New to Valorant? This guide will show you how to play successfully right from the start. Discover the basics of the FPS shooter and five key tips for beginners to dominate your first round.
Tactical shooters like Valorant and Counter Strike demand a lot from new players.
Unlike multiplayer shooters such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, Valorant relies much more on tactical agreements with your team, strategic use of your skills and accurate aim.
To help you get into your first round, or if you're just looking for a few tips for beginners, we've summarised the most important rules of FPS shooter gameplay.
So sit back and relax, because after reading this guide, you no longer need to be afraid of a 1v5 clutch. Admittedly, a little adrenaline is always part of the game.
As with many games, the community in Valorant is not always friendly. Flaming and criticism are as common as communication and tactical exchanges.
It can be intimidating to be the last survivor of a round and feel that all eyes are on you.
That's why we've put together the top five tips for Valorant newbies. It's not about esports strategies or detailed targeting tips, but about the basics so you don't get lost in your first game.
But before we get started with helpful tricks, here's a quick rundown of the basics for anyone who's new to Valorant:
The Basics
Valorant pits two teams of five against each other; the first team to win 13 rounds wins.
At the start, the teams are divided into two roles:
- Attacker: The goal is to place and detonate the spike.
- Defender: The goal is to prevent the spike from being placed or detonated.
A match consists of two halves of 12 rounds each, after which the teams switch roles.
Before the game starts, each player chooses an agent with specific skills.
There are four classes of agents:
- Duelist: Aggressive fighters, ideal for attacking, they usually lead the play and are the first to take space.
- Initiator: Provide important information about your opponent and support duelists when capturing rooms.
- Sentinel: Support the team with defensive skills. Often perfect for protecting the flanks.
- Controller: Change the battlefield with strategic abilities, mostly smoke abilities.
New players start with five free agents: Brimstone, Jett, Phoenix, Sova and Sage.
More agents can be unlocked by signing agent contracts or purchasing them with real money.
Economy System
Players start each half with 800 credits for weapons, armour and skills. Additional credits are earned by winning/losing rounds, kills, spike placements or disarmings.
- Economy Round (Eco): Minimum equipment to be better equipped in later rounds.
- Buy Round (Full Buy): With enough credits (minimum 3,900 for Heavy Shield + Vandal/Phantom), the team buys full equipment.
- Force Round (Force Buy): Even if you have few credits, invest everything to win the round – high risk, but potentially high reward.
Now that we've covered the basics, let's move on to the most important tips for beginners:
Top 5 Tips For Valorant Beginners:
Movement
Probably the most important rule for shooting well in Valorant and not missing your opponent by a mile is to not move while shooting.
In Valorant, all weapons behave differently in terms of recoil and accuracy. You should always avoid spraying – uncontrolled continuous fire – and crouching.
However, there are situations where spraying can be useful, such as when there are multiple enemies lurking behind a wall of fog, or when you don't have time to aim for the head in hand-to-hand combat.
Usually, accuracy is what counts. In a duel, one-on-one, or at a distance, it's better to stand still for a moment while you shoot, and only move when you're not firing.
Especially as a beginner, you should practice accurate single shots.
How to move like @loud_less Valorant Movement Guide Join my coaching discord for more information & content like this coming in the future pic.twitter.com/KD7wCLlRo2
— Trick (@TrickAIM) April 8, 2024
Stay calm, even if you don't hit the target right away – this happens to lots of people. Take your time, concentrate on targeting your opponents' heads, and aim for direct headshots with well-placed shots.
If headshots don't work, practice calmly aiming at your opponent's body.
Depending on your weapon, you may only be able to kill a full-shielded, full-health agent with a headshot, but 3-4 well-aimed body shots are often enough to win the duel.
Teamplay And Communication
If you don't have any teammates in Valorant yet, your only option is to play solo-queue and hope to find some decent teammates. But this is not advisable. Valorant is a tactical team shooter.
Agreements, tactics, the combination of your skills and the exchange of information about enemy movements on the map are very important. A team that doesn't use voice or text chat to make important announcements will usually lose.
Many people underestimate this, but team communication is crucial to victory. The best way to do this is to play with your friends and the cool people you met in your solo games.
Still not sure how to use voice chat? Don't worry, all beginners are like that. You're not playing in professional lobbies, you're playing with like-minded people who aren't Valorant legends.
So have the confidence to communicate with your team, make announcements, report damage, discuss tactics and use your team's strengths.
And if you need to, there's always text chat. Again, it's better to communicate in text chat than not communicate at all.
It's worth it!
Choice Of Weapon And Shield
In Valorant, you buy your equipment at the start of each round. Depending on your agent, gadgets such as smoke or stun grenades are automatically included in your abilities and do not need to be purchased separately.
But first things first: always buy a shield.
The heavy shield costs 1000 credits and gives you 50 extra health points. It is essential if you want to take more damage.
The difference is significant: without a shield, most weapons will kill you in an instant; with a full shield, your chances of survival increase significantly.
An alternative is the REGEN shield, which costs 650 credits. Although it only offers 25 points of protection, it will recharge up to twice after use.
Ideal if you are on a budget. Even cheaper is the light shield for 400 credits, which absorbs 25 damage once.
Our recommendation: Almost always buy a shield first before deciding on a weapon.
The choice of weapons in Valorant is varied: you can choose from 5 pistols, 2 submachine guns, 2 shotguns, 4 assault rifles, 3 sniper rifles and 2 machine guns.
Each weapon has its own strengths, range and recoil. The Vandal, Phantom and Operator are particularly important, although you should also take a look at the Spectre, Sheriff, Odin and Marshal:
- Vandal (Assault Rifle): Powerful, consistent damage at all ranges (160 headshot damage). Higher recoil, ideal for accurate shooting. Basically the best weapon.
- Phantom (Assault Rifle): High rate of fire, low recoil, effective at medium to short range. Causes less damage than the Vandal, but is faster.
- Operator (Sniper Rifle): Deadly damage at long range, especially with head shots. Slow reload time and high recoil, requires accurate aiming.
Once you have won a pistol round, be sure to buy the Outlaw – a relatively new sniper weapon. It only has two shots before you have to reload, but since the enemy team usually can't afford a shield after losing a pistol round, it almost always guarantees a direct kill with 140 head and body damage.
Map Knowledge
Mastering the more than ten maps, seven of which rotate this season, is one of the biggest challenges in Valorant.
As mentioned in the Team Play section, it is crucial to know the map, understand your teammates' instructions and identify tactical points.
Every corner, every spot in Valorant has a name, as you can see here:
Of course, you shouldn't sit down and memorise Valorant's vocabulary, but developing an awareness of the different names of map locations will help your gameplay development a great deal.
And it's not just about being able to call out the exact names of your teammates; map knowledge will also help you to better judge and evaluate gameplay.
Don't worry, the terms will stick with you as you play and become more experienced.
Pay attention to how your fellow players communicate and the names they use for map information, and try to remember them.
It's just a matter of time.
Clever Use Of Agent Abilities
Every ability has a purpose, and using them wisely can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Initiators such as Breach use Blinding or Shockwave attacks to force opponents into cover, allowing a Duelist such as Phoenix to secure the bomb site and create spaces.
Or as in the following clip: Fade grabs the enemies with her Seize ability, and Duelist Raze throws a grenade perfectly into the area, dealing some serious damage.
BEST FADE SEIZE LINEUPS FOR B MAIN | SPLITINSANE COMBO WITH RAZE NADE / ULT#VALORANT #VALORANTLCQ pic.twitter.com/DL5XmXaUvb
— vladk0r (@vladk0r_vlr) July 23, 2023
The key principle is that the abilities complement each other. An Initiator weakens enemies, a Duelist exploits the gap, a Controller secures the area, and a Sentinel secures the flanks or flanks themselves.
Well-coordinated skills allow you to outwit the enemy team and gain strategic advantages that are almost always decisive in the game.
In the lower ranks, many players don't communicate with each other and don't use their Agent skills well when playing together.
Coordinate with your team, plan surprise actions and react cleverly to your opponents' tactics and agents.
This will greatly increase your chances of victory!
That was a lot of information, but we hope you feel well prepared and have gotten a taste for Valorant! Follow these rules and your first round should be a success – or at least a lot of fun.
What are your most common problems in tactical FPS shooters like Valorant? Let us know in the comments!
