How Valorant contracts will work following Battle Pass release

Riot has given us more information about how Valorant’s upcoming Battle Pass will work alongside Agent contracts when it’s eventually released at launch.

In Valorant, like most other online games, players receive experience points based on how well they and their team do in each match. There are also a few daily challenges that award bonus XP when completed.

This XP is used to unlock new content through the contracts system and will also apply to the battle pass when it eventually gets released, according to Riot.

What are contracts in Valorant?

All Valorant players have two contract slots that progress at the same time, so all the XP you earn applies equally to both without having to prioritize say, a new agent, over the battle pass or cosmetic rewards.

The first contract, for new players, will be the “onboarding pass” which comes with 10 tiers to unlock. Completing it rewards two new Agent unlocks, along with a number of cosmetics. After that’s done, players can equip a specific Agent contract to unlock their special rewards.

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You can unlock new Agents you don’t have yet by equipping and working your way through their contracts to tier 5, or just purchasing the first five levels to unlock them outright if you want to drop the cash. If you do decide to just purchase a new character, you’ll still have to work your way through tiers 6-10 of their contract, which also contain their unique weapon skins.

How will contracts work along with the Battle Pass?

We know that Valorant will be getting a Battle Pass, but it won’t be coming out until the game releases from beta sometime during Summer 2020.

When it does release, it will also offer a route to progress and unlock cosmetics by playing Valorant, with both a paid and free option for players.

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“The optional extras are designed to personalize your gameplay moments without affecting gameplay,” Valorant’s revenue lead Joe ‘SWAGGERNAU7’ Lee told fans in a blog post, reassuring them that the game won’t be pay-to-win.

One final, important note for new players: you don’t have to be playing as the Agent whose contract you have currently active to earn XP.

So,if you’re grinding your way towards Sage’s Classic pistol, you don’t have to try and lock her in every round to get experience points.