Valorant: Release date, trailer, gameplay, and everything we know

Valorant, Riot Games' new competitive free-to-play FPS, wants to go toe-to-toe with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. First announced as "Project A" during Riot's 10-year anniversary stream, Valorant blends the character abilities of Overwatch with fatal five-on-five gunplay that rewards quick reflexes and precision, and Riot says it's put a huge amount of work into ensuring lag and wonky hit detection don't get in the way.

Those bold technical promises are the primary way Riot intends to differentiate Valorant from its direct competition, which includes Overwatch, CS:GO, and Rainbow Six Siege. Even if it does have the best netcode, though, that won't mean anything if Valorant's mix of quick time-to-kill combat and character abilities doesn't feel distinct enough.

To help get you up to speed, we've absorbed every bit of information (including experiences from our own hands-on demo) and whipped up this overview of all things Valorant, from its expected release date to the guns you'll using. As more details emerge, you can return to this page to stay up to date on all the latest intel. Here's everything we know so far about Valorant, Riot Games' new FPS.

When is Valorant's release date? 

Riot hasn't officially confirmed a release date for Valorant, but it's planning to release it in the summer of 2020. The exact release date will depend on feedback received during Valorant's beta. 

What about a Valorant beta? 

Riot has confirmed that Valorant will have a beta but hasn't committed to a specific date. 

What's the latest news on Valorant? 

• Valorant will have a battle pass and sell cosmetics, but it won't have loot boxes
• We went hands-on with Valorant—check out our full preview here
• Valorant's will will release sometime "this summer"
• Riot is on a crusade to eradicate 'peeker's advantage' in Valorant

So, what is Valorant? 

Valorant is a tactical 5v5 character-based shooter set in a near-future version of Earth. There'll be around 10 characters at launch with more coming. All the characters have a set of four unique abilities, two of which you have to buy with money earned between rounds, at the same time you buy weapons and armor.

Once you've chosen your character, you're locked into them for the entirety of a match, which consists of up to 24 rounds with sudden death in the event of a tie. Currently there is only one main mode: Bomb defusal. Just like in Counter-Strike, one team must plant a bomb at a bomb site while the other team defends.

Though the abilties seem inspired by Overwatch, Valorant has some key distinctions that make it a lot more like Counter-Strike. For one, each character's "ultimate" ability has an extremely long cooldown that can last multiple rounds, so you won't be constantly firing wall-piercing arrows, laying tripmines, or triggering poison-cloud ambushes.

Characters also aren't bound to using one type of gun. At the beginning of each round, you can purchase a variety of different weapons in addition to some secondary abilities that have a limited number of charges. But Valorant's combat emphasizes skilled gunplay more than high-powered abilities.

Speaking of gunplay, Valorant's guns will be just about as deadly as CS:GO and Siege's. Headshots will almost always be a one-hit kill, while most rifles will kill characters with three to four shots to the torso. Expect firefights in Valorant to be fast.

who are Valorant's characters? 

Though the roster will likely expand in the future, Riot said it's aiming to have at least 10 characters ready for Valorant's launch. Though we haven't seen or played all ten, here's a quick overview of the eight we do know about.

For a full breakdown of each character and their abilities, check out our extensive Valorant characters guide.

• Sova - Fires magic arrows that penetrate walls and can travel clear across the map and deal big damage.
• Phoenix - Can curve flashbangs around corners.
• Cypher - A defensive powerhouse who can lay tripmines and stick a camera to a wall to watch for flanking attacks.
• Jett - Can leap into the air and throw knives for quick, surprise kills.
• Viper - Can unleash poison clouds that blind enemies or zone them into a deadly ambush.
• Brimstone - Calls in orbital bombardments that either help friends or obliterate enemies.
• Sage - Valorant's resident medic can heal or revive allies.
• Omen - A shifty rogue who can get behind enemy lines or temporarily blind them.

What about Valorant guns?

(Image credit: Riot Games)

Like Counter-Strike, weapons in Valorant are purchased at the beginning of each round, meaning no character is stuck using one type of weapon. While we don't know too much about Valorant's arsenal, here's a quick overview of each gun.

• Sidearms - Base pistol, slim (sawed off), autopistol, luger, revolver
• SMGs - Vector, MP4
• Shotguns - Pump, auto
• Rifles - Burst, DMR, AK, Carbine
• Snipers - Leversniper, Bolt Sniper
• Heavies - LMG, HMG
• Melee - Tactical knife

How will Valorant's microtransactions work? 

Riot hasn't gone into detail about how Valorant's free-to-play progression and microtransactions will work, but it has given us some basic information. Each character will be unlockable through regular play, which suggests that players won't immediately have access to the full roster (similar to a lot of free-to-play shooters like Apex Legends).

Microtransactions will be available, but players don't have to worry about them being used to gain any kind of competitive edge. Though the full scope of purchasable items isn't confirmed, players can expect to customize their character through player cards, sprays (logos or symbols that can be sprayed onto the environment).

What's the big deal with Valorant's anti-cheat system and servers? 

Riot has indicated that it's investing a lot of time and energy into solving some of the biggest problems facing multiplayer shooters: Cheating and lag. On the cheating front, Riot has developed a new kernel-level anticheat system that it says should make most common forms of hacking impossible, making Valorant extra secure against aimhacks. What's interesting, though, is that the development team also designed every feature with possible exploits in mind.

One example given in our hands-on preview is that the crosshair doesn't change colors when it passes over an enemy, because dishonest players could easily write a script that checks those pixels and automatically fires a shot when they change colors.

Riot is also using server technology developed for League of Legends with the aim of providing a consistently lag-free experience. Dedicated servers for each region will run with a 128 tickrate, which should result in more responsive ballistics and character movement. For reference, CS:GO's matchmaking uses 64 tick servers, while Apex Legends appears to be as low as 20.

Valorant will also use Riot Direct, a global networking infrastructure that Riot built for League of Legends to guarantee players always get the fastest and most stable connection to multiplayer servers. If you've never heard of Riot Direct this video explains how it works, but the gist is that even with the fastest internet and servers, lag can still occur thanks to how internet service providers route traffic through their hub. Back in 2014, Riot started partnering with different ISPs around the world to physically add routers into their datacenters that would ensure League of Legends players had a more consistent, lower ping across the US and Europe. Valorant will use that same infrastructure and with Riot Direct, Riot predicts that 70 percent of players will access regional Valorant servers with a ping lower than 35 ms. 

Valorant system requirements

Minimum (30fps)

• OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
• RAM: 4GB
• CPU: Intel i3-370M
• GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB VRAM)

Recommended (60fps)

• OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
• RAM: 4GB
• CPU: Intel i3-370M
• GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB VRAM)

High-end (144+fps)

• OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
• RAM: 4GB
• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2Ghz
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti (1GB VRAM)

These specs are pretty darn low for most PC gamers out there. Even if you haven't upgraded your rig in years, Valorant will probably run like a dream. Valorant's painterly art style and flat lighting make a lot more sense when you consider its wide compatibility.