This summer, the free to play shooter Valorant from Riot Games wants to shake up the esports scene. Bit by bit more and more details are pouring in about the action title, which wants to take on CS:GO and Overwatch. Resourceful fans have now discovered an alternative weapon fire mode in the first gameplay videos.
After the announcement of the free to play shooter Valorant by Riot Games, the developers are gradually adding more details. As we already know, the game will do without any loot boxes and will only have cosmetic microtransactions. Much more interesting is the information that some fans discovered in the first and so far only gameplay trailer of the game.
Weapons in Valorant offer alternative fire modes
Concrete details on the gameplay of the shooter are still lacking. At least short clips on the agents Phoenix and Viper reveal more about the abilities of the two characters that will be available at launch in summer 2020. In addition, there is only a three-minute gameplay clip from the game, which provides some details about Valorant. But apart from the obvious, there is something else.
Reddit user "Qtank009" took the clip frame by frame and came across an interesting detail in the game's marketplace, where players can buy new weapons, gadgets, and skills at the beginning of a round. In fractions of a second, the gameplay video scrolls over the various weapons, revealing information that can only be seen on closer inspection: The shotguns and rifles in Valorant have an alternative fire mode.
What the alternative modes do
In the weapon details on the right side you will find information about fire rate, damage or magazine size. For some weapons shown, there is also the entry "Alt. Fire", which confirms the alternative fire mode. For example, the Bucky Shotgun has a semi-automatic "Air Burst" mode, in which the first shot deals increased damage. The shotgun costs 900 in-game credits, making it ideal for close combat.
The fully automatic Vandal rifle also has a secondary fire mode, which makes the weapon particularly deadly over medium and long distances. In the alternative mode, the rifle is given a 1.25x zoom with slightly reduced dispersion, but at the cost of a lower fire rate. It resembles something we’ve seen in Overwatch’s Widowmaker, but things are the exact opposite in there as her sniper can turn into an automatic rifle suitable for close range.
However, Valorant is currently still at a rather early stage. It remains to be seen whether the alternative fire modes will find their way into the final game in this form or whether they will undergo any changes. There’s also the question if any other weapons will possess an alternative fire mode. A total of 17 weapons will be available at the start of the game. Players will be able to slip into the skin of eight different agents, two of which already had their teasers released. More trailers will surely come in the months to follow. In addition, the number of playable characters or weapons might also increase before the game’s launch.
