Riot Games unveiled a quick wireframe of the Battlepass Vandal skin in Valorant, and the gamers are not exactly in agreement about it. Some call it neat, and others roast it with confusion. Welcome to Internetland.
The skin is indeed nice and sleek in design. Minimalistic, somewhere between a CS:GO skin and the ultra-budget skins for hierarchically priced Valorant bundles. But the reaction could not have been far from minimal. The players went berserk over it as though it was a direct insult to their aiming prowess. Kasoki called it “just a blatant recolor,” while Xora_ES said it’s “throwing it back for the minimalist fans.” Which is it? A lazy cash grab or a cool little underrated gem? If you ask some players, you may get mixed answers.
That very comment section went on to be another battlefield. Some, like JustLeo, were hyped, commenting, “OOOOOO that’s kinda clean,” whereas Aizzy was on the “disgusting” train. Sahadiin took it a step further and used the opportunity to throw shade on Valorant’s whole monetization scheme: “20+ dollar skins and insane prices for knives, but they don’t even bother with the Battlepass skins.” Ouch.
The debate went as far as the regional level. Brazilian player Gabriel_Shn jumped in with “Parece mano, achei legalzinha” (translation: “Looks cool, I kinda liked it”), whereas Vinnyy_EV responded in Portuguese to another detractor with “Gostei não” (“Didn’t like it”). There you have the duality of man.
Then some came with oh-so-specific criticisms. DavePSn6 noticed something that looked like the ApeksGG logo on the skin and just had to ask, “Why the @apeksgg logo there?” On the other hand, FeetLickerSmurf (yes, that is their username) whined that no-one buys Battlepasses for Radianite points anyway-it’s always for the knives. Fair, but…why FeetLickerSmurf?
And then came player drama. Tayxap clapped back at Myttik for “bad taste,” Myttik responded with “ragebait,” and then it went downhill screaming “???it’s so ugly” and “byteshift is so ass.” Valorant Twitter is rightfully undefeated for the pointless yet entertaining bickering.
So, what’s the verdict? If clean and simple designs are your kind of thing, this Battlepass Vandal might just get first pick in your Vandal rotation. Were you hoping for something super showy or unique? Well, the wait for that one goes on in another bundle. Either way, hot air was stirred up about this one, and in this live-service world, that’s half-gone in the bag. Now, back to debating if this skin is “cold” or “mid.” Never change, Valorant community. Never change.
