Whether you’re playing Ranked or tuning into the VALORANT Champions Tour, getting to know the full VALORANT terminology may take a while. To kick-start your learning we’ve gathered all of the essential terms that you should absolutely be aware of. This guide is useful for everyone interested in playing VALORANT, watching esports or a fan of VALORANT betting trying your luck.
A
ADS – Short for “Aiming-Down-Sights’, certain weapons in the game such as the Vandal or Phantom allow players to look down sights. Usually, if one wishes to hold an angle with more accuracy, the extra zoom of ADS helps, but limits movement.
Ace – One of the most exciting events in a game, an ace involves one player wiping out the entire enemy team single-handedly. Such players typically tend to be MVPs and make for iconic VALORANT moments.
Aggro – A common playstyle in the competitive scene, this involves making quick decisions, taking fights and simply not holding back. Although risky, it pays to resort to playing aggro every now and then.
Anchor – Leaving a player on site all on his own? That player is now referred to as an ‘anchor’, and typically runs an agent have stopping power and allow the player to fulfil one roll – delay time for the rotation.
Anti-Eco- If one team buys weapons and the other team decides to save, the team with the money is playing an ‘Anti-Eco’. With the info that the other team is broke, one can purchase weapons such as the Judge and Outlaw which counter no shields.
Anti-Flash – Flashes are very powerful in VALORANT, blinding the enemy and offering free frags. Playing anti-flash involves two teammates, one holding the angle and one player intentionally looking away to avoid the flash – one of the key VALORANT terms.
B
Bomb – A common slip of the tongue, the ‘spike’ is planted in VALORANT instead of the usual ‘bomb’. Yet, sometimes community members call it a ‘bomb’.
Bonus Round – Winning the first two rounds puts your team in a great economic position. Teams typically tend to then not buy anything in the third round, enjoying some Bonus cash. In a Bonus Round, there are high stakes for the losers.
Bottom Frag – If there’s a leaderboard, there’s always one player at the bottom. That player, regardless of their contribution is known as the ‘Bottom Frag’ and might receive some flak.
Bunnyhop/B-Hop – Inherited from Counter-Strike, a Bunnyhop is a movement mechanic where players strafe and jump simultaneously. Using this movement, professionals make for unique gunfights and also make it to cool spots.
C
Callout – Every corner of every map has a callout. On the map viewer, Riot Games has already labelled everywhere. Beyond this, the community has unique callouts for different parts of the maps, such as ‘lamps’ and ‘hookah’ on Bind.
Camp – Sometimes used instead of ‘Anchor’, a stagnant player sitting around on the map may be referred to as a camper. Typically, these are Cypher players stuck in their cameras.
Clear (+/- Hard Clear) – Common corners need to be checked before pushing a site or certain parts of any map. The best way to make sure an enemy isn’t around the corner is to use utility, such as a flash or a molly. Doing so ‘clears’ the corner. A corner with 100% no enemies is ‘hard cleared’.
Clutch – Clutches are the most exciting part of any VALORANT game. A player, with the odds stacked against him, whether time or numbers, somehow pulls a win out of the bag thanks to some epic play. There’s nothing better than a clutch.
Collateral – A simple two-for-one affair, with one bullet netting more than one kill. Usually, this involves the Operator or other snipers, contributing to one of the most exciting VALORANT terms.
Counterstrafe – If strafing means letting go of the movement keys and taking a shot, counterstrafing involves using the opposing movement direction to balance your aim for a short moment between direction changes.
Contact Walking – Using utility lets everyone know where you are. Sometimes, professional teams choose to walk up to a site without using utility to surprise the opponents.
Counter-Strat – At the highest level of competition, teams prepare to face one another and counter-strat one another – using certain agents, gameplans and strategies.
Crosshair placement – A key aspect of VALORANT mechanics is making sure your crosshair is in the right spot. Keeping it at head level makes for easy headshots, while one might want to lower their crosshair placement for weaker opponents.
Crossfire – As a team, two players holding two angles opposite one another makes it for certain that at least one enemy will be taken care of. Nobody can look in two directions at once, so crossfires are worth using.
Cubby – Cubbies are safe spots to hide in with a close-quarters weapon such as a shotgun to catch lazy opponents off-guard. Typically this trick is one-and-done, otherwise enemies will expect you and use this VALORANT slang.
D
Default (+/- Plant) – Playing the usual way in VALORANT is referred to as playing ‘Default’. On defence, this involves spreading out across the map and playing for information. On attack, this involves planting in the ‘Default Plant’ – the safest spot.
Dink – Dinking an opponent means hitting a headshot with weapons that don’t instantly kill – a dinked enemy is very weak.
Double Swing – Peeking around a corner is always risky. One way to guarantee the kill is to go around the corner with a teammate.
Dry Peek – Not using any utility to peek around a corner is referred to as a ‘dry peek’, and makes some confidence.
E
Economy – Beyond frags, the economy is an underlying mechanic in VALORANT. Positive interactions, such as winning rounds, planting the spike and frags earn you more money. Meanwhile, losing and not planting results in less money earned.
Entry Fragger – In a team, one player is usually designated to burst into space and take gunfights. Typically, these are Duelists such as Raze, Neon or Jett.
Executing – When abilities are timed together with a certain plan, this may be referred to as an ‘execute’. Executing onto site can be very rewording but also predictable.
Exit Frag – If one team plants and the other team has no opportunity to defuse, the defenders can stay on the periphery and eliminate the attackers while they try to run away from the spike radius.
F
Faking – Especially on Attack, faking out the Defenders makes for easier plants and more chance of winning the round in the end.
Feeding – If a player isn’t shooting back and constantly being eliminated, he/she is feeding the opponent.
Flick (+/- Hospital Flick) – Making for the most exciting frags in the game, a flick involves sniper players moving their cursor very quickly to secure an epic kill.
Ferrari Peek (Poppin’ Swing) – A very wide peek is referred to by the community as a ‘ferrari peek’, and is borrowing from Counter-Strike in this regard. These peeks are very risky and may be referred to as ‘Poppin’ Swings’.
Flawless – If a team wins a round without losing a player, it’s a flawless win.
Forcing – Buying weapons when it would otherwise be a save is referred to as forcing, and it’s a risky strategy.
Full buy – When money is no problem, buying full armour and utility is known as a full buy.
H
Heaven/Hell – Quicker than saying ‘up’ or ‘down’, the terms ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ are used as callouts.
I
Instalock – In every Ranked game, there’s always one person who rushes to pick an agent. This action is known as ‘instalocking’.
J
Jiggle Peek – Throwing a shoulder around a corner for free information is a Jiggle Peek – don’t jiggle too hard or you’ll pay for it.
Jump Peek – Similar to Jiggle Peek, a Jump Peek is different in that it involves hopping over an obstacle to gain information.
L
Lineup/Lineup Larry – The bomb’s down and the attackers are running miles away with the plan of throwing utility at the spike to prevent the defuse. These usages are planned and involve memorizing how to line up the ability, hence the term ‘lineup’. A player who uses lineups is often referred to as “lineup larry’.
Lit – Similar to dink, lit implies that a player is very weak. In this case of a player being ‘lit’, this does not necessarily imply a headshot.
Lurk – An attacking player can set up deep into the defensive set-up, waiting for rotations in order to catch easy frags. This mechanic is referred to as lurking, and is a fantastic way of shifting the odds in your favour with the element of surprise.
M
Molly – Brimstone’s Molotov ability is referred to as a ‘molly’ by the community. However, this term has extended to any other ability in the game which works similarly, such as Viper’s Snakebite.
O
One-Way – Unique to Omen’s smokes, the term ‘one-way’ refers to the ability to place smokes in a position that the feet of opponents show, providing a one-way advantage to whoever is being the smoke. This can provide a huge advantage when used well.
One-Tap – A well-placed headshot is massively satisfying to watch, usually eliminating the enemy with one click of the mouse. Such frags are referred to as one-taps.
OP – Similar to CS, which has the ‘AWP’ as the dominant sniper rifle, the Operator in VALORANT is a deadly tool. To keep things short, the community refers to the weapon as the ‘OP’ for short.
Orb Farming – A respectable strategy on certain maps such as Pearl or during eco-rounds, orb farming involves prioritizing picking up orbs. These orbs help generate ultimates which have massive impact.
P
Post Plant – Once the spike is planted, this situation is referred to as the post plant. With a minute on the clock, defenders need to either defuse the spike or eliminate the attackers – the post plant is a stressful part of the game.
R
Refrag – Instead of the more common term of ‘trading’, which is very clear, the term ‘refrag’ may be used to refer to avenging a fallen teammate. This is one of the VALORANT terms shared with CS.
Rez – An iconic ability in VALORANT, Sage’s unique ultimate gives her the power to raise teammates from the dead. Shortened to ‘Rez’, the idea of resurrection also extends to picking up KAY/O or Clove returning to the game.
Rotate – Moving around the map in VALORANT is referred to as ‘rotating’, like hands round a clock. VALORANT slang terms don’t get much simpler.
Roomba – A community term for Raze’s ability ‘Boom Bot’, ‘Roomba’ has been around since the beginning of the game and is still used to this day to refer to the little rascal.
Roza Ult – Speaking of Raze, one of the most popular streamers in the early days of VALORANT was Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik. As a duelist player, the community made fun of the fact that his Ultimate use was sometimes pretty weak. Now, any wasted Raze Ultimate is referred to as a ‘Roza Ult’.
Rush – Similar to the concept of ‘Aggro’, rushing isn’t a playstyle but a set play which typically involves an execute of some kind.
Run & Gun – For the longest time, the Spectre submachine gun was a touch broken, and players abused the fact that you could run & gun. This involves moving and shooting simultaneously.
S
Save – Instead of spending money, the alternative is to save instead. A save buy is a risk assessment, playing is safe to have money for the next round.
Shift-walking – Something as small as a footstep can be the difference between winning and losing. To move silently, players press the Shift key while sacrificing movement speed.
Spam/Spray – Shooting blindly through a smoke or a wall is known as spamming or spraying. Players spray with either a Phantom (due to lack of tracers) or the Odin (due to lots of ammunition).
Spawn – A callout universal to every map in all of VALORANT, ‘spawn’ is used to refer to whether the Defenders or Attacker start the round.
Stacking – A risky manoeuvre, stacking a site on defence involves throwing the majority of your team in one spot, hoping the enemy walks right into your trap. The compromise here is leaving other parts of the map defenceless.
Sticking – ‘Pros always stick’ is a common phrase in the community. The idea of sticking involves defusing the spike without stopping at any point in time. Moreover, this ballsy move is pulled off only by the most ice-cold of players.
Strafe – We’ve already mentioned counterstrafing as part of VALORANT lingo, and strafing simply involves shooting after moving in quick succession to make yourself a hard target.
Swing – In VALORANT, one doesn’t simply peek around the corner. Instead, suddenly looking around a corner for a gunfight is referred to as ‘swinging’.
T
Tap Spike – Instead of sticking the spike, defenders have the option of initiating the defuse for only a quick second. This baits out the defenders in swinging due to time pressure.
Thrifty – Money talks and in VALORANT, winning with less economy is known as a Thrifty round. Such rounds can be game-changing for the winning team – an essential VALORANT glossary term.
Throwing – If players are losing winnable situations despite being heavily favoured, this is known as ‘throwing’.
TP – ‘TP’, short for teleport, refers to any action in VALORANT to do with teleporting. Naturally, this includes Omen’s Shadow Steps and Ultimate ability, together with the teleporting mechanic on maps such as Bind.
Trap Play – A cunning use of utility in VALORANT can trap opponents to make for the easiest of frags. Examples include combinations of Cypher Tripwires and any smoke.
U
Ult/Ultimate – As a cornerstone of VALORANT, Ultimate abilities are referred to as ‘Ults’ for short, one of the simpler VALORANT terms.
W
W-Key Gaming – Synonymous with rushing or aggro, ‘W-Key Gaming’ is a phrase which has been keyed for certain teams such as Paper Rex from VCT Pacific.
Wallbang – Spamming through a wall or surface to earn frags is known as wallbanging and are some of the easiest frags out there.
Whiffing – A bad miss is hard to watch and yet, they happen. Missing badly is known as whiffing, an embarrassing bit of VALORANT slang.
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We hope this glossary has clarified the unique terminology used in VALORANT. We encourage you to explore our additional resources:
