Whether you're a veteran Counter-Strike player or new to the genre entirely, there will be some things about Valorant that will have you feeling like you're behind the curve during your first match.

The game is currently in a closed beta, with 10 total characters available out of the rumored 12. New players will have access to five of those characters upon first launching the game: Phoenix, Jett, Sage, Brimstone and Sova. When starting a Valorant match, players must select one of their available characters to play, each with their own unique abilities. Similar to Counter-Strike, the game has a round-based economy system, meaning that at the beginning of each round players can purchase weapons and abilities using points. Players can get points from taking objectives, killing players and winning rounds.

Related: Valorant: How to Get Access to the Beta

Jett _ Valorant

The economy system has an important impact on the flow of the game, with teams choosing to buy or save each round, meaning that they are choosing to purchase more powerful weapons and abilities or choosing to save up instead for a later round. This strategical impact can be make or break in a match and choosing to save when the opposing team doesn't could spell out a devastating defeat for the player's team.

In each round, there is a team defending the objective and a team trying to take the objective. The attacking team can win by eliminating the other team or by planting the spike at one of the objective sites. The defending team can win by eliminating the other team or by defusing the spike once it has been planted at an objective. There are 25 total rounds in each match of Valorant, with the first team to take 13 rounds claiming the victory.

Related: Valorant: Everything You Need to Know About the Game's Agents

Riot Games claims it will not use a loot box system like in Overwatch, but will instead be following the archetype of a battle pass system. The system has not been officially announced as of yet, but it's rumored to be free to all players and will reward players for playing consistently. The rumored system is somewhat in line with how Fortnite's battle pass works, but players will earn an in-game currency which they can then use to upgrade skins for weapons that aren't available in the typical market.

In the closed beta, players will additionally unlock two more agents for free after some progression. Afterwards, players will need to complete contracts to unlock the rest of the agents. Outside of contracts, players earn experience through daily missions and playing matches, with a breakdown of 100 experience points per round with a bonus 100 for winning.

On top of unlocking agents, there are also cosmetics available in the closed beta. These cosmetics are so far limited to just weapon skins and the like, without any character skins available as of yet. The progress players make on their accounts in the closed beta will not be carried over into the official release. However, Riot has stated any in-game purchases during the closed beta will be refunded as currency after release and applicable players will be given some bonus currency for helping test out the market prior to release. The skin market for Valorant may or may not be as intricate as that of Counter-Strike, but one can imagine it will still be fun to flex on teammates as you clutch a round with your fancy knife skin.

Valorant is being set up as a highly competitive first-person shooter game, but there is no ranked mode available in the closed beta. Riot has announced there will be a ranked mode available after the game releases, but it won't be until later in the year. With the game still months away from release and currently in a closed beta, these details and mechanics are all subject to change before the game's official release.

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