Lloyd Fry

As a studio, Riot moved into some unfamiliar territory with Valorant, but the game has turned out to be an impressive addition to the tactical shooter genre. It offers a meaningful iteration of the formula and gives solid reasons to keep playing in spite of its early state. If this is what players can expect from Riot's other ventures into different genres, then fans will have a lot to look forward to. Valorant is a convincing argument for greater competition in the esports shooter landscape, and could very well be the company's next international succ Another form of visual cover that Viper has access to, the Toxic Screen can be used in a lot of the same ways that the Poison Cloud can be, though because of it's different shape, it can be used in slightly different ways. Because it's set up in a line instead of a sphere, it's pretty easy to use to simply cover a doorway, or use as a way to dance in and out of an enemy's line of sight without necessarily hampering what you can see too m Moreover, Leer can be a great precursor to her other skills. Nearsighted enemies can't see Reyna enjoy the healing benefits of Devour, the escape benefits of Dismiss, or even introduce a devastating (Ult) Empress frenzy m Again, much like Viper's first two abilities, Snake Bite is going to be familiar to players coming from a few different other characters in Valorant, like Brimstone and his Molotov. Snake Bite blankets an area in poison, damaging anybody (including Viper) unfortunate enough to find themselves standing in Each player in Valorant is given a fixed amount of budget at the start of any match. This budget then updates each round depending on various factors such as kills and assists secured in the prior round. Although the idea of buying the most expensive weapons and utilities every round is tempting, it’s not possible. It’s important to identify when to save and when to go all out. New players often fall into this trap and buy any weapon without putting any thou Trapwire serves as a great deterrent when trying to stop enemy combatants from reaching certain points on the map. Whereas Cypher can look into various points of the map with Spycam, Trapwire makes use of this information to delay enemies grouped together in a path. When triggered, the Trapwire dazes, reveals, and tethers enemies for a short t Running while shooting will make the spray less accurate and much harder to control. Bullets become hard to land, and the spray becomes more sporadic. This also applies to players who shoot while jumping or dash The Snake Bite is a pretty simple ability but has a variety of uses. The most obvious use is its area denial, preventing enemies from accessing a certain area unless they'd like to be acid-burned. It can also be a pretty good way to prevent a Spike Plant if an enemy is in mid-plant and you toss this down on t Keeping a track of opponents' abilities and Ultimates is very important, especially when players move up the ladder. Playing around these Ultimates and maneuvering your playstyle accordingly are key aspects of doing good in the game. Agent’s such as Raze and Brimstone boast powerful Ultimates, and can potentially turn the tide of the game if not dealt properly. Keeping a track of Ultimates will also give players a general idea of when to play defensive and when to take the cha A mechanic that may seem foreign if you're coming from the world of Call of Duty is how Valorant allows you to spend money you earn in-between rounds. Often you'll find that when you decide to purchase new weapons is almost if not more important than the item you're buying. It's all about understanding the flow of a match and knowing when you could use a boost in effectiveness and how that relates to the match overall. Don't go spending your money as soon as you can, unless, of course, it's a part of your team's specific strat For years, the PC's esports landscape has been largely dominated by three companies: Valve, Activision Blizzard, and Riot Games. These competing juggernauts seem to be locked in a constant cycle, borrowing core elements from each other's games to bolster their own esports titles - or to create new ones. Riot Games' Valorant _ is the newest example: a free-to-play, click here! team-based tactical shooter in the vein of _Counter-Stri A team fight can easily tip to Phoenix's advantage with the Blaze firewall. Aside from providing vision-obstruction and constant AOE, Phoenix can use Blaze to have the team reposition as he makes an assault. This factor makes Blaze very useful in big areas, as Phoenix can trigger Blaze to feign an assault and have the squad flank oppone As mentioned before, Viper's Pit is going to create some entirely uneven gunfights. If Viper is in the Pit and already has some good idea of where to look for enemies, those enemies are going to have a severely difficult time winning a gunfight against her. And, due to the absolutely bonkers radius this ability has, you can really lock down a huge area of the