VALORANT matches can get exceptionally competitive. Nothing is more satisfying than clutching a 3v1 on a 12-11 round. These clutch situations send you and your team’s hype meter to the moon. We know. We’ve been there before.
Riot’s matchmaking system does a pretty great job of matching ten players with one another to achieve a level playing field. Games are often played down to the wire, where the clutch rounds play out.
Yes, you guessed it right! Smurfs – and we aren’t talking about the little blue things. However, a current problem in VALORANT can sometimes make it feel extremely lopsided.
Smurfs Come in Different Colors
VALORANT’s smurfing problem is well documented in the community. Simply put, players from much higher ranks create new accounts, inevitably getting paired up with lower-ranked players.
Much to the dismay of many low elo players, these players are from a much higher tier and will destroy lesser elo players.
This takes the competitiveness out of the game, not to mention the fun factor for many new players.
However, that type of Smurf isn’t even the worst kind around.
Trolls are players who take advantage of the relatively low level of competition in lower ranks by trying out new Agents they have never played before and then proceed to troll their teammates and enemies using their abilities.
Either way, this makes the game impossible to enjoy for lower-ranked players. Not to mention making it almost impossible to rank up entirely.
Time to Throw In the Towel?
It is as if VALORANT Devs knew this would be a problem down the line. So they put in a nifty little in-game option called the Surrender System.
VALORANT’s Surrender System is a great way of ending a game that’s become lopsided rather quickly.
When the whole team’s morale is at an all-time low, and players aren’t willing to risk brainpower, energy, and mood to finish a game, they can throw in the towel and call it a day.
Read: How To See Dead Bodies in Valorant
We have had our fair share of smurfs in the last 50 games. One smurf that stood out was an enemy Jett who scored 49(!) Kills and 5(!) Aces in-game.
Luckily, our team was part of the 0.01% of players who survived the Attack of the Smurfs. Our team worked together to eke out a win 12 rounds to 9.
You might not be so lucky. That’s why you’re here reading this article.
When you and your team are finally depleted of pride, this is how you can quickly stop the bleeding and move on to the next game.
How to Surrender in Valorant
Hopefully, you don’t get matched up with another Smurf.
- While you’re in a match, press ESC to bring up the settings menu.
2. Click the “Surrender” button at the bottom of the scoreboard.
3. Your Surrender request will not take effect until the start of the next round.
4. When this window pops up at the bottom left corner of your screen one round later, you can start voting “Yes” or “No.”
Press F5 for “Yes” F6 for “No”
When five “Yes” votes are completed, the match will immediately end and result in a loss.
Of course, you and your team will each suffer an RR loss, but that’s a small price to pay to keep your sanity intact.
Keep the Game Fun
Players must endure and grind through games until Riot Games effectively curbs the Smurfing problem in VALORANT (if possible).
Smurfs are the sad reality of the game right now. There will always be a game where you and your team of silvers encounter an enemy Reyna who just walks past all of you like you’re glorified practice bots.
Until the day the smurfing problem is finally fixed, players will just have to weigh their options in-game.
There is no shame in surrendering. The earlier you and your team decide to throw in the towel, the longer the fun factor between you and your team remains intact.
The game is supposed to be fun, right?
