Shields in VALORANT have one tiny detail that we all missed

Did you know there’s a small detail in the icon for a VALORANT shield indicating whether it helped you or not in the previous round? If you’re looking for it right now, don’t beat yourself up; many in the community, including veterans, didn’t notice it until a Reddit post got them thinking.

On Sept. 19, a player named Designer_Tip_6451 asked the community to explain the mystery of the tiny arrow embedded in the middle of the shield icon appearing beside the player names in the scoreboard. They mentioned that the arrow changes direction and sometimes turns into a dot, but they weren’t sure why.

Hellbent on knowing the reason, the player who sparked the discussion contacted Riot Support and asked for an official explanation, doing everyone looking for answers a favor. Thankfully, a Riot player support specialist named The Hook Devil had just the explanation we needed.

Apparently, the icon indicates three situations:

• The downward arrow indicates damaged and re-bought shields.
• The dot indicates full-bought shields.
• The upward arrow indicates shields carried over from the round before.

Available in two kinds, shields play a crucial role in VALORANT, offering protection from bullet damage. You can see the damage your shield takes and its health in the UI, but you can’t see your friend’s shield stats.

But the indicator on the shield can let you keep track of how and whether your teammates are buying full, half, or keeping their broken shields, meaning you can build your strategies around it. That said, don’t be pushy about buying full shields, as many players love Fnatic’s half-shield approach and may find your advice annoying.