You come back from a hard day at work to enjoy a relaxing game of Valorant, but XYZLiveYouTube just wants to play Bucky. So, as four players battle for victory, there’s the shotgun-wielding streamer with a muted microphone and no respect for the team. This is how multiplayer gaming has become at lower ranks: a nightmare. Amazingly though, these trolls are heroes on Twitter and YouTube, going viral with every hack, and that’s not right.
Valorant’s old smurf problem has been well documented. Yet in 2020, the Smurfs had other reasons: they just wanted to play with friends. Riot therefore investigated and modified the system accordingly to filter them out. Since then, the developer has taken commendable steps to nip it in the bud, but the Smurfs still plague the lower ranks. Sure, the numbers are down, but the new Smurfs are deadlier than ever.
Valorant’s Smurfs are going viral and it’s surprisingly normal
Why, you ask me? These new Smurfs are challenge streamers and they are heroes. Rating cheats normalize smurfing, setting a precedent that it’s okay to stalk at a lower ELO if you’re using a weapon that puts you at a disadvantage. Streamers ruin games for enemies and sabotage teammates, but social media loves them and encourages others to do the same.
Riot introduced five stacks to discourage smurfing. However, the fact that Radiant players are going viral for being cracked with just a silver gun is enough incentive to make the Smurfs problem worse.
“In addition to addressing Smurfs by identifying them and putting them in fair matches, we’ve also made specific changes to reduce the incentive to create alt accounts in the first place,” Riot says.
Take the example of Valorant TikTok challenges, a platform that can make you a star overnight, and that’s a great thing. Except that Valorant cheats were going viral on the hacking platform. Eventually, it became a trend to issue a challenge, post it on TikTok, and boom. You are a star. Valorant’s “most assists” challenge is a great example of this.
For this challenge, the streamer would deliberately lose to lengthen the game time to get a lot of assists. It also means not killing an enemy at all. It was a viral trend and by far the worst as it clearly sabotages teammates. At the time, Riot hadn’t introduced an update that would minimize the impact of round mismatch on ELO gains, so all five players were losing tons of RR for winning by a gap narrow. That is, if they even win.
Some streamers move through the ranks quickly, and some just use guns and stuff. All of this should not be taken lightly. Of course, these high ranked players are at a disadvantage due to the demands of the challenge; for example, if a Radiant Smurf does pistol-only ranks, you can argue that enemies should be able to shoot them easily with a Vandal. The problem is that a Radiant player shouldn’t be on Silver to begin with.
Silver ranks seem more competitive than Immortals
Complaints that Silver is more complex than Immortal are plentiful. This dilemma has many explanations, but smurf is the most logical. Ranked Demons can easily reach the Radiant Peak and then create new accounts to start their routine again. Because of this, you’ll see some incredibly talented players at low ELO, which will make it just as difficult as at high ranks.
Riot has added advanced Smurf detection that puts the highest rated players into the correct MMR in just four matches. According to the developer, the removal of smurfs was generally successful, which is amazing. But all that effort goes to waste when popular streamers are touting the smurf.
Speed racing challenges are the most dangerous. Streamers reaching Radiant in X hours are ruining the ranked experience for everyone. Nine players play within their ELO capacity to advance to the next tier, playing against a Radiant who is trying to jump multiple divisions as quickly as possible. In no world is that fair.
It’s time for Riot Games to publicly punish challenge streamers for leading by example and making it clear that Valorant has no place for a circus. Steamers shouldn’t view low ELO as their personal playground or a ramp to show off their skills. It’s a competitive game and low rated players deserve fair competition.
Luckily, Riot is already working on taking on the Smurfs on a higher level, so players should keep their fingers crossed and work hard to escape ELO hell. Adjusting your settings and getting the best Valorant reticle code could help you climb the Valorant ranks and deal with the smurfs.