How To Get Better At Valorant: 14 Best Tips & Tricks

Tired of hearing “git gud” over and over in Valorant, and you’ve just had enough? Say no to being told “noob” and become a better Valorant player than ever using this tailored guide. With a spot-on game plan to follow and a bunch of instructions to keep you going in the right direction, you’ll get there in due time.

Best Tips and Tricks to Get Good At Valorant

We have come up with the 14 best tips and tricks for you to become an ultimate player in Valorant. So, start implementing them in your playthroughs and you’d begin winning more than losing in the game. 

• Best Valorant Crosshair Settings

Hone Your Skills in the Practice Mode 

Always stay one step ahead of your enemies by putting in the work beforehand. Valorant’s Practice Mode is flawless if you intend to do just that. You get to pick the operators of your choice, try their abilities, acclimate yourself to the overall movement, and even face off against the AI to get a hint of the real deal.

We know how irresistible it is to get right into a match, but spending half an hour and then some practicing will pay off exceptionally well. From getting used to the crosshair placement to experimenting with different operators before you buy them, the Practice Mode welcomes everyone who’s eager to improve.

The saying, “Practice makes perfect” isn’t so widely circulated without a good reason. However, most players aren’t willing to put in the work and just want to dive right into the action. Sure, but don’t expect favorable results coming in that way.

It’s only for the greater good that you make Valoran’t Practice Mode your best friend if you ever want to be the top 1% of Valorant’s players. The nice part is that there are a wide variety of ways you can improve when you train. That is to say, you don’t have to succumb to a single blatant way of practicing in Valorant. 

The following is a screenshot that illustrates four different ways of playing the Practice Mode of Valorant. We fare the second one—Shooting Test—as the most important out of them all. Acknowledging how to get good at Valorant starts from here, so dive right in without any further ado and see yourself getting better at aiming gradually. 

• Sick Valorant Settings

Exercise Effective Communication

Valorant emphasizes communicating with your squad and working the battle out together. You can use this game mechanic to your advantage by providing an idea of your foe’s whereabouts to your teammates, even when you die. The game lets you ping locations on the map using the Z key which has been set by default.

Moreover, you can also open the map yourself whenever it’s safe enough to know exactly where you stand in-game. You can then proceed to communicate with your team and employ the grace of teamwork to win faceoffs like never before. Exercising effective communication is a definite way of improving at the game whenever you’re playing with a squad. If you tend to gun solo for most of the time, however, keep on reading for other fixes. 

• In the meantime, check out the best games like Valorant to Play in 2023.

Utilize the Portals Properly

This may come as a surprise, but the portals in the game aren’t just a one-way route to the other side. Instead, you can also throw in your grenades, rockets, smokes, and other character abilities to wipe out the enemy in the opposing end.

If done properly, this technique could fritter your opponent’s self-esteem and insinuate them to get good, period. This is why we advise you to adopt critical thinking and strategize your way in the murky arenas of Valorant.

Be Wary of Your Spending

Valorant implements a buy system in the game where at the start of each round, you can buy and upgrade your arsenal of deadly weapons using an in-game currency. If you’re the Rambo of shooters and are bagging in the most kills/bomb defusions, you won’t struggle with the money.

But if you’re like some of us and not all rounds go booming for you, consider saving up for those important times when the best gear could help you determine the match’s outcome.

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Increase Accuracy by Standing Still

Gunning your way through hordes of enemies might be pretty cool in a zombie game, but we’re talking about Valorant right now where doing that will get you nowhere except the respawn screen. When engaging with the opposition in a 1v1 fashion, do take your cover, but try standing still while shooting to increase your accuracy by leaps and bounds.

While you should also study the spray patterns of your most used weapons, shooting motionlessly is sure to best your opponent before they do. A bonus tip here is to keep your aim somewhere around the head height.
Additionally, here are some more extra tips for you.

• Probe the floor after the end of each round for better weapons than yours. This could help save your earnings.
• Back out of the area when a bomb’s about to go off to preserve your weapons and abilities.

How to Get Better at Aiming in Valorant – Aim Down Sights More

This is more of a general FPS tip rather than a Valorant specific one, but an exceptionally effective one nonetheless. Whenever you turn a corner or are entering a new area in which you’re unaware of the enemy’s presence, always begin entering with your weapon aimed down the sights.

Doing so will almost always give you the upper hands in bouts, meaning that you’re already prepared to gun down any forthcoming threat and are basically one step ahead of the competition. Not only will you have more time to adjust your aim before going for the kill, but you’ll also be able to do it more effectively with the enemy caught by surprise. 

However, you need to tell the difference between when to aim down sights more and when not to. Tons of weapons in Valorant have terrific hip fire potential which are better off firing without using the sights. This is what brings us to our next tip on how to get good at Valorant.

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Get to Know Your Weaponry

Valorant has 17 weapons in total that you can choose from, purchase, and even unlock by ticking off Contracts. Each weapon is different in many ways. Apart from the obvious damage-dealing statistic, each weapon, depending on its class, has its unique recoil and spray pattern. 

Therefore, weapon categories range from pistols, SMGs, shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and heavy weapons. For instance, the Vandal assault rifle is a fairly tricky weapon to main in Valorant. It is popularly known to get crazy with the recoil when you spray the gun all the way down to the last bullet.

In the other corner of the ring, we got Phantom – another tip-top rifle that’s popular among the high rankers of Valorant. Its recoil differs substantially from that of Vandal’s. When you unload the clip on a target in Practice Mode, you’ll find that the spray pattern tends to go up and left near the end of the magazine. 

Therefore, this is all what “Get to know your weaponry” is about. If you’ve found a weapon that seems to be working wonders for you, walk the extra mile with it and hop on the Practice Mode. Train its recoil and learn its spray pattern. This is one of the best ways how to get better at Valorant, so dive right in!  

Learn Movement 

We seriously cannot stress this enough, but mastering your movement is key if you want to thrive in Valorant. Some professional players such as ScreaM regard movement as even more important than aiming, and that’s basically saying a lot about this game element.

Movement is willing to go as advanced as you’re willing to take it, with advanced techniques factoring in to give you like-minded results. For instance, an expert-level movement skill called counter-strafing is definitely the one to learn if you want to know how to get better at Valorant. 

Strafing is basically moving left and right with your “A” and “D” keys respectively. However, counter-strafing not only implies moving opposite to your enemy but also increasing the accuracy to a deadshot level. It revolves around moving left and right quickly with simultaneous shooting in-between. 

This automatically allows you to get better at aiming in Valorant and makes you a harder target to focus on. The following is an overview of how counter-strafing can be learned in the game, so do check it out for an in-depth visual explanation. 

Watch How the Professionals Do It 

Valorant has become a brand in the esports space. Several professional teams have made the switch from other FPS titles towards Valorant’s way simply because of its vibrant, 5 vs 5 team-based hero shooter orientation. And, of course, due to the fact that it’s free to play.

As it is with every other sport, therefore, you watch the experts and learn from the experts irrevocably. Several professional players have arrived at the forefront of Valorant’s esports scene and have already gained a strong foothold. Look at Shroud for instance.

This Canadian streamer and former esports player goes around sporting the best Valorant settings that one can easily replicate to up their game. Take a look at our Shroud settings guide if you want to learn how he became a good aim in Valorant. 

Look for the best settings, similar to Shroud’s, and compare them with what you use. In addition, look for patterns that the professionals use to haul in kills and dominate their match-ups. This is one of the best ways of getting good at Valorant in a gradual manner.  

Know When to Slow Down the Pace 

Dying ad nauseam without a slight break? You’ve got to tone down the pace a little bit to unwind and regain your focus. While Valorant is popularly known for its breakneck gameplay and chaotic gunplays, you don’t always have to follow suit and blend in with the rhythm of the match you’re in.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of concentration and carving your own path during the match-ups to avoid getting stuck in the heat of the moment. Remember the “Aim Down Sights More” section above? Others could be doing the same, given how it’s such an expert-grade practice to implement.

In that case, you’ll be no less than an easy picking by members of the opponent team. That’s why it’s perfectly all right to move at your own pace, be wary of your surroundings, and become fully alert whenever you’re approaching a corner or a new area with poor visibility at the entrance. 

Pay Attention to the In-Game Minimap

This is more of a directly practical advice but albeit an impactful one. The minimap is a player’s best friend in almost every multiplayer team-based first-person shooter there is and Valorant is no exception. It’s teeming with useful information and can be observed playing its part in the top-left corner in-game. 

Not only can you see the location of your hero and other friendly players, but the minimap helps pinpoint the whereabouts of enemy heroes too. In addition, it comprises the names of different regions within the map you’re playing on. Players can also set location markers to indicate a point of interest. 

Doing so allows a team to collaborate and work together to bring down enemy squads. You’re definitely going to love the potential of the minimap if it’s used appropriately. With that being said, we’d like to bring your attention toward another facet of Valorant’s minimap: Visual Cones. 

The Visual Cones, when enabled within the game, allow you to observe the direction a player is facing. The minimap feature makes it possible to implement strategies and allows you to think on your feet. You can face one direction in the round knowing that the teammate you have is facing the other. 

Working together that way is a sure-fire way of success in your Valorant bouts. You can make the best of the Vision Cones feature even if you’re not teaming up and communicating with someone. It’s surely one of the best ways how to get better at Valorant at an exponential rate.

You’re free to watch the following video and learn how to enable this minimap functionality right from the “Settings” section. 

Optimize the Crosshair and Sensitivity

Crosshair placement is something that’s central to success in most FPS games and not just Valorant. The latter despite all its pizzazz and flash of hero abilities, is still reminiscent of conventional shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

This is a genre of games where optimizing your crosshair goes a long way in determining the outcome of 1 vs 1 bouts and overall success. Your crosshair in Valorant should have a color that you can perceive at first glance. In addition, it should be placed near head height, so you can potentially be the first to grab the kill. 

These are things that can take significant time. The same goes for sensitivity, which is how quickly or slowly your camera moves when you pan it with your mouse. Setting the sensitivity at a level where it’s too fast will make things uncontrollable for you. 

On the same side, going too slow will almost always get you dead without a lot of effort from the delivering end. So, what do we do? We hop into the Practice Mode and hammer out the imperfections. That’s what we do. It’s strongly advised to try multiple different types of crosshair such as Circle crosshair or others for that matter to get used with the sensitivity settings which helps in determining what works the best for you.

Investing your time doing all that is definitely going to pay off more than you can image. The professionals spend hours and hours nailing the perfect crosshair placement that works for them, so you can assume how they get at the top level. 

Record Your Gameplay 

One of the best ways you can bring tenfold improvement to your game is by reviewing how you play. Sounds kind of weird, but take it from us, it isn’t. Expert individuals, full-scale teams, tournament players—all are well-aware how important it is to self-reflect.

Recording your gameplay can help you realize the mistakes you make even when you don’t mean to. Keeping the habit of reviewing your games close with yourself will eventually hardwire your muscle memory to not repeat the same hiccups again and again. 

You’ll certainly get there with time where you’re overcoming your mistakes and becoming a better version of yourself than ever before. Do try recording your gameplay and see what fruit it brings. You will have to use a third-party software to do this though as Valorant doesn’t have a built-in recorder at the present. 

Play Consistently

The last bit of advice that we have for you is nothing but simple. Playing consistently among all other tips and tricks on how to get better at Valorant is a sure-fire method of welcoming improvement. You’re not going to do better if you don’t play the game on a regular basis. 

Now, obviously, we’re not advising you to build a bathroom underneath your gaming chair and spend 24 hours on Valorant. Manage your time and make a habit of playing daily—do make sure not to get too addicted though. It’s not difficult to do that. 

Anyhow, the main reason we’re advising you to play consistently is due to the incorporation of game sense. You’ll be a better, more well-informed player by putting in the hours and knowing what goes where and how. Game sense is when you automatically realize what route to take, how to move properly, and what safety measures to kick in during a heated gunfight. 

Game sense and experience are two things that go hand in hand. There’s always going to be that one bossy player on the opposite team that’ll teach you a couple of things before the end of the round. If you’re fairly new, it’s going to be the defeats, the humiliation, and the thrill of it all that’s going to take you to the next level.  

Summary 

Valorant is surely one of the hottest free-to-play multiplayer shooter games that one can pick up and play. It boasts a rich, flamboyant community with exceedingly enjoyable gameplay mechanics. It cements the fact that the quality of freebie titles is at a level where the line between paid and free games is blurred. However, as it is with every other FPS title, Valorant sure knows how to get competitive and if you don’t keep up with the flow, you’re going to get butchered left and right. 

That is why we have rounded up the best tips and tricks on how to get better at Valorant for you to implement. Most of the advice is taken straight out of the mouths of professional-grade, esports-level players who eat fellow participants for breakfast without breaking a sweat. To sum it up, make Valorant’s Practice Mode your best friend and keep playing consistently for the best results. It’ll take some time, but you’re certainly get there with time.

Valorant employs players in a hero-centric, rapid-paced, full-of-life 5 vs 5 situation with each character boasting its own set of unique abilities. Tactical gunplay, diverse maps, and a whole lot of guns are what that best define the free-to-play genius of Valorant. The game has a steep learning curve and requires aspiring players to pay attention if they ever want to make it to the big leagues.

Do let us know down in the comments section if there’s something important that we missed. We’d be delighted to read your feedback if you’ve got some of your expert advice for others to check out.