Regardless if you’re a Valorant rookie or a seasoned player playing on a fresh account, levelling up is a tedious process.

This is especially annoying if you’re itching to reach level 20 and start your competitive Valorant journey, given that leveling takes hundreds of hours of gameplay.

However, there are some tips and tricks like purchasing a smurf account that will help you reduce the length of this pesky process.

The leveling system

Understanding AP

Before breaking down the fastest way of levelling up, we need to take a moment to briefly explain how AP works. AP stands for account points and these points are earned by playing and completing matchmade games.

Every level requires you to amass 5000 AP before you move on to the next one, with 20 being the level your account unlocks competitive play. 

It’s important to learn to differentiate AP (account points) from XP (experience points) since XP is exclusively used for battle pass level-ups and levelling up agent contracts and it does not impact your account level in any way. 

The math behind AP gains

There are several ways you can obtain AP in Valorant and it’s easy to calculate how much AP per game you’re getting.

The most basic way of obtaining AP in Valorant is by simply playing the game and you will receive 10 AP per 1 minute spent in a game. To put things into perspective, when you’re playing standard unrated matches, you will get 300-400AP on average per match. 

On the other hand, the other passive method of obtaining AP is by winning matches. You’re awarded 50 AP per match win for any game mode in Valorant, regardless of the length of the game.

AP Boost for low-level accounts

With the intent of increasing the amount of AP new players get when they create an account, Riot introduced a system that boosts the AP rewards for low-level accounts.

Instead of receiving the standard 10 AP per minute in-game, new players who are level 10 or lower receive 40 AP per minute. Furthermore, the reward for winning a game is much more significant as well, as accounts under level 10 win 200 AP per win.

How to get AP points the fastest

First win of the day

To ensure a steady and consistent AP gain every time you play, you need to focus on obtaining the first win of the day bonus.

This bonus provides you with a whopping 1000 AP after winning your first game of the day, boosting your level-up progress significantly. This bonus resets every 22 hours and you should aim to obtain it whenever it’s available. 

Keep in mind that this bonus triggers on every game mode available which means that shorter game modes that only last a few rounds such as Spike Rush fill the condition.

This method is undoubtedly the easiest way of levelling up your account, as obtaining a single first-win bonus equals approximately 3 unrated games worth of AP.

Play Spike Rush games

While obtaining the daily win bonus is a steady way to level up your account, it requires you to wait for the reset, making it somewhat inconvenient for players who want to level up immediately. 

If you’re itching to get your ranked journey on the way, a fast to level up and obtain AP is to consistently win Spike Rush games. This is because this game mode only lasts 4-7 rounds while still providing you with the 50 AP bonus per win.

Apart from having fewer rounds than the regular map, Spike Rush also has reduced pre-round time as well as game time, making it the shortest game mode available.

As a result, Spike Rush is the most cost-efficient option in terms of time spent playing, given that it provides you with the most AP per minute spent playing the game. On top of that, the game mode is generally light-hearted and casual, making it an enjoyable stress-free experience. 

Fastest way to ranked-ready account

If you’re someone who’s itching to get the ranked journey underway and you don’t want to invest countless hours into levelling, you should buy a ranked-ready smurf account!

Purchase a smurf account

Buying a smurf account is the fastest way of jumping into ranked after you suffer a ban or no longer have access to your main account in general.

These accounts are surprisingly easy to obtain as there are professional Valorant smurf platforms that allow you to purchase and start playing on a brand-new account within 5 minutes.

There are several advantages to owning a smurf account in general, most notably the fact that you start with fresh ranked MMR.

Purchasing one of these accounts is fairly affordable, especially once you consider that they’re going to save you hundreds of hours of valuable time.