Mastering Solo Gameplay: Tips for Playing Alone in Valorant

Curious about Valorant and how to play solo?

We dive into the world of Valorant, a popular tactical shooter game, and discuss the benefits of playing by yourself.

Discover how solo play can improve your skills, help avoid toxicity, master strategies, and get valuable tips.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned player, this article offers something for everyone looking to dominate the game on their own.

What is Valorant?

Valorant is a 5v5 first-person shooter (FPS) tactical game developed and published by Riot Games. It was officially announced under the name Project A on October 15, 2019, with a closed beta from April 7 of the following year. The game was fully released on June 2, 2020, and is available only on PC. The game is set in the near future, where humans with unique abilities known as Radiants are fighting a shadowy clandestine force known as Kingdom.

Valorant has a similar objective to Counter-Strike, with one side attempting to plant a spike at a bomb site while the other side attempts to prevent this. The game features five-person teams of agents with unique abilities, including those that encourage aggressive entry to sites and those that can perform passive roles such as scouting. Playing in such teams allows coordination and differentiation strategies to be employed in the high-anxiety context of the game. Valorant has a growing competitive gaming scene, offering cash prizes and awards (including professional teams in major esports leagues worldwide), seasonal acts, and tactical gameplay where teamwork is key even more than individual mechanical skill. Valorant is free to play and monetizes itself through the sale of optional character, agent, and weapon skins or via its battle pass which offers additional upgrades and in-game rewards.

Why Play by Yourself in Valorant?

Playing by yourself can refer to either teaming up with strangers and not coordinating your gameplay or literally going into the game alone without a team. The goal of each player of Valorant playing alone must be similar to how they play when they are working in a group. The rationale behind this ‘lone ranger’ strategy as given by Krujos from “Don’t Peak Gaming” is to counter the enemy team’s planning. He says, “Basic game sense with the minimap and teamwork and positioning allows you to beat another team of Silvers and ^ GOLDS who coordinate poorly or just take random angers and barely play together.”

Play by yourself or pugging/queueing as a solo can straight up be a form of practice as suggested by Wadu hek of “Facebook Gaming”. When queueing by oneself, you get a random, authentic sample of the player base of the game. By deliberately pugging or playing by oneself, players get to concentrate on their own performance while also getting more accurate results about the difference in their performance when playing solo vs with a team.

Players often play themselves unnecessarily in heated solo queue matches but hopefully, its merits will change the stereotype of it being a source of frustration and give pros a desire for their teammates to assist when needed. As FAUCED from “HitScan” points out, only the player who is playing alone can dictate how they want to play and ultimately improve their individual and team play. If a player continues to play poorly or does ill-advised pugs, then they either stick to pugs and focus their eyes and ears on studying the game or they are given advice on how they can improve and ultimately contribute to the team’s cooperative play.

Practice and Improve Skills

In Valorant, one of the simplest ways to practice and improve your skills is by playing by yourself, a term for individual play rather than isolation. Playing by yourself means that you do not play in an entry queue, where you are entering the online match and matchmaking system for playing against other players. Although the only way to play Valorant is not by completely turning off entry to prevent matching with other players, practicing alone allows for studying and adaptation of your skills in order to improve your performance on the field.

To play by yourself properly, block out the world. As far as the utility, smokes, and strategic lineups are concerned, focus on what the abilities could be useful for rather than communicating with teammates. Practice with different agents in order to understand their individual functionalities better. The usage of in-game human-like AI by Riot Games would be very useful for solo mode practice. While Valorant has hard/bot and quite easy/bot, it does not have a medium level of bots that are human-like in PvP simulations. After practicing in the range, jump into crowded 1v1 servers or for a more relaxed map run around. This is a way to increase one’s aim, situational analysis, and gameplay which indirectly helps in the development of team skills.

Flexibility in Gameplay

Flexibility in gameplay refers to the self-awareness and ability to dynamically change a defending strategy, push-time, or location based on suboptimal outcomes or the way the defenders move around the map. This is a crucial skill to have to play by yourself in Valorant. If your original plan is not working out, quickly find a way to join and assist the other players, while making sure to identify which of their needs you can fulfill – be it coverage for a lack of offense or defense, ability flanking, unexpected ways to make space for your team to assist them.

According to Nick Saitar, Content Creator for esports organization Team Envy, he sees a lot of bad or solo players almost refusing to work in tandem with other players – playing their own game. But if a team starts making moves, you need to be able to safely follow up immediately. He gives these examplesrealizing that the Long Duel is a lost duel and making a defense on all of the approaches to the C site instead, or making a mid-game call that everyone should take the teleporter that they left open earlier in the game right to the enemy spawn and raise some hell while the enemy is out of position”.

Most effective strategies in Valorant maximize the utility of all players, so observing and acting based around that is crucial. Furthermore, reinforcing plays and picking up free rounds can assist you. In reality, you often do not win free rounds even when you have a huge advantage. Building around players who are better than you is an invaluable ability. If an entry player does a solid job and pushes an area, offer him a duel and swing to support if he gets baited effectively. Turning a 5v3 into a 5v1 is even simpler if all equipment is used accurately.

Avoiding Toxicity

The most common reason to play by yourself in Valorant is to avoid toxic players. Toxic players are those who are rude, offending, trolling, or flaming against their teammates. Playing alone minimizes the chances of familiarizing yourself with toxic players because you can’t control whether the players you get matched with on your team are toxic or not.

The most successful way to minimize the number of toxic players is by using custom Role Queue settings.

When you play by yourself, you are unlikely to annoy anyone with talk. Just by talking in the match may provoke toxic behavior in others during the match’s heat if it goes badly for your team.

How to Play by Yourself in Valorant?

To play by yourself in Valorant, as a solo player, follow these steps. First, make friends by using voice comms in Deathmatch, Spike Rush, or the main game mode. After making connections, add friendly and cooperative players. Link up with these friends, and together they can introduce you to others. Second, subscribe to Valorant YouTube channels for geographical regions or maintain Reddit, Discord, or other community connections. Finally, gather your friends in Discord voice chat or other communication channels, and schedule playing times with them.

Choose the Right Agent

Choosing the right agent can make you more independent of your team and able to have an impact in the game in small ways. The agents that are most suitable for solo play and Elminination modes without squads are typically duelists and initiators such as Jett, Phoenix, Reyna, and Raze.

These agents are good for you to select and others in your game, such as Sova, Sage, and Brimstone. The duelists are good for one-man band scenarios while initiators have abilities that gather info on enemies and flash them even before encountering them. Depending on the maps and objectives of the mode, different agents can become better suited for solo play meaning that you’ll have to adjust your agent choices based on the game.

Practice in Deathmatch Mode

Quickly hop in with 9 other players who will be practicing alongside you. Valve’s Field Agent Anti-Trespass Enrollment (FATE) Virtual Reality Death Match or Call of Duty’s Free For All or Team Death Match modes provide 10-minute lasting battles that give you frequent encounters from close to long range.

At the time of writing March 2022 no Deathmatch mode exists in Valorant but it is a frequently asked for feature likely to come in the future. Here you can practice who you want to be in Valorant but with more erratic movements to improve your mechanics as well. The short, fragging nature of Deathmatch mode ensures you’ll quickly get a feel for the weapons operator you’d like to perfect, along with your precision and flick-shooting skills. Whether you’re coming out ahead or not against real opponents, practice makes perfect.

Use Custom Games to Practice Strategies

Custom games in Valorant are used by players to freely practice and experiment with strategies in a controlled setting where only unranked mode settings can be changed. As of the Episode 3 Act 2 patch, you can adjust everything from round time limits to the number of players to the cost of weapons and abilities. You can also play on a rigid start, slow mode, or big wins.

Another important and advantageous aspect to custom games is the ability to practice on preferential maps. This can be of significant benefit to those looking to qualify for the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) as teams typically ban out opponents’ most powerful maps using a veto system to gain a competitive advantage. Players can also use custom games to set up spots on the map with Cypher‘s utility, Jett’s jumps, etc.

What are the Strategies for Playing by Yourself in Valorant?

The strategies for playing solo in Valorant involve tactics and mentality. In terms of tactics, solo players should quickly assess team strengths and weaknesses, communicate with teammates, leverage agents that can have a big impact even when playing without coordination, win duels rather than aiming to lift teammates, and leverage audio cues to determine when and how to help a teammate.

In terms of mentality, solo players should assume they are playing with AIs and as such look to maximize their own performance above that of the team. This often means being a bit selfish and taking the sorriest opportunist that gives the best chance at clutching an advantage/round. Players should also understand their win rate and to not get bogged down when losing as the game is designed to give even good players a 50% win rate.

Play Aggressively

Playing aggressively refers to not waiting for your team, trading frag, finding opening tools, and overall rainbow-6 style solo entry fragging. When playing by yourself, this is your role as you are the team.

Playing aggressively during the early and mid-round stages of a game will allow you to create scope for yourself (this means not dying in the early picks phase as a player in control of their own tempo). You will also accomplish the following according to teamviral.com.

1. Force utility trades so that you have the upper hand in fights. (i.e. They throw their utility first when he needs to save it, or he gets a frag and help add on an unexpected advantage to your team).
2. Obtain and maintain map control.
3. Compromising rift control of the opponents if forced to use when not in a position to. Forcing after-plant safety even with trades and retaking the site (one of the hardest things to do when there is a team).

Focus on Map Control

Map control is a term that describes the process of having knowledge of and occupying portions of the map. In simpler words, map control in Valorant is about area dominance. When you control areas of maps away from an objective, you control the movements of opponents and positions they can take to defend and attack.

Map control allows one to gain information by listening for footsteps, seeing utility deployed by the opponents, and knowing their position at any given time. This allows you to change tactics or make decisions to the best of your ability.

When playing alone and attempting to carry yourself in Valorant, make map control your top priority, as this automatically transitions into information dominance over the enemy. After getting information, you can then use the appropriate agents to stop the enemy in his tracks.

Communicate with Teammates

Communicating with your teammates is essential in an online game like Valorant, as it increases your chances of performing well as a solo player. If you are looking to play by yourself without partying up with teammates frequently, communicating well during the match becomes even more important.

Berlin-based mobalytics.gg has highlighted the importance of communication in the following tips for climbing out of Iron Elo.

You have to talk. Even if you’re just the only one trying to coordinate, do it. Whether they’re listening or not. And then be adaptive with the information that they might give you. Keep talk there. People don’t use mute enough on others, or themselves for that matter.

If you are playing as a solo player, things might be calmer, but you should try to be friendly and communicate without making noise. People like smart players and efficient information givers. You can improve yours by identifying important information and working on efficient callouts in your matches. Even giving your silent teammates information and updates can be helpful. Communicate your bad games to your team so they understand why you may be struggling, and can potentially adjust to accommodate. A little emote here and there can make a team very happy. For example:

• Thanks emote for smoking or flashing an area
• Bravo! emote for a good frag
• Snap emote and mark the jump key when a teammate is slow to rotate after general sound cues
• Worry emote after the team has lost map control versus the attacking team
• Patient emote after a teammate dies and you want to signal to another player to play your spot

Adapt to Different Roles

When you play by yourself, you must adapt to taking on different roles in your team. This is not a problem if you are playing in a 5-stack as you should be taking on different roles anyway. But if you play as a solo player in a team then you may need to adapt to whatever your team requires from you. Even if you are comfortable in your role and doing well, adapting can help make you a more flexible and better overall player.

What are the Tips for Playing by Yourself in Valorant?

The tips for playing by yourself in Valorant focus on having high communications skills with random players. Some such tips are to do the homework (studies the maps and develop your individual strategies), master your agents (practice with the in-game bots and aim trainers to get that agent’s mechanics down pat), develop a balanced playing style (know when to play passively and hold tight angles or when to be aggressive and make entry frags), and practice your aim every day in practice modes.

Stay Positive

Even when playing by yourself in Valorant it is important to maintain a positive attitude to support team morale. You don’t want others feeling angry or upset just because one individual got upset at those around them. Interactions when played by oneself in which players do not communicate can still be partly positive. If other players are nasty or tilted, brush it off. Be a positive member of the team and take it upon yourself to steady the ship when things go awry.

Analyze Your Mistakes

A significant percentage of players falsely believe they make the right play most of the time or are the best player on their team. This is documented in multiple psychological studies including Unskilled and Unaware of It which suggests that while most players and people believe they have good game sense, they can by definition not be correct as by definition not everyone is or can be better than average.

To get better both on Valorant and to improve one’s general cognitive game-playing behavior, the most fundamental step is to identify when and why specific mistakes were made. Simply playing and grinding out hundreds or thousands of games might help practice mechanical skill but will not on their own help you become better if one does not reflect upon their own inadequacies. Using Valorant replays in which you are isolated from the effects of shot mistakes from others is a great way to see where you failed and how other options could have played out. Error in game analysis is a falling prey of overconfidence bias.

Take Breaks

Playing by yourself in Valorant can be intense and even the smallest break can give yourself time to refresh and reset. Between competitive or unrated games, or between games altogether, take stretching or walk breaks. Wander around your home or walk close to your home’s vicinity. While short breaks will provide you with mobility, science behind eye strain finds that breaks are scheduled often for short periods of relaxation.

Watch Professional Players

• First-person shooter professionals on YouTube include liTTle thumbs, KingGeorge, and kAzOnEsTv among others.

liTTle thumbs is a competition-level player who devotes her channel to offering tutorials on how to play dedicated to user improvement. In fact, many well-known first-person shooters publish useful call-out maps to help players understand the game. These can boost communication with a team in professional matches.

KingGeorge is a former pro player who has become one of the top Twitch streamers focusing on competitive gameplay. Although he doesn’t post as much content to YouTube, there are still some very helpful fun or competitive drills for solo play found there. He ignores current metas, helping players to see what will work in the future.

kAzOnEsTv is a developer who tries to show off the game’s mechanics in a fun way by making myths and cool facts videos on custom game mode. These are more for enjoyment rather than useful tricks.

• Professional developers of the game can also provide excellent entertaining learning experiences.

Play all the other game modes first to loosen up. Then play the game mode you’re best at, for me it’s RsA (Reactive Shooting Aim). Then maybe Spike Rush to work on getting warmed up and using my characters’ abilities.

Conclusion

Your match quality will depend on behavioral cues taken from party leaders and the daily performance of the other players whom you were matched with. Nominating or toggling leader based on telemetry feedback is the method Riot Games has tried to rely on and improve constantly. Ideally, the best option is to invite friends with a proven track record of being friendly teammates, but for those who have not been able to do that solo queueing is always an option.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can I play by myself in Valorant?

To play by yourself in Valorant, you can select the “Solo Queue” option in the game lobby. This will allow you to play matches without a team.

2. Can I still play ranked matches if I choose to play by myself?

Yes, you can still play ranked matches while playing by yourself in Valorant. However, your rank will be based solely on your individual performance rather than your team’s.

3. Are there any advantages to playing by myself in Valorant?

One advantage of playing by yourself in Valorant is that you have complete control over your own gameplay. You can make decisions without having to coordinate with a team.

4. How do I communicate with my team if I choose to play by myself?

If you are playing by yourself in Valorant, you can still use the in-game voice chat to communicate with your team. You can also use ping commands to communicate important information.

5. Can I still complete challenges and earn rewards while playing by myself in Valorant?

Yes, you can still complete challenges and earn rewards while playing by yourself in Valorant. The game does not differentiate between solo and team play when it comes to completing challenges and earning rewards.

6. Is it better to play by myself or with a team in Valorant?

The answer to this question ultimately depends on personal preference and play style. Some players may prefer the independence and control of playing by themselves, while others may enjoy the teamwork and coordination of playing with a team.