Smurfing is an act where a high ranked player competes with low-rank players to succeed in scoring easy kills. Such a practice effectively tanks the MMR of low skilled players, causing them to lose rank faster. Smurfing exists in almost every tactical FPS game, and those who do it in valorant are called Valorant Smurfs.
Valorant Smurfs – Why Engage in Smurfing?
There are two reasons why Valorant Smurfs exist:
- To Play with Friends who possess Lower Valorant Ranks.
- For Sheer Enjoyment.
Regardless of these reasons, Valorant Smurfing is hugely frowned upon in the game community, yet it isn’t easy to detect. It is because smurfing could manipulate the Valorant MMR queue system to an extent.
The easiest way to become one of the Valorant Smurfs is by losing multiple Competitive Valorant matches in a row. This activity is termed ‘Throwing’ in the global gaming community, and it’s not fun to watch or do.
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Valorant Smurfing Effects
Smurfing makes your allies suffer your decision to throw the game, which causes them to lose RR points.
Moreover, it also supplies the opposite team with easy kills, leading to moderately skilled players earning higher ranks.
Ultimately, smurfing creates scenarios where a low skill player will queue against better Valorant players when they next queue and they will lose.
Thus, Smurfing essentially inhibits the game system to offer a fair gameplay experience to all its players.
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Valorant Smurfs – Ye Be Warned!
What is largely unknown for most Valorant Players is that Valorant Smurfs can be reported and penalized. Yes, while this system has previously worked well to some extent, it hasn’t deterred players from engaging in it.
Such a punishment system still wasn’t adequate for Valorant Smurfs, who simply made a new account. It led the Valorant Developers to try different ways to identify and control it, if not outrightly eliminate it.
So they made one change, which is implemented from the Valorant 3.10 Patch.
Valorant Smurfs – Say No More: Valorant Patch 3.10!
Hearing about Valorant Smurfing gets old for a team that works extensively to offer a fair gameplay experience to everyone. So, the Valorant Patch 3.10 brings ‘Competitive Queue Stack’ changes.
Valorant Competitive Queue Stack Modifications
The latest upheaval in the Valorant game is brought on by the introduction of removing 4 stack queues. Now, players can play with their friends sharing lower or higher ranks with some adjustments to the RR points.
The modification of Valorant Competitive Queue Stack removes all queuing limitations of players with higher rank disparity. Essentially, this move is balanced by limiting the RR points a player/team gains after winning a match.
For instance, consider these scenarios:
- Valorant Team party with Four Silver Rank Players and One Bronze Rank Player will grant the team 75% RR gains.
- A Team party with Three Silver Rank Players, One Bronze Rank Player and One Gold Rank player will have 50% RR gains.
- Similarly, a team with all Radiant Players except one Diamond or Silver player will receive 25% RR gains.
In short, the higher the rank disparity among players in a Valorant Party, the greater their reduction in RR gains.
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Final Words
Valorant Smurfs can essentially become a subject of the past after the launch of the Valorant Patch 3.10. It’s yet to see how this update pans out in the Valorant Competitive game mode scheme. However, the Riot Valorant Developers are certainly razor-focused on retaining the fair gameplay aspect of Valorant at all times. Happy Gaming!