5 things we learned about Valorant from the closed beta

Everyone has been raving about Valorant, Riot Games’ new tactical first-person shooter. With its unique cast of agents, precise shooter mechanics, and remarkable 128-tick servers, the FPS community was sold. And they haven’t stopped playing the closed beta since it launched on April 7.

After looking through hours of Valorant game footage from streamers, pros, and ex-pros, here are the 5 biggest things we’ve learned so far:

Movement

Movement is going to be crucial in Valorant, much more so than in CS:GO. Valorant has 10 playable agents and some of them have ridiculous movement utility abilities that can catch opponents off guard.

For example, Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek used Raze’s Blast Pack ability to launch himself in the air and then caught his opponent with a Showstopper ultimate.

The Maps

5 things we learned about Valorant from the closed beta — Credit: Blitz

The Valorant closed beta includes Haven, the three Spike-Site map that has multiple corridors and small rooms. Haven is the largest map in Valorant so far and having three different points to defend makes this map a nightmare for Defenders to hold.

At the start of each round players can purchase their weapons, armor, and abilities while they position themselves on their side of the map. Once the ‘Buy Phase’ is over, players can immediately start a firefight depending on their position.

The closed beta also has Bind, a two Spike-Site map that looks to be smaller than Haven. And since each round has a one minute and forty-second timer, a map like Bind has the potential to introduce a lot of action for pro games.

Capture Orb Points

Capture Orbs are scattered around the map and players who secure these orbs will be given Ultimate points, which will speed up the activation of their agents’ ultimate ability.

Players who charge up their ultimates faster gain a critical advantage to secure a crucial round, since the first team to reach 13 rounds wins the game.

Expect a lot of team fights to take place near and around the Capture Orbs.

Communication

As Valorant does not have respawns or hero switching, communication is going to be extremely important.

The game requires teams to have knowledge of the map and call-outs are going to be very important in competitive play, as shown by ex-CS:GO pro player Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham.

Passive Abilities

Not all agents have passive abilities like Jett, but she can basically float or glide while in the air if players hold down the spacebar.

This gives her more of an advantage in terms of positioning as shown byApex Legends pro Lucas “mendokusaii” Hakansson.

Making full use of your passive is going to be the difference-maker between the merely good Valorant players and the best Valorant players.