The Big Valorant Glossary: Every Term Explained

Valorant speaks its own language: agent select chats are full of "RR", "eDPI" and "full buy", casters talk about "thrifties" and "retakes". This dictionary translates the most important terms – compact enough for quick lookups, precise enough to truly understand what's behind them. For deeper dives, we link the matching guide for each term.

Ranked & rank system

RR (Rank Rating): Valorant's visible rank points. You gain RR per win and lose some per defeat; at 100 RR you climb one tier. See how many wins you need in our RR calculator.

MMR (Matchmaking Rating): Your hidden skill rating that Valorant uses to judge your true strength. MMR controls opponent quality and RR gains – it can sit above or below your visible rank.

Elo: Colloquial term for skill rating (from the chess Elo system). In Valorant, "elo" usually means the combination of rank, RR and MMR.

Placements: The placement matches (5 games) at season start, at mid-season or on fresh accounts – at all other act changes, a single match is enough. Together with your hidden MMR they set your starting rank.

Act & season: Valorant's season structure: since 2025, six acts form a yearly season (formerly called an episode). Each new act brings fresh placements, a new Battlepass and your act rank as a keepsake.

Act rank: Your best confirmed rank within an act, displayed as a triangle of wins. It works as a trophy and influences your next placements.

Demotion protection: If you drop to 0 RR, only the next loss demotes you. On top of that, reaching tier 1 of a rank gives you two Rank Shields that protect you from dropping to the rank below. After a demotion you start with at least 70 RR.

Leaderboard: The regional ladder for Immortal and Radiant. From Immortal onwards, your leaderboard position matters alongside wins – all details in the rank system guide.

Performance Score: Since patch 13.06 (Sept 22, 2026), the successor to ACS: a rating from 0 to 500 that measures your contribution to the round – shown on the scoreboard and decisive for MVP. Everything in the Performance Score guide.

Accolades: Since 13.06, Accolades store your personal bests in Competitive and Premier – for the current act and your whole career, e.g. how often you were MVP or your most kills in one match.

Rank Legacy: Since 13.06, Rank Legacy in the Competitive Hub counts how often you have reached each rank – a kind of trophy cabinet (demotions do not count).

Gameplay & tactics

Spike: Valorant's bomb. Attackers plant it on a site, defenders defuse it. The half-defuse at 3.5 seconds is a key tactical trick.

Eco round: A save round: the team buys little or nothing to afford full equipment (full buy) next round. Opposite: force buy – buying despite low credits.

Full buy / force buy: Full buy: complete loadout with rifles, shields and full utility. Force buy: a forced purchase on a tight budget, usually after losing the pistol round.

Bonus round: The round after a won pistol round, when the losing team usually saves – the winner plays cheap equipment ("anti-eco") against little resistance.

Thrifty: Winning a round with clearly cheaper equipment than the enemy – celebrated in-game as "Thrifty".

Clutch: When the last player alive wins an almost-lost round solo – e.g. a 1v3. The highlight-reel discipline.

Ace: Eliminating all five enemies in a single round by yourself.

Flawless: Winning a round without losing a single teammate.

Retake: Recapturing a site after the attackers have planted the spike.

Rotation: Moving from one site to the other – as a reaction to information or as a fake.

Peek & jiggle peek: Controlled exposure from cover. A jiggle peek makes you visible only for a split second to gather info or bait shots.

Off-angle: An unexpected position away from the standard angles that enemies have not pre-aimed.

Trade: Instantly "buying back" a fallen teammate's death by eliminating their killer. Good teams never die untraded.

Entry fragger: The player who enters the site first and takes the opening duel – the classic job of duelists like Jett or Raze.

Lurker: A player flanking away from the team, cutting rotations and gathering info – classically Cypher or Omen.

IGL (in-game leader): The team's shot-caller: announces strategies, reads the enemy and makes the mid-round calls.

Utility / util: Umbrella term for all abilities (smokes, flashes, mollies, recon). A "util dump" means using everything at once.

Smoke / flash / molly: The three key utility types: vision blockers (Omen, Brimstone), blinds (Phoenix, KAY/O) and area damage (Viper, Brimstone).

One-tap: An enemy dropped with a single headshot – the trademark of Vandal and Sheriff.

Wallbang: A kill through a penetrable wall or crate. Not every surface can be shot through – high-penetration weapons wallbang better.

Anchor: The defender holding a site alone while the team plays elsewhere – needs strong solo utility like Cypher or Killjoy.

Ult points: The orbs and events (kills, deaths, spike actions) that charge your ultimate – using them wisely is called ult economy.

Overtime: At 12:12 the match goes to overtime: the first team two rounds ahead wins, with sides switching every round.

Premier: Valorant's team-based competitive mode with fixed match schedules and a promotion system – the path toward semi-pro play. Times and divisions are covered in our Valorant Premier guide.

Aim, settings & tech

DPI: Dots per inch – your mouse's hardware sensitivity. Common in Valorant: 800 or 1600 DPI (some pros use 400).

Sens (sensitivity): The in-game mouse sensitivity. Only DPI × sens gives your real sensitivity – the eDPI.

eDPI: Effective DPI = DPI × in-game sens. The only fairly comparable sensitivity value – pros mostly sit between 200 and 400 eDPI. Calculate yours in the eDPI calculator.

Crosshair: Your reticle. Color, size and shape are fully customizable – build yours in the crosshair generator or grab one of 402 codes from the pro database.

HS% (headshot rate): The share of your hits that land on the head. One of the most honest aim stats – good ranked players sit above 20%.

First bullet accuracy: The precision of a weapon's first standing shot. On the Vandal it is lethal at any range – one headshot is enough.

Peeker's advantage: The slight network edge of the player swinging around a corner over the one holding it – which is why active peeking often beats passive holding.

Crosshair placement: The art of keeping your reticle at head height on the next corner – the most important aim skill of all, trainable in the aim trainer.

Skins, shop & currencies

VP (Valorant Points): The real-money currency for skins, the Battlepass and bundles. Prices and euro values: VP prices.

Radianite Points (RP): The upgrade currency: Radianite unlocks skin levels and variants. Sources: the Battlepass or buying it with VP – details in the Radianite guide.

Kingdom Credits: The earnable free currency (since 2023): unlocked by playing, redeemable for agents, accessories and – since Patch 13.06 – the Agent Mastery reward tracks.

Skin tier: A skin's price class: Select (875 VP), Deluxe (1,275), Premium (1,775), Exclusive (2,175+) and Ultra (2,475). All tiers explained in the tier guide.

Bundle: A skin package with weapons, melee and extras at a package price. Our bundle database lists all 171 bundles with prices.

Night Market: The discount shop with six random skins at 10–49% off, several times a year. Dates and countdown: Night Market date.

Battlepass: The pass for each act (1,000 VP) with skins, sprays and Radianite across 50 tiers – whether it is worth it: Battlepass check.

Chroma / variant: Alternative color versions of a skin, unlocked with Radianite – often only at higher skin levels.

Finisher: A premium skin's special animation on the round's final kill – the prestige feature of expensive skins.

Gifting: The only official transfer: gifting skins to friends directly at purchase in the store. Trading or transferring from your inventory does not exist – more in our guide on selling skins.

Locker (Spind): Your skin collection. The Valorant-Spind app calculates its euro value automatically – locally and without login.

Community & esports

Smurf: An experienced player on a low-ranked second account. Frowned upon and actively combated by Riot.

Boosting: Paid rank-ups on someone else's account – violates the Terms of Service and risks bans.

Whiff: Completely missing a shot you really should have hit.

Diff: Short for "difference" – e.g. "Jett diff": the gap between two players in the same role decided the match.

FF (forfeit): Short for the surrender vote. According to Riot Support it is available from the start of round 4; in Competitive the whole team has to agree, in Unrated 80%.

VCT (Valorant Champions Tour): Riot's official esports system of international leagues, Masters events and the world championship final – explained in the esports guide.

Champions: The annual world championship of the VCT – in 2026 it took place in Shanghai. The Champions bundle traditionally releases around the event.

Masters: The international mid-season tournaments where the best teams from all regions meet.

Ascension: The promotion path: through Challengers leagues and Ascension tournaments, teams can earn a spot in the partner leagues.

Drops: Rewards (e.g. sprays or titles) for watching official VCT streams with a linked Riot account.

Weapons & equipment

Vandal: The assault rifle that kills with one headshot at any range – no damage falloff, but a more demanding spray. The eternal rival of the Phantom.

Phantom: The second assault rifle: higher fire rate, silencer and an easier spray, but with damage falloff at long range. Popular for close and mid duels.

Warden: The new rifle from patch 13.06: 2,900 credits, 18 rounds, a 2x scope and 50 body damage at every range (200 head, 42 leg). Details in the Warden guide.

Operator (Op): The sniper rifle that kills with one body hit. Expensive, slow, but unbeatable on long sightlines – Valorant's classic "AWP".

Sheriff: The strongest pistol: one headshot kills even through heavy shields up to 30 m (159 damage), beyond that it still kills enemies with light or no shields (145). The star of every eco round and feared in a steady hand.

Bandit: The pistol from patch 12.00 (January 2026) – the first new weapon since the Outlaw and an alternative to the Ghost and Sheriff.

Classic: The free default pistol every round starts with. Underrated: the alt-fire burst can be lethal at close range.

Spectre: The most popular submachine gun (SMG), silenced and cheap – ideal for eco and force-buy rounds at close range.

Guardian: A semi-automatic rifle with a high single-shot damage focus. Rewards precise aim and is a cheap mid-range alternative.

Marshal & Outlaw: Cheap sniper rifles for eco rounds. The Outlaw has two shots before reloading – a middle ground between the Marshal and the Operator.

Judge & Bucky: The two shotguns. Brutal at close range, useless at distance – perfect for holding tight angles and chokes.

Shield / armor: Light (25) or heavy (50) armor that absorbs extra damage. A full buy almost always includes heavy armor.

Ability charges: The limited charges of an ability per round. Some are bought in the buy phase; the ultimate charges up with ult points.

Roles, abilities & utility

Duelist: The aggressive entry role. Duelists like Jett or Reyna secure the first frag with speed and self-sufficient abilities and open up the site.

Initiator: Gathers information and clears the way with flashes or stuns. Sova, Breach or Skye set up the entry for the team.

Controller: The smoke specialist. Controllers like Omen or Brimstone block sightlines and carve up the map for controlled executes.

Sentinel: The defensive anchor role. Sentinels like Killjoy or Cypher secure flanks and sites with traps and surveillance utility.

Flash: An ability that briefly blinds enemies. "Popped" correctly, it lets the team peek safely.

Molly (Molotov): A damage zone on the ground that drives enemies off a position or prevents a defuse in the post-plant.

Recon: Reconnaissance utility that reveals enemies – such as Sova's Recon Bolt or Fade's Prowler. Information is half the win.

Lineup: A practiced throw that lands utility on an exact spot by lining it up with fixed reference points – especially for post-plant mollies.

Slang & abbreviations

Spray / tap / burst: Firing styles: spray means holding full-auto, tap means single shots, burst means short, controlled volleys – depending on distance.

Save (save round): A round in which you deliberately stop fighting and keep your weapon for the next round – the third buy strategy next to eco and force.

Execute: The coordinated attack on a site with synchronized utility – the counterpart to the retake.

Default: A flexible standard setup without a fixed site that gathers info before the team commits late.

GG / GLHF: "Good game" at the end and "good luck, have fun" at the start – the courtesy phrases of the shooter community.

Maps, positions & callouts

Site (bombsite): The area where attackers plant the spike – usually A and B, plus C on Haven and Lotus.

Choke: A narrow passage you must pass to enter a site. Ideal for defending with utility.

Angle: A sightline from which you expect an enemy. "Holding an angle" means waiting with your crosshair already on it.

Wide-swing: A wide, sweeping peek that throws a waiting enemy off their timing.

Crossfire: Two offset players covering the same angle from different directions – hard to crack.

Mid: The central map area; controlling it enables fast rotations and splits onto both sites.

Heaven & Hell: Common callouts for an elevated position (Heaven) and a lower area (Hell) at a site.

Spawn: The area where each team starts the round.

Setup: A prepared arrangement of players and utility to defend a site or run a retake.

Game modes & economy

Competitive (ranked): The rated mode with ranks and RR – this is where your climb from Iron to Radiant plays out.

Unrated: The full game format without rank pressure – ideal for learning and experimenting.

Swiftplay: The shortened variant with fewer rounds – quick matches when you're short on time.

Spike Rush: A fast mode where everyone gets the same weapon and power-ups lie on the map.

Deathmatch: Free-for-all for pure aim training, without abilities and without the spike.

Remake: Canceling a match without it counting when a player is AFK or disconnected in the first round. Since patch 10.00 the vote starts automatically and a majority of the remaining teammates is enough. The player who caused the remake is penalized.

Gauntlet: Glitched: New 2v2 mode from patch 13.06: eight duos fight in short rounds, every loss costs team HP – the last duo standing wins. More in the Gauntlet guide.

Pistol round: The first round of each half, where everyone starts with just a pistol and little money – often decisive for the whole half.

Loss bonus: Extra money for teams losing several rounds in a row – keeps the economy in play.

Agents, meta & team terms

Agent: One of the 30 playable characters, each with four unique abilities and a role (duelist, initiator, controller, sentinel).

Agent Mastery: Replaced the Agent Gear system in patch 13.06: you level each agent by playing and unlock cosmetics and an Agent ID on a reward track (with Kingdom Credits).

Kit: The full set of an agent's four abilities. "A strong kit" means versatile, effective utility.

Signature ability: The defining ability of an agent; it recharges (and is at least partly free) – such as Jett's dash.

Ultimate (ult): The strongest ability, charged via ult points from kills, deaths, spike actions and orbs.

Comp (team comp): The composition of a team's five agents – ideally balanced across all roles.

Meta: The currently strongest agents, weapons and strategies. Changes with every major patch.

Flex pick: A player or agent who can cover several roles and gives the team tactical flexibility.

Buff / nerf: A strengthening (buff) or weakening (nerf) through a balance update. Shapes which agents are popular.

Pick rate: How often an agent is played – a good indicator of their strength in the current meta.

Win rate: The share of rounds or matches won with an agent, a map or a setup.

Fragger: The player with the most kills on the team – often the duelist who takes the duels.

Advanced tactics

Split: An attack on a site from two directions at once to catch the defenders in a crossfire.

Fake: Faking utility and presence on one site to tie down defenders and then strike elsewhere.

Post-plant: The phase after planting the spike, where attackers use utility to prevent the defuse.

Stack: Bunching several defenders on a single site – a risk that pays off on the right read.

Contact play: Playing on pure reaction and aim without utility, when no abilities are left.

Timing: Deliberately controlling when you peek or push – often more decisive than pure accuracy.

Trade frag: A kill that immediately offsets a teammate's death and brings the duel back to even numbers.

Baiting: Deliberately "sacrificing" a teammate to get the kill yourself – frowned upon in a team, but an established term.

Info-peek: A peek solely to gain information, not for a kill – usually fast and from safe cover.

Read: Anticipating enemy actions from patterns and timing. A good "read" wins rounds without aim.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What does RR mean in Valorant?

RR stands for Rank Rating – the visible rank points. You gain RR per win; at 100 you climb one tier. Your hidden MMR influences how much RR each match gives you.

What is the difference between MMR and RR?

RR is your rank's visible point total, MMR the hidden rating of your true skill. If your MMR sits above your rank, you gain more RR per win – the system pulls you toward your real level.

What is eDPI and how do I calculate it?

eDPI = mouse DPI × in-game sensitivity. It makes sensitivities comparable: 800 DPI × 0.4 sens = 320 eDPI. Most pros play between 200 and 400 eDPI.

What is an eco round?

A save round in which the team deliberately buys little, so that a full buy with rifles and complete utility is affordable next round.

What does thrifty mean?

Winning a round with clearly cheaper equipment than the enemy – for example a pistol round against rifles. Valorant then displays "Thrifty".

Which terms should beginners learn first?

To start, you need: spike (the bomb), eco/full buy (buying behavior), rotation (switching sites), trade (avenging a teammate) and crosshair placement (reticle at head height). The beginner guide covers the rest.