48 Fun Facts About Valorant

Which Valorant scout fires a radar arrow from a bow to reveal enemy positions?

Sova's Recon Bolt pings enemies over a few seconds, but anyone who spots the arrow can shoot it down.

Under what codename was Valorant teased in October 2019?

Project A was Riot's name for the shooter at its October 2019 anniversary stream, where a studio that had made one game for a decade finally announced several new ones.

Which Valorant agent can use an ultimate to teleport anywhere on the map as a shadow?

Omen's ultimate can be stopped mid-trip: while he travels as a Shade, an enemy who destroys it cancels the teleport.

Which earlier shooter series did Valorant borrow its buy menu, spray patterns and moving-inaccuracy from?

Counter-Strike supplied the buy menu, recoil and moving inaccuracy, but Valorant added Agents with their own special skills, which is why critics also compared it with Overwatch.

Which agent can bring a dead teammate back to life with her ultimate?

Sage's ultimate brings a fallen ally back at full health, a big swing in a game where anyone killed stays out until the next round.

In an Unrated match, how many rounds does a team need to win?

13 round wins takes the match, and since teams swap sides and lose their money after round 12, the second half opens with another pistol round.

After attackers plant the bomb, how do defenders win the round?

Defuse it: before a plant the 100-second clock favours the defenders, but once the bomb is planted only a defuse stops the attackers from winning when it detonates.

Which free pistol does every player get at the start of a pistol round?

The Classic is every player's free starting sidearm; other guns must be bought, but a bought gun carries into the next round if its owner survives.

Which agent calls in smoke screens by clicking where they should land on a tactical map?

Brimstone drops his smokes from an overhead map instead of throwing them, which spares players the fiddly skill of aiming every grenade perfectly.

Killjoy and Cypher belong to which agent role?

Sentinel is the defensive role: Killjoy's Alarmbot hunts enemies and makes them Vulnerable, and Cypher's trapwire reveals anyone crossing it, though Killjoy's gadgets switch off if she strays too far.

What is the in-game currency, earned by playing, that unlocks new agents?

Kingdom Credits are earned just by playing, but a brand-new agent can't be bought with them during its launch recruitment event, which unlocks it through event XP or Valorant Points instead.

Which Duelist heals by consuming the soul orbs left by enemies she kills?

Reyna feeds on soul orbs, and she was so good at carrying games alone that a 2021 patch halved her Devour and Dismiss charges from four to two.

Which rank sits at the bottom of Valorant's competitive ladder?

Iron is the bottom rank, but new players don't have to start there: placement matches can put a strong player higher on the ladder.

Which rank did Valorant add between Diamond and Immortal in 2022?

Ascendant was added in June 2022 because too many players were bunched in Bronze and Silver, so Riot stretched the ladder to move some of them up.

Which Valorant rank, capped at each region's top 500, was called Valorant in beta?

Radiant is capped at each region's top 500, so a player can slip out of it without losing a game, just by being overtaken on the leaderboard.

What rule replaced sudden death at 12-12 in Valorant's Competitive mode in 2020?

Win by two in overtime replaced it after Riot called sudden death intrinsically unfair, and after each overtime pair players can vote to end the match as a draw.

Which Valorant mode lets every attacker carry the bomb and gives everyone one random gun?

Spike Rush launched with the full game as a quick alternative to standard matches, which can last around 45 minutes.

Which Valorant mode condenses Unrated into a first-to-five match lasting about 15 minutes?

Swiftplay was meant to be a beta ending in January 2023, but Riot kept it running and made it permanent.

In Valorant's Deathmatch, what is switched off for everyone?

Abilities are disabled in Deathmatch, where everyone spawns with full shields and unlimited money for guns, so the mode is pure gunplay practice.

Which map was built specifically for Valorant's Team Deathmatch mode?

Piazza is one of the maps Riot built for Team Deathmatch, where players never buy guns: each timed stage upgrades everyone's loadout automatically.

Which limited-time Valorant Christmas mode arms everyone with a slow, one-shot launcher?

Snowball Fight debuted on December 15, 2020, as a 5v5 team deathmatch in which everyone wields a one-shot snowball launcher and grabs gift power-ups such as rapid fire and skates.

Which mode, similar to 'gungame', cycles teams through 12 random weapons?

Escalation, added in February 2021, moves both teams through progressively less lethal weapons, so the last few kills of a match are the hardest to land.

Which game technology did Valorant run on from its 2020 launch until Riot's 2025 upgrade?

Unreal Engine 4 was heavily reworked so Valorant could hold 30 frames per second even on old integrated laptop graphics.

Riot promised competitive servers that update how many times per second?

128 updates a second was Riot's launch pledge, meant to make every hit register precisely, and those fast servers drew streamers and pros to the beta.

What is the name of Valorant's controversial kernel-level anti-cheat?

Vanguard's kernel driver starts when Windows boots, and after privacy complaints Riot answered with a bug bounty paying up to $100,000 for flaws in it.

Which two Windows 11 features must be switched on for Valorant to run?

TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot give Riot a trustworthy hardware ID, so a cheater banned on one PC can't simply start again with a new account on it.

Which two consoles received a Valorant port in 2024?

Valorant reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 2, 2024, after a June beta; console players cannot match against PC, but cosmetics and progress carry across.

Which South Korean Duelist dashes and rides updrafts to outmanoeuvre enemies?

Jett's dash recharges after every two kills, so a Jett on a hot streak can keep dashing at the next enemy.

Which game director is credited with the original idea for Valorant?

Joe Ziegler wanted to take old-school tactical shooters into the service era, updating one constantly the way Riot kept adding champions to League of Legends.

Which December 2020 event was Riot's own debut global Valorant tournament, with regional finals worldwide?

First Strike ran open qualifiers, so any team of eligible players could earn its way into a regional final.

Which team won Masters Reykjavik 2021, Valorant's first international LAN event?

Sentinels won the final with TenZ on loan from Cloud9, then bought him outright that June.

Which team won the first Valorant Champions, in Berlin in December 2021?

Acend beat Gambit 3–2 in the Berlin final, yet the champions failed to qualify the next year.

Which team won Valorant Champions 2022 in Istanbul?

LOUD beat OpTic Gaming 3–1 in the Istanbul final, avenging OpTic's 3–0 sweep of LOUD in the Masters Reykjavik final that April.

Which North American team won Champions 2023 in Los Angeles, with Demon1 as MVP?

Evil Geniuses began 2023 with a 1–4 record and were mocked, then brought Demon1 into the lineup and ended the year beating Paper Rex 3–1 in the final.

Which team's 2024 Champions win in Seoul gave China its first international Valorant trophy?

Edward Gaming lost a group-stage match to G2 and dropped into the lower bracket, then rallied to beat Team Heretics 3–2 in the Seoul final.

Which player became the first to win Champions twice, taking the 2025 title with NRG?

Ethan Arnold was reportedly stuck in limbo with his first title-winning team, which turned down buyout offers, until NRG signed him in December 2023.

Which city hosted Valorant Champions 2025?

Paris hosted Champions 2025, and fans could buy tickets only through verified Riot accounts with at least one game played.

Which 2023 event opened Riot's franchised VCT era by bringing all 30 partner teams together?

LOCK//IN put all 30 partner teams and two Chinese invitees into one single-elimination bracket, and the winner earned its region an extra slot at Masters Tokyo.

Which team won Masters Tokyo 2023, the Valorant tournament staged in Chiba, Japan?

Fnatic swept the Tokyo final 3–0, and the win earned its region an extra team at that year's Champions.

Valorant launched in mainland China in July 2023 under a name meaning what in English?

Fearless Contract, or Wuwei Qiyue, arrived in mainland China on July 12, 2023, yet Chinese teams had already been invited to Riot's international events before the game launched there.

In which country was Valorant's path-to-pro Premier mode first alpha-tested before going worldwide?

Brazil hosted the Premier alpha in 2022, and Riot rebuilt parts of the system from that feedback before a global open beta in April 2023.

Which Valorant map has three Spike sites instead of the usual two?

Haven puts a third site on its middle lane, so defenders have more ground to cover but can use that extra space for aggressive pushes.

Which 2021 mode made a whole team play as one voted-for agent?

Replication refilled all utility except ultimates each round, so a team of five identical agents could flood a site with the same walls, smokes or fire.

Which Valorant sniper rifle kills a fully armoured player with one shot to the body?

The Operator is Valorant's heaviest sniper: a bolt-action rifle whose 150 body damage and 255 headshot damage both kill a fully armoured player outright.

At which studio did Valorant's art director Moby Francke spend years before joining Riot?

Valve employed Moby Francke as Half-Life 2's character designer and Team Fortress 2's art lead, and his bio vanished from its staff page in the 2013 layoffs.

Which Valorant agent can still place smokes after being killed?

Clove can even come back to life with the Not Dead Yet ultimate, but must score a kill or damaging assist soon or die again.

Which Turkish bounty hunter joined Valorant in 2022 as an Initiator who hunts with nightmares?

Fade's Nightfall ultimate leaves a trail to every enemy it hits, and her Prowlers can lock onto those trails to chase them down.

Which Japanese team finished third at Masters Reykjavik 2022?

ZETA DIVISION lost its opening match to DRX, then bounced back on its way to third place.