A new ‘strategy’ that is becoming more prevalent in the Valorant closed beta is starting to disrupt ranked games.

The strategy exploits a mechanics loophole and requires one team to throw the round after losing the pistol round by using Raze’s Blast Pack and Brimstone’s Incendiary, causing friendly fire damage and eliminating the entire team after the Buy Phase.

While the team essentially throws one round, it denies the opposing team the chance to earn more credits and orbs for the following round; while the team that blew themselves up will have around 5,000 credits each to start the next round, giving them a massive economic advantage.

I’m just simply asking if this is prohibited or not; These people in ranked kept losing the pistol fight. Every time they’d lose it, the Brimstone/Raze would just team kill them, thus they would start the new round with about 5k each. And apparently, "everyone does that". from VALORANT

The post gained traction on the Valorant subreddit, where Redditor “YourAfricanDad” asked if the strategy was “prohibited or not?” According to the user, it is a popular strategy that players have started using in ranked matches. He added, “Apparently, everyone does that.”

The economy system in Valorant usually dictates which team has a better chance of winning each round. After losing the pistol round, some teams have decided to just cut their losses and accept losing two straight rounds for a better chance at winning the following round.

There are no penalties in place for players causing friendly fire damage or team-killing in Valorant, but the strategy goes against the principles of competitive play. Expect to hear Riot address the topic in a blog post later on.

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