Updated on December 20, 10:00 a.m. (GMT+8): Added photos.
Tyson “TenZ” Ngo is one of the premier professional players in the competitive Valorant scene.
The superstar player has drawn in FPS fans all over the world eager to watch his incredible aim that many try to emulate.
TenZ shared a detailed guide for Valorant beginners who made the switch from CS:GO to Valorant just like him. He expounded on Valorant’s different weapons and discussed how they should be utilized.
TenZ breaks down Valorant’s weapons and how to control their spray pattern
TenZ explained that Valorant has different buy phase mechanics compared to CS:GO, the competitive FPS he switched from.
He advises players to coordinate with their team on when to buy expensive weapons, shields, and utility, or if they should save their credits before the start of the round.
A team that keeps forcing half-buys – a round where you spend the few credits you have to purchase a weaker weapon, light armor, and few utilities – will constantly be playing at a disadvantage against a team that has stronger weapons, full armor, and all their abilities.
If some teammates have already bought, they can refund their weapons, shields, and utility, to increase their chances of winning the next round.
TenZ also compared the weapon mechanics in Valorant and how they’re different from CS:GO.
In Valorant, all weapons are available to both attacking and defending teams while CS:GO has some exclusive team weapons.
“Snipers are quite different compared to Counter-Strike,” he said. “In CS, you can be a lot more aggressive with the AWP and the Scout.”
For rifles, TenZ showed how to properly control their recoil. He explained that some weapons have similar recoil patterns, namely rifles and SMGs where their bullets go up and then move from left to right.
“When you’re trying to control spray pattern for a gun, just shoot at a wall first and see where they land,” he said. “When you’re trying to control the spray pattern for a gun, just shoot at a wall first and see where they land.”
“So you’re going to want to compensate your mouse down, to the right, then to the left,” said TenZ.
Another key feature of Valorant is the ability to aim down sights using rifles. “It reduces the overall fire rate of the gun, and makes the spray a little bit harder to control, says TenZ.” In CS:GO, only the Steyr Aug A3 and the Krieg 552 have the ADS feature.
Lastly, TenZ explained how counter-strafing is different in Valorant compared to CS:GO.
He said that players don’t need to press the opposite strafe key to stop their movement completely because letting go of either strafe key “instantly stops you, so you can get away without counter-strafing.”
The reasoning behind this is that in CS:GO, players have a higher movement speed. Since the game’s character models have a higher top speed, players use this to build up momentum to speed up even faster. With higher movement speed, players need to use the opposite strafe keys to slow down and come to a stop.
Valorant doesn’t have the same high move speed, which is why simply letting go of a strafe key will stop a player’s movement. This is also why players cannot bunny hop in Valorant since they can’t build up momentum.
TenZ has been releasing Valorant game guides since he picked up the game in 2020. He’s shared a guide on how to rank up in Valorant, how to optimize in-game and PC settings for Valorant, and which settings to turn off while playing.
READ MORE: All Valorant agents: Abilities, backgrounds, release dates
