Riot devs confirm changes to Valorant combat score

Michael Gwilliam
Jett and Phoenix fight in Valorant

Riot Games have explained how Valorant players can improve their combat score and how they will be enhancing the feature in a new Ask Valorant Q&A blog post.

Combat scores are supposed to showcase the impact a player can have on a game through frags, but as it turns out, there’s more to it than that.

“Is it true that there’s an extra importance on frags when it comes to getting a good combat score?” a user asked Senior Producer Ian Fielding.

While kills play a massive factor, they aren’t the be all end all. According to Fielding, there are several factors that are taken into consideration.

Holding down an area on Valorant
Riot have revealed some combat score changes are coming.

“We also look at damage inflicted, meaning that assists where you help kill an enemy are taken into account, as well as utility that does damage,” he explained. “There are some other factors that help inform your combat score, such as first bloods and streaks. These are called out on the combat score tool tip.”

The user also asked if the team had any plans on “increasing the recognition of assists” or other contributions to the team such as spots, healing, slowing enemies, and more.

To this Fielding responded that the team has some things planned in the long term and is in fact looking at ways to “incorporate non-damaging assists into your combat score as well.”

Valorant's Viper by the logo
Kills aren’t everything when it comes to combat score.

Meanwhile, on the competitive front, Fielding noted in the Q&A that, “while your combat score indicates how well you performed in core combat during the game, it’s not 1:1 with the performance calculations we use for your rank updates.”

“Simply put, the focus of whether or not your rank updates is primarily focused on wins and the decisiveness of these wins.”

There’s quite a lot under the hood when it comes to determining your combat score, but it’s nice to hear that the developers have some improvements planned to better reflect that attribute.

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About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam