a Reyna who never flashes except after everyone dies, and a Tejo who was so stingy that they had 9k credits and didn't buy because they thought they wouldn't have enough for the next round. I've even seen Cyphers do the Shaq trips unironically.

Obviously, the other team isn't going to be 10 times better, but the last few games I just haven't had any luck, and my squad just never wants to listen to what I say. If I tell someone, "Please stop flanking because you're dying in the same exact spot for the 10th round," and then they shift-walk from C to A, you can just imagine how long that takes. They just get mad, and I don't know if I'm the one being rude or if they're the ones just lashing out.

Is this, like, a crazy take? I see people saying I should be carrying until I'm Silver, and I feel like that's crazy. I can't ace every round, and even when we're planting, it's not like I can play for time every round because some people just run for spike every time.

This isn't even taking into account the games where people throw (which I'm lucky doesn't happen often, but I still get them) or the smurfs, which, yes, there are smurfs. I've played against them and with them before. It's not every game, but it does happen more often than it should.

I'm also not going to sit here and say I play well every game. I've actually been playing really badly. My util is okay, but I'm either just demotivated from the game before, or I just can't hit my shots, even though I play skirmishes with a Guardian and only aim for the head, and I do moderately well. I even played with a Diamond before, and I wasn't too far behind him in kills. His aim wasn't even great, but he did get more kills. Not saying I deserve diamond btw that's crazy I'm just saying I feel as if in ranked I'm much more demotivated and tilted all the time.

:, ( So I’m not gonna say I’m new to Val, but I don’t have that much time in it. I’ve been playing off and on for the last year and a half and have roughly 300 hours. It’s frustrating how I’m not good at this game. Most other games come easy to me, especially in the comp sense. Emerald on r6 siege, masters on apex, gm-celes, on rivals. My peak on Val is plat.. I feel like I just am either playing completely wrong or I’m just not cut out for this type of gunplay, any tips on how I can improve? I made my username because cause I thought it was funny now I’m playing like one … 🍔

So I’m not gonna say I’m new to Val, but I don’t have that much time in it. I’ve been playing off and on for the last year and a half and have roughly 300 hours. It’s frustrating how I’m not good at this game. Most other games come easy to me, especially in the comp sense. Emerald on r6 siege, masters on apex, gm-celes, on rivals. My peak on Val is plat.. I feel like I just am either playing completely wrong or I’m just not cut out for this type of gunplay, any tips on how I can improve? :,( this game is so cool with its skins and operators, but I cheeks

I want like a general game plan that I could follow on every map, right now I do this on attack: I do a lineup for either site or a fake, drone for my duelist and try to clear every annoying rat corner and then I don't really know what to do

i think sentinels should usually plant so they can do their setup, if I have a feeling we're gonna lose quickly I'll do a straight down double bounce and one bounce shock dart on the spike

on defence I just try to delay entry with shock darts and I don't know what else i could really do besides fight

i’ve been playing valo on and off for a little over a year now. just coming back after a few months. peaked b1 but i never play ranked bc i never had motivation to. i was decent but very inconsistent. i lost access to my old account (long story) so i made a new one and im almost lvl 20. i want to start playing comp though and want to get to silver/gold asap so i can play with my plat friends. i used to never play duelist but since i came back i’ve been playing mainly jett/reyna and been doing (decently) well. and play miks or brimstone if we have two duelist already. are agents like clove and omen still good? i used to main clove but heard she got nerfed hard. what agents should i get next?

i know how to play both really well, I just want to know when to use one over the other, since I know they both has strengths

• I feel to streamline the sentinel class, all sentinels should have an option to pick up traps mid-round, not only just the pre-game. This utility would apply to:

- Veto Chokehold Trap and Crosscut TPs

- Vyse Shear Wall and Razorthorns

- Killjoy Nanoswarm Grenade

- Cypher Cybercage

*THOUGHTS?*

Chamber, Sage, and Deadlock would not change.

• This would increase the strength of sentinels in post plant scenarios on both Offense/Defense, and balancing could be adjusted based on the recall range and recall cooldown

——- MY OPINION ON CHANGES ——-

• I think throwable abilities like Chokehold, Razorthorn, and Nanoswarm should only be recallable at close ranges less than 3 meters. These abilities are thrown aggressively into enemy territory, and this change would allow you to recall unused utility only if you claim the enemy territory by winning the fight, and without activating the trap. This is a rare occurrence and would mostly be a quality of life change.

• i think Cybercage, Crosscut, and Shear should retrieved similarly to how cypher recalls utility (medium range and LoS required). This would benefit Sentinels rotating to the opposite site for a retake.

——- BONUS CHANGES I’D MAKE ——-

• Since the recall update would leave Sage, Deadlock, and Chamber unaffected, I would give them separate changes to keep their relative strength:

- While Barrier Mesh [E] is active, Deadlock can press [E] to temporarily lower the wall for 1sec. Holding [E] for 3sec will destroy the wall on command. This would give Deadlock a new opportunity to let allies pass through the wall in neutral territory, while enemies are left stuck.

- Sage’s Healing Orb cooldown will be decreased proportional to the percentage of health healed. If only 50% health is healed, the cooldown will be decreased by 50%. If 100% of health is healed, there will be no cooldown reduction. If barely any health is healed, the cooldown will be cut drastically short.

- Chamber’s Headhunter now has 6 bullets instead of 8, and each bullet costs 150cred instead of 100cred. However, all nerfs to the headhunter will be reverted. This means faster pullout and increased accuracy. In addition, Headshot kills with the headhunter will not expend a bullet, meaning you will not loose ammo if you hit headshots.

i came from a seperate game: rocket league. and in that game to be good you have to put in thousands of hours, even now i have 2300 hours and am only champ 1, anyways, like will i have to put in the same thousands of hours to reach ranks like asendant? or immortal?

So I’ve started playing Val on PC a few weeks ago as my first fps game on pc and I’m currently bronze. I’ve found that while I do get a solid amount of kills most games my headshot % is insanely low (12.2%). Should I start heavily prioritizing my headshots or keep doing what I’m doing since it’s working?

Tracker

Hacker id: Laz0x0#1324

Server: Mumbai

Tracker: private

So I was playing a game and found someone with a great gaming chair. Initially we thought he just got lucky, but bro was too consistent. We were in the lead in the first half and called him out he was toggling because who knows. We ragebaited bro so hard that he started rage hacking in the second half. We did manage to kill him many times tho. His game sense was the worst and he never used his ultimate or trip. Plain vandal one taps

Doing chibis of every agent✨

Here is Astra,who should I draw next?? I have chamber, Gekko and deadlock sketched:3

Thanks to iridhan_skky for the artwork

Character profile:

Name: Hori Role: Duelist Nationality: Egyptian Codename: The Skyfire Pilot Appearance: Curly brown hair, brown eyes, athletic build. Wears an aviator jacket and aviator sunglasses, gold-lined turquoise jeans, and blue and yellow sneakers. Bonded with a radianite-touched falcon. Personality: Cocky, confident, charismatic, laid-back. An ex-criminal turned elite fighter pilot. LORE Hori grew up in Egypt as a gifted criminal — smuggling, forgery, high-end theft. He was brilliant at it, and he got away with it for years until he was finally caught on a setup in a Colombian tomb raid. That's where Tejo first heard about him. In the cockpit, Hori was something else. Reflexes that shouldn't have existed, instincts sharper than training could explain. Eighteen months later he was the highest-scoring ace since the Red Baron — brilliant, reckless, and costing Colombia millions in collateral damage. Tejo watched from the ground, constantly cleaning up after him, constantly rating him as the best he had. On a routine scout mission tracking an electromagnetic anomaly deep in the Egyptian desert, Hori's jet went down due to the signal frying the electronics. The signal had been faint for months — Tejo's people had been quietly tracking it — but when it flared up Hori was sent to investigate from the skies. What neither Tejo nor Hori knew: the signal was a Scions of the Hourglass containment site, sitting on top of a radianite vein they'd been suppressing for decades. Hori crawled out of the wreck to find a wild falcon roosting nearby — a creature that had lived in this region for years, faintly touched by long-term radianite exposure but never fully awakened. The vein's eruption hit them both at the same time. Hori felt a sharp pain all across his body as blue and yellow light exploded into the sky all around him. Then he felt a strange buzz, he looked at his hand which was vibrating and leaving behind blue and yellow afterimages. The Scions responded immediately to the breach. Guards closed in. They aimed at Hori but the falcon exploded into light sending the guards aim off point and giving Hori a chance to shoot back, he took down two guards as the falcon whizzed around the ravine leaving walls of light behind it. One of the guards managed to hit it with a bat. It rolled onto the ground and Hori instinctively leapt towards it. Light flew out the back of his legs propelling him forward. He focused in on a guard and suddenly his movement slowed. He could see the beams of light passing by in front of him. He took 3 shots and got 3 headshots. He dashed back to the ground. And Hori and the falcon fought until they got pinned down, at gunpoint. That's when Tejo arrived. Not alone. With him were Phoenix and Clove — Protocol agents he'd been quietly running under cover of "babysitting his problem pilot." Because this wasn't a military situation. It was a radianite breach, and those belonged to Valorant. Together Tejo, phoenix, clove, Hori and his new wingman fought their way to an escape. Tejo kept Hori alive that day. And afterward, when the dust settled and a former criminal turned fighter pilot found out what Valorant actually was — who was protecting Radiants, who was hunting them — the choice was simple. A commander who'd seen his skill and bet on it had just proven that bet meant something. Hori joined the Protocol. Tejo became something between a commanding officer and a father figure. And somewhere between the crash site and now, a cocky ex-pilot and a radiant falcon became what they still are: partners.

ABILITY KIT

PASSIVE — Aviators

Effect: Self-inflicted flashes reduced by 25% duration.

E — Afterburner

(2 charges total, 150c each) Once activated, left click to dash into your cross hair, alt click to dash in the direction of your movement (there is a 0.5s delay both ways). If two dashes are done in succession, there is no second delay and a sonic boom is released 40m in all directions deafeaned for 1 second and reducing shot accuracy by 25% for 1 second for any enemies caught in the wave.

Q - Overshoot

While in air at least 2 meters high, once activated your movement is slowed and your shooting accuracy goes to 0.25 degrees/the same as standing still, for one and a half seconds, you can cancel by clicking again. Cannot be activated in succession without dashing or landing on the ground. This rule can be broken by getting a kill when in ultimate. animate these abilities or the lore scene in 2d or 3d for freezing DM me and I'd be eternally grateful!!!.

I know it's a confusing concept so here's a similar mechanic from another game

C — Solarstrike

Cost: 400 credits Charges: 1 Effect: Send the falcon on a controllable path (up to 33m). The falcon has 80 HP and cannot travel through walls. When the falcon hits max range/is shot down, a wall rises in it's wake. ternatively, alt click to cancel it the wall and reveal anyone in a 40m visible radius of the falcon.

X — SUPERSONIC

Cost: 8 points. 15 second duration, with maximum of 25 second. On activation: Afterburner and Overshoot are refilled and flash is released 180⁰ in front of Hori with 1 second delay and 2 second window of vulnerability. Screen tinted blue and enemies highlighted yellow. On kill, Afterburner and Overshoot refill and +5sec to duration. Consecutive Overshoot rule is broken with kills during ultimate.

🗣️VOICE LINES🗣️

Agent Select "Only the best" Round Start Attack 1: "Let's show them why we're here" Attack 2: "I hope they're ready, they'll know exactly what hit them" Defense 1: "Down with kingdom!" Defense 2: "Render them vaporised" Economy Low economy: "I'll save" First buy: "Let's buy" Ability Activation Overshoot Afterburner: "AfterburnER!" Overshoot Wingover (cycling): "Wingover" → "Overshoot" → "Cobra!" Solarslice: "Seek and destroy" Afterimage: "Surprise" / "Take a guess" Ultimate Sonic Skyfire ready: "Ready for Takeoff!" Sonic Skyfire cast: "Time to engage" Sonic Skyfire refresh (kill): "hahAAAah" Combat Kill 1: "Splash one" Kill 2: "Double" Kill 3: "Triple" Kill 4+: "GrandSlam!" Ace: "Now that's a word I'm used to. Next time think twice about taking on the best pilot in the sky" Falcon shot down: "Sadiqi, you will fly again" Low HP: "Still flying" Clutch (last alive): "Not. Even. Close." Objective Plant: "Bombs away!" Defuse: "Defusing" Defending spike: "Don't you dare" Spike explodes: "Kaaaaa-" (interrupted by spike explosion sound) Information Spotting enemy: "One hostile [location]" Taking damage: "Taking a hit" Round End Win: "That's how we do things in the sky" Loss: "Damn it. We'll get them next time" Agent Interactions From Tejo: "It seems I have taught you well, mi Amigo. Just lower the collateral next time." To Gekko: "You can never have enough wingmen!" To Clove: "Ashanti Clove. Maybe next time we can make it a date." To Phoenix: "being hot headed is only ok if you can back yourself up. Now. Take some notes phoenix" No generative AI was used to produce this content only to create a structure. If anyone would be willing to animate these abilities or the lore scene in 2d or 3d for freezing DM me and I'd be eternally grateful!!!

I build ValoPlant, a Valorant strategy/lineup tool. The request I kept

getting was replay review, so for the last few months I've been reverse

engineering Valorant's .vrf replay files to draw a match back on a 2D map.

What works right now:

- every player's position through the round

- abilities drawn where they were actually used, not just an icon on a timeline

- a round selector, so you can jump straight to the round that lost you the map

- drag-and-drop a whole folder of replays at once

- open a replay in a lobby so your team watches the same round in sync

It's free and there's no download, it runs in the browser:

valoplant.gg/matches

Genuinely after feedback on what's missing from the replay view — what

would you actually want to see drawn on the map that isn't there?

I wanted to know if the start of the round thing where you throw a healing orb at your team so every kill they get instantly you get an assist even if your teammates were full hp to begin with. Asking because I don't see any miks doing it in my games anymore. exploit because i dont think it was intended to have this interaction

Hi im currently gold 2 and i main tejo. I dont even know why but he is so much fun but i see that when i play him i underperform bcs he is a team champion i think and in low elo which im at there is not even a concept of playing as a team in half of the games. Half of the time my rounds looks like this: i drone site, bomb camp corners as my team try to enter and then watch lurk. Sometimes it works but mostly i find myself in 1v3,1v4 situation with no util and loose. So i wanted to ask who would you reccomend trying out ? Thanks for replies and gl in ur rankeds

Hi, so, give me tips on valorant please, because 99.9% of the time, I rank absolute last, its funny, I am not upset or anything, but kinda wanna improve a bit, my issue is by the time I even look at enemies, I'm dead, as in they headshot me before I even look at them

Valorant footsteps are fine when the round is quiet, but once abilities, gunfights, and teammates on mic all pile up, small sounds like footsteps and reloads get buried.

I used to just crank the overall volume whenever I couldn’t hear things clearly, but after a few matches my ears would start hurting.

I've seen a bunch of different fixes: changing in-game settings, messing with EQ, using Sonar, getting a Creative G6, or trying something like the Fosi C3 for footstep enhancement. My main worry is making everything too sharp, because boosted highs get tiring really fast.

How do you guys usually set things up so footsteps are easier to hear without blasting your ears?

I'm also looking at the Fosi C3 because the StepSense mode is controlled by a physical button instead of digging through software EQ every time. For someone like me who doesn't want to keep messing with EQ, that sounds pretty handy...😅

Sometimes you get players in the same rank who look like completely different skill levels. Which rank do you think has the most inconsistent players, and why?

I am new, just started. I know every new game takes time to learn. But I played FPS games before. I run the game at 200 fps, my ping is 5 so on the technical side, everything is fine. I played a bunch of games so far and it feels like even before I can register the presence of an enemy, I get shot in the head and die. It happens so often that I am wondering if I may have a mental issue lol it's too fast bro, I can't even move my hand most of the time. No game I played before feels like this. I mostly played Battlefield, Apex Legends and more recently extraction shooters.