Riot Games has given us more info on Valorant’s upcoming release including a new game mode called Spike Rush, details on the new agent Reyna, and some of what we can expect in highly-anticipated Battle Pass.
On the eve of Valorant’s public launch on June 2, Riot Games’ Ana Donlan and Joe Ziegler talked at length about the upcoming release on a June 1 stream from ESPN Esports.
The devs revealed a number of details, but the biggest news was on a new game mode called “Spike Rush” and exactly how much we’ll have to shell out for the game’s first Battle Pass.
Valorant leaks from the end of May suggested that Spike Rush matches would only be 8-12 minutes in length, as opposed to the 30-40 minute slog of standard games. Not only that, but gameplay could be in for a major shakeup as well with new, temporary buffs. “Speed boost” is one such power-up mentioned in the leaked files, which could hint at a movement speed buff for individual Agents, or even entire teams.
“Our goal for creating this game mode was: you go through these long, stressful sessions, what do you play when you just need to cool off? Have a quick experience where you can chill a little bit,” Ziegler explained. “That’s sort of what we’ve actually focused it on, we didn’t want to make it too different from what the core game is like. So it takes some of those concepts and twists them a little bit.”
As for the Battle Pass, Donlon revealed it would cost 1,000 Valorant points, which will run players $10. If you don’t want to cough up any cash, the game will also offer a free battle pass as well.
“We always wanted to create something in our battle pass that would provide players with a ton of content they could earn, and really reward them for their time and investment,” she explained. “Tons of different ways for players to express themselves … There’s a bunch of exclusive content in it.”
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Neither of the Riot devs specifically mentioned what kind of skins or cosmetics we could see from the Battle Pass, as Ziegler opted to keep that a secret for players to discover at launch.
Last but not least, the devs touched up a bit on Reyna, the game’s 11th and newest Agent. Since players didn’t get the chance to try her out during the beta, Ziegler gave them some insight on how to approach playing as the Mexican one-woman-army.
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“The way you’d approach Reyna is similar to the way you’d approach Jett, I’d say, you can’t just run into a group of five and expect to win, you definitely have to bait them into the traps you’re going to be setting for them,” he suggested.
“You really have to be thinking about ‘how do I divide and conquer?’ more than anything else. So instead of taking on two groups of two at once, just try and split them up as much as possible.”
As we mentioned earlier, Valorant and all of its brand new content will be releasing on June 2. We will have more details and gameplay for all of what was discussed above as the game starts launching in various regions worldwide.
Make sure to check out Riot’s release schedule for information regarding the release dates and times in your region.