A recent has pointed out that apparently, player assists will now be getting more recognition in gameplay. The leak showed off a number of different icons that would supposedly appear for players assisting teammates in a variety of ways, ranging from normal damage to power usage.
Assists in any shooter game are normally used to recognize when a player helped another get a kill by dealing damage to another player, while a second ended up landing the killing blow. If the leak is true, the Valorant icons for assists will expand on this idea, crediting players with assists if they manage to somehow debilitate an enemy with abilities before another player scores a kill.
The various icons shown in the leak include icons for revealing, resurrecting, flashbangs, slowing, smoke bombs, concussing, and buffing, along with one peculiar icon that only has “Devutility”, possibly meaning that it’s intended for a new character that hasn’t been released yet.
Each character getting their own icon for Valorant assists will likely help more with teamwork, as well as helping people to be more likely to rack up scores if their recognition gets them more points during matches. In a game as fast-paced as Valorant, you might also not always have time to register if someone helped you, or if you helped someone else, so the icons can help with recognition as well.
The fact that one of the icons is labeled “devutility” is also very interesting, as it could be for a new power or character that hasn’t been added to the game yet, or is just there for testing in general. Riot may give more details about it in a future update, but for now it’s something to speculate over.
While there’s no indication of when that update will come, for now it’s good to know that Valorant assists will give players more recognition even if they have a hard time scoring kills themselves.