ADS or Aim Down Sights has become a popular mechanic in first-person shooters owing to games like COD and Battlefield. On the other hand, games like Valorant are more tactical and players are more prone to making snappy plays. Does ADS have any place in Valorant? Should you even use this feature in this game? Let’s find out.
Although Valorant does have ADS which provides its own set of benefits like aiding in long-range fights and holding angles defensively but the way the game works, you will find it more beneficial to hone your hip-firing skills. Reaction time is key in Valorant and ADS doesn’t necessarily provide the same utility in this regard.
Disadvantages of ADS’ing in Valorant
There are three important disadvantages that come with ADSing that you should know about:
- It decreases the firing speed of your weapons.
- It takes time to ADS.
- Decreases movement speed while your scope is active.
Benefits of ADS’ing in Valorant
There are also some benefits when ADSing although they are less concrete and more subjective:
- There is an accuracy bonus although all guns save for the Operator are really accurate without ADS so this is negligible.
- Some players feel more comfortable and have a better reaction time while scoped in.
- ADS’ing can help you better see when you otherwise might be unsure exactly where you aim. It’s very subjective but that doesn’t make it less effective.
- It can be beneficial in long-range gun fights.
Related: Valorant on Steam Deck (Is it playable?)
When To Use Or Not Use ADS?
Certain scenarios in Valorant are somewhat suitable for ADS like:
- Long range is a better time to ADS because whether or not you hit your shots becomes more important than how many shots you fire.
- Depending on your level of play, holding an angle is a better time to ADS than while peaking because the movement debuff becomes irrelevant since you are already standing still.
- Tap firing benefits from ADS more than spraying because that firing speed debuff doesn’t come into play.
- ADS’ing beforehand is better than ADSing during a fight because it takes time to ADS.
ADS Use Cases
Basically, you want the speed bonus from your ADS reaction time or better target acquisition to outweigh all of the other detriments. If you want to tap fire at range while holding an angle on defense then that’s a good time to ADS.
If you have to do something like peak an Operator in Haven, you can ADS to peak for better target acquisition and reaction time. To try to beat the Operator using a utility like smokes and flashes would probably be a more optimal way to solve the problem but you can still ADS and be effective depending on who you are playing.
If you just got a single or double and you need to engage in another fight farther away with a nearly empty magazine then you may need to ADS and tap fire to conserve ammo. The most important scenario to ADS is if you are holding a pixel opening angle where spray means nothing and reaction time means everything then ADSing can be a great idea.
Difference in Playstyle
On the contrary to the last point, if you have a playstyle where you aim down sights whenever you spot an enemy even when quick firing is required then relying on ADS needs to be let go. If you are using this method where you have already seen someone then you don’t need the reaction time buff and you’re just slowing yourself down with the ADS animation for no reason.
If you are ADS’ing it should be before you see an opponent in close quarters. You shouldn’t ADS every time as it’s going to make your movement and reaction rather clunky. In Valorant, you generally want that non-ADS faster fire rate for more damage output.
Be wary of peaking into corners while ADS’ing, as it does slow you down, and peaking slowly, tends to end badly. It’s similar to walk peaking or crouch peaking in this regard.
Spraying is another situation where you may want to think twice before you aim down sights because that lower firing speed is going to decrease your damage output. This can easily lose you a fight that you would have otherwise won.
The problem with ADS’ing is that most of the time the negative implications are going to hurt you more than the positive implications. Additionally, if two players came face to face and one is ADSing and the other one is not, then the one who is hip firing will usually come out on top.
Conclusion
ADS simply isn’t as efficient as hip-firing in Valorant. It’s okay if you’re already in the habit of ADS’ing but we are trying to illustrate why you should seriously consider transitioning your gameplay around hip firing in the interest of being able to eliminate opponents more quickly.
With a bit of practice and online matches, you will hopefully feel just as natural to hip fire as it once did to ADS but with the added bonus of more frags.