5 ways to win more in VALORANT
Winning in VALORANT can look harder than it seems, especially as you advance into higher ranks. Considering you’re only responsible for your own gameplay, you can only win more matches in VALORANT by improving yourself.
Even if you learn everything there is to VALORANT, the game constantly changes since Riot Games rolls out new seasons and patches to spice up the metagame. Players will often need to adapt and make tweaks in the way they play VALORANT to remain competitive.
If you’re looking to push up higher in the game’s ranked system and make a name for yourself in your region, you’ll need to focus on consistently winning games. Every loss will set you a step back from your objective, so learning how to win more in VALORANT can help you optimize your time in the game.
1) Study the metagame
We all have that one favorite agent that we just can’t stop choosing, even if they aren’t in the meta anymore. While playing them can be quite fun, you’ll need to give in to the meta to maximize your chances of winning. Regularly check out tier lists and find out which agents are doing better than others. If you don’t know how to play these agents, you’ll need to spare time to learn more about them.
This also applies to guns. Learning the mechanics of the best VALORANT weapons will give you an edge over enemies who struggle to decide which weapon to run in a match. Study the shooting ranges and recoil patterns of different weapons in the game to expand your arsenal.
Learning the ins and outs of all the weapons in the game will turn you into a more versatile player, and help you better anticipate the move of your enemies.
2) Immititate professional VALORANT players
Fake it until you make it is one of the most common phrases used when people are asked to explain their success. Though it can seem like a joke, it’s true for players who’re still learning the ropes.
Professional VALORANT players spend hours optimizing their gameplay. Every decision they make in a match will be the result of hours of training. Regular players are blessed with the opportunity to freely watch their favorite professional players and learn from their moves.
Analyzing pro players and implementing their style into your matches can help you improve by leaps and bounds. This won’t be your ticket to the next VALORANT tournament, however, since this method of improving will have its ceiling.
3) Work on your ability timings
Most VALORANT players are guilty of wasting their abilities prematurely in rounds. Knowing when you should use your resources can be key to winning more VALORANT matches and it’ll also help you with predicting enemy movement.
Holding onto an ability to use it at the right time can change the course of a round. A well-placed Slow Orb or a Snake Bite can make a round-winning difference while defending and attacking. Each agent will have different timings and strengths, and learning more about the agent roster should be one of your prime objectives since it’ll also help you understand the game better.
Once you start working on your timing with different agents, you’ll keep track of them when they’re also in the enemy team. Keeping track of your enemies’ abilities can allow you to find more gaps on the map and perform better in the long run.
4) Optimize your VALORANT controls and settings
Each player will have their preferred settings and layouts, but if you’ve been playing VALORANT with the default settings, you may have some room to grow.
Control settings like sensitivity tend to be highly personal. If you favor speed over accuracy, you’ll want your in-game settings to reflect this and vice versa. Players who don’t know where to start can check the settings of their favorite VALORANT player with a quick Google search and see if their layout also works for them.
When it comes to visual settings, you’ll want to maximize your frames per second to fully take advantage of your reaction times. Frame drops and playing suboptimal frames can cause you to perform poorly since you’ll be at a natural disadvantage against other players.
5) Don’t tilt
Even the best players can tilt which can cause their performance to drop significantly. Players often tilt when they’re on a losing spree or frustrated with the game.
There’s no cure for titling, but you can prevent it from affecting your gameplay by walking away. Taking a break and not playing VALORANT while tilted will increase your win rate in the long run since you won’t be losing matches out of frustration.
While trying to get better in VALORANT, you’ll want to remove the element of stress as much as possible. If playing ranked matches is just too much pressure for you as you’re grasping the ropes, you should consider playing unranked games until you feel confident.
Due to the competitive nature of VALORANT, most players forget about the unranked mode’s existence which is still filled with great players that will help you test your mettle.
