Valorant is a class-based, tactical shooter created by Riot Games. The title is one of the most-watched games on Twitch of all time, and is popular on a global-scale. For those who have picked up the game, getting the settings suited to your play style can take a while. These settings are personal to you, but some settings are seen as the 'best' universally.
In this guide, we've stepped in to explain some of the best settings choices in Valorant to improve your performance.
Read More: How To Get Better at Valorant
Minimap
Knowing where you are on the map relative to other players in Valorant is vital, thus making the minimap an important component of the game. The minimap can be adjusted to suit you; one of the most popular changes that players make is to the size of the minimap.
We recommend keeping your minimap zoom minimal, so that you can see most of the map at any given time. This will give you a wealth of information as opponents, teammates, and the spike appear on it. Being unable to see the minimap or an area of interest can impact how the game unfolds dramatically, so making your minimap accessible to you while not obscuring your vision is essential.
The 'Rotate' setting for your map in Valorant is enabled by default, and we also recommend keeping this turned on. The minimap will move and rotate in the direction that you move in-game, which can also be helpful when navigating maps.
Audio
There are not many changes that you can make for the audio components of the game, but there are enough to make the game comfortable. Sound is a key component of Valorant, as you need to hear your enemies. If you feel as the game is too quiet, and you're struggling to hear footsteps, we recommend adjusting the in-game volume settings just a bit!
Alternatively, you can also mute any communications if they become distracting for whatever reason, or you can mute specific players. Voice communications with your team and/or party may be disabled from the settings menu. To mute a specific player during a match, you will need to enter the escape menu and deselect the 'Voice Chat' option beside that player to mute them. If you have voice communications enabled, the player will still be able to hear you.
Video
There are an ample amount of video settings that you are able to change. Since Valorant is optimised for low hardware, you may not need to change much. The game is reputable for running well for an abundance of players, even on lower-end gaming rigs.
Although, there are always ways to get some more FPS and improve game performance in Valorant. Let's take a look at the video settings:
- V-Sync - Do not turn this feature on, it will not affect your game performance at all.
- Gun Skin Visuals - If you want to appreciate the way your guns look in Valorant, you can keep this on. Otherwise, there is no point in keeping it on.
- Anti-Aliasing - Default, this is turned off; but you can turn it on MSAA if you like!
- Material, Texture and Detail Quality - Medium or low are the best settings for now to get maximum performance.
- Show FPS - You should turn this on, either the graph or the ticker. Knowing how much FPS you are getting while playing is always key.
- Shadows - Having this on higher settings does not give you an upper edge over the enemy. So, it does not matter which one you choose!
- Distortion - We recommend you turn this off as it isn't necessary to gameplay.
The rest of the settings are solely up to you for now! However, we do have some additional guides to aid with your FPS settings, crosshairs, field of view, and mouse sensitivity settings in Valorant. These settings are up to you and are based on your preferences, but we've pointed out how to change them and what may help your gameplay in these guides.
This article was updated on December 21st, 2021 by Kelsey Raynor, with contributions from Nick Farrell.