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Tiffae shares her advanced VALORANT tips ahead of Red Bull Campus Clutch
Expert VALORANT player and renowned Twitch streamer, Tiffanie 'Tiffae' Hsu offers some advice for the elite players who will compete for the title at the World Final.
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The Red Bull Campus Clutch World Final takes place from November 19-24 at the Volkswagen arena in Istanbul, Turkey. There, the best student VALORANT players in the world will duke it out for a chance to claim serious bragging rights and a cash prize.
Among them will be Team Liquid’s Tiffanie ‘Tiffae’ Hsu, the American streamer, who not only teaches others how to play, but is also a high-level VALORANT player.
Set in the near future, free-to-play first-person tactical shooter (or ‘FPS’) VALORANT sees five-person teams squaring off to complete a variety of fast-paced, high-octane objectives. We’ve already shared Tiffae's tips on getting started as a beginner, but for those looking to take their gaming to the next level, she shares some more advanced tips to help you dominate.
Hsu at the Red Bull Campus Clutch World Final in 2022
© Fabio Piva/Red Bull Content Pool
01
Forget camping
As anyone who’s found themselves frustrated playing other FPSs knows, there’s always one person who hunkers down with a sniper rifle and shoots from afar. VALORANT isn’t set up this way, so don’t try. “It's very strategic,” says Hsu. “And you're also limited in terms of time, as each round is like 90 seconds. If you don't get your objective before the timer ends, you pretty much lose for your team. You can camp, but chances are it won’t work.” In other words: to level up, you have to get stuck in.
02
Be polite
Playing alongside a team of four players from across the world, it can be easy to let your emotions get the better of you. But remember, they’re people too, and being respectful will lead to better team dynamics. “It's a common occurrence, people will get upset very easily and they'll be passive aggressive or condescending,” says Hsu. “People don't realise that the more you act like that, there's a higher chance that you'll lose. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of positivity and positive reinforcement to make the team play better.”
03
Pick your avatar
There are a lot of Agents to play as in VALORANT and it can be tempting to give each one a go. However, Hsu says that doing so might restrict your success. “Pick one Agent, make them your best friend and play him or her all the time. Pick out one agent and master that one instead of struggling with all of them.”
Hsu believes building team rapport is vital for success
© Jan Cadosch/Red Bull Content Pool
04
Be prepared to adapt
While other FPS games encourage players to deploy tried and tested methods, each round of VALORANT is different, meaning if you want to level up, you need to know how to adapt. “It’s a game where you have to adapt every single round, depending on what your enemies are doing, what your team-mates are doing and what order you're put in,” says Hsu. “A strategy that might have worked last round may not work this round. A lot of it's critical thinking, what can you do in this scenario that helps?”
05
Always be plugged in
Like a good book, an immersive video game experience can bleed over into the real world. We can find ourselves thinking about it while going about our daily chores. Hsu says this can be useful. “I recently got my driver's license, as I'm turning 30, so pretty late,” she says. “I had a lot of people ask me, ‘Oh, you got your driver's license on the first try? What are your tips?’ I think map awareness from VALORANT helps!” It goes both ways: the more aware you can be in real life, the better awareness you’ll have in-game, too.
Hsu suggests teams must be able to adapt their strategy to be successful
© Jacek Jabłoński/Red Bull Content Pool
06
Always put your team first
Everyone wants to be a hero, but a real hero is always thinking of others. The same is true in VALORANT. “So economy is when you save up so you guys can all have automatic rifles together, instead of everyone having bad weapons and one person having a good gun,” says Hsu. “Building your economy and learning to stay within your team's economy is important at any rank.”
07
Review your mistakes
Just like in life, in VALORANT, we all make mistakes. Having someone review them with you can help you master your errors to come back stronger next time. “You can hit a plateau and it helps to have a third-person perspective,” says Hsu. “Having someone else who's more knowledgable at the game reviewing your mistakes can help you get over that hurdle and figure out how to move past it.”
Hsu offers advice for any rank through her online coaching. See more of her awesome abilities right here.
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