The best ways to warm up for VALORANT

Many VALORANT players around the world would agree that before jumping into the ranked grind, it’s best to warm up one’s mechanics with a couple of little exercises to get the blood flowing.

Whether you haven’t played in a long time or you’re a seasoned veteran, making sure that you aren’t going into your next ranked match cold is imperative to success. There are many ways to warm up for VALORANT, whether you’re hopping into some five-man lobbies with your friends or solo climbing to the top of your respective ladder.

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From in-game tools available at all times to downloadable games off of Steam, here are the best ways to warm up for your next VALORANT grind.

Aimlabs

FPS enthusiasts will swear by Aimlabs as a tool for improvement in not just VALORANT, but in almost any shooter. The free program can be downloaded off of Steam and has a whole catalog of exercises that train your aim, movement, and more. There are also game-specific exercises that help you train on specific maps and in specific situations. For example, if there is a certain corner that you can’t seem to hold against an attacking team, you can search for a scenario that emulates this in Aimlabs, so you can practice it over and over.

The Range

The range in VALORANT might seem basic, but its perfection lies in its simplicity. Players who just want to warm up their flicks and aim can hop into a quick practice session to loosen up their wrists and get into the mindset for headshots. You can even turn up the heat by switching on Hard mode, which only gives a couple of seconds for the player to take down the bot that spawns in. It’s relatively difficult but is a good way to prepare for the real deal.

Deathmatch

For some low-stakes action against real players, Deathmatch is a perfect place to train your aim and reaction time since all you need to do is swing and hit your shots. This is a good way to dip your toe into true gameplay since you can practice covering angles and taking fights in awkward areas. Since the spawns will also frequently have people pop up behind you, this can test your ability to turn and counter-attack as quickly as possible.

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Swiftplay

Swiftplay lies as the last frontier before the start of your true climb. Quicker than an unrated but maintaining similar economy and strategy, this mode allows you to practice more communication with teammates, along with intelligent map rotations and more accurate in-game situations. Rip through a Swiftplay and you should be right as rain when you finally swap the game mode to competitive.