The majority of the Valorant community favors only two modes in the game: Competitive, where players battle under standard rules for ranking points to elevate their rank, and Unrated, which operates under the same rules but without a ranking system. Additionally, over the 4 years since Valorant's inception, the developers have added several diverse modes. Among them are Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, where you can re-enter the battle immediately after dying, the fast-paced Spike Rush mode where victory is achieved after 7 rounds, and Premier, which has recently become a pathway to the esports scene, among others. However, in the early days of Valorant, there was another mode available, Snowball Fight, which gained incredible popularity. Most players now haven't even heard of such a mode because it was only available for a short period in 2020. That's why the Bo3 editorial team has prepared material for you where we discuss what the Snowball Fight mode in Valorant is, why it was so popular, and whether it will return to the game again.
What is Snowball Fight?
As can be inferred from the above description, Snowball Fight is a game mode in Valorant that is currently not available in the game. The mode was first released along with the 1.14 update, which appeared in Valorant on December 8, 2020, and the mode itself debuted on December 15 that year. The game mode was available for 15 days, and by December 30, 2020, the developers had removed it from the game. Later, in December 2021, Riot Games conducted a survey on their official account on platform X (formerly Twitter). In it, players had the opportunity to vote for one of three modes to appear in the game for a short period: Snowball Fight, Replication, Escalation. The Snowball Fight mode received 50.1% of the votes, so the developers reintroduced it to Valorant for almost a month, until January 11, 2022.
Gameplay and features of the Snowball Fight mode
The gameplay in the mode followed the principles of Deathmatch, meaning players respawned in a new location immediately after death. To win, a team needed to score 50 points, which participants earned for killing opponents. Although it seems at first glance to be a simple deathmatch, Snowball Fight had certain features compared to other game modes. First of all, all matches took place only on the Icebox map, which makes sense because the location represents a cold icy port and is the only map with snow. Icebox was decorated in a festive style, most containers on the map were wrapped in gift wrap, and various festive elements were added.
Another feature is the absence of abilities and regular weapons. At the start of the match, players chose an agent, but all their skills were unavailable. Also, regular weapons like pistols, rifles, shotguns, and others were disabled. Instead, all match participants received a Snowball Launcher, a special weapon that shot snowballs. It had an infinite number of rounds, but needed to be reloaded after each shot, which took about one second. The Snowball Launcher dealt 150 damage to any body part and killed with a single shot.
Another feature lies in the additional tools with which you can kill opponents. The mode has four different gifts that temporarily enhance your shooting and the agent itself.
- Growball - your snowballs increase in size as they fly through the air.
- Rapid Fire - infinite magazine, as well as increased shooting speed to 1.667 per second.
- Ricochet - snowballs bounce and ricochet off walls and floors.
- Skates - increases the speed and jump height of your agent.
Enhancements appear on the map in the form of gift chests, which drop from portals and rifts, and also in the form of spheres that appear at the location of a killed agent if they had any of them.
Reward for Snowball Fight Mode
Although the Snowball Fight mode was not mandatory, the developers still encouraged players to participate and issued rewards. The reward was a gubbyddies Snow Bro, created in the form of a snowman. Players who played in the mode during its first appearance in December 2020 received this weapon charm.
The Valorant Community's attitude toward Snowball Fight Mode
Despite the mode being added back in 2020 and only for a short period, players incredibly loved Snowball Fight. Unlike simple Deathmatch, Snowball Fight allows players to immerse themselves in the winter atmosphere, and its appearance during the festive period further fuels community interest. But because of such love, players are dissatisfied with the actions of Riot Games. The main complaint is that developers, for unknown reasons, do not bring Snowball Fight back into the game. Every year in the winter period, on various platforms, players create discussions with the aim of reaching out to Riot representatives. They ask, if not to return the mode on a permanent basis, then at least to add the opportunity to play Snowball Fight only in winter. But so far, the developers remain deaf to the players' requests, so the Valorant community can only continue to hope and wait for the return of the legendary mode.
Will Snowball Fight Appear in 2024?
There are no prerequisites for this, so it can be assumed that Snowball Fight will appear in 2024 with the same probability as it will not appear this year. However, a significant event recently occurred in Valorant that may influence the future appearance of the game mode. A few weeks ago, Riot Games officially announced that Valorant will appear on gaming consoles XBOX and PlayStation in the future, and have already opened the opportunity to sign up for testing. This event could serve as a reason for the return of the legendary Snowball Fight. The fact that a large community of console players, who previously had no opportunity to play Valorant, will be involved in the game, is likely to prompt the developers to conduct various events with pleasant rewards. Also, precisely because of the game's release on gaming consoles, Riot Games may again launch the Snowball Fight event, as it was at the beginning of Valorant's inception in 2020. It is unclear whether the game mode will appear again, and whether it will be available to all players or possibly only on the console version. We can only wait for rumors and findings from insiders and dataminers, or for official information from Riot.
Conclusion
After reading our material, you learned what the legendary game mode Snowball Fight is, when it was available, and the main features of the gameplay. Although the mode is currently unavailable in the game, it wouldn't hurt to know about it so that if it appears in Valorant again, you can be ready and immediately enjoy the limited winter event.
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