What to Expect in the Valorant Closed Beta
Riot Games’ brand new 5v5 tactical shooter Valorant will soon be in the hands of eager fans, as the closed beta will begin on April 7th. Getting access to the beta is invite-only, which can be earned via watching Twitch streamers from April 3rd, by connecting your Riot and Twitch accounts.
Game Modes
Currently, we only know of one game mode for the beta: Bomb Defusal. As in CS:GO, one team plants the bomb, while the other team defends the bomb site. Bomb Defusal is played in up to 24 rounds, and in the event of a tie, sudden death is implemented.
Characters
The Valorant beta will come with ten playable characters, of which eight have been revealed. Each character or ‘Agent’ will have a set of four abilities, two of which are purchasable at the start of the game and in between rounds and bought with in-game currency earned throughout the game. Every Agent begins with one Signature ability and earns their Ultimate through eliminations (or 'Charged' by kills).
Once a character is chosen, you are locked-in for the whole game as that Agent.
Maps
- Haven
Click to enlargeHaven will have not the traditional two bomb sites, but instead will uniquely have three. Three bomb sites will allow for more tactical and strategic play from the attacking team, as well as more aggressive plays from the defence.
- Bind
Bind sticks to the two bomb site setup, but lacks the neutral middle zone. To counter this, Bind includes two one-way teleporters, allowing easy transition from one bomb site to the other. However, they do make a hell of a lot of noise, meaning the defence can keep track of your movements easily.
Platforms
The information we currently have indicates that the Valorant beta will only be available to play on PC, but we will update this article if anything changes.
Available Weapons
Click to enlargeAs seen in the Valorant gameplay footage, there are a variety of weapons to pick from before the round starts. The guns are purchasable with in-game money earned between rounds, which is also used to buy armour and abilities.
Ranked
Rumours are floating around the Reddit-verse that Ranked modes be included in the beta. Further to this, it has been suggested that a prize pool (it's unconfirmed whether this will be in-game currency or real-world money) will be in place for the top-ranked players themselves to earn.
This has yet to be confirmed by anyone from Riot Games.
Art1st confirmed that the "VALORANT" rank is the one where you'll get paid, the prize pool there will be considered as an additional reward. from r/VALORANT
Riot has not yet confirmed what the beta will include, or how long it will run. The release date for the full version of Valorant is set to be Summer 2020.
Images via Riot Games
