Is CS:GO Harder Than Valorant?
Both of these games have built a massive player base, and although the two follow similar objectives and playstyle, both communities despise each other and can’t seem to get along. Until today, the question of which game is more difficult to master is still heavily contested in online forums and social media pages.
Such comparison is crucial information as it can help players identify which of the two games pose a greater challenge, and decide which game is best to invest their time in. In this article, we’ll examine and compare the differences between the two games, and ultimately come down to a conclusion of which of the two games are harder to play.
Gameplay Mechanics
The first thing we must consider is the difference between Counter-Strike and Valorant’s gameplay mechanics. Though both games are relatively similar, there are still distinct differences that help each game stand out.
Counter-Strike Gameplay Mechanics
Counter-Strike is a team-based tactical shooter game that features realistic mechanics players must play around with. The game does not have unique character abilities, and mostly comes down to aiming and proper map strategy.
Since there are no random stuns, slows, or recon abilities in Counter-Strike, most duels come down to a heads-up 1 versus 1 without too much interference. Counter-Strike players must focus on raw aiming skills and movement precision such as strafing and counter-strafing.
The Counter-Strike buy menu offers players with the same weapons and kit of grenades. So, each player has the same capabilities and are free to play any role they’d like. The game has a very detailed economy system that forces players to strategize what type of purchases they would approach each round with.
Valorant Gameplay Mechanics
Valorant’s gameplay mechanics are very similar to Counter-Strike’s, as players engage in a tactical shooter game with heavy emphasis on team coordination. However, the biggest difference is that Valorant has “Agents” which have various abilities and roles.
Each Valorant agent has a unique set of abilities that define their purpose in a team. The roles include Duelist, Controller, Initiator, and Sentinel. Agents are limited to a set of utility based on their abilities. No agent will be fully equipped with a HE grenade, molotov, flashbang, and smokes like Counter-Strike players do.
Overall, Valorant gameplay also has a lot to do with precise aim and movement. However, these shooting mechanics are directly influenced by agent abilities, as agents have abilities that can stun enemy players, enhance their movement, or give them shields to take favorable engagements.
Gameplay Mechanics Conclusion
Overall, players must have raw skill to succeed in Counter-Strike. Players must engage in aim duels and use their movement skills to get the upper hand. Meanwhile, Valorant players have an easier time since certain agents can give them an advantage in duels thanks to abilities that give them shields, or even a second life.
Players with weak aim in Valorant can still stand a chance in taking duels if they use their ability kit smartly. However, no abilities or perks are there to help you win a duel in Counter-Strike.
Learning Curves
If you’re looking to get into one of these games, and do not want to spend too much time learning how to play, let’s discuss which game is easier to start playing.
Counter-Strike Learning Curves
As we know, Counter-Strike is based on realistic gameplay, with weapons and grenades simulating real-life. This makes it very easy for new players to understand what’s going on in the game, even when it’s their first time playing.
The ease of understanding allows new players to quickly jump into aiming and movement, which are crucial skills to find success in Counter-Strike. The only thing remaining is map knowledge, as players must learn the callouts and common angles of the most popular maps.
Valorant Learning Curves
Valorant is definitely harder to get into, as the agents in the game add an extra layer of depth into the game’s strategy and mechanics. Each agent has four unique abilities that are only available to them.
Most of these abilities are related to grenades, as agents will have some sorts of molotovs, HE Grenades, smokes, and flashbangs. However, these grenades come in different colors which can confuse a lot of new players. There are also stuns and slows that players must get used to.
Players must have a good understanding of what agent abilities look like and do. Otherwise, they might run into it or not know how to deal with it and die foolishly.
Learning Curves Conclusion
Overall, it cannot be argued that Counter-Strike is the easier game to learn. Every player has the exact same access to weapons and grenades. Meanwhile, Valorant requires players to understand what agent abilities do, otherwise they would be confused of what’s happening in the game.
However, Counter-Strike has a higher skill ceiling as players must master their aiming precision and grenade usage. Grenade usage in Valorant is much easier since most smoking abilities are point-and-click. On the other hand, Counter-Strike players must use smoke lineups.
Tactics And Bomb Site Executes
One of the most exciting parts about Counter-Strike and Valorant gameplay is hitting bomb sites. Teams must show good coordination to enter a bomb site with proper utility, which is where teamwork comes into play.
Counter-Strike Tactics
Counter-Strike players must take map control in rounds to increase their chances of winning. They need to use utility, such as smokes and flashbangs to get control over key areas of the map.
Once they are prepared to hit a bomb site, they must continue throwing smokes, flashbangs, and molotovs to cause chaos and breach into the site. Most of these grenades require players to use lineups and throw them in unison.
Valorant Tactics
Taking map control in Valorant also works the same way. Players must expend smokes and other abilities to help them advance through the map.
However, the job is made easier as there are “Recon” agents that have innate abilities to gather information for the team without putting themselves at risk. Valorant agents can summon drones and animals, controlling them to obtain information with zero risk.
There are also other unique abilities that can place robots and tripwires that detect incoming enemies. Such abilities can be placed to spot out flankers, allowing players to focus on other areas of the map.
Tactics Conclusion
Counter-Strike players should already know what to expect when a bomb site is being hit, as the grenades in the game stay constant in every game. There are many bomb site executes available for teams to study, but these executes are more or less the same every game.
Valorant teams run various team compositions with different agents, so there are various ability combinations players must look out for. Valorant players must be able to adapt to different situations and prepare for them accordingly. So, we’ll say Valorant has harder tactics.
Esports Scene
Almost every Counter-Strike or Valorant player has aspirations to become a professional scene. Before committing thousands of hours into any of these games, it is important to understand the professional landscape.
Counter-Strike Esports Scene
Counter-Strike is the older game between the two. Valve has had over a decade to develop the game’s esports scene, and Counter-Strike has successfully become one of the most popular esports titles in the world.
Valve and a bunch of third-party tournament organizers host dozens of S-Tier events per year, each featuring hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in prize pools. The esports infrastructure is established with massive teams and organizations, and players are paid monthly salaries to compete.
Becoming a professional Counter-Strike player isn’t easy, since the best players have years of experience over newcomers. There aren’t too many breakout players in the professional Counter-Strike scene compared to Valorant.
Valorant Esports Scene
The Valorant scene is relatively new, only having less than four years of development. Though the viewership is there for Valorant tournaments, the ecosystem is not settled in yet.
For some reason, Riot Games is responsible for hosting all professional Valorant events, and there are no third-party tournament organizers hosting any. Valorant only features three international tournaments every year, which simply isn’t enough.
Teams who fail to qualify for the final event of the year, Valorant Champions, have their year ended short. In 2024, the teams who could not book a spot at the final event had their year finished in July, meaning they had no more events lined up for the next five months.
Is Valorant The Home For Failed Counter-Strike Pros?
As much as we hate to say it, this statement is mostly true, and players from both communities can agree.
Most of the best Valorant players in the world were formerly professional Counter-Strike players who could not compete at the highest level. The competition at the top was so tough that many players migrated to Valorant for a second chance.
For example, let’s take Corbin “C0M” Lee. C0M wanted to play Counter-Strike professionally, but could not even break out of the Tier 3 scene. He never found any success in Counter-Strike, and decided to move to Valorant. However, he immediately became one of the best players in the game and became a world champion in a very short amount of time.
Many North American Counter-Strike players such as FNS, TenZ, s0m, Ethan, Hiko, ShaZam, and more have fully transitioned to Valorant, as they could not find success in the Counter-Strike scene anymore.
Meanwhile, no Top 20 player in Counter-Strike has ever thought of moving to Valorant. The only case is Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, who was the 20th best Counter-Strike player in 2019. After moving to Valorant, he also became a world champion playing with C0M at Evil Geniuses.
What Do Professional Players Think?
We’ve been ranting a lot, but we don’t know as much as the professionals. Here is a compilation of opinions from professional players to help you decide.
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Counter-Strike Pro)
ZywOo thinks Valorant is harder:
“Valorant of course. You’ll see a bird, dog, another dog, I don’t know. It’s really hard to play”
The Frenchman is one of the best Counter-Strike players in the world, but he thinks Valorant is difficult because there are a lot of summoning abilities that cause chaos in gun fights.
Aurélien “afro” Drapier (Counter-Strike Pro)
Another French AWPer, afro, also thinks Valorant is more difficult because of the unique agent abilities:
“I would say Valorant, even if it is an easy game, you will have to shoot at the f@cking bird, the f@cking dog, and there are eyes everywhere.”
Now that two Counter-Strike professionals in a row are talking about the same thing, we can safely conclude that most Counter-Strike players struggle adapting to Valorant because of agent abilities, not aiming or movement mechanics.
Isak “isak” Fahlén (Counter-Strike Pro)
isak is a relatively new Tier 1 professional player from Sweden. He also thinks Valorant is harder, but because of other reasons than the two Frenchmen earlier:
“I would say Valorant. It’s hard to play. You can’t spray in that game.”
What isak is saying is relatively true. Most Counter-Strike players would enjoy using the Vandal in Valorant, as it is essentially the equivalent. However, spraying bullets with the Vandal doesn’t work too well, forcing players to tap or burst.
Counter-Strike requires a lot of spraying in mid-ranged engagements, as well as spamming through smokes from time to time.
Tarik “tarik” Celik (Former Counter-Strike Pro, Now Valorant Streamer)
tarik, a Counter-Strike Major winner, has fully transitioned into playing Valorant. However, he is backing his old love in this argument:
“The average Counter-Strike player compared to the average Valorant player is ten times better. There is zero FPS (first-person shooter) knowledge in Valorant. You can hit Radiant with a Judge and strictly off of good aim, and very little off of anything else.”
The North American legend continued to rant that high-level Valorant players lack communication and teamwork skills, and that they can simply climb the ranks thanks to good aim and mechanics.
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek (Former Counter-Strike Pro, Now Valorant Streamer)
shroud is another legendary North American player that has jumped ship. He disagrees with tarik, and thinks Valorant is harder:
“Counter-Strike on a tactical level is nuts. Valorant on a tactical level is also pretty nuts, to be honest. But it’s in a different way. They’re both hard in their own way. The strategy in Valorant is similar to Counter-Strike in regards to map control, but the way you take map control is vastly different, and map control is never a guarantee in Valorant. Counter-Strike looks like a joke compared to this game, I am telling you. There’s no sugar coating. The game is just hard.”
One point we’d like to highlight from shrouds statement is “map control is never a guarantee in Valorant.” This statement is mostly true, as Valorant agents have ultimate abilities that allow them to teleport across the map, or prevent bomb plants by shooting an arrow from the other side of the map. Overall, Valorant players must adapt to situations quickly as anything can happen when abilities are used with the ranking system between both titles being completely different.
Is Valorant Easier Than CSGO?
It is very hard to answer. In general, Counter-Strike players are focused on improving their aim and movement skills, as aim duels come down to which person can shoot or dodge bullets better. Since these are the only requirements, Counter-Strike players are often very strong mechanically.
As tarik mentioned, players with good aim in Counter-Strike can move to Valorant and easily dominate the competition, as Valorant players have to pool a lot of focus on learning how to maximize their abilities, leaving undeveloped room for aiming mechanics.
Though most Counter-Strike professionals have mentioned that Valorant is harder, this is likely because they have only played less than 30 hours in Valorant, and do not understand what the agent abilities do and quickly gave up.
We think Counter-Strike is harder because there are no abilities that can bail you out from situations. When map control is taken in Counter-Strike, the round is usually over. However, taking map control in Valorant can be influenced by the various abilities, giving more room for error.
In professional games, Defenders in Valorant do not mind giving up a bomb site and perform a 5 versus 5 retake. Meanwhile, in Counter-Strike, such a situation is almost impossible for Counter-Terrorists to salvage.