Riot Games has revealed VALORANT's first audio-driven skin line created in collaboration with the world-famous DJ Zedd.
VALORANT has featured a bunch of unique skin lines perfect for almost any aesthetic, but the new Spectrum collection takes a different approach, focusing on the sound design before the visual design of the skin models.
"For Spectrum, we worked backwards—with audio first, VFX second, and model last," explained Chris Stone, senior weapons artist for VALORANT. "This required us to slightly rethink how we typically produce skins, but also was a fun challenge for the team that allowed us to develop the best skin possible."
The Spectrum skin line includes skins for the Phantom, Bulldog, Guardian, Classic, and Waveform Melee. The base version of each cosmetic includes the custom model and ADS reticle that changes colors as players move.
Level two adds a firing audio and custom muzzle flash, and muzzle flash color changes as players move around the map.
Level three comes with custom equip and reload audio and visual effects, and there are accent colors that change as you move. There's also a custom inspect sound that's unique for each weapon and pulses to the beat of other sounds. The unique sound is called Sequence and shows much work went into creating a unique audio experience.
Finally, level four adds a finisher and kill banner. The finisher makes a Zedd and VALORANT logo above the killed player, covering the area in a colorful experience reminiscent of a nightclub. The finisher shifts colors based on where it spawns and is slightly different if the bomb still needs to be defused when activated.
The new bundle also comes with a Spectrum gun buddy, Zedd gun buddy, Spectrum spray, and Spectrum player card.
The weapon skins and melee have red, black, and purple/pink variants. The melee skin also features a custom inspect sound that plays a unique tune.
Zedd, who was heavily-involved in the design process is also an Immortal-ranked VALORANT player who has passion for Riot's tactical shooter.
"The very first time I got my hands on VALORANT, I pretty much stopped playing all other games. It was the perfect combination of my favorite games," Zedd said. "When I was younger I was obsessed with Counter-Strike, and in recent years I played loads of Overwatch, but felt like the room for ‘clutch' moments just wasn't there. When I heard about VALORANT, I thought it could combine my love for abilities with the high-consequence gameplay of a game like Counter-Strike."
VALORANT art lead Sean Marino noted that the new skins are designed to be appealing to all players, so even if they're not familiar with Zedd or his music, the sci-fi and sound-heavy cosmetics are a great choice for any player looking for a new skin bundle in the game.
Related: VALORANT New Map Fracture is Inspired by The Lord of the Rings' Battle of Helm's Deep
According to VALORANT senior producer Pretti Khanolkar, the Spectrum bundle is one of the "most ambitious and complex skin lines" the team has ever designed. Zedd contributed a signficant amount of work to create the unique sounds for each weapon skin. The details featured in each skin result in multiple "oh shit" moments.
The Spectrum bundle has an Exclusive Edition price tier, so it will cost VALORANT players 10,700 VP to purchase, but note that you will need Radianite Points (RP) to upgrade the weapon skins.
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