Characters with super-abilities, loud explosions, and a modern-retro gaming style have made Valorant a popular game. This 5v5 character-based tactical-shooting game from Riot is already competing head-to-head with the biggest games in its genre. It’s among the most played games today, and it even looks great. It’s even freely available for download from playvalorant.com. The game doesn’t even need high-end hardware to run, so it’s a must-try if you like competitive, first-person multiplayer shooters. So, what’s the game all about? How do you play it and most importantly, will it run on your laptop. That’s what we’re here to talk about today.
Valorant will be immediately familiar to gamers who have played Counter-Strike titles. If you haven’t played Counter-Strike before, there is a lot of fun to be had in Valorant. The most popular mode is Spike Rush. Each team of 5 takes turn to fight each other off, to plant a bomb called the Spike at one of the bomb sites. The defending team needs to stop them by diffusing the bomb or by killing all the opponents. Each player only has one life per round, so there is no scope of respawning.
The Spike Rush mode has a total of 25 rounds, and the team to win first 13 rounds wins the game. Players also earn credits in each round depending on their performance in previous rounds. They can use credits to buy 16 different weapons or unlock characters’ signature abilities. The game has Unrated, Competitive, Deathmatch modes that are also worth trying out. There’s a Custom Game mode that lets you create a lobby of 12 slots with 10-players and two players as observers.
Valorant characters are called Agents and they make the game very different from Counter-Strike. Each player picks one of 11 Agents at the beginning of a match. Every Agent has unique superpowers which players need to use strategically to win the game. Agents such as Sage, Phoenix, Jett, Brimstone, and Sova are available for free in the initial stages. The rest need to be unlocked by completing Contracts or buying a Battle Pass. You can also purchase Agents to skip some hard work. It is important to choose the right Agent when you start because you can’t switch Agents until the entire match is over.
Valorant has a neatly balanced modern-retro theme, somewhat like Apex Legends. The game has a total of 4 maps. Bling is a sandy industrial area that allows for face-to-face gunfights without circling around the map. Haven has an Asian monastery while Split has both traditional and modern Japanese architecture. Ascent has a floating European city, and it has few open areas where opposing teams can confront each other. All the maps have hideouts and chokepoints which you can tactically use to eliminate opponents. It might take a few weeks to evaluate each map’s strength and weaknesses, but once you know them, you can easily take down opponents silently and sneakily.
Valorant is designed to run even on entry-level machines. Here are the recommended system requirements to get the frame rates.
Minimum required specs for 30 fps
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
GPU: Intel HD 3000
RAM: 4GB
Riot Games says Valorant is playable at 30 fps without a dedicated graphics card. However, you might not have the smoothest gaming experience at 30 fps. The player will also have a hard time aiming at opponents with faster computers especially with a lot of action in-game. Thankfully, most modern entry-level laptops these days come with powerful hardware, and they should offer much higher frame rates than 30 fps. Here are some of our recommendations for affordable laptops that can run Valorant at least 30 fps at lower settings.
| Entry-level laptops |
Recommended specs for 60 fps
CPU: Intel Core i3 4150
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730
RAM: 4GB
At 60 fps, aiming opponents will be a lot easier and you can experience a smoother gaming experience. Most two to three-year-old, mid-range laptops should meet the game’s recommended specs, but future updates may slow down the performance. Here are some good mid-range laptops that should Valorant and most other games smoothly for a few years to come.
| Mid-range laptops |
High-end specs for 144 fps
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
RAM: 4GB
These specifications will let you play Valorant at its most glorious graphics settings. At 144 fps, the player can see things better, aim quickly, and actions such as grenade explosion will also appear a lot smoother without showing any drop in frame rates. A gaming laptop with a higher refresh rate screen helps too. Here are some thorough gaming laptops for Valorant and other modern gaming titles.
| High-end laptops |
Valorant is a fun-to-play first-person multiplayer game that you should try with your friends. A pair of good gaming headphones and a gaming mouse might help gain a competitive advantage over others. You can have a hands-on experience on a variety of future-ready laptops and gaming accessories by visiting your nearest Reliance Digital store. You can also look for them online by visiting www.reliancedigital.in and have them delivered at home.
