You come back after a hard day’s work to enjoy a cold game Valorant, but XYZLiveYouTube only wants to play Bucky. So, while the four players are trying to win, there’s a streamer with a shotgun and a muted mic who’s not paying attention to the team. Here’s how multiplayer game became at the lower ranks: a nightmare. Yet, ironically, these trolls are heroes on Twitter and YouTube, going viral after every stunt, and that’s not okay.
Valorant’s longstanding problem with smurfing has been well documented. However, in 2020, the Smurfs had other motives – they just wanted to play with their friends. So Riot investigated and changed the system accordingly to filter them out. The developer has since taken laudable steps to nip it in the bud, but the smurfs still plague the lower ranks. Of course, the numbers have decreasedbut the new smurfs are deadlier than ever.
Brave Smurfs go viral, and that’s surprisingly okay
You may ask why? These new smurfs are challenge streamers and they are heroes. Boosting Stunts normalizes smurfing by setting a precedent where you can hide a lower ELO if you have a weapon that puts you at a disadvantage. Streamers spoil games for enemies and sabotage teammates, but social media loves them, encouraging others to follow suit.
Riot introduced five stacks as a means to prevent smurfing. However, Radiant players going viral for being hacked with nothing more than a gun in Silver is incentive enough to exacerbate the smurfing problem.
“In addition to cracking down on smurfs by identifying them and putting them in fair matches, we’ve also made special changes to reduce the incentive to create alternate accounts in the first place,” Riot says.
Let’s take the example of Valorant’s TikTok challenges, a platform that can make you an overnight star, and that’s a great thing. in addition Brave swindlers went viral on the platform due to hacking. Later, it became a trend to start a challenge, publish it on TikTok and boom. you are a star Valorant’s “most assists” challenge is a great example.
In this challenge, the streamer was intentionally losing to extend the length of the game in order to collect many passes. It also means not killing the enemy at all. This was a viral trend, and definitely the worst since it clearly sabotages teammates. At the time, Riot didn’t introduce an update that minimized the effect of round variance on the resulting ELO, so all five players were losing a ton of RR for winning by a narrow margin. That is, if they even win.
Some streamers run through ranks at speed and some just use a gun and such. All this should not be taken lightly. Of course, these high-ranking players are at a disadvantage due to the demands of the task; for example, if Glowing Smurf only ranks with a gun, you could argue that enemies should be able to easily shoot them with Vandal. First, the problem is that the Radiant player doesn’t have to be silver.
Silver ranks seem more competitive than Immortal
There are many complaints about Silver being harder than Immortal. There are many explanations for this dilemma, but the most logical one is smurfing. It’s easy for ranked demons to peak Radiance and then create new accounts to resume their game. For this reason, you will see incredibly experienced players with low ELOs, making it just as difficult as high ranks.
Riot added advanced smurf detection that puts highly skilled players in the correct MMR in just four matches. According to the developer, the reduction of the smurf was mostly successful, which is incredible. But all these efforts are in vain when popular streamers glorify smurfing.
Speed tests are the most dangerous. Streamers reaching Radiant in X hours are ruining the ranked experience for everyone. Nine players play within their ELO skill to advance to the next rank, playing against Radiant, who is trying to move through multiple divisions as quickly as possible. In no world is that fair.
It’s time for Riot Games to publicly punish challenge streamers for setting an example and making it clear that Valorant is no place for a circus. Steamers should not treat a low ELO as their personal playground or ramp to showcase their skills. This is a competitive game and players with low ELOs deserve fair competition.
Fortunately, Riot is already working on smurfing at the top level, so players should keep their fingers crossed and aim to avoid ELO hell. Change the settings and get the best Valorant Crossroads Code can help you climb on Valorous ranks and deal with the smurfs.