The German top streamer Solaaaa was a guest on MeinMMO and talked to us about the advantages of Valorant and what could be improved. He had an interesting idea for a new agent.
Who is Solaaaa? Originally, Solaaaa (link to Twitch) began his streaming career with the MOBA League of Legends. He still streams that quite well on Twitch and is also active as an esports player for the club Spandauer Inferno. However, he has also been playing and streaming Valorant with great pleasure for some time now, and his over 300,000 followers are now divided into Valorant fans, LoL fans, and an intersection of both.
In Valorant, he especially loves the gameplay, the visuals, the tactical gameplay, and devising elaborate attack plans. Solaaaa is therefore well acquainted with Valorant, and our author Irina Moritz met him online for an interview.
New agents and map changes – What does Valorant currently lack?
This agent is needed in Valorant: In our interview, the question arose what Solaaaa envisions after Killjoy as the next agent? Irina guessed a further healer to relieve Sage, but Solaaaa had a completely different idea:
In Counter-Strike, you can extinguish a Molotov with a smoke. You can’t really stop the terrorists from pushing through a smoke with five. In Valorant, that doesn’t work that way. There comes a Molotov, then a Raze-nade, something else, and you can’t get through.
Maybe an agent who can make that possible. One who can neutralize abilities. I think that would be quite cool. One who can extinguish a Molotov or melt the ice. That would be interesting. Whether that is viable, okay. But it would be interesting.
An agent who specifically neutralizes other agents at least temporarily would certainly be something new in the game and would definitively shake up the meta in the pro scene. Since Riot Games wants to introduce a new agent every two months, such a concept should certainly not be ruled out.
What could be changed about the maps: Continuing in the interview, we asked Solaaaa about changes to the game that he would find meaningful. The maps caught his eye in particular. On the one hand, with 4 maps, there are almost too few. He is used to more from CS:GO.
And then the maps here in Valorant, according to Solaaaa, are all quite similar. Especially the choke points, where one has to go through, are still very prevalent in Valorant. They favor the defenders, as they can easily secure them with a molotov or a grenade, or by using a well-placed slow trap to stop an entire push.
If these choke points were a bit larger, it might change quite a bit, but Solaaaa recognizes that the gameplay with skills places different demands on map design than is the case with CS.
Solaaaa also finds it unfortunate that there are quite a few corners in Valorant where the opponent is either hiding on the right or left. So 50:50 corners. As an attacker, you often have no chance against campers.
Community content would be great: One last element that Solaaaa would like to see is the community content that became popular in Counter-Strike. After all, there are tons of player-made skins in circulation, and some maps that are currently played in pro esports were once created by fans.
However, Solaaaa does not think that this will happen: “Riot likes to keep its games closed. This is our game, we give you content, you play it!”
However, he still hopes for a replay function – which is actually a must in modern competitive games.
Tips and tricks for beginners
What Solaaaa recommends to new players: When we asked Solaaaa to give us some pro tips for beginners, he advised the following:
- Valorant is a tactical shooter, not an action FPS like CoD or Battlefield
- Do not shoot while running!
- Shots do not automatically hit where you aim; you need to learn the recoil and handling for each weapon
- Place your crosshair where you expect the opponent to be in the future; do not look down
- It’s a team game: pay attention to what your teammates are doing.
- What is your agent’s role, where are you most useful?
- Also pay attention to what the enemy can do with their agents.
Since Valorant requires so much tactic and strategy, Solaaaa states that 50 percent of the game takes place in the mind. Therefore, good aim is important, but once you climb into the higher ranks where everyone aims well, the right tactics become essential.
More tips from Solaaaa’s own experience: Solaaaa prefers to play the combination of the swift agent Jett and the powerful sniper operator. This allows for very special actions:
- As Operator-Jett, you can proceed quickly and aggressively and immediately seek and win an aim duel. So quickly out, aim at the opponent, take them down, and then retreat through Dash. This way, you might create a 5:4 situation right from the start.
- “Off angles” are very important with Jett. So positions where you are not expected. This way, you have a safe shot at the opponent, who probably will not respond in time because they do not expect an attack from that side.
- Do not give up your position too quickly. If opponents run past you, do not immediately shoot the first one. Wait to see if more come and let one or even two enemies pass. Then you have a good chance to take all three from behind.
So much for the interview with Solaaaa about Valorant. Another article we created with well-known content creators from the community is our big Valorant hero tier list. You can find the current listing of all agents in Valorant, along with a grading system, contributed significantly by YouTuber aSmoogl.
