Riot is releasing more and more nice skins in Valorant, but it’s even nicer to enjoy them with your friends. So let’s see how you can do that!

Last month Riot treated us to Zedd skins, the Recon bundle, and up to three skin lines from the new Act. All of these weapon skins are beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that we don’t even want to play with the old familiar weapons anymore. So it would be perfect to give them to someone…. But wait, can you give away skins in Valorant? Let’s find out!

Can you give away skins in Valorant?

Currently you can’t give away skins in Valorant, but this feature is coming! In a Game Dev Q&A last year, Miles Metzger of Riot Games said:

Giving away skins in VALORANT is coming (soon™)! We want to give players the ability to gift content to celebrate victories, holidays, or other occasions that require it. We’re aiming to enable gifting by the end of 2020, but timelines may shift as we get closer to that date.

It’s September 2021 and we still don’t have that feature, but who knows, maybe we’ll get it in the next Valorant episode? Riot is generally waiting for some major updates with such changes, so it’s already possible. But that would just mean late 2021/early 2022. Oh well.

Okay, but what if you still want to give your Valorant friend a gift? That’s where Riot prepaid cards come in! These are gift cards with a set amount of money that you load into your Riot account. You should have no trouble finding them at various online and local stores. Right now, they can be found almost everywhere, even in smaller train station kiosks. Don’t be surprised if the card says “League of Legends” or “Teamfight Tactics” instead of your favorite shooter; these prepaid cards work for all of Riot’s games! So at least you’ll have something to give away.

Can you trade with skins in Valorant?

You can’t trade with skins in Valorant, but unlike giving away skins, that feature will probably never come to the game either. At least we’re not being stalled there. Quote from Jon Lee (Revenue Lead of Valorant) of Riot Games:

I think skin trading works in other games when the only method of acquiring content is through loot boxes. Drop rates and loot box offers can be set by the developer, which then affects the supply and demand of the product. For us, we support a direct purchase model first and foremost, so if you see something you want, we want you to consider the product and buy it exactly the same: no randomness, no consideration of aftermarket speculation.

So no skin trading and probably no skin selling in Valorant. Well, given Valorant’s current market policy, it makes sense somewhere. If you could buy a third-person skin for real money, Riot could lose a lot, and we have to remember that it’s just also a free game and it’s not easy to make money with it. Think about it, why would Riot take away a massive revenue stream from Valorant?

How to get skins in Valorant

Everyone uses the same weapons in Valorant, but that doesn’t mean every weapon has to look the same. After all, you’re going to spend a lot of time looking at your weapon, so looking at it might as well be.

Fortunately, the folks at Riot have the perfect solution for players who need to look good while shooting enemies. Skins are cosmetic add-ons that can change the physical appearance of a weapon, as well as animations and audio effects.

Read on to find out where you can get these unique looks and whether you need to play or pay to unlock the customizations.

How do I get skins in Valorant?

Unlike other popular multi-shooter games, Valorant doesn’t have any special skins to change and customize the look of the agent – at least for now. What they do offer is a collection of skins that can change and improve the way weapons look and feel while playing the game.

They don’t necessarily improve your gameplay, but sometimes looking good is enough to win a match, right?

Spend real money

This is possibly the easiest way to get the weapon skin you want but don’t have the time to unlock. Valorant Points or VP is the premium currency used in the game to unlock agents, skins and more from the in-game store.

Here is an example of converting real money to VP on the North American server:

• $4.99 – 475 VP, no bonus VP, 475 VP total.
• $9.99 – 950 VP, 50 bonus VP, 1000 VP total
• $19.99 – 1900 VP, 150 bonus VP, 2050 total
• $34.99 – 3325 VP, 325 bonus VP, 3650 total
• $49.99 – 4750 VP, 600 bonus VP, 5350 total
• 99 $ – 9500 VP, 1500 bonus VP, 11000 total

As a frame of reference, Valorant Store Featured Collections are around 7,100 VP. Individual weapon skins are slightly less expensive and generally range from 1,775 VP to 4,350 VP each, with melee weapon skins at the higher end of the price scale.

Before you start searching for weapon skins, you should know that featured bundles change every few weeks and individual skin deals change every 24 hours. So what you see today may not be what you see tomorrow.

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