By Daniel Yae
Valorant is a tactical first-person shooter that was released on June 2, 2020 and nearly two years later the game is entering its fourth episode. Valorant is one of the most popular FPS games in the world currently and continues to expand with new maps, agents, and updates. The rank system will reset as well and the grind to climb to your new desired rank goal begins. Episodes are seasons with major changes and updates to the game, each episode lasting around six months, and each episode has three acts also containing updates and being roughly two months long.
This new episode contains updates on a couple of maps, including Breeze and Bind. Breeze is a very open map the Valorant developers have decided to add more cover around bomb sites to help both the attackers’ side and defenders’ side on the map. These are some needed changes on the map that will benefit and help both sides when playing.
Weapons are also getting buffs and nerfs in the game. Ares will no longer spin up, and the fire rate of the gun is being increased from 10 to 13. This seems like a massive buff to a gun that already felt pretty balanced. Guardian will now have the same speed when using aiming down scope (ADS) and non-ADS. The spectre has arguably been one of the best guns in the game and it is getting a much-needed nerf from long distances. They’ve also increased the melee hitbox in the game.
A problem that Valorant has had for a while is the number of smurfs in the game. Smurfs are people that have another account in a much higher rank but decide to play on another account they have made and play in a much lower and easier rank. Valorant has tried to counter this by making accounts harder to make in hopes of reducing the number of smurfs. In order to play ranked you must have an account that is level 20+ whereas the old requirement was winning 10 unrated games. Unrated games are similar to rank games, but you don’t gain or lose any elo.
The new battle pass looks extremely good compared to past battle passes. With the Velocity knife looking fantastic and the skins, gun buddies, banners, and sprays looking incredible. This is the best battle pass knife release since the ruined dagger they released on Episode 1. These are items that you can get without having to pay ludacris prices for the skins they offer in the shop every two weeks. The cost is $10 on every new battle pass release.
With this Riot Games is also releasing a new skin bundle priced at $100 for the full set called the Protocol 781-A skins bundle.
The most exciting thing on the new episode release is the brand new agent. The official 18th agent named Neon who will be a duelist. Valorant has different agent groups such as controllers, duelists, initiators, and sentinels. Upon her release, Neon will be the fastest agent in the game and her abilities and trailer can be found here. Neon looks like an interesting agent that will be added to the game and hopefully will shake up the current meta of agents being used in the duelist role.
The new episode is expected to launch within the next couple of days. Find out more information at the official Valorant website.
