However, her ultimate packs the biggest punch. When her ultimate is ready, Raze fires a rocket launcher that causes a massive explosion wherever the rocket lands that deals devastating damage to those within the blast radius. This can be compared to Brimstone's airstrike, but there is far less warning for Raze's incoming roc

The event, which featured shout casters Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez and Chris "Puckett" Puckett, had a total prize pool of $25,000. Gen.G, to the surprise of many, took home the first place prize of $20,000 and Team Brax, which featured T1's own Braxton "brax" Pierce, Keven "AZK" Larivière and Austin "crashies" Roberts, finished second over

Sova - A hunter who marks foes and then takes them down with a bow and arrows. He can fire a bolt that explodes in an area for damage, or launch a flying camera drone that can fire a dart to reveal enemies. His signature move is an arrow that emits a pulse which tags and reveals nearby foes, while his ultimate fires three powerful, wall-piercing shots across the entire map. Reveal foes, then blast them from anywh

Perhaps Riot’s financial strategy revolves around the promise of esports as a spectator sport, something as big as the NBA or the NFL. Coming from a company that already has proven its commitment to esports success, it’s highly plausible competitive esports are what’s driving the game at a corporate le

It's not an overstatement to say that T1 and Nerd Sreet Gamers' tournament was incredibly fun to watch. From Hiko's insane 1v4 clutch to EliGE popping off at every possible moment, VALORANT proved that it can live up to the hype as an esp

Interestingly, _ VALORANT _ is free-to-play. Theoretically, could lead to its adoption even by casual gamers. But it’s important to note that in its launch phase, it’ll be available only on PC. Top-tier companies design impressive gaming PCs to run games with the best game performance. This is contrary to Xbox and PlayStation , which are far more limited in terms of performance and lack customization options. Essentially, this means that the game favors these high-powered PC players. The hope would be that the game could drive the most elite gamers to play VALORANT instead of other games that are built for more casual communit

Both Viper and Pheonix are great offensive agents as they can easily put a lot of pressure on point by using their abilities which makes it easier for the team to plant the bomb. However, Viper's ultimate ability can single-handedly move an entire team on to the point, whereas Pheonix's ability is more selfish and gives him a second life. Outside of their ultimate abilities, Viper and Pheonix share similar abilities so their ultimates are the deciding factor when choosing an offensive h

However, by releasing the game in a beta format but making it relatively simple to earn access to the beta , it’s clear that Riot is doing its best to polish the game as much as possible. This leaves room for significant iteration and Season 17 Update improvement should player interest in _ VALORANT _ w

All of this points to Riot’s hope and expectation that VALORANT will be the next top-tier esport. And, with good reason, too. Esports are more popular than ever. With the amount of money now changing hands in competitive gaming as well as projections around the long-term outlook , it’s no surprise Riot Games continues heavily investing in esports after is success with League of Legen

Even on the game's home page, the VALORANT touts its gaming specs . It also highlights its anti-cheat mechanisms. While the anti-cheat isn't without controversy , these things are both testaments to the fact that the developers created the game with high expectations for competitive p

Still, in order to create an optimal competitive experience, the best way to solve this issue is to simply remove aim assist entirely, as Riot Games has chosen to do with VALORANT. Then, it becomes a true test of skill with no clear benefit from choosing the control

With Riot unveiling their early plans for VALORANT esports, we know there will be more tournaments to come in the near future. As teams fill their rosters with players both known and unknown, the tournaments will become more competitive and more exciting, following in the footsteps of the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Invitatio

Sage - She's the healer of the game, preventing and healing damage wherever she goes with various orbs. She can create a slowing area of effect, or create a solid wall to block bullets, line of sight and movement. Her signature ability is Healing Orb, which heals someone back to full health over a short duration, and her ultimate is Resurrection, which requires a corpse to w

For a team to be composed of all the right parts, teams will need to diversify their agents. Luckily, with there only being nine agents to choose from at the moment, making a diverse team should not be too hard. All agents have the same amount of health, and weapons can be purchased in the game. So, unlike Overwatch, characters are stuck with the same weapon each round, but they are stuck with the same Agent for an entire match. This makes picking the rights agents even more important than e