During Piotr ‘izakOOO’ Skowyrski’s March 2 Twitch stream, the popular CS:GO streamer revealed information pertaining to Valorant’s map system and delved a little deeper into Agent abilities.
Riot Games’ Valorant has received plenty of attention since its March 2 press release. Plenty of players from other big esports titles such as Overwatch and CS:GO are dissecting the game, with some even announcing their intentions to go pro before the game’s release.
However, very little could be deduced on how Valorant will play and the prospects of the game from the two-minute gameplay trailer alone. Enter Counter-Strike veteran, izakOOO.
During his March 2 broadcast, izak detailed some specific elements of Valorant which the preview trailer didn’t necessarily show. Thanks to one Reddit user, we have this information translated.
Firstly, there are two teleportation devices in the second map (Bind) that was made available to alpha testers. These are designed to facilitate one-way transportation between reactor sites. According to the 32-year-old, this “really changes the pace of the map.”
Second is the role of abilities in Valorant. Per the trailer, Agent abilities were seen as critical elements to dictate a round’s outcome. But according to the Redditor’s translation of izak, “it’s not optimal to use them so much as shown, because they are not so good” in comparison to precise aim and good movement.
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On the topic of abilities, we already know that there are four per Agent, but the Twitch streamer broke these down further.
There are two abilities that need to be purchased from the pre-round buy menu, while an Agent’s Signature ability will recharge over time (after a specific cooldown period).
Moreover, Ultimate abilities are earned on a point system. To earn points, players must earn kills or pick up orbs from specific locations around the map, as seen on Haven from the preview trailer.
In terms of weapons, izak explained that they feel very similar to Counter-Strike’s weapon pool and that shooting shares almost identical mechanics too.
However, the CS veteran did reveal that shooting while moving in Valorant is even harder than in Valve’s FPS… Meaning that players will be punished for poor positioning more than ever before.
Given all the praise which the alpha version of Valorant has received, alongside Riot’s pledge to mitigate cheating and provide 128-tick servers all while reducing player’s ping, its no wonder why fans are eager for the game’s Summer 2020 release.