VALORANT: What Is Smurfing And Why It Ruins The Game?

Smurfs are the occupational hazard every player faces in competitive FPS games like VALORANT. A smurf is essentially a higher ranked player who plays and dominates the game with a different account in lower ranks.

VALORANT is currently one of the most popular competitive tactical shooter games in the world. Naturally, it is infested with smurfs, account traders, and rank boosters. This not only ruins the competitive integrity of the game but also stops players from pushing rank.

Recently, a number of Reddit posts were aimed at smurfs in ranked matches. Most of them explained why smurfs will ruin VALORANT forever, and we cannot but agree with it.

Here, everything you need to know about smurfing and why it should be discouraged in competitive titles like VALORANT.

What Is Smurfing In VALORANT?

Smurfing is easily defined as a phenomenon where higher ranked VALORANT players create new accounts to play low-rank lobbies in competitive mode.

This invariably helps a smurf dominate in ranked matches in lower elo, and is ruining the experience for most players.

The community has requested the developers for several solutions, but not having smurfs in a competitive FPS game is nearly impossible.

CS:GO players who have transitioned to VALORANT are well aware of smurfing, and how it ruins the experience. Thus, smurfing is an unavoidable evil, but the community believes that there are several methods to counter it in VALORANT.

Is Smurfing Wrong In VALORANT?

Smurfing in the ranked mode of any competitive FPS title is considered wrong and is frowned upon by the gaming community. However, doing it in Unranked mode to play with friends and family is quite acceptable.

Smurfing in VALORANT's competitive mode is definitely wrong and should be regulated more often. There are uncountable players who smurf in lower ranks just to boost accounts to a higher level.

In short, smurfing has become a booming business for account boosters in VALORANT. Nevertheless, there are a few ways that can be implemented to regulate smurfs in the game.

Is There A Solution?

Players have to understand that having smurfs in any competitive FPS is natural. Almost everyone wants to practice in lower ranks to perfect their movement, utility usage, and coordination in higher ranks.

Most content creators, pro players and regular players have smurf accounts that they use for various reasons. A recent Reddit post highlighted how the situation has gone out of hand.

"It's getting stupid now basically every top valorant streamer is just full time smurfing and buying accounts. With over 200 smurf accounts being sold every day on only ONE popular website it's time Riot actually did something about this. Pokimane on her 4th account silver 2 ranks when her main is diamond and she has at least 2 other plat accounts. Poki literally smurfing or getting boosted 90 per cent of the time she plays Valorant."

Regardless, several have suggested that Riot Games need to tinker with their MMR. Similarly, others have suggested that the developers should increase the number of unranked games players have to win before unlocking competitive mode.

Will Riot Ban Smurfing In Ranked Mode?

The answer to this question has eluded fans ever since Killjoy's introduction in VALORANT. Fans will have to wait a little longer to see whether the developers

Smurfs have increased in number ever since, and the recent discussions only highlight the underlying issue. At the same time, banning a smurf account will only encourage the player to create another one.

Riot Games have not officially announced any new changes coming to the matchmaking system. However, VALORANT's senior competitive designer @RiotEvrMoar spoke about a rank reset coming soon.

He revealed that Silver is one such rank where there is a surplus of players. He mentioned that these changes may come with the next act.

It is speculated that Episode 3 Act 2 will bring some significant changes in terms of rankings and placements for Silver and lower ranks. Although these changes may not affect the entire population of smurfs, it's still a start.