When Can You Surrender in VALORANT?

We’ve had our highest ups and lowest downs in Valorant, and as much as we treasure each moment of winning, we also have our worst games when there’s no hope of winning. Be it smurf enemies, griefing allies, or an ally that’s not even there, there can be a lot of ways that you can feel hopeless in this game.

Fortunately, you don’t have to spend the entire 20-plus rounds feeling frustrated. Valorant gives you the surrender option, a button to end your misery (provided your teammates also want to). The question is, at what point of the game can you surrender?

When Can You Surrender?

Valorant has since updated its surrender rules to cater to the many types of frustrations that players can encounter while playing the game. Initially, in patch 1.02, the surrender option was only available when you reached the 8th round of the first phase. Players can only cast surrender votes during the buying phase, so calling one during a game will queue it up for the next round. However, you can call it early enough during the buying phase and push it through by reaching the required number of votes.

At patch 1.03, Valorant added another surrender option, the early surrender option. Players can call for surrender after reaching the 4th round instead of waiting for the 8th round. Players should note that you can only call for a surrender vote once per phase. If you called for a surrender vote in the first 12 rounds and then failed, you must wait for the next phase to call for a new surrender vote.

Also read: What Does NT Mean in VALORANT?

Circumstances for a Surrender

There are different requirements for surrender to push through across different game modes. In unrated games, where the stakes are lower, the game only requires 80% of the available players’ approval for surrender to go through. 

However, in competitive games, where the stakes are significantly higher, you need the entire team to vote Yes on the surrender vote. A surrender will immediately give the enemy team the full 13 round wins required to end the match. Surrendering can be detrimental to the surrendering team’s MMR, as surrendering can cause a higher MMR loss. Since MMR considers your performance in the game regardless of the game’s outcome, registering multiple rounds in a row as a loss can cause your MMR to drop significantly.

It is still worth it for competitive games to play out the entirety of the game, except in the most exceptional cases where you are getting demolished by players who are significantly better than you. Never give up, but if you are not having fun dying for multiple rounds in succession, then talk it out with your teammates and come to a unanimous decision that everyone agrees.