Peeking is one of the most important skills a Valorant player can have. Unfortunately, not a lot of people know how to peek properly. Even fewer people know why they would peek in one way vs. another.
What are the different ways of peeking? And how would you decide which peek to utilize?
This post will cover everything you need to know about peeking in Valorant. Let’s get into some theory (video below for visual learners).
Core Principles of Peeking in Valorant
There are 3 core principles of peeking that you need to keep in mind at all times. First, you need to make yourself as difficult to hit as possible. Second, you must make the enemy as easy to hit as possible. And third, you need to push the outcome of the peek in your team’s favor as much as possible.
The first two are pretty straightforward. However, for principle 3, think of it this way.
Whenever you peek an enemy, you are always giving something up. You always put something on the line when you peek, whether it’s smokes, flashes, agent abilities, time, or even your life.
On the flip side, you always gain something from the peek too. Typically, this means a kill or information for your team.
It’s your job, as the peeker, to make sure that these losses and gains are weighed in your team’s favor as much as possible. This way, you lose less, and gain more.
We cover this concept of risk vs reward in more detail in our Midround Mindset video, so check it out for deeper insights.
We’ll get into the practical applications of these principles in a little bit, but for now, just know that these are important things to keep in mind. Now, let’s get into the actual ways of peeking.
Peek 1: Wide Swinging
Wide swinging – AKA wide peeking, swing peeking, or swinging out – is where you quickly pop out of cover to throw the enemy off. With wide peeking, you’re utilizing principle 1, making yourself as difficult to hit as possible.
The enemy needs to react at lightning speed if they want to track or flick your head. On the other hand, the enemy is also more difficult to hit for you. If multiple enemies are around, you’re exposed to more than one angle, making this peek potentially more risky.
So, when does it make sense to wide swing? Well, you need a rough idea of the whereabouts of the enemy. Wide peeking blindly doesn’t make much sense.
To perform a wide swing, stand as close to the wall as possible, and pre-align your crosshair where you expect the enemy to be. Then, run out sideways, counter-strafe in the opposite direction you came from, and secure your kill with a precise shot.
Remember to stop moving before you shoot. Otherwise, you’ll miss too many shots and likely be killed by the enemy.
The reason we need to stand very close to the wall is purely due to how perception works. If you stand far away, you’ll appear to move slower on the enemy’s screen. If you stand close, you’ll appear to move faster on the enemy’s screen.
Therefore, stand close to the wall to throw the enemy off as much as possible.
Peek 2: Tight Peeking
Tight peeking, or “slow peeking,” is a much slower peek. You clear angles in a methodical way. Players clear corners and common spots thoroughly and only expose themselves to one angle at a time.
Unlike wide swinging, tight peeking utilizes principle 2 – making the enemy as easy to hit as possible. By clearing angles slowly, you give yourself more time to react and fight. Additionally, if you’re shift walking, you will be silent.
If you have many angles to clear, tight peeking may not be ideal. It’ll take a long time to clear everything slowly. Unlike faster peeks, you’ll be easier to track and pre-aim.
So, when does it make sense to tight peek? When you’ve got little or no information on the enemy, and you’re forced to clear every angle individually.
It’s not intelligent to sprint into an area you lack information on. To tight peek correctly, place yourself as far from the wall as possible, shift walk, and track the edge of the wall, clearing angles one by one.Â
The key point here is to stand as far from the wall as possible. This is because of what’s known as an “angle advantage”. Here’s a quick rundown on what angle advantage is.
Angle Advantage in Valorant
First, every player model has their vision in the middle of their heads. If this part of their head is blocked, their vision is blocked. They can no longer see you.
However, your vision isn’t blocked. You can still see a large chunk of the enemy’s body poking out. This is angle advantage. Where the enemy cannot see you, but you can see them.
To better understand this, let’s look at the scenario from above. As we can see, in this case, Brim can see Sage, but Sage cannot see Brim. In other words, angle advantage is in Brim’s favor.
If Sage wants to avoid this situation, she only needs to stand further back. Unlike earlier, her shoulder won’t be poking out from the side, and Brim’s angle advantage is nullified.
If Sage stands even further away from the wall than Brim, Sage will have the angle advantage, and will now be able to see Brim slightly before he sees her.
Standing far from the wall might contradict what we recommended for wide swinging. Understand that the added speed with wide swinging more than makes up for the loss of angle advantage.
This may seem not very easy initially. To simplify things, remember one thing. Stand close to the wall when wide swinging and far from the wall when tight peeking.
Peek 3: Crouch Peeking
Crouch peeking isn’t very common in lower ranks. If you want to level up your gameplay, it’s essential to learn it eventually.Â
Basically, crouch peeking is where you crouch behind cover, and stand back up just before the enemy sees you. This split-second change from crouching to standing throws the enemy off, utilizing principle 1, and gives you a temporary advantage.
Here’s what the enemy sees during a crouch peek. Crouch peeking is a little tricky to get right, so practice is key. You can also be caught off guard if you stand up at the wrong time, so crouch peeking is most useful when you’re confident about the enemy’s whereabouts.
To crouch peek properly, crouch behind the wall, and swing out on the enemy. Just before you cross the point of contact with them, stand up, and get your kill.
Peek 4: Jump Peeking
Jump peeking is a little different from what we’ve already covered so far. Its primary purpose is to gain information on the enemy, weighing the outcome of the peek in our favor.Â
You quickly jump around a wall to see what’s on the other side and get back behind cover before the enemy has time to react. You do, however, give away your position. If the enemy is clever, they can use utility to clear you out.Â
You’ll have your knife out for extra speed. If the enemy is closer than you expected, you could be caught off guard with your pants down.
So when should you jump peek? Mainly when you have no information on a particular area and want to gain some intel. Alternatively, if you want to bait an enemy’s attention while your teammates flank.
To do a jump peek correctly, stand a couple of steps away from the wall, run forward, and jump around the wall. While airborne, use your mouse and keyboard to curve your jump back to cover.
This can also be applied to jiggle peeking, where you quickly move side to side to gather information. In both cases, you momentarily expose the enemy’s location for yourself and the whole team to see on the minimap.
If you want to take this concept to the next level, try shoulder peeking. You perform a small jiggle peek. Instead of seeing the enemy with your own eyes, you expose your shoulder for a split second. This is done to bait your opponent to shoot you, revealing their location.
Peek 5: Re-peeking in Valorant
Many players make the mistake of peeking an enemy, having a brief gunfight, and re-peeking in the same way again. Don’t do this. Not only are you ignoring principle 3, but you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage with the re-peek.
Before you re-peek, the enemy may have already moved, making them more difficult to hit. However, from the enemy’s perspective, you’re re-peeking them from the exact same place as before, making their crosshair placement much easier.
When we re-peek an enemy, we need to add variety to the peek. Something they’re not expecting. Whether it’s flashing, double peeking with a teammate, using agent abilities, or even just using a different kind of peek, like crouch peeking.
Dry-peeking in the exact same way as before increases the enemy’s odds of killing you, and decreases yours. You need to throw the enemy off in whatever small way you can to gain an advantage.
Peek 6: Double Peeking in Valorant
Double peeking is extremely underused in lower ranks, but can be deadly when done right. The idea is to peek the enemy with two people. This overwhelms them with firepower, and maximizing the outcome of the peek for your team.
When double peeking, it’s important to remember to offset your movements slightly. Peeking simultaneously will maximize the enemy’s chance of landing a collat or getting a lucky spray. Peeking too far apart will allow the enemy to take on two separate engagements essentially.
When you decide to double peek, coordinating with your teammate is crucial. Even if you’re in a game with randoms, call something like “Hey, peek together with me in 3, 2, 1…”. This can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful double peek.
Double peeking is more situational than the other peeks in Valorant. In many cases, it makes more sense to hold angles than to push. We’ll be covering when you should and shouldn’t peek in our video on the Psychology of Valorant. Sign up for our mailing list to get notified when this goes live.
Improving your Peeking in Valorant
We couldn’t cover every type of peek in this short post, and there are many other peeks to keep in mind. For instance, peeking through a smoke, peeking a spike defusal, peeking against an operator, peeking more than one enemy, and plenty more.
Let us know in the comments if you’d like us to make a part 2 for this post going over these more situational peeks. For the most part, this article should cover 90% of what you need to know about peeking.Practice each of these types of Valorant peeks and you’ll be climbing the ranked ladder in no time! Also, check out our article on holding angles in Valorant to continue improving.
