And we’re back! VALORANT Data Drop is here to talk about all things VCT in 2023. As the year comes to an end and a new season of the Champions Tour approaches, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at 2023 by the numbers.
In this article, we’ll highlight some of the standout VCT Pro teams and players from throughout the year. For the data itself, the VAL Insights team pulled stats from every Pro match that occurred during the 2023 regular season and Last Chance Qualifiers, plus global events like LOCK//IN, Masters, and Champs.
Agents of Chaos
First, let’s talk about Agents. In 2023, we saw hype plays throughout the entire lineup. EG C0m’s 5 HP knife clutch, anyone? (Disclaimer: NSFW language) But who truly earned bragging rights as the top performing player with a given Agent?
For this study, we looked at Pro players who picked an Agent in at least 5 games throughout the 2023 season. Obviously some Agents don’t see as much play as others, and some teams don’t make it as far as their rivals. So this felt like a decent sample size to represent every player and every Agent (except for Deadlock—unfortunately our girl from Norway is still new to the roster and hasn’t seen any Pro play).
Let Them Cook
Over the course of the 2023 competitive season, these players had the best cumulative K/D ratio on a specific Agent:
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
K/D, shmay/D. We all wanna know who took down the most enemies throughout the year. Here are the top 10 players with the most kills in VCT 2023:
My Ultimate is Ready
For the next chart, we took a look at ultimate usage (5 or more casts) across Agents who have ults with easily trackable influence over the game. For example, Astra and Viper ults are extremely useful, but harder to quantify in terms of data. While it’s easy to see their impact in a live game scenario, there really isn’t a reliable way to measure how much sound or vision was denied by ults like these. So the team focused on Agent ultimates that have a status effect, debuff, or some kind of damage output. The following players got the most value from their ultimate usage:
Not So Blinded by the Light
The Insights team also took a look at flash utility data from throughout the year to shed some (bright) light on a hot topic—who was the best at turning flashes in VCT? Obviously measuring a player’s reaction time is pretty difficult. But the team figured out a clever calculation to help tell the same story.
A full flash effect lasts anywhere from 1 to 3.1 seconds depending on the Agent flash ability. That flash effect duration decreases based on how directly it lands in the player's field of view. Turning away at the sight of a flash wind-up will likely help shorten the flash effect. So the Insights team looked at players who were hit with an enemy flash at least 20 times throughout the 2023 season and measured their average flash duration across all of those occurrences. This acted as a pretty good proxy for determining how skilled a player was at turning a flash. Here are the top 5 hardest players to fully flash in VCT:
Their Territory, Their Rules
Now, let’s talk maps. The Pro teams below had their strategies on point for each of the eight maps in the pool. Let’s face it, they made these playing fields look anything but level.
Regardless of map, Fnatic also holds the titles for most successful attacker-side post-plant win rate and defender side defuse rate. FNC wins 74.8% of rounds when they plant the Spike on attacker side, and they also manage to defuse the spike in 39.1% of the rounds that their opponents get a plant down.
Tools of the Trade
Gunplay. It’s why we all play the game. So let’s take a look at who was the sharpest shooter with each weapon in 2023.
Who Needs a Rifle?
Winning a pistol round can set the tone for a game or help reset your mental at the half. Sometimes all you need is 800 credits and a dream. Here are the best performing teams in a pistol round:
How about individual pistol performance? Surprisingly, some of the best pistol play comes from teams who don’t rank in the top 5 on pistol round—other than GE. It’s safe to say Ayrin is a menace with a sidearm. For this study, the team expanded their threshold a bit compared to other K/D charts since there are only two pistol rounds per game. Here are the players with the top K/D ratios through 20 pistol rounds or more:
Bringing Out the Big Guns
Pistol rounds are one thing, but buy rounds are a whole different firefight. The insights team took a look at the K/D ratios for all players who used a specific weapon in at least 5 games. Check out the top players with each boomstick:
Honorable Mentions
Beyond Agents, maps, and weapons, the Insights team also zoomed in on some other interesting tidbits from throughout the season.
A World of Difference
Most gamers know that play styles can often vary by region. One big difference is the overall pace of the game from region to region. Just hold ‘W’? Or play for picks?
- The Insights team found that VCT Pacific teams have the fastest average time to plant at 52.3 seconds.
- On the other side of things, VCT Europe teams have the slowest average time to plant at 60.4 seconds.
One Round at a Time
Score ain’t nothin’ but a number. Here’s how some teams were able to defy the odds and pull out some impressive wins.
- Only two teams have been able to use the myth of the 9-3 curse to their advantage more than once: NRG and C9.
- NRG is 2-1 when down 3-9 at the half.
- C9 is 2-3 when down 3-9 at the half. This is the best record of any team in at least five 9-3 curse scenarios.
- 18 out of 32 teams have a 0% win rate when they’re behind 3-9 at the half.
- Only two teams have come back from a 2-10 half to win: DRX and Team Liquid.
- There were 67 games throughout the year with 2-10 halftime scores. DRX and TL were the only two teams to manage a single comeback each.
- That’s a ~3% comeback rate overall when down 2-10.
- Teams are 0-26 when trailing 1-11 at the half, and 0-4 when trailing 0-12.
- The highest scoring game of the year was ZETA vs. Rex Regum Qeon in the Pacific region Last Chance Qualifier. ZETA pulled out the win in a 21-19 victory that lasted over 97 minutes—nearly the same amount of time for a Shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Nagoya.
- The longest game of the year by time duration goes to Karmine Corp vs. BBL at just under 105 minutes. Karmine Corp grinded through to win 19-17.
We hope you enjoyed this look back at the 2023 VCT Season. Stay tuned for another Data Drop in the not-too-distant future.
