Getting better at any sport or esport requires persistence and sacrifice and Valorant is no different. In order to get better at Valorant, you will have to invest your time and focus on this game. It is more than just playing and having a good time. The game consists of five separate aspects which are: aim, movement, map knowledge, abilities, and in-game economy. You will have to master all of these aspects, so we will go through each one of them, one by one. Let’s start with the most important one, which is, of course, aim.

Valorant Aim

Your aim is the most important thing in every first-person shooting game. It often looks like some people are born with great aim and if you are not one of them, there is nothing you can do about it. That is only a myth and if you ever thought so, you couldn’t be more wrong. The in-game aim can be improved only with practice. However, there are some things you can do to improve your aim right away. You need to adjust your settings and find the perfect balance. There is no such thing as the “best crosshair” that you can just copy from a professional player or the best sensitivity level as every one of us is different and needs to find what suits them.

Crosshair

Valorant is a new game with excellent features that other games don’t have. One of those features is a custom crosshair generator. Each player can make his own crosshair and use it in-game. In addition to that, you can also see which crosshair other players use and save it as your own. If you played another FPS game, try to make a crosshair similar to that one as you are already used to it. It will be easier to adjust and hit headshots, which is ultimately what you want to aim for. I personally took my CS:GO crosshair and copied it in Valorant. Also, don’t be afraid to try crosshairs that your teammates use or even borrow a crosshair from your favorite Twitch streamers. Once you find the right one, stick to it and don’t change it too often.

Crosshair placement

Aim does come with practice but consistency is a completely different monster. There are good days and bad days with your aim, meaning it won’t always be at its peak. Have you ever wondered why the best players in every game always stay on the top? How are they so consistent with no bad days? Trust me when I tell you, they also have bad days but their crosshair is always on point. That’s because they follow strict aim rules that everyone should be aware of, but a lot of players have no clue about these rules.

First of all, always keep your crosshair at the head level. The most common mistake I saw people of all ranks make in this game is their crosshair placement. People tend to aim too low or too high while walking through the map. It is pointless to aim at the sky or ground. Instead, try to keep your aim at head level and your enemies will just walk into it. Another mistake people tend to make is that they aim at “nothing”. As soon as the enemy peeks, they have to move their crosshair across the map which slows their reaction time and often gets them killed. Always try to aim at the place where your enemy will most likely peek. While exploring the map, keep the crosshair close to common peek spots that you’ve seen previously. The enemies will either walk straight into your crosshair or your crosshair will point directly to them as soon as you peek. This way, your reaction time will be faster because the enemy is already in your crosshair and you don’t have to move it at all.

In short, don’t wander around and aim at your enemies when you see them, try to aim at them before you even see them and you will surely improve. Also, always pre-aim common spots or even pre-fire if you know the enemy is there.

Sensitivity

Experienced FPS players know that lower sensitivity means more stability and higher precision. That does not mean if you reduce your sensitivity to the lowest level you will instantly improve. You have to find the right sensitivity for you, which will take time. This is directly affected by your mouse DPI and mousepad size. If you’re looking to improve, go to any custom map and try out different sensitivities. Your sensitivity needs to be in a certain proportion with your mousepad size. The best way to put it, if you move your mouse from left to right across your whole mousepad, the player model should move 180 degrees. This way, if you keep your mouse at the center of the mousepad, moving it to the left-end or right-end will move the player model 90 degrees to either side.

How To Improve Aim In Valorant?

The best way to get better at Valorant is to improve your aim. The game is still in beta and there are no custom servers that you can use for practice. However, there is the Practice map with a Shooting Range where you can practice aim with different weapons. Visit that map and you will have various tests to choose from. Each test has the final result in the form of a score. Keep coming back every day and try to improve your last high-score. You can practice various shooting techniques and flicks. There are 3 shooting techniques in Valorant; tap, burst, and spray. Each one of them is used for different in-game scenarios.

• Long-Range Fight – If you find yourself at a long-range fight, the best shooting technique you can use is tapping. It is pointless to even try to spray your enemy on long-distance because you will probably miss. Tapping means firing one bullet at the time. Try to stand steady and aim at the head of the enemy while shooting only 1 bullet. You can also practice this technique with multiple bots while firing one bullet at the time and flicking your crosshair from bot to bot.
• Mir-Range Fight – The best technique to use on a mid-range fight is bursting. Bursting means firing 3-4 bullets at a time. In this kind of fight, you need to react fast and it is hard to aim at the head and just tap the enemy. Instead, try to just aim at him and burst a few bullets. Due to weapon spray patterns, one bullet will probably find the head and you will win that battle.
• Short-Range Fight – When your enemy is really close by, you won’t have so much time to react. That’s why there is a spraying technique you should use. This technique can also be useful while fighting multiple enemies at the same time. Every weapon has a unique spray pattern and you can check them all at the practice range.

As you can see from the picture above, each weapon has a different spray pattern and different control pattern. In order to control the spray pattern you need to move your mouse in the opposite direction of that pattern. Try to learn control patterns of the weapons you use most in the game.

Valorant Movement

After the aim, the second most important aspect is your movement. Although it seems completely irrelevant, your movement can have a great impact on your overall gameplay. Therefore, if you want to get better at Valorant, you need to know how to move in the most efficient way.

Movement is not something you can learn in one day. You need to know exactly when to run and when to walk. Running is the fastest way to move across the map but it is also the loudest way too. Your enemies can easily hear you and they will know exactly where you are, which is why slow-walking is the optimal way to move around the map. However, slow-walking through the whole map will hinder your ability to help out your teammates or secure kills. You should slow-walk only if you think an enemy is nearby.

Movement can also have an impact on your aim. Running and shooting at the same time will make you less accurate than standing still. However, pistols and SMGs won’t lose that much accuracy and it is sometimes smart to “run and gun” while using them.

Map Knowledge

It is relatively hard to know exactly when to start walking but after you master the maps, you will know. That’s why map knowledge is also important in order to get better at Valorant. You need to learn the meeting points on every map, where to plant the spike, and where to expect the enemy players. You also have to know map callouts so you can give information to your teammates.

There are currently 3 maps in Valorant, which means there are a plethora of map callouts you need to learn. Knowing the exact names of each location on the map helps out both you and your teammates. As you play each map, you will pick up on callouts from your teammates or from the in-game pinging system.

Valorant Agent Abilities

There are currently 10 available agents in this game and more will come in the future. The biggest mistake you can do is to try to learn them all at once. Instead, pick two or three agents and play only with them until you master them all. After that, add one more to your queue and so on.

If some of the agents are locked, you can check their abilities on our website. Also, make sure to check our Agent Guide before you start playing with a particular Agent. Read our in-depth explanations of every agent and pick up tricks you can use while playing with them.

• Breach Agent Guide
• Brimstone Agent Guide
• Cypher Agent Guide
• Jett Agent Guide
• Omen Agent Guide
• Phoenix Agent Guide
• Raze Agent Guide
• Sage Agent Guide
• Sova Agent Guide
• Viper Agent Guide

Economy Explained

Valorant is a game with a live in-game economy. You need to know what to buy and when to buy it. During the buy period, you can get to your desired position on the map and buy/sell anything you want. On top of that, if you accidentally buy something, you can always sell it and get a full refund. However, you can’t sell items carried from the previous round.

The economy system in Valorant is pretty straightforward.

• Starting money: 800
• Kill: +200
• Round win: +3,000
• Round loss: +1,900
• Two consecutive round loses: +2,400
• Three or more consecutive round loses: +2,900
• Spike planted: +300 (for the whole team)
• Spike defuse: +300

There are 3 kinds of buys in Valorant: Full-Buy, Half-Buy, and Eco.

Full-Buy – The round where you buy a heavy shield, desired weapon and all abilities.
Half–Buy – Your buy consists of light shields and pistol or SMG
Eco – That’s also called a save round where you don’t spend anything and save for the next round

It is important for the whole team to have a similar buy. You can’t go Full-Buy if the rest of your team is going Eco. The economy needs to be managed properly so the whole team has a similar amount of credits. You can let your teammates know that you have extra credits, tell them to go eco, or encourage them to buy.

If someone has extra credits, they can always drop a weapon to one of your teammates. You can request a drop in the buy menu or buy for a teammate that has requested it.

The buy menu contains all the information you want to know. You can see the exact amount of credits each player has at their disposal. You can even see the credits from the opponent team and easily predict their next buy. Another interesting feature is that you always can see the minimum amount of credits you will have in the next round so you know how much you can spend.

Run It Back has all of your Valorant coverage, so stay tuned to our homepage for future news and guides!