How To Unlock All Characters In Valorant

Valorant combines the semi-realistic action of tactical shooters like Counter-Strike with the over-the-top visual flair and dramatic powers of hero games such as Overwatch. The Riot Games title’s characters belong to the second half of its heritage, spicing up matches with their distinctive appearances and power sets. As of this writing, there are 14 Agents in the game, with every Act adding another hero to their ranks. While you can play as five Agents (Sova, Phoenix, Sage, Brimstone, and Jett) from the beginning, the others need to be unlocked by using the Contracts system.

How Contracts Work

Contracts are tiered quests that allow you to access new Agents and their cosmetics. Every Contract is divided into two five-tier Chapters, in which attaining every Tier unlocks a certain reward. Except for the first Contract, each track is tied to a specific Agent. This hero becomes playable after you reach the fifth Tier within the first Chapter. The “starter” Agents have additional cosmetic options in that slot instead. To progress through the Tiers, you simply have to earn enough XP from rated or unrated games while the Contract is active. While completing a Contract calls for 825,000 XP, 200,000 is enough to get to the end of Chapter One. The Collections screen in the main menu lets you activate Contracts and review your progress towards its milestones. Note that you can only work towards one such Contract at any moment!

While you are just getting started, you will also receive access to a special one-time Contract that has the same structure and XP requirements as other quests but is not connected to a specific character. Instead, it offers generic cosmetics, Radianite Points, and the chance to unlock an Agent of your choice at the end of either Chapter. The last option works as if you reached the fifth Tier on their individual trackers, giving you immediate access to preceding cosmetics while still leaving you with a goal you can work towards later. This initial Contract could and probably should be finished early on, as you just begin climbing the Ranks, letting you obtain the characters you find most compelling first.

Getting XP

Although it may be convenient to combine competitive progression with unlocking Agents, ranked wins are not necessarily the most efficient way of collecting XP. The points are awarded for completing rounds in standard rated and unrated matches, with 100 XP going to all participants and 200 more to winners. Unrated games can go up to 25 rounds if neither side is able to claim the required 13 victories early, so stretching them out may be a viable strategy for farming XP to advance through Contracts. Other modes have different XP awards, with the chaotic Deathmatch giving 500 XP to everyone and the dynamic Spike Rush providing 1,000.

Daily and weekly missions offer an extra way to get XP by fulfilling specific challenges during rated, unrated, and Spike Rush (but not free-for-all) matches. Every player gets two individual missions every day, each yielding 2,000 XP on completion. Each of the three missions given to all players on weekly reset can offer somewhere between 10,000 and 22,000 XP. Given such dramatic boosts, you should certainly pay attention to those challenges while you are working on Agent Contracts – even though their conditions may be a dangerous distraction during placement matches and other critical events.

Buying Agents

There is an easier alternative to farming XP. You can always buy Tiers on a Contract with Valorant Points. Each Tier costs 200 points, so getting an Agent would require 1000. Of course, the only reliable way to get Valorant Points right now is to buy them with real money, so essentially this means spending money instead of time to progress along the Contract track. The other disadvantage of this method is that you will not gain some of the personal player expertise you may have acquired by following the contracts normally, which can be critical in a high-skill shooter like Valorant. You can make up for this deficiency quicker by buying a coaching service.

Conclusion

Unlike their counterparts in some other popular shooters, the characters in Valorant are not purely cosmetic. Their powers give them drastically different abilities and roles, mastering which is necessary if you are to use them to rise into the Radiant Ranks. Acquiring the Agents manually or trying them out later in low-pressure environments will give you a good feel for the gameplay, but that is just half the battle. The rest will come with time as you head higher up the ranked ladder.