Valorant

Valorant is a first-person hero shooter. It's set in an alternate universe in the near future, with players taking on the roles of agents (as the heroes are called in this game), choosing from characters drawn from all sorts of cultures and countries around the world.

About the Game

Teams consist of five agents per side and must attack or defend at the whim of the AI. All agents have unique perks that must be charged before use, through kills, deaths, orbs, or surge actions. All these actions earn currency that can be spent on weapons and additional abilities.

Pro tip: Orbs are found items that give you ULT points, which increase your agent's Ultimate ability bar. Spikes are bomb-like devices that must be placed and activated to complete your mission.

The Nitty Gritty

There are 16 agents in total, and you must assemble the best five from the entire roster to secure victory. The sixteen are: Astra, Breach, Brimstone, Cipher, Jett, KAY/O, Killjoy, Omen, Phoenix, Raze, Reyna, Sage, Skye, Sova, Viper, and Yoru. These agents fall into four different categories: Duelist, Sentinel, Initiator, and Controller, each of which has different perks and abilities in the game.

Your kills spawn green first aid boxes that increase your health, armor, and ammo. If you're killed, you'll automatically respawn elsewhere on the map. There are a total of four maps to play on in the various game modes.

Ways to Play

There are five different game modes, so everyone is sure to find their favorite way to play.

Unranked: Play best-of-25 matches in this game mode. The attacking team must bring their Spike to one of the designated points and protect it for 45 seconds. If they do so, it blows up the defenders, and the attackers win a point. If the defenders defuse it or the 100-second timer expires before the Spike is activated, the defenders earn a point. If all members of a team are eliminated before the Spike activates, the opponents earn a point. Spike Rush Mode: Play best-of-seven rounds or first to four points. All agents' abilities, except their ultimate ability, are fully charged from the start, and the ultimate ability charges twice as fast as usual. All players carry a Spike, but only one Spike can be activated at a time. In this mode, weapons are randomized, and everyone starts with the same gun. Look out for multiple power-up orbs for a real boost! Competitive*: This mode is something like 'Unranked' but for players who have earned a rank. This happens after playing five matches, although you will need to win ten unranked matches before you can play competitive matches. The first team to 12 wins. In a very close match, you will need a 2-point advantage to win the match. You can vote to end the match in a draw, as long as enough team members agree. Deathmatch: A glorious nine-minute free-for-all. You spawn into the game with a random, skillless agent, from which point you must run and get 40 kills as quickly as possible, using gunplay only. For each kill, you get a green health pack that restores you to full health, armor, and ammo (unless you're using a machine gun, in which case you get 30 extra bullets). Escalation: A team-based mode, with five players per team. The game provides a randomly selected set of weapons to work with, and each team must get a certain number of kills to advance to the next weapon. There are two ways to win: by completing all twelve weapon levels or by being one level higher than the other team after ten minutes of play. Once again, the game is based on gun games, but with some abilities activated so everyone can use them.
NB * Competitive play starts at Iron and goes up to Radiant, which has 3 levels. Immortal and Radiant are for the top 500 players; they are assigned their own stat board, visible to everyone.
Valorant is a fast-paced strategy shooter that requires you to think on your feet to achieve victory.