Whether you’ve been playing VALORANT since 2020 or have just hopped in recently, you’re probably familiar with the basics. Yet even if you think you know everything, you still might see yourself or your teammates making a few obvious mistakes.
Even if they might not seem obvious at first, there are a few taboos in VALORANT that have solidified themselves as signs of a player who isn’t confident or familiar with that next level of gameplay.
Just to make sure you’re not making any of these mistakes—or to justify back-seating your friends when they make them—here is our list of things you should never do when playing VALORANT.
1) Not buying after winning the first round
If you’re like me, when you first started playing VALORANT you always wanted to save your credits to buy something better the next round. Why would I spend my money now when I could wait to purchase my nice shiny Vandal with a skin on it? Or even an Operator?
The problem is, you can’t just look at your own team’s economy without thinking about the context of the match, both in terms of what round it is and what weapons your enemies can afford.
Everyone starts on truly even ground at the first round of each half, with the same number of credits per person. Yet once that first round is won, there are so many variables in each VALORANT team’s economy that you should take advantage whenever you can.
The most simple explanation for this rule is that no matter what if you win the first round of the half, your enemies will be stuck with very cheap weapons. Therefore, you should buy the best guns you possibly can to give yourself an advantage. If you’re facing someone who has a Classic and you have a Spectre, odds are you’ll win every time.
Just because the gun you buy isn’t a Vandal, doesn’t mean the advantage of that round won’t be worth it.
2) Peeking to use your utility
You’d be surprised at the number of abilities in VALORANT that can be fully utilized without putting the actual body of the agent you’re playing at risk.
Nearly every flash is specifically designed to be able to be used without peeking an angle, and while this is mostly just so you can avoid flashing yourself or your teammates, it also eliminates putting yourself in line-of-sight of your enemies. Though you shouldn’t peek your own flashes, there are plenty of other abilities that you don’t need to peek an angle to use.
One great example is Raze’s Boombot. The little guy is an expert at navigating around corners and bouncing off of walls, and the time it takes to bounce off a wall in a new direction isn’t worth risking your life to save. Instead of peeking to pull out and throw your Boombot, try using the map’s geometry instead.
Another example that seems self-explanatory but might not be for new players is Brimstone and Omen’s smokes. Though Brimstone can see around him while he is on his iPad, there’s no reason to put yourself in danger when you can place everything you need from behind the safety of a corner.
The rule of thumb is if you’re going to peek an angle, you should do it after throwing utility and with your weapon out, ready to shoot. Bonus points if you peek with a teammate.
3) Letting a duelist take the spike
Unless you’re playing Spike Rush, only one person on your team can carry and plant the spike at any given time. Though it seems like choosing a designated spike carrier might not be such a big deal, choosing the right person for the job matters more than you might think.
The science behind assigning the right person to plant the spike has to do with the role each agent in your composition has. When you’re thinking about who should carry the spike, you should think about who is most likely to not die when they enter the site.
The reason why a duelist should never take the spike is because, if you’re playing your composition correctly, the duelist player should be the first person to entry on to the site. Therefore, you won’t always know if the site is clear or not until your duelist has made that first move.
If you send your Jett in dashing with the spike, but she gets picked off by an enemy hiding in the corner, the spike is now stranded out in the open with no way for you to retrieve it.
To avoid this situation, it’s best to have a sentinel or controller agent carry the spike. These agents usually enter the site last and have the utility to seal off areas of the site to safely get a plant down without much risk.
However be wary of letting a flanking agent, like a Cypher, take the spike, as their endgame for the round might not even concern getting on to the site at all.
4) Not checking corners
Each map in VALORANT has its secret hiding spots. Yet, you can pretty much diminish any element of surprise if you make sure to check every corner you walk past.
While there certainly is such a thing as over-checking your corners, as you learn the game this skill will become essential. Even veteran players will forget to check a place they’re sure no one could be lurking, only to get jumpscared by an Omen.
Checking your corners just means taking a small amount of time to glance around each twist and turn in the map’s geometry to make sure no enemies are hiding there. This is a common strategy used on save rounds where enemies may only be able to afford to buy a shotgun like a Bucky or Judge, though you may find someone with a Phantom hiding out too.
This skill is especially important when entering a site, whether it’s at the beginning of the round or when executing a rotation. It helps to familiarize yourself with each map so you can anticipate where your next foe could be hiding.
5) Saving your ultimate
Ultimates are aptly named since they are the most powerful abilities in VALORANT. Therefore, it’s good to strike a balance between using them appropriately and… not using them at all.
If you’re like me, you’ve had several games of VALORANT that have gone by without you pressing that X key, because you’re waiting for the absolute perfect moment to bring chaos down on your opponents. The truth is, there might not ever be a perfect moment, but using your ultimate at all is always better than saving it until the game is over.
Some agents can truly execute their ultimate abilites on a whim whenever they see fit, mostly duelists like Raze and Neon. Yet other agents should plan with their team more carefully when and where to execute their master plan. But even if that plan doesn’t work out exactly how you want it to, it’s much better to put your abilities on the table than to save them for a time that could never come.
This is especially important for ultimates like Brimstone’s Orbital Strike, Killjoy’s Lockdown, and Viper’s Pit.
6) Not shooting breakable abilities
Did you know that you can shoot KAY/O’s knife and Sova’s dart to break it before it scans any of your teammates? Though this seems like common knowledge, sometimes in practice timing your shots can be a bit hard to get right.
Yet, the worst thing you could do is to not even try to shoot the knife or dart at all, and just let it scan all five of your teammates waiting to execute onto the site. This is a common rookie mistake, and often players think that the noise of shooting the knife or dart will give away their position.
True, if you can hide behind a box or a rock to not get scanned by Sova’s dart, that’s great, but the odds of you and all of your teammates being able to get behind said box in time is quite small. And it’s better for the enemy Sova to know there is one person in an area than to have the dart scan the exact position of all five of his enemies.
This is even more true for KAY/O’s knife. It’s better to have your presence known but still have all of your abilities than to have multiple teammates suppressed.
