“Broken” Valorant exploit turns Brimstone’s smokes into wall-hacks

Alan Bernal
Brimstone exploit smokes in Valorant with operator

An exploit with Brimstone can give Valorant players an advantage that is being called “broken” because of how it obscures the attacking Agent.

One-way smokes are found in FPS titles that give a vision-advantage for the person setting up the angle. While most of these lineups play on the concept of obscuring yourself, there have been some instances in which abilities with smoke effects in Valorant give people vision similar to a wall-hack.

The way Brimstone’s smokes were designed, there’s a thin layer where the screen transitions from being obscured by the utility to clear since you’re out of its range. In this layer, the player doesn’t have the clearest vision, but plenty of opportunity to see the other side.

A bug in the same spot for a past Viper glitch during the Valorant beta gives a similar kind of wall-hack capability to Brim, even if using the method isn’t always practical.

Agent Brimstone in Valorant
Brimstone has highly effective Sky Smokes in Valorant.

“If you are at the right elevation, [this broken Sky Smoke spot] can be done on a lot of spots on different maps,” user ‘MykWan’ said. “Players who walk into the smoke can’t see anything while you can see everything inside and outside the smoke.”

The interaction could play off the Sky Smoke’s surface since it looks like they clear one side of the ability to peek to the other side. This leads to a situation where the opposing player is pushing on a smoked area in which there isn’t anyone readily visible.

Regardless, other than the typical advantages for one-way smokes, using this technique “blocks off Phoenix flashes and Sova Recon Darts because you are registered as being inside the smoke,” according to the player.

The video they linked shows just how potent this can be in its application. However, one of the impractical parts of the exploit is that it generally requires a smoke near an elevated platform which can easily tip off opponents that a player could be lurking behind it.

But with this method, even being obvious in its delivery, can still net Brim the chance to get the first pick or avoid important utility for a team trying to execute on a site.

Riot Games have been clamping down on things that could potentially influence the competitive integrity of Valorant, so stay tuned to see if/when they patch this out.

About The Author

Alan is a former staff writer for Dexerto based in Southern California who covered esports, internet culture, and the broader games/streaming industry. He is a CSUF Alum with a B.A. in Journalism. He's reported on sports medicine, emerging technology, and local community issues. Got a tip or want to talk?