Easily Change Region in Valorant: A Step-by-Step Guide

Curious about Valorant and its regions? Wondering why someone would want to change their region in the game? Look no further!

In this article, we will delve into the different regions in Valorant, the reasons for changing regions, and the step-by-step process of how to do so. We will explore the restrictions and potential issues that may arise when changing regions in Valorant.

If you’re ready to learn more about this popular game and its region-changing dynamics, keep reading!

What Is Valorant?

Valorant is a free-to-play PC game developed and published by Riot Games. Launched on June 2, 2020, it is a first-person multiplayer tactical shooter that pits two teams of players against each other in 5v5 combat matches. The game features a variety of agents with unique abilities reminiscent of Overwatch and revolves around teamwork, map knowledge, weapon strategy, and high-precision shooting.

What Are The Regions In Valorant?

The regions in Valorant to choose from at the time of writing are APAC, Brazil, Europe, Korea, Latin America, MENA (Middle East and North Africa), North America, Russia, Turkey, and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).

APAC is short for the Asia Pacific region and includes South Asia, East Asia, and Oceania. The region is especially relevant for India, Japan, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Korea is its own standalone region as an administrative country on the Korean peninsula which has a different set of rules than the former APAC region. The Latin America region for players includes the countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

Players logged into Latin America can change from Brazil or Mexico to Argentina without any additional logistics. The MENA acronym stands for the Middle East and North Africa and includes Central Asia. The region is particularly relevant for the countries of Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Pakistan.

The Turkey region is a standalone administrative region on the Korean peninsula and includes the coverage for Cyprus. The CIS region is short for the Commonwealth of Independent States which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.

North America

Changing region to play in North America requires first launching the Riot Vanguard anticheat. The user then logs into player support and submits a ticket that you want to change regions. Support will remove your Valorant account from the current server and you will be notified to log out. Players can then login to their Riot account and will be prompted to choose a new region with the option of North America.

Europe

In Valorant, there are 4 regions in Europe. Here are the some of the best subregions for the Biggest Pubg community and esports.

Europe West hosts servers in Frankfurt (Germany), 107.6ms is the average ping, and 5.9ms is the bottom 5% figure. This is the middle option and covers the vast majority of Europe.

Europe North hosts servers in Stockholm (Sweden), 104.6ms is the average ping, and 5.9ms is the bottom 5% figure. Southeastern Europe covers the biggest PUBG community in Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus.

Europe West also covers Portugal and Spain, two countries, albeit smaller on average population size, about the size of the UK. Denmark PUBG players who don’t want as big a ping hit, in theory, could go further east to reach the Nordic servers in Sweden, given what appears to be very good coverage in Denmark.

Europe West is a good choice for Norway, since they are directly east across the sea from the UK and the service region of London and Frankfurt. Valorant in luxembourg would have the best choice of location for Frankfurt, the closest major operational location to Luxembourg, and their own local server in London.

Europe East hosts has servers in Moscow (Russia), 213.6ms is the average ping, and 7.9ms is the bottom 5% figure. Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Russia, Scandinavia cover the biggest PUBG community in Germany and the Nordic countries. Southwestern Europe covers the Benelux trio that includes Belgium and some major metropolises, the biggest of which would have local servers in London.

The Middle East hosts servers in Istanbul (Turkey). Far East Europe, Europe West, Southwestern Europe occupy the biggest sector of former-Soviet states, along with some major European countries. Germany, covering the largest European country by population, which has nice Fiser-laboratory hosted local servers. These range from cities close by, like Paris, to Istanbul and Moscow, which may have supply-chain issues. The Mediterranean covers many areas but a good choice would be London, England.

Europe North hosting servers is the least applicable, but areas near the seas to the north and east of the UK could achieve similar ping to the biggest Pubg community in England. Frankly even the Middle East still isn’t too far from the north coast of the UK, so long as you aren’t extremely far east in the region.

Though no European nor African region has extremely bad EU connection speeds, including to the Moscow server, which averages a not-great but hardly terrible 115ms/7.1. The Middle East has decent speeds even to the Istanbul server. The Istanbul server averages a very good 52.5ms ping with a fine 6.5ms bottom 5%. The region’s lowest ping of 2ms will also get players around Europe or Africa with local-vector speeds that can be grouped together for fair encounters.

The best region for the most organization is Europe West, which has the biggest set of very low-ping local servers for fine-tuned matches and several major countries closeby the other servers.

Asia-Pacific

Those in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding South Korea, Earth’s largest continent, are to access VALORANT‘s Oceania region. Matches hosted in Oceania are then played in the Singapore data center. Note that Japan, which is part of Asia-Pacific, is assigned a different server (SEA server) and a different set of pings and riot id tags.

To change VALORANT region to Oceania from South Korea locate VALORANTClient.exe and right-click on it. Select Create Shortcut. Right-click on the Shortcut and go to its Properties. In the Target box, add –region=AP at the end of the file path outside of the quotation marks, and press Okay. Run the Shortcut. South Korean players can access the Oceania servers, and from there the newly connected Southeast Asia servers. Make sure to restart the system before removing any files so everything syncs back properly.

Why Would Someone Want To Change Their Region In Valorant?

One might want to change their region in Valorant to play with friends in another geographical area (i.e. from the United States to Asia Pacific to play with friends in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, or the Philippines), to switch regions for better ping and performance as gameplay will suffer under current settings, or for simplicity, for instance when moving regions long-term.

To Play With Friends In Other Regions

You can change your Valorant region by contacting customer service and providing a valid reason. Typically, such a reason would entail moving to the region in question. The primary purpose of account region locks was to reduce 6-stacking to insane levels and to address significant server-related issues. If one of these reasons applies to you, Riot Games staff is the only way to change Valorant regions.

According to the Riot Games support webpage about regions, other regions may be intentionally locked if you have been restricted once for things like hardware bans, but even then, Riot Games customer support may grant a region change. Changing regions to play with friends is not a valid enough reason for Riot customer support.

To Improve Matchmaking Experience

Improving the Matchmaking Experience by changing your region in Valorant is not recommended because the game’s servers are carefully synced with the player’s location to maintain Low Latency. When you change your server to one that is far removed from your location, you are likely screwing over your match latency and thus your whole team by inducing a notable server lag in the game.

Server-side settings for region control in Valorant were enabled with perhaps this actual reason in mind. Riot’s region locking prevents players from switching from a server in one region to another with a better ping. Game lags and latency are always of greater disadvantage to players as they complicate and slow down the action within the game, putting them at a disadvantage to other players.

How To Change Region In Valorant?

You change regions in Valorant by logging into your account on the Riot Games website and choosing a new server from under the Account Settings (your Riot ID) tab.

You can change both the region you are playing the game in as well as the radio button of which region with the game you prefer to play your matches.

There are currently 8 regions players can play Valorant in. If you want to know how to change your server in Valorant, follow the steps detailed in Response 2 from Article ID 4369 above. In some parts of the world, a player’s Valorant region cannot be changed.

Step 1: Open Valorant and Log In

Open Valorant and log in with your registered Riot username. You have the option to save the password or bypass this step after the first log in.

To bypass log in in the beginning Ctrl + R opens the Task Manager in Windows and you can open any browser. wifi.com will show the password entry where the password can be recovered. After that, you will have the option to skip the log in and directly open Valorant. After logging in, go to the top right to access settings.

Step 2: Click On The Gear Icon

Click on the GEAR ICON at RIGHT BOTTOM of the Client to open the Settings (see image below). This is the same location where region selector should be, but have been inconveniently made separate items. Expectedly, on the General Tab you can see from a droplist marker your current Region and Language.

When Riot enables this setting this will be another indication that things that made it to the PBEData Center settings tab you should have a droplist for Sub-Region Selector and on VPN settings there is usually a droplist marker to enable or disable the VPN. If you need to select a specific region or sub-region, wait for Riot’s activation or deactivation instructions. If you want to change from a VPN either click on the droplist or exit the tab and the VPN functionality will become disabled.

Note that users who have changed the region via other methods including extracting folders through Riot Support will find that the region will be displayed at their chosen location but that they can’t select a new region because this is presently disabled by Riot. Furthermore, when the method for altering regions again becomes enabled, any changes made through these other external methods are likely to become outdated whether they meant to change region or not and will need to be corrected.

Step 3: Go To The ‘Region’ Section

After opening Valorant, change region by clicking on the confirmation of necessity button. This will open the patcher support. Click on the gear icon in the upper right of the patcher support and close the message. Click on the Language and Region button.

Now click on the Settings button in the upper right of Radian Patcher. This will open the in-game settings. Click on Region. This will open the region selection options. Here you can choose the region which corresponds to the server you want to play on, click apply, and your changes will be saved with no need to log out or restart the game.

Step 4: Choose Your Desired Region

After connecting to a VPN server of your desired region, you will find that your micro and ping issues should be resolved while navigating through VALORANT’s fragmentary selection of available servers. If the performance of your VPN server is good and the spike of the ping is not that strong, you may choose the game to select a reasonable server based on your homeland and asking yourself Which country has the closest server to me? before entering a game (even though you cannot control the exact server which the game eventually connects you to).

Step 5: Confirm Your Region Change

After typing the /region command and selecting the desired region, the new region will be set and confirmed immediately. You will be able to find the information about which region is currently set at the top of the Performance Settings tab after pressing the CTRL + F hotkeys in-game. That is currently the only way to confirm the VAlorant region change. Now you will be playing in servers in the country of your choice! Click on the PLAY button and select your favorite game mode.

What Are The Restrictions When Changing Regions In Valorant?

The only restrictions you have in changing regions from within the in-game launcher are those that Riot Games use to block you from playing in a high-ping location which would create an unfair advantage for you. The client will deactivate the region of your last server, and you will receive instructions on how to choose a new location in the performance tab of the settings menu of the game.

Changing regions from within the game client is restricted to those regions you have previously selected. To change to a new region, you must go to the installer in the Add/Remove Programs section of your computer and download that game for the new region. Higher pings make the game lag and are resolved by locking latency one way at the source to prevent bad routing.

Limited Number Of Region Changes

You can change regions in Valorant, but there are some limits. According to Riot Games, in one Riot ID account’s lifetime, you can change your region a maximum of three times (exchanging one closed area for another does not count as a change). The limited number of changes is due to the differences in the economy and different aesthetics systems offered by the game in different regions.

Cannot Change Regions During A Match

Changing regions during a match is impossible in Valorant in order to prevent VPN-hopping and other exploits that may take advantage of pings and confuse the game servers. The region switch is only allowed at the main client lobby so the changes are reflected immediately upon entering the match. This reduces the potential VIA exploits and cheats from locality setting changes by players who would like to ensure minimum pings or route through less secure networks. In general, changing regions during a match is prohibited to prevent cheating and gaming of the system.

Cannot Change Regions If You Have An Active Penalty

If your account has an active penalty such as Competitive MMR for afk non-participation, disconnection, or intentionally losing a round in the Competitive mode, Spike Placement MMR Anomaly, or Vision Anomaly, you cannot change your region, according to Riot Games support email to The Exclamative.

To ensure that you will be able to change to a specific server in the future, you need to make sure to have your account that specific facility disabled. This will then remove the active penalty and allow you to change regions. Simply fill out a request form on Riot Support or wait until the penalty expires. The penalty must expire on its own terms, as customer support cannot expedite the removal of penalties regardless of the reason for which they occurred.

What Are The Potential Issues When Changing Regions In Valorant?

The potential issues when changing regions in Valorant are mainly related to server restrictions and the associated ping times. Ping time is the measure of time that it takes for a user’s device to send data to the server and the server to respond. It is measured in milliseconds. Users can view their ping time in-game via the Match X overlay. Both the user’s total ping and the upstream and downstream ping times are displayed. However, this display is hidden by default and can be toggled on by pressing the left-ALT key.

A VPN or Virtual Private Network masks a user’s true IP address with one coming from the VPN service provider’s IP pool. Thus when a gaming server checks the user’s IP address to determine the region that was initially selected, the VPN IP address is displayed instead. This can cause some interruptions in service. Developer Riot Games has the ability to see a user’s original IP and can enforce bans if it sees too many connections originating from a VPN IP address. The developer usually does not engage in such actions unless it sees evidence that users are using VPN beyond what can be deemed to be normal service disruptions.

High Ping And Lag

High ping and lag are the data-induced aspects of network performance experienced by the player. High ping provides a clear sign that the data traveling between the player and the game server is increasing, resulting in more latency, more lag, and a decline in the quality of the online gaming experience. Ping is the network latency between a player’s machine and a chosen game server. The higher the ping, the worse the quality of the online gaming experience, as players can get shot before ever seeing their enemies.

It is possible to change servers in Valorant or choose other game servers to improve latency/lag. Just note that the actual IP addresses of the servers of Valorant are difficult to discover. The best way to find the IP addresses is to use the traceroute tool or locate them manually using the operating system. The IP address for Riot Games’ servers in North America can sometimes be discovered by entering 104.160.131.1 into the system’s ping or traceroute tool. One way to check the IP address of the Riot server is to input 104.160.141.3.

Different Time Zones

Region changing in Valorant has no effect on time zones. Players can change their region to reflect their local time zone correctly. When using a VPN to change regions, time settings auto update to the chosen location.

Here is an explanation of how time zones work in Valorant:

1. Log in to Valorant.
2. Enter the username and password.
3. Go to the settings menu on the top right.
4. Go to general settings and turn on the display local time option. This will feature both the current and local time.

To demonstrate the effect of changing regions on time zones, the table below shows regional time differences. Including the UTC offset, so players can configure their time zone settings correctly by selecting a region that matches their regional time zone.

Region	Time Zone	UTC Offset
North America – Chicago	Central Standard Time	UTC -6
United Kingdom	Greenwich Mean Time	UTC 0
Europe – Germany	Middle European Time	UTC +1
Turkey	Turkish Time	UTC +3
Brazil – Sao Paulo	Bras lia Time	UTC -3

Possible Language Barrier

Extending beyond region settings, another factor that could be negatively affecting localized matchmaking is the player’s chosen language. Matchmaking does not pair or exclude players based on language, and the relevant developers have not produced any information to discussions of language affecting VALORANT matchmaking. Language preferences are defined by filenames located inside the resources of the game, and can include elements such as agents’ voice lines and endgame commendations, as well as the primary game interface and communication systems. The game version selected at login may have localized language already included, but language changes can be accessed and altered at the top-left dropdown on the settings menu. As of October 2021, the only permitted values are locAllowAll, locForceEnglish, or locForceMyDefault.

For those hoping language settings will affect customized regional matchmaking, VALORANT has only occasionally included localized support for a specific region and this has never affected gameplay aspects (known as loc-on-DLT). Therefore, if you are trying to get better ping by playing on server as close as possible, this could be a contributing factor to your worse-than-expected ping in a given match.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Change Region in Valorant?

What is the process for changing my region in Valorant? To change your region in Valorant, you will need to submit a support ticket through the game’s official website.

How to Change Region in Valorant?

Can I change my region in Valorant without losing my progress? Yes, changing your region in Valorant will not affect your progress or in-game purchases.

How to Change Region in Valorant?

Why would I want to change my region in Valorant? Some players may want to change their region in Valorant to play with friends from different regions or to access exclusive in-game content not available in their current region.

How to Change Region in Valorant?

Are there any restrictions or limitations when changing regions in Valorant? Yes, you can only change your region once every six months and you will not be able to change to a region where you have previously been banned.

How to Change Region in Valorant?

Will my ping be affected when changing regions in Valorant? Yes, your ping may be affected as it depends on the distance between your new region and the game’s server.

How to Change Region in Valorant?

Is there a way to change my region in Valorant without contacting support? No, currently the only way to change your region in Valorant is by submitting a support ticket.