Mastering Valorant Keyboard Reload: Tips and Tricks

Are you a Valorant player looking to brush up on your reloading skills?

We discuss the importance of reloading in Valorant, from maintaining a full magazine to having the upper hand in gunfights.

Learn how to reload using the keyboard, including default keybinds and customization options. We also provide valuable tips for reloading effectively, as well as common mistakes to avoid.

Grab your keyboard and let’s dive into the world of reloading in Valorant!

What is Reloading in Valorant?

In Valorant, reloading is the action of manually inserting a new magazine or drum with fresh ammunition into a gun.

Players must reload when their gun runs out of ammo. If the gun in question has more than one magazine clip that provides multiple ammunition charges, then the gun reloads to its last magazine that had not run out before. In such cases, it is referred to as rechambering instead of reloading when bullets are chambered into the gun from the magazine that is full but not currently placed in the weapon’s slot.

Why is Reloading Important in Valorant?

Reloading is important in Valorant because it provides players an opportunity to ensure that their ammunition level is always full. Running out of ammunition at the worst possible time can leave a player at a significant disadvantage in a game, and the 0.75-second pause for slower-moving agents required to perform a manual reload can be the difference between landing fatally damaged shots or getting shot while vulnerable.

To Maintain a Full Magazine

After killing targets in Valorant, utilizing the R keyboard to reload is advantageous as it restores a player’s magazine to full capacity without having to change to a weapon going to another weapon. Reloading in Valorant is useful for the next moments of the game, for in less than 10 seconds situations, reloading can be dangerous. To sign off, here is P3TITZZ with a keyboard reloading clinic.

To Avoid Running Out of Ammo During a Fight

CTRL+Left Click to reload may be the most inconvenient reloading method in Valorant. The fastest way to reload in a hurry is to press the R key with the right hand. For almost all major keys, physically typing is more direct and efficient because there is no need to press multiple buttons at once. When you try to reload in a middle-of-the-match fight with the CTRL+Left Click method, you should not look at the screen. It will most likely disrupt your crosshair settings.

To Have the Upper Hand in a Gunfight

Reloading is important to have the upper hand in a gunfight. An enemy may have excellent perception and alert your team to their positioning if you fire a shot while you are on the last bullet in the magazine and the gun audibly clicks it is empty. If a kill is imminent, forcing an enemy to reload may provide the split-second advantage and turnaround your team member needs to secure that advantage, or even survive themselves.

How to Reload in Valorant Using the Keyboard?

To reload in Valorant using the keyboard, simply press the R key. For all controls of primary and secondary weapon mechanics and all other elements of the tactical first-person shooter game, watch this video by YouTube’s EasyGame. Ranked as an Immortal 220 RR player with 344 subscribers, EasyGame is a VALORANT analyst who focuses on how to adapt to new patch changes and works in the automotive digital marketing industry as a Google Ads Strategist.

Default Keybind for Reloading

The default keybind for Valorant reloading on the keyboard is R. The reload ability allows a player to discard a partially used magazine for their weapon for a new, fully-loaded spare. Assuming the player has at least one full spare. Pressing R again during the re-equip animation cancels the reload. If the player has the next spare clip on their back or chest, pressing reload (R) while their gun is out will auto-reload the moment the clip is empty.

Customizing Keybinds for Reloading

The default key binding for reloading is set to munition three keys right of M which is the key with a `Dollar $` sign on it for most people. However, you can rebind the key in your settings menu to whichever key is easiest for you to reach quickly and comfortably. The following are the default setups for changing reload keys to commonly used keys on a standard US keyboard layout:

1. <` Grave Accent> – Second key to the left of 1
2. Z – Found under A and two keys to the right of V
3. R – Move keys from QWASD one to the right
4. F – Second key to the right from D
5. C – Directly in front of R
6. Space Bar – Between the <,> period and center of the bottom row of the keyboard
7. Mouse Wheel Down – Scrolling a mouse wheel away from the player
8. shift r – using the Right click and both shift of the Keyboard

From the main menu, navigate to your settings folder, then the controls tab. The reload keybind is the fourth option down on the left entitled Y (Use Object) and should be set up for easy use.

What are the Tips for Reloading in Valorant?

The basic tip for reloading in Valorant is to reduce the amount of time spent reloading. This means reloading after an engagement instead of entering a fight with an empty magazine.

Make sure to prioritize cover when reloading in VALORANT, especially in highly active areas. Additionally, both active recall and deployable cover agents can take advantage of their abilities to reload in safety. The use of jumping, peeking, strafing, and slide-jumping techniques is also beneficial when reloading.

The best approach to get more kills in the game is to practice when to reload in VALORANT frequently. If a player incorporates the ability to reload automatically into their game style, they’ll have that additional edge should the necessity to reload arise.

Find Cover Before Reloading

Finding cover before reloading is a general part of the process. However, it is particularly important in Valorant where time to kill is short and accurate positioning is extremely critical in most scenarios. It is not simply reloading and finding cover – but first finding cover, and reloading only after having found it.

For example, if a player is camping in a coverless area and time to kill is around 0.2 to 0.4 seconds for the average player, even one or two of those tenths of a second will not allow enough time to complete the reload.

Reload During Downtime

This is another reload strategy that applies to some games, with Valorant being an example. Pause the reloading process if you are trying to gather more information and decide what your next step should be. It is best to wait until these decisions are made and there is a moment of downtime before starting a new clip swap. That way, if an enemy is encountered during a period of downtime, you have a loaded magazine instead of a half-empty one with a partially complete reloading process.

Practice Quick Reload Techniques

Majority of automatic and semi-automatic Valorant weapons only drop a bullet in a chamber if they are missing more bullets than they contain (e.g., reloading Phantom with fewer than 20 bullets in the magazine). However, the game has relatively short reload times, and being fast at reloading can give players a tactical advantage if you know no riflemen or duelists are hiding nearby.

Training to speed reload using proper techniques is a common training strategy for law enforcement, military, and gun enthusiasts. Firearm Review promotes what is known as Rob Leatham’s Method in which the index finger is used to control the magazine.

What are the Common Mistakes Players Make When Reloading in Valorant?

The most common mistakes players make when reloading in Valorant do not involve use of the R-button o keyboard. The two most common problems are:

1. Not properly checking the surroundings to make sure it is safe to reload.
2. Reloading at the wrong time to be ready to shoot enemies when they appear.

I am trying to find more bouncers but you usually find the opposite.Kaito_Kid, player and streamer, 10/2021.

Reloading at the Wrong Time

Reloading at the wrong time is when you are actively engaged with the enemy and stop firing your weapon in order to reload. Perhaps the most straightforward way to choose another time to reload is when either a non-firing gap presents itself or your current magazine has a sufficient number of bullets left. Perhaps a better way to approach the reload question in these situations is to avoid reloading altogether. The goal should be to carry enough bullets into the engagement for you to either destroy the foes or gather more from those that you kill.

Not Checking Ammo Count Before Engaging in a Fight

If you reload a gun or a knife before the current magazine/bullet chamber is empty, you lose the rest of the magazine/bullet chamber that you just ejected. After Phase went to one bullet in her magazine, she got another bullet as she reloaded up to two bullets in addition to the loaded chamber, of which she kept the new one after throwing MF her gun.

Why is not checking before a fight? Possibly the largest threat source in Valorant is other players. Not being ready to eliminate the threat that other players pose can get you killed, which makes this method of saving bullets more effective than waiting until the gun is empty or half empty. Because they reload before fights more due to habit than as an effort to save money, most players do it until they are in a dangerous situation, which is a major source of getting killed. With far less prior intelligence or chance of escape, you can get caught in a pressing and deadly situation without a chambered round if you reload even before checking how much ammunition you have. Frequently reloading prevents you from firing the chambered round when there is no time to reload the weapon. This could get you killed in some circumstances, particularly when you are caught off guard at close quarters.

Not Utilizing Abilities to Cover for Reloading

Player’s utilizable non-weapon abilities are anything from smoke and flash spray, shooting a wholely different weapon, using agents capable of interrupting enemy fire resulting in free time to reload, disengagement from the situation to reload, and using Agent Ultimate abilities.

Avoid Ascent map central B Main areas such as central area of the A Main site and central site in middle.

In open locations, avoid the central plaza of B Site with Ski Park, and avoid Defender Spawn and Attacker Courtyard as well as the offices.

Save the last bullet for your enemy’s face. – Wall Street Journal

Conclusion

Experienced Valorant users may tell you that what you are looking for cannot be found. F1 to pick up is no longer supported but they forget to share a little-known secret, F1 to pickup is still supported in the admin keyboard commands section. Most likely you will never want or need to do this. But if your interests or job revolve around competitive gaming such that they are affected by changes to game features and capabilities, you will want to be a tester at Riot Games. They posted several job opportunities in mid-March such as Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SD/T), Client QA – Temp, Data Analyst Intern – Game Operations (META Gaming), RiotX Labs Software Engineer Intern – Riot Product (META) – League of Legends, and Engineering Manager, Voice at Riot Labs. If you happen to be a professional Valorant gamer, you may be able to get special help from Riot to ensure your environment is exactly meeting your requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Reload in Valorant Keyboard?

There are various ways to reload your weapon in Valorant using your keyboard. Here are some frequently asked questions and answers to help you out.

1. How do I reload in Valorant using my keyboard?

To reload your weapon using your keyboard, you can press the “R” key. This will reload your current weapon and you can continue fighting without any delay.

2. What if I accidentally press the reload button in the middle of a gunfight?

If you accidentally press the “R” key and initiate a reload in the middle of a gunfight, you can quickly cancel it by pressing the “Escape” key. This will cancel the reload and you can continue shooting.

3. Can I customize the reload key in Valorant?

Yes, you can customize the reload key in Valorant to your preferred key on the keyboard. To do this, go to the game’s settings and navigate to the “Keyboard” tab. From there, you can assign a different key for reloading.

4. Is there a faster way to reload in Valorant using the keyboard?

Yes, there is a faster way to reload in Valorant using the keyboard. You can enable the “Auto Reload” option in the game settings, which will automatically reload your weapon when it runs out of ammo. This will save you the extra step of manually pressing the reload key.

5. Can I reload while moving in Valorant?

Yes, you can reload while moving in Valorant using your keyboard. However, keep in mind that your movement speed will be reduced while reloading, so make sure to find a safe spot before initiating the reload.

6. What if I run out of ammo while in a gunfight in Valorant?

If you run out of ammo in the middle of a gunfight, you can quickly switch to your secondary weapon by pressing the “2” key on your keyboard. This will allow you to continue fighting without having to reload your main weapon.