How to get better at VALORANT

If you’ve been struggling to rank up in VALORANT and are wondering where you’re going wrong, well, you’re certainly not the only one feeling this way. But don’t worry—our tips will help you get better at your favorite tac shooter. 

Millions of players strive to improve and reach a new VALORANT peak every day, but only a small percentage of them make it to the top two ranks—Radiant and Immortal—in a season. According to Tracker Network, only 0.032 percent of the North American servers are Radiant in Episode Nine, Act Three at the time of writing. All three tiers in Immortal house less than one percent of the player base. This alone indicates how difficult the competition is, especially in an Elo greater than Diamond.

Getting stuck in an Elo hell can be frustrating, but beating yourself up about it won’t help. Improving your mechanics and game sense will. If you’re ready to buckle up and conquer the quirks of VALORANT, we’ve compiled a list of apt “get better” tips, both basic and advanced, just for you.

11 tips to get better at VALORANT in 2024

Improve your movement tech

We tend to focus most of our energy on improving our aim but often forget how crucial good movement is to win fights in VALORANT. For starters, make sure you master the “strafe, stop, and shoot” mechanic as it’s the most basic but essential maneuver in the game.

Practicing and master peeking is a great way to gather intel, bait your enemies, and even secure a kill or two. Make sure you know how to jump and jiggle peek for information and swing against an enemy to throw their aim off.

In case you’re wondering, counter strafing may be a popular mechanic in other tactical shooters, but it doesn’t offer a significant benefit in VALORANT. While strafing, just let go of the A or D key to stop your movement completely and then shoot. If you’re already used to counter strafing from a different game, however, you can continue practicing it.

Nothing’s more important than crosshair placement

As every esports pro or ranked demon would tell you, your crosshair placement skills are critical when it comes to VALORANT or any gunplay-focused tactical shooter. Your chances of winning a gunfight against an enemy depend on your mechanical aim and your game sense and map knowledge. Aim for headshots at all times, but also keep these in mind:

• VALORANT maps have varying features with changing elevation, so you’d have to be wary of where your crosshair should be as you move around.
• Predict how your enemy will peek—wide or close—against a cover and place your crosshair accordingly.
• While most of your aim game is determined by how well you control your mouse, try using your keyboard’s A and D keys to make the necessary micro-adjustments for more accuracy.    

Focus on precision more than speed. While hitting outlandish shots with flicks may feel satisfying, there’s very little guarantee that you’ll secure kills like that every time. Accuracy, on the other hand, ensures higher consistency. Take your time to aim and make sure you shoot when still. Flick when necessary, but choose the latter if there’s an opportunity to be slow and precise.

Don’t shy away from mastering controversial styles

Embracing mechanics like running and gunning, crouch strafe spraying, and jump firing may trigger your enemies and invite some unpleasant language, but who cares? If you know what you’re doing, don’t be afraid to use the game’s quirks to your advantage. At the same time, keep in mind that moving and shooting reduces accuracy, so don’t overdo it.

This also applies to using controversial weapons types like shotguns and machine guns. Don’t let your enemies (or teammates) demotivate you from unleashing your wrath as the Judge or Odin god.

Read your enemies

Don’t just focus on what you have. Look at what the enemies are capable of and try to anticipate their moves. For example, if the enemy team has a Killjoy or Cypher, they’ll likely have them anchor one site and focus on the other. In this case, you can either choose to commit to the site with lesser reinforcements or bait your enemies into thinking that but end up in the other site.

Similarly, keep track of the enemy team’s ultimates as they’ll likely plan accordingly. For example, if an attacking Killjoy has her Lockdown on the Ascent map, you can expect her team to hit the B Site as it’s perfect for the ultimate’s range.

Pick the right aim routine for you

Whether you’re Bronze or Ascendant, practicing an aim routine before starting your day’s ranked grind is absolutely non-negotiable if you want to be more than just a casual player. That said, it’s also important to choose the right aim routine for you.

The aim routine you practice every day needs to focus on your weaknesses while improving your strength. Practicing any random routine won’t help your cause. While playing ranked games, identify your limitations. You may notice things like: 

1. Slow reaction time
2. Issues with crosshair placement while strafing and changing elevation in the world
3. Less accuracy for distant targets
4. Issues with recoil control
5. And many more…

Once you know what you need to improve, try focusing on those in the Practice Range or using an aim training tool like Aim Labs. 

You don’t have to build a routine of your own. Follow your favorite pros’ by all means. But identify whether it’s actually targeting your weaknesses. For example, a lot of players jump into the Practice Range, start mowing down bots as fast as they can to get a perfect score, and call that their “aim routine.” That’s only going to warm up your reaction time, not your crosshair placement.

For example, if you want to improve consistency, you should do this: Instead of trying to flick kill those bots, go slow and make sure you hit every shot on the head. Slowly increase the pace. If you miss shots, slow down again. Note where their heads are and train your aim to keep at that level at all times. Shoot only two or three bullets at a time to ensure potent bursts instead of spraying a number of bullets and losing control on the recoil. To train headshots at an elevation, you can stand on the ledge of the Practice Range screen in front of the spawn area and try to hit headshots on the bots. Here’s my favorite aim routine for your reference.

Learn at least one agent of every class

It’s never a good idea to pick an agent you aren’t sure about in your ranked VALORANT games. But not having the advantage of an essential role like initiator or controller definitely reduces your win chances. To tackle this dilemma, I recommend mastering at least one agent from each class. So, if need be, you can fill for your team without affecting your gameplay.

You can’t stop the instalockers, but you can play the role your team needs you to and try your best to win a match.

Master agent-specific mechanics

A VALORANT agent can do a lot more than what their abilities say they can. For example, Neon can run around and slide into an enemy’s face, but she can also bunny hop like no other agent and perform back slides. Raze’s satchels allow her to blast into sites, while Jett’s dash lets her escape and dodge bullets. Controller agents can throw one-way smokes, while sentinels can lock down sites with nearly undetectable setups.

If you want to get better at the game, make sure you know all the quirks of your main agents and master them well. This will definitely give you a significant edge over your enemies, letting you win more games.

Communication is key

If you don’t have a working microphone, get one. VALORANT is a team game and requires a lot of coordination, so speaking up is really crucial. You may win a few games without comms, leading you to believe that you don’t need to talk to win—but that’s where many players in low Elo go wrong.

VALORANT matches get more and more complicated as you rank up, with players starting to rely more on game sense than mechanics. To tackle your enemies, you need to start playing with the team. Start from the Agent Select screen: Discuss what your team composition should be based on the map. Once you’re in the match, start sharing any ideas you have in mind. If you may need a teammate to use a support ability for your plan to succeed, don’t hesitate to tell them.

Also, I can’t stress enough: If you’re in a party of two or three, make sure you include the remaining teammates in your plans. Sure, you may win a couple of rounds by communicating with just the people in your party, but you still need to play as a team of five—or you’ll just be outnumbered. If your party has thought of a way to tackle the enemies, make sure the rest of the team is aware. They can help support your plan further, establish control over the rest of the map, or have a backup plan if yours doesn’t work out. This is how you maintain a high win rate.

Don’t solo queue

While most of the VALORANT player base queue solo, it isn’t the best choice for those who want to rank up fast. As mentioned earlier, communication plays a key role in the game and playing in a stack makes it much easier. 

As a party of two, three, or five, you can execute strong plans and counter enemy strategies together. If you’re solo, however, you not only need to use a push-to-talk team mic to explain your ideas but there’s also no guarantee that your teammates will cooperate. Stacking also reduces the chances of getting a thrower or casual-minded player on your team, so you can focus on winning. 

Follow the meta

Keep track of the prevailing meta in VALORANT. Try to switch between agents based on the trends. For example, if you’ve always been a Viper main, try mastering Omen for a change. Considering the current map rotation, he’s much better as a solo controller and offers a range of abilities that suit the team’s needs. The more flexible you are with agent picks, the better.

At the same time, it’s also important to choose agents based on the map and have a suitable team composition. For example, on the Pearl map, one should ideally go for Astra’s global control or a double controller setup featuring Viper and Harbor—instead of Omen or Brimstone.  

If you’re not sure what to pick or master at the moment, don’t worry—our VALORANT agent tier list explains the meta in detail and is exactly what you need right now.

Maintain harmony and a good mentality

It’s important to remember that VALORANT is a video game. You can’t win every match you step foot in, so let those losses be a source of learning instead of demotivation and toxicity. 

Being an online multiplayer experience, you can’t control who you get matched with, especially if you queue solo. Be as polite and patient with your teammates as you can. Don’t engage in aggressive and toxic behavior: It’ll only destroy your team’s morale and lessen your chances of winning the match. Some of your teammates may not be as good or follow an approach you don’t believe in—and all that may not work in your favor. In that case, you’ve to learn to let it go and try focusing on your individual performance. Despite a loss, you may lose less RR if you perform better than your MMR by securing more kills and scoring a high ACS.

Lastly and most importantly, don’t let a few bad matches demoralize you. Keep striving and you’ll achieve a new peak in no time.