Riot Games has announced the first limited-time mode (LTM) for Valorant, and it's called Escalation.
Valorant currently has only a few modes (Unrated, Rated, and Spike Rush). There was also the winter-themed Snowball mode, but new ways to play Riot's tactical shooter have been limited. However, players should be more excited as the developer has just revealed the details for Escalation mode. Before we get to that, here's the exciting trailer for the Escalation mode in Valorant:
Valorant's Escalation Mode details
Riot describes Escalation mode as "a casual, fast-paced mode designed for fun social play and perfect for encouraging players to practice with new weapons."
"In this mode, players are given powerful guns at the start of the match… but as they get more kills, their powerful weapons are periodically replaced with progressively more challenging and less lethal ones."
The new mode seems to be aimed for casual Valorant players who want to take a break from the competitive grind. I think is also a great way to practice different weapons in the game.
You can read the full description from Riot Games below:
Similar to a respawning team deathmatch.
When the match starts, there is one randomly-generated set of 12 weapons/abilities which both teams must cycle through, roughly in order of ‘most lethal' to ‘least lethal'.
A team must collectively get X number of kills/points in each of the 12 stages before they progress to the next one.
> Upon progressing to the next stage, the player who got that latest kill to push the team over – automatically progresses to the next gun/ability in the cycle.
> Members of the team who have already gotten a kill on a given level when it's completed get a 5 second timer to press B (or their shop hotkey) to get the next weapon, after which they'll get it automatically.
> Members of the team who have not gotten a kill with that weapon will stay on the previous level until they get a kill, after which they'll auto-upgrade to the next level.
> If there is significant skill disparity, it is possible for "worse" players to be more than one stage behind. When they get their next kill, they progress to the next stage, not the latest team stage (ie they don't skip any weapons).
> One exception: for the final stage only, the whole team gets the final weapon/ability as soon as that stage is reached.
If no team has won after 10 minutes, the team in the lead wins and the match ends.
There is a 15-90s warmup in which players are given random weapons from the weapon set on spawn, it functions as a simple team deathmatch while waiting for players to load in.
This mode is similar to the War Games: Arms Race game mode in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Valorant Mode Engineer and Designer Kyle Leach said, "I played Gun Game in CS:Source like crazy and had a ton of fun with it."
"The satisfaction of getting several kills in quick succession with fun arcade-y sound effects and clean auto-equips, along with the thrill of racing opponents to a spectacular finish with a crazy weapon – these are feelings that Gun Game has always delivered fantastically that we're hoping to capture in this mode."
Related: Shroud Says CSGO is "F***** Garbage", Explains Why Valorant is The Better Tactical Shooter
When will Escalation Mode be released in Valorant?
Escalation will be available in Valorant starting Feb. 17. No end date has been announced yet, but it will most likely be at the launch of Episode 2: Act 2, when they also expect Riot to release the the fifteenth Valorant agent.
I'm personally excited to play Escalation mode. It's a fun break from the standard Valorant match. You can watch me stream on my Facebook page.
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