Valorant: Wall penetration inconsistencies are ruining the competitive integrity of the game

You have to hand it to the Valorant community; when it comes to finding bugs and some ingenious game-breaking exploits, they leave no stone unturned.

And yesterday, a Redditor named quarkez posted something interesting about Valorant's 'wall bang mechanic', which kind of throws the game's competitive integrity out the window (till it gets patched out).

According to quarkez, there is currently a bug/exploit (depends on how you see it) in the game which can get you "shot when hiding behind an impenetrable wall. Character model clips through the object/wall, and if shot at, you will take full damage."

In the longer video, he goes over each of the points which make 'wall penetration' in Valorant one of the most inconsistent mechanics in the game, and calls it 'Janky'.

Valorant walls don't stop bullets at the 'entry point'

Screengrab via quarkez

quarkez suggests that hugging a wall in Valorant is one of the worst things that a player can do, as apart from the wallable covers, the impenetrable ones are not exactly stopping the bullet at the entry point.

The bullets of a gun like the Vandal, which have a higher level of penetration, are partially going through and stopping short right at the exit point. So, if a person is hugging the wall, the character model will receive the brunt of the full bullet spray.

Now, hugging impenetrable covers in Valorant is the core part of its low-TTK gameplay. 'Jiggle peeking', 'quick scoping', 'corner clearing': each of these significant gameplay concepts depends heavily on the structure of the wall they are standing behind.

So, if the very 'bangable' nature of the wall is inconsistent, then the competitive integrity of Valorant is gravely compromised.

However, the impregnable wall inconsistency will only occur if the character model is hugging the cover (which is most of the time). It won't affect the model if there is some air gap between the wall and itself.

Bullet penetration is not the only inconsistency

In the video, quarkez goes much deeper into the various inconsistencies of walls in the game, and bullet penetration is not the only problem.

He points out some of the following issues which need fixing:

1. The damage of bullets passing through walls varies with each shot, even if it's hit at the same location and trajectory.

Screengrab via quarkez

2. There are walls in Valorant where the material defers on both its sides, and it makes determining bullet penetration rather difficult.

Screengrab via quarkez

3. The angle of the shot and material thickness are some other important factors that determine bullet penetration in the game, and that too seems to be inconsistent.

Screengrab via quarkez

4. Impact indications are also not accurate, and even when it’s showing that the bullets are not passing through, the character model hugging the terrain will still get shot at.

Screengrab via quarkez

The inconsistencies with the walls are causing a lot of problems with the game, and the Valorant devs must look into the matter soon.