How to Play With Other Regions in Valorant

Pitting your skills against players around the world not only allows you to play with friends in other regions, but it makes victory that much sweeter if you could boost your stats on a worldwide stage. Unfortunately, as of Update 2.06, Riot has not implemented a way for players to jump into matches with peers from other regions.

While Riot Games says that plans are in the works for unlocking regions, these plans have not come to fruition just yet. So, until then, find out how to bypass the region lock as well as answers to other pressing questions about Valorant regions.

Use VPN With New Sign-Up to Play Valorant in Other Regions

As mentioned before, you can’t play Valorant with players in other regions – at least not yet. Although the developers have plans to unlock other regions, they seem to be moving backward with the removal of the region option in the login screen.

Nowadays, you’re stuck with playing Valorant in the region that you sign-up in… or are you?

There are a couple of things you should know about Riot/Valorant accounts before you try this method mentioned in the title:

1. Your Valorant Account Is Tied to Your Riot Account.

If you’re an old League of Legends (LOL) player, you may already be familiar with this concept because Riot has slowly transitioned game-specific accounts to general Riot accounts. On the plus side, this makes it easier for players to jump into Riot’s growing catalog of games without having to create a new account for each new entry.

The downside of this transition is that everything is tied to one account, and if you can’t change regions, that also means that you can’t bring your weapons, skins, and skills with you when you create a new one.

2. Riot Automatically Assigns Your Region When You Sign-Up for a New Account.

Unlike other multiplayer games like Apex Legends and Overwatch, you can’t choose your region when you sign-up for a new account. This is a blessing in disguise for some new players that take the guesswork out of choosing a region. It may also work to the developers’ benefit because they have dependable figures to plan growth accordingly.

However, if you’re planning on jumping into a match with friends from other regions, Riot games won’t let you jump into a buddy’s regional servers – at least not yet.

3. New VPN-Enabled Accounts Aren’t Without Their Problems.

Using a VPN is currently the only way to get past the region lock when Riot assigns new accounts to regional servers. There are some drawbacks to creating an account this way, though, so you may want to consider them before jumping into the Valorant VPN instructions. Some drawbacks include:

• You have to start from the bottom again. None of your previous skills, weapons, skins, or Agents carry over to the new account.
• Creating a new VPN account for Valorant only applies to a single region. If you have friends across multiple regions, you’d have to create new accounts for each region.
  
• You may see a higher ping than you’re used to in your original region, depending on which region you choose. Most players, though, feel that it’s a valid compromise if they get to play with their friends.
  

Despite these inconveniences, many players still find using a VPN is better than not playing with friends at all. If you’re ready to jump into a buddy’s region with a new VPN-enabled account, check out the steps below:

1. Launch your VPN and choose a location for your new Riot account. Remember, Riot will pick up wherever your VPN redirects your IP when you first create an account, so choose a location that corresponds to the region you want.
   
2. Go to the official Riot Games website for Valorant and press the “Play Now” button in the upper-right corner of the screen.
   
3. In the new “Get Set Up to Play” window, select “Make One” to create a new account.
   
4. After you choose the new account option, you’ll get redirected to Riot’s authentication and new account page. Follow the prompts to create a new account.
   

There are varying reports about whether you need to have your VPN active when you launch the game, or just during the new account process. If you want to err on the side of caution, it doesn’t hurt to have your VPN active while playing the game, but some players can play matches in their new region without it.

Alternatively, you can always ask Riot Games to permanently move your account to another region. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll get the change you requested, but if you have a viable reason, they may grant your request.

To change the region associated with your Riot ID permanently, simply go to the support page on the official Riot website and submit a request. Remember that, if by chance, Riot does decide to grant your request, the change is permanent. If you find that you want to change your region back to the original one further down the line, you’ll have to wait until the developers unlock region changes for the game or create a separate account using a VPN.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Check Your Current Region?

You can check your current region for Riot Games by signing into your account on their official website. The landing page will have all of your personal information including your Riot ID and Tagline.

Go to the second section, called “Personal Information” and check out the “Country/Region” text box underneath your registered email address. This is your registered region for your Riot account.

How Do You Switch Regions?

In the past, you were able to switch regions on your Riot account page for all of their games. Since they’ve updated their system, though, they removed the ability to switch regions, and players are now locked into the region they had when they initially signed up for their account.

The developers for the gaming company say that unlocking regions and giving players the ability to hop regions again is one of their priorities and should release sometime in 2021. As of Update 2.06, though, the region switch situation has not changed. The only way that you can “switch” regions is to create a new account with an active VPN.

Unfortunately, you can’t transfer your progress or rewards from one account to another. You’ll have to start from scratch all over again for each new account you create.

You may qualify for an account switch via the Support Page. However, they’re only allowing for switches if your current region is incorrect, and the switch is permanent. You can see if you qualify for a region switch by going to this support page and scrolling to the bottom and pressing the “Check” button.

Hop Regions With a Trusted VPN

If you don’t already have a VPN, there are plenty of trusted ones available online – and don’t worry about the VPN fees. Many players use a VPN free trial to sign-up for their new accounts and simply cancel it afterward. If you do choose to buy a plan, make sure you do your research and find out if your chosen one will work on a variety of fronts. There’s no use incurring a new monthly fee for a service that you may not need once Riot changes its region lock policy.

Do you use VPN-created accounts to play with friends in other regions? Let us know in the comments section below.