Shooting from ropes in VALORANT can give players an unfair advantage

As more pro players migrate to VALORANT, tiny exploits and advantages have emerged. It’s a natural part of the gaming cycle: players discover an advantage and use it until the company removes it.

VALORANT’s ropes are the latest discovery in the gaming cycle. Perching on these ropes gives players a speed and accuracy boost. 

In VALORANT, ropes allow players to climb between different levels in a specific location. The rope room is hard to navigate and can be a death sentence if a player is caught unaware. Savvy players discovered a bonus to clinging to the ropes, though. Ropes grant movement speed while maintaining high accuracy. The bonus movement and accuracy allow players to quickly peek in and out of danger. 

A player posted a clip of the effect earlier today. In the clip, the player finds themselves face to face with multiple enemies. By jumping on the rope, the player can rapidly peek their head and weapon over the top of the ledge, using it as a shield to block incoming damage. The increased speed makes the player on the ropes harder to hit from the enemy’s perspective. The player on the rope doesn’t suffer a loss of accuracy due to the speed, as one might expect, and is able to kill both enemies with well-placed headshots. 

Some of this is good mechanical aim on the player’s part, but it also demonstrates the advantage that increased mobility and accuracy can grant. When there’s a mobility advantage without a damage or accuracy reduction, the faster, more agile player will gain an edge in the fight. 

Mobility is a powerful tool in PvP environments. It’s possible that Riot will rebalance the effect if the technique gains traction among the player base. It’s also possible, however, that this is intentional and lets players defend themselves in a potentially futile situation.