VALORANT is a new First-Person Shooter title from Riot Games, the creators of the biggest esport in the world: League of Legends. Pinnacle remains at the forefront in expanding into new and vibrant markets. Read on to find out more about how to bet on VALORANT.
What is VALORANT?
VALORANT is a 5vs5 Character-based Tactical First-Person Shooter (FPS). It blends aspects from other FPS titles like the hugely popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Overwatch (OW) and Rainbow Six: Siege (R6S) to create a unique, highly competitive experience.
VALORANT odds: What are the available markets?
Pinnacle offers a number of markets for VALORANT, the most common being on the outcome of a match - known as the Money Line. The Money Line reflects the relative skill of each team with their recent wins and losses used to set the line. Due to the short competitive history of VALORANT, a Money Line bet can be an opportunity for eagle-eyed bettors who follow the scene to take advantage of their knowledge.
Competitive VALORANT is currently played on four maps: Ascent, Bind, Split and Haven. Each map presents a different strategic proposition for a team and assessing how well a team performs on each is crucial especially when some matches can be Best-of-Three (Bo3). A Bo3 match involves teams selecting one map each with the third match decided by any shared picks.
Aside from the Money Line market which is a bet on the winner of the match, Pinnacle also offers Totals betting which is a bet on how long a match may last (Over / Under 2.5 maps) and Handicap betting which is a bet on whether a team can win a match from an advantage or disadvantage (+1.5 / -1.5 Handicap) set prior to the start of the game.
VALORANT betting: Research your predictions
Unlike other esports titles, VALORANT does not have an extensive competitive history that allows bettors to conduct research on the historical performance of players and teams. While some information can be found on players that were formerly professionals in other titles like CS:GO and some skills are transferable, the data from one game can’t be considered a reliable source of information.
A good place to start your prediction is to find out how long a team has been playing together. Teams that have had the experience of competition in VALORANT, no matter how small the tournament might be, will have the advantage of understanding how the game is played at a professional level, what constitutes a good team player and how strategies within a competitive match are implemented.
What tournaments are offered for VALORANT betting?
The competitive landscape for VALORANT is still evolving and there are a number of community run tournaments supported by Riot Games through their ‘Ignition Series’ initiative.
The VALORANT ignition series is a program that supports players, teams, content creators and tournament organisers to launch their own VALORANT tournaments.
The goal for the ignition series is to facilitate an environment where different formats for competition can be tested and iterated upon.
Some of the most notable tournaments that have been hosted for the game so far are the G2 Esports VALORANT Invitational, RAGE x IGNITION tournament in Japan and the T1 x Nerd Street Gamers VALORANT Showdown.
VALORANT betting strategy
As a First-Person Shooter, VALORANT’s in-game objective is relatively easy to understand, either eliminate the opposing team, or plant and detonate (or defuse) the spike at a bombsite. While the concept of the game is simple, understanding how to bet successfully on VALORANT requires a deeper knowledge of how the game works.
Take agent select for example, this brief period before the start of a match allows a team to select five out of the eleven available agents in the game. Each agent has a unique set of abilities which in-turn provides a unique set of strategies for a team to leverage while playing a match. Having knowledge of how different agent lineups interact can go a long way in helping you to understand the chances of a team winning or losing a match.
Another aspect of the game that bettors will want to take note of is the four different maps in the game: Bind, Ascent, Haven and Split. Each map has unique properties, for example Bind has teleports that allow players to quickly move around areas of the map, Ascent has mechanical doors that open and close, Haven has three bomb sites instead of the traditional two bomb sites and Split utilises ropes that allow players to ascend or descend to different levels of the map. As many of the competitive matches are Best-of-Three (Bo3), understanding how a team performs on each map can help you make an informed decision for Totals and Handicap betting markets.
How to bet on VALORANT
For those making their first bet on VALORANT, the easiest market to understand and get involved with is the Money Line market.
Betting on the Money Line is a bet on the winner of a match, the odds on the Money Line reflect how likely it is our traders think a team will win or lose, for example if Team A have a Money Line set at 1.15 and Team B have a Money Line set at 2.30, Team A is favoured to win in this matchup.
Learn more about esports betting in our how to bet on esports guide.
