How VALORANT works - 1.1
The round: attack, defense, spike
In one line: Each round the attackers try to plant the spike and make it detonate while the defenders try to stop them: rounds are won by eliminating everyone, by detonating or defusing the spike, or when time runs out.
Two teams, one objective
A VALORANT match is made of rounds. In each round one team of five attacks and the other defends. The attackers carry the spike, a bomb they must plant on one of the map's sites (the areas marked A, B and sometimes C). The defenders must stop them.
A round ends in one of these ways:
- the attackers win if the planted spike detonates, or if they eliminate every defender;
- the defenders win if they defuse the spike, if they eliminate every attacker before the plant, or if the round timer runs out with no spike planted.
One important detail: once the spike is planted, eliminating every attacker is not enough. The defense still has to defuse it before it detonates.
The phases of a round
Every round goes through three moments.
The buy phase. Before the round starts you have some time (30 seconds, 45 in the first round of each half) to buy guns, armor and abilities with your credits. Both teams are held in their spawn areas by barriers: you can move around, but you cannot leave.
The round itself. The barriers drop and the timer starts: 1 minute 40 seconds (100 seconds) to plant. In this phase the attackers gather information and space, choose where to hit and go in; the defenders hold the sites, rotate and try not to be caught off guard.
The post-plant. If the attackers plant, the round timer disappears and the spike timer starts: 45 seconds to detonation. Now the defense has to get onto the site and defuse while the attack tries to stop them. This is the post-plant, and it is almost a different game: the former attackers are now defending the spike.
The spike in practice
At the start of the round the spike belongs to one attacker (you can pass it or drop it for a teammate to pick up). If the carrier dies, the spike drops: another attacker can pick it up, a defender cannot.
- Planting takes 4 seconds standing still, inside the plant zones marked on the ground. If you are interrupted, you start over.
- Defusing takes 7 seconds, with a checkpoint at 3.5 seconds: if you stop after halfway, the next defuse resumes from there.
- When the spike detonates it kills anyone nearby: at the end of the timer, if you are not defusing, get away.
Planting also gives every attacker 300 credits, even if they then lose the round. That is one reason a plant is worth it even when the round looks hard.
What carries over between rounds
Every round starts fresh: everyone is alive again, back in spawn. But some things carry over:
- credits: what you earned (winning, losing, killing, planting) gets spent next round;
- guns and armor, if you survived: a rifle you saved is still yours next round, for free;
- ultimate points, which build up round after round until you use your ultimate;
- unused abilities you had bought.
That is why a round is not only about who wins it: how it ends matters too. Losing a round with three rifles saved is very different from losing it with everyone dead. The economy parts cover this in depth.
Example
A round from start to finish
Buy phase: you buy a rifle and armor. The barriers drop. Your team moves towards mid, gathers information and at 45 seconds decides to go B. You go in behind a smoke and a flash, win two duels and plant. The spike timer starts: three of you set up on angles watching it. A defender tries to defuse and goes down. At zero the spike detonates: the round is yours, plus 300 credits for the plant.
The right way to think about a round
At first VALORANT looks like a game where whoever gets the most kills wins. In reality you win the round, not the duels. A kill helps if it brings your team closer to winning the round; a kill that costs you a site or wastes your time can lose it.
So while you play, keep two simple questions in mind: how much time is left and what wins us the round right now. On attack with no plant, the answer is almost always "get to a site in time". On defense after the plant, it is "defuse". Everything else follows from there.
Remember
- Attackers win if the spike detonates or if they eliminate every defender.
- Defenders win by defusing, by eliminating everyone before the plant, or if time runs out without a plant.
- After the plant the round timer disappears: only the spike timer matters.
- Each round is its own game, but money and guns carry over.
What not to do
Chasing a kill when the spike is down and little time is left.
Instead Think about what wins the round: on attack, protecting the spike is enough; on defense, you must defuse.
Forgetting the round timer on attack.
Instead Under 30 seconds with no plant you should already be moving to a site: you need seconds to get there and 4 to plant.
Dying alone at the end of a lost round and giving away your gun.
Instead If the round can no longer be won, save your gun for the next one.
Leaving the spike far away from the team.
Instead The carrier stays near teammates; if they die, someone picks it up right away.