If you’re like me, you’ve started to sink a good amount of time ‒ and maybe a little bit of money ‒ into Riot Games’ new tactical first-person shooter, VALORANT. After just one month of beta, we are starting to see a commitment to the potential longevity of VALORANT casual, competitive, and streaming scenes from Riot, the community, and professional esports organizations.

I spent quite a long time playing Call of Duty and tactical shooters like CS:GO. However, I couldn’t push past Master Guardian Elite. I reached out to a friend of mine who is Global Elite in CS:GO for advice. He told me that it’s crucial to have a good warmup routine in place before playing any more ranked. Something that takes 20-30 minutes, but makes you play in form for the remainder of your competitive session.

So, that’s exactly what I went and created; a routine that takes me roughly 25 minutes to complete and gets me confident and ready to have a good performance in my games.

Lo and behold, the routine works. Actually, not only does it work, it helped me go from Silver 2 to Platinum 2 in just three days on VALORANT. As a quick disclaimer, feel free to adjust the warmup circuit wherever you see fit. The numbers I have here may not work well for you at the start, and that's okay. Let's get started!

Sensitivity & Crosshair

Take a look at your sensitivity and crosshair. If you don't play many tactical shooters, it is very important to have a lower sensitivity. If you haven't lowered it yet, the second-best time to adjust your sensitivity is right now. It may feel weird, but you should not be able to do a full 180 by barely moving your mouse, and the reasoning is quite simple. Lower sensitivity allows for more precise movement and aiming, making it easier to track enemies and tougher to overshoot them.

In addition, a lower sensitivity forces you to move the mouse from the elbow instead of the wrist. Try moving your mouse from left to right with your wrist's full range of motion. Notice how you just created an arc with your mouse. When you start playing from the elbow instead of the wrist, not only are you able to develop a better muscle memory from using more mouse space, it also makes it easier to keep that first shot headshot accuracy that can decide who will win the short gunfights you will have in VALORANT. Adjust your mouse and game sensitivity until you're in that sweet spot where you don't undershoot or overshoot by much when practicing.

Your crosshair is a bit more subjective. The reason I bring it up though, is because you should not take the default crosshairs as the most effective ones to use. Play around in the settings a bit and see what you enjoy the most. If you want some ideas, feel free to look up the crosshairs popular players like shroud, Mendo, Skadoodle and dafran use. Most professionals like a green crosshair, but some have opted in for cyan in VALORANT due to more colorful agent kits like Viper's.

Before You Begin

Make sure you are playing in as consistent of an environment as you possibly can. If you play better with contacts instead of glasses, wear your contacts. If you like to be warm while you play, have a blanket on your lap and warm up your hands if they're cold. If you play better with your socks on, have them on every time you play. It may sound silly, but we see pros take their shoes off on stage all the time to play more comfortably. And most importantly, sit on your chair in a comfortable position with good posture. I also recommend stretching before getting on; sitting down to play games puts a bit of a toll on your body. I like to use a foam roller to stretch my legs and back. Whatever stretching you can do, your body will surely thank you for it.

The Shooting Test Range

Choose the practice tool and hop into the shooting test; this is where we will get started. Go into the range settings and set the speed to easy, bot armor off and infinite ammo on. Do not select any options under streak or bots. Only shoot one or two shots per bot, aiming for the head. We want this exercise to work on your headshot accuracy. In between every shot, bring your crosshair back to the middle of the range. With either the Vandal or Phantom, start the skills test. Repeat this test until you get a perfect 30/30 score twice.

Now, change the speed to medium, and start the skills test again. Same thing here, try to keep yourself to one or two shots per bot. Repeat this test until you get a 25/30 or greater score twice.

Now, change the speed to hard, and start the skills test again. You may start to shoot a bit more, but keep yourself between one and three shots per bot. Repeat this test until you get two scores of 15/30 or greater and one score of 20/30 or greater.

Next, without changing any settings, shoot the practice option on the right of the skills test. Multiple bots will appear in front of you. Shoot all the bots on one side until all bots remaining are on the opposite side of the middle line. If a bot is on the middle line, assume it is on your side, and shoot it. We are once again looking for accuracy here, so try and keep yourself to headshots only, one or two shots per bot. After you complete this, shoot the practice option twice to reset the bots. Repeat this practice until you clear the right side twice and the left side twice.

Next, work on transferring your bullet sprays from one bot to another. Start shooting the body of one bot, and transfer the spray while still shooting, killing both bots. Focus on keeping control of the spray as you change targets. Do this for one minute.

To close out your range session, change the bots setting to strafe. Work on tracking the bots as they move around, picking one bot at a time to headshot. Don't spray, just shoot one shot at a time. Do this for one minute.

The Open Range

Head over to the open range and position yourself so you can see all four of the moving drones flying around. With either a Vandal or Phantom, work on shooting the drones in short bursts for two minutes.

Next, swap over to a Marshal and work on scoping in to shoot the moving drones. This will warm you up in case you use a Marshal or an Operator in your games. Do this for one minute.

To finish your open range training, use another two minutes to warm up with any pistols or SMG you want. I usually like spending this time using the Spectre, swapping over to the Ghost and Sheriff.

Spike Defuse & Spike Planting

Head over to the spike defuse scenario. Set the bot difficulty to hard and turn off infinite ammo. The spike defuse and planting training will help you with real in-game scenarios. Make sure to both walk and move your crosshair with purpose. Always think of where the bots could be hiding and have your crosshair there before you peek. Start the scenario and buy everything you normally would for a round. Repeat this scenario until you successfully complete it three times. Switch up your guns in between rounds to simulate different economy scenarios you may be in.

Then, walk over to the spike plant scenario. In this scenario, you will need to kill two bots to take the site, then three more will push you to try and defuse. Same deal here, switch up the weapons you use between rounds, and repeat this scenario until you successfully complete it three times.

After completing this scenario, go anywhere you want in the practice tool. Start getting familiar with the agent you want to play in your session and a backup in case somebody takes your main. Move around with them and use their abilities until you feel good.

And last but not least, give yourself a minute to get in the right mindset. You just completed your warmup, and you're ready to go and conquer competitive. Go into your first match ready to communicate with teammates effectively. Be confident, not cocky, and you will be in a great spot to start your session the right way.

There you have it. While VALORANT is a simple concept, there are many factors that weigh in, giving the game quite a high skill ceiling. Once you have a routine like this down, the nerves of hitting your shots begin to fade away, allowing you to think much more about the macro elements of the game. Below is the entire routine in case you want to copy it down or screenshot it for your warm-up sessions. Thanks for reading, good luck with your climb!

VALORANT WARMUP ROUTINE

2x Easy Speed (30 Score)

2x Medium Speed (25+ Score)

2x Hard Speed (15+ Score)

1x Hard Speed (20+ Score)

2x Right Side Bots

2x Left Side Bots

1 Minute Spray Transfer

1 Minute Strafing Bots

2 Minutes Drone Burst (Vandal/Phantom)

1 Minute Drone (Marshal)

2 Minutes Drone Burst (Spectre/Pistols)