Recently, the skill disparity between players in low elo lobbies has reached its peak in Valorant. Players are struggling to climb out of the simplest ranks because of one major factor, “Smurfs.” Unfortunately, Riot hasn’t done anything significant to combat smurfing besides increasing the requirements to unlock competitive play. It’s a tough situation as smurf accounts seem to be going nowhere. High elo players have friends who are stuck in low elo, and unfortunately, smurfing is the only way for them to play together.

These reasons account for a huge increase in silver/gold players, as the majority of smurfing takes place in relatively low elo matches. In this guide, we’ll go through the most important steps players have to take to rank up and get out of the smurf elo hell.

Identify the Fake Silver/Gold Smurfs Early

Though it takes a few rounds to catch the smurf imposters in the lobby, there are ways to identify them in the first round itself. Websites like TrnTracker offer software that reports back with the career details of everyone in the match. This early info can help you play accordingly and avoid ego-peeking the high elo player. It’s best to be aware rather than tilt mid-game and keep ego-peeking the smurf player. It’s always better to peek off a teammate’s utility and have multiple players focus on the player who’s fragging out. Flashing through smokes and double peeking your sweating opponent works well against fragging opponents.

Stop Queuing Valorant with Smurfs

There are situations where you would want to play with your close friends and they happen to be in a higher elo. Unfortunately, asking them to queue from alternate low ranked accounts invites more trouble. Initially, for the first few matches, you might find the matches easy, but after that, the hidden matchmaking rating will force you to constantly play against Valorant smurfs. Though Riot has not been banning smurf accounts blatantly, they do realize when a different player is logged into the account. Headshot accuracy % accounts for a major factor here. When queuing with a smurf, it is highly likely to get opponents with similar headshot accuracy and aiming stats as the smurf teammate.

Add Teammates with Similar Playstyle and Stats for Consistent Matches

Solo queuing in Valorant is a tough task because of multiple reasons, from tilted throwers to toxic instalock players. Regardless of the bad teammates, almost every match players are bound to run into a teammate who plays the game to win. Adding such teammates is the best way to learn the game and rank up faster. By no means does this mean to keep adding the top fragger of every game who might as well be a smurf. Instead, add players who have similar stats as you and can play a role that complements the way you play. After playing 3-4 matches, you’ll notice fewer smurfs entering your lobby as the system will force you into matches that have similar aiming stats as you and not your previously smurfing teammate.

At the end, Riot is well aware of this ongoing issue of smurfing. The only real way to combat this is to queue with genuine players and not smurfs.