In Valorant patch 5.01, a new smurf detection feature is being tested in order to help make your games feel fairer.
Testing plan
If everything goes according to plan, it should lessen the likelihood of coming across a “smurf” and getting utterly destroyed by a Radiant player.
Prior to a potential global deployment, the functionality is initially being tested in North America to ensure it functions as planned. According to Riot, testing will start the week of July 11, so users on the NA server should presumably anticipate more reliable gameplay.
Smurf Detection
With the new smurf identification mechanism, new players will be matched with other players of their skill level much more quickly than previously. This implies that the game should be quicker to identify when an experienced player is not really a novice, reducing their ability to farm on real rookies.
Higher-ranked players can easily create a new account on Valorant, which is free to play, and easily rule at the lower levels. Riot has made measures to discourage users from doing this during the past year, such as making it more challenging to activate the competitive mode
The requirement for new accounts to enter the competitive queue is now level 20 or higher and 10 victories in Unrated, which considerably extends the time commitment required to play ranked.
The system also makes an effort to advance players who, like a smurf, are outperforming other players at their current rank. For instance, it awards players for extremely impressive efforts with extra RR. If the gap between your MMR and rank is greater than three ranks, you may additionally receive a double rank up.
Learning from Valve
Existing smurf accounts are not included in the new regulation, though. The update was swiftly criticized by players as being insufficient, and they demanded stricter measures like mandatory two-factor verification that would require each and every Valorant account to be connected to a functional phone number.
This is similar to CS:GO Prime’s status, which actually links an account to your phone number.
Patch 5.01
A side from new smurf detection, there are some changes in balancing Agents.
Phoenix, Yoru, and KAY/O are also given bonuses in the new patch that had previously been tested in the public beta environment (PBE). Phoenix and Yoru ought to have an easier time playing more aggressively, and KAY/O’s FRAG/ment molly now deals more damage consistently without needing a line of sight.