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One of the features that makes Valorant such an immersive experience for players is the unique audio cues that Riot Games have crafted for every single aspect and element in the game.
One of these elements is the Agent footsteps, and each Agent in the game makes a distinct sound when they walk, and the magnitude of the noise created also depends on how seemingly heavy the character is.
For example, the bulky twins of Brimstone and Breach have noisier footfalls than Jett. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these distinctions aren't too big.
So, in the heat of battle, with so many abilities and bullets flying about, footfall distinctions are hardly ever useful, and this fact is especially true in solo-queue games.
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However, there are situations in the professional echelons of Valorant when Agent footfall distinctions are given some importance.
In a recent tweet, Team Envy’s Valorant pro Victor “Victor” Wong (previously went by the ign of “food”) opened up about why he feels distinct agent footfalls can have a significant impact on competitive Valorant.
He wrote:
“Anyone else thinks this is an issue? Each agent has a distinct footstep noise with the most obvious examples being Breach/Brimstone. and this can be pretty important based on how you study a team and their defaults/setups because you can figure them if you listen for an agent.”
Professional Valorant relies a great deal on team synergy and how well the squad is executing strategies for every map. Hence, enemies gaining preemptive knowledge about enemy Agents' location will ultimately hurt a team’s chances.
Are distinct Agent footfalls a big evil in Valorant?
Though Victor might have a point from his perspective, however, not a lot of people agree with the fact that Agent footfall will drastically affect professional play.
There were many in the comment thread who felt that though the distinction is there, it’s very hard to point out, and will hardly ever hamper a team’s strategy just because one of the bulkier Valorant Agents had a slight misstep.
Even Team Liquid content creator Average Jonas went to the extent of saying that footfall distinction:
“It just adds another skill gap. As a musician and sound editor I take pride in every little bit of information I can assess from sound cues and I think it adds depth to the game.”
Though the Agent footfall debate is quite interesting, there is no single answer to it, and only time will tell if at all this can create significant issues in Valorant’s pro play in the future.
