With audio as a critical part of Valorant, it can be twisted to your advantage if you can trick your opponent with audio cues to think one way while you do the opposite. This guide will teach you the many ways to use sound to your advantage and gain an edge in a match.
Audio is an essential component in tactical shooters because it indicates where players are. Whether it’s footsteps, gunshots, or deployment of utilities, anything can be used to pinpoint your exact position if listened to closely enough. This may give your opponent an advantage against you if you had made a sound, but what if you use their hearing against them to lead them to believe something false?
This guide will cover the mechanics of Valorant’s audio and various ways to outplay and trick your opponent through fabrication, masking, and deception of audio cues. By confusing the opponent of your position, you gain control of the situation, ultimately gaining the edge. Learning audio cues can not only enhance your gameplay and decisions but familiarizing yourself with them strengthens your game sense. In fact, you may see through a trick yourself!
Visually, you can see how far your sounds — such as footsteps — reach through the mini-map. The white circle around your icon is your sound radius. It disappears when you are sneaking.
Audibly, sound through headphones is more or less accurate to your position in regard to direction and verticality.
There are many indicators as to the presence of sound. However, the sound can be there, but it is up to the player how they perceive the sound, be it they believe or doubt the audio cue. It is a matter of how you play and capitalize on the trick.
Footsteps are the most common and recognizable sounds in the game. Footsteps sound different based on the terrain they travel on. They can give you valuable information as to where your opponents are, how many opponents there are in one place, and where they may be heading.
To use this to your advantage, you can trick your opponent by making footsteps in one direction but going the other. For example, you walk away from A Lobby to indicate you left, but you can then sneak and lurk back. They may believe you decided to back off and go to another site.
This is also useful to weed out lurkers. Lurkers lag behind as their team pushes one side of the map, aiming to stray behind the enemy team and take them by surprise. Usually, they wait for an indication that you have left the site you are defending, one such indicator being footsteps. If you run away and sneak back onto the site, you often will take the lurkers by surprise because they thought you abandoned the site.
Making sound is one way to mislead your opponent. Another way is to mask sounds with other sounds.
If you must inevitably make a sound — such as falling from a height — there is a way to still gain an edge in this situation. When dropping from a height, the land is rather loud, but it can be masked by shooting a bullet. Loud guns like the Vandal or sounds from utilities can cover up fall audio cues and even footsteps when your team is running. Although it clearly indicates what direction you are in, it deprives your opponent of information such as whether you are still on the ledge or the ground and how many teammates are with you. Denying your opponent as much information as possible will always be an advantage, big or small.
In situations of high pressure on the Defender’s side, like a duel with Spike planted, you may get away with masking the sound of the defuse with utilities like a flash. If you can time the time of the flash detonating with the instance you decide to defuse, then the sound of the flash can mask the defuse sound. Although the defuse audio cue is commonly distinguishable, your opponent is human too, and mistakes are highest when under severe pressure.
You can make many sounds to mislead your opponent or mask other sounds. One last opportunity you can take to twist audio cues to your will is by map interactions.
What makes Valorant unique is that its maps are interactive. From glass to doors, they all contribute to positioning among other things. Most importantly, they have their own distinguishable audio cues, meaning you can use these to your advantage.
Glass is seen on Ascent in A Garden, leading from A Garden to A Heaven. It can be broken with a bullet or a knife, and it emits a shattering sound upon breakage. With this in mind, you can play around this glass by making your opponent think you are either going to A Heaven or A Garden. Either way, your opponent is not exactly sure of your position and where you are going.
Ropes are seen on maps such as Icebox, Fracture, and Haven. They allow you to move vertically (or horizontally in the case of Icebox). When you climb on a rope without sneaking, it emits a click, then a reeling sound as you travel along its length. Thus, you can trick your opponent into thinking you climbed a rope to either the upper or lower level. Just like with glass, this tactic makes your opponent unsure of your exact position.
Doors are seen on maps such as Breeze, Ascent, and Fracture. On Breeze and Ascent, they are toggled by a lever and emit a low mechanical groan as they open or close. On Fracture, they open with any presence and a swish audio cue. Regardless of the type of door, you can open these doors and not only give yourself a route to go but make your opponent wary of that opening. It puts pressure on them and gives you an edge in the situation.
Ultimately, Valorant’s maps give you opportunities to make plays around their characteristics.
Within tactical shooters, there is a clear element of psychology in the gameplay. They are mind games, and audio is one of many available weapons. Learning and playing around sounds in Valorant improves your game sense and your skill as you rank up and reach a point where raw aim may not be enough to win you games. Regardless, it is up to you to make these plays your own and how you want to apply these tips and tricks with sound!
