Valorant: How to change your region in Valorant in 3 steps

Valorant is one of the most popular free-to-play first-person shooters on Windows, with developer Riot Games boasting that roughly 700,000 people play the game each day. For those who don’t know Valorant boasts a number of modes, including Unrated, Spike Rush, Premier, Deathmatch, and Escalation – with all game types played online with friends or strangers.

Unfortunately, Valorant fans are unable to pick-and-choose the server location assigned to them during online gameplay. So if you’re looking to play online with friends who live overseas, want to avoid being matched with players who aren’t at your level, or avoid Diamond III competition …then pairing the best VPN with Valorant will unlock new flexibility.

Riot Games doesn’t allow players to change regions manually when playing Valorant, but with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) installed on your PC, you’ll be able to switch server regions with a single click. Using a VPN with Valorant can have other benefits too, including masking your IP address from rival players or bypassing restrictions from your current internet provider.

Short on time? If you want jump back into a game as soon as possible, this is what you need to know: ExpressVPN is the best option for Valorant players. This VPN service has server locations across the globe, so you’ll be able to change Valorant region to almost any country location globally. Not only that, ExpressVPN boasts incredibly fast connection speeds, so you won’t suffer any lag or stutter in your gameplay.

And finally, for a limited time, ExpressVPN is gifting 3 months for free to new customers (with 49% off the remaining time in your subscription!)

If you’d like a little more information on how to change regions in Valorant, the other features that can be unlocked with a VPN, and details on the best VPN deals …we’ve got everything you need to know below. Scroll down for our complete guide to the best VPNs for Valorant, or use the links above to jump to the relevant section.

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network to use its full title, is an application that creates an encrypted tunnel for all of your data whenever you go online.

Without a VPN, whenever you head online, your personal data is like the message written on the back of a postcard – visible to anyone in the system as it makes its way to the intended recipient. However, switch on a VPN and funnel everything through its encrypted tunnel, and that message is locked away – like a postcard inside two or three sturdy envelopes.

Yes, this additional layer of protection stops hackers from intercepting your data or tracking your location. It can also prevent advertisers from keeping tabs on your web history to tailor adverts to your tastes. Lastly, it can also block your internet service provider (ISP) from keeping data on your online habits, which in some countries, ISPs can then sell to third-parties to generate extra revenue.

But VPNs can offer more than supercharged security and protection.

The best VPN services will offer a choice of thousands of server locations scattered across dozens of countries worldwide.

Routing your online traffic via any of these VPN servers will manually change your IP address, making it appear as if you’re located in another city, country, or continent. This allows you to unlock new TV shows, sports fixtures, streaming services, or movies not available in your country. It can also reveal new in-game item packs restricted to select countries worldwide.

And when playing Valorant, it enables uses to manually change their region – and use different servers to play against friends and different skilled players. VPNs are hugely-popular with gamers, with Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 players also relying on these clever apps to swerve the trouble SBMM (Skill-Based Match Making) in online multiplayer. Apex Legends and Overwatch 2 players also benefit too.

Valorant is region-locked. During the initial account set-up process, Riot Games will have asked you to set a Region of Residence, or RoR, based on your physical location.

There are six possible server locations that can be assigned based on the RoR that you selected during the account registration process. These are: Brazil (BR), Europe (EU), Korea (KR), Latin America (LATAM), North America (NA), and Southeast Asia/Asia-Pacific (AP).

Valorant players are told to set their RoR based on their current location. This will determine the servers that you can access when heading online to play Valorant.

If you want to change the RoR associated with your Valorant account, you’ll need to change the location from which you connect to the internet. To do this, you can either jet-off on a plane to a new country …with your laptop and copy of Valorant in tow, or use a VPN to spoof your new location digitally by switching to one of the hundreds of server locations available online – changing your IP address and tricking Valorant into thinking that you’ve physically moved to another region.

First up, you’ll need to install a VPN. We’d recommend ExpressVPN for its fast connection speed, hundreds of server locations across the globe, and 3 free months for all new customers.

Once you’ve installed the VPN app on the same Windows PC hardware you use to play Valorant, then you’ll need to load up the VPN app and select a server location. You’ll need to make sure the server location that you pick is located within the Region of Residence (RoR) that you want your account to be associated with. Just as a reminder, the Valorant RoR are – Brazil (BR), Europe (EU), Korea (KR), Latin America (LATAM), North America (NA), and Southeast Asia/Asia-Pacific (AP).

Once you’ve picked the VPN server, launch your chosen web browser and head to this support page for Valorant players. Click on the Log In button at the bottom of the page, and sign-in with your Riot Games account details. Next, follow the on-screen instructions to confirm that your Region of Residence has changed to a new location.

Yes, unfortunately not everything associated with your account is transferred when you switch Region of Residence in Valorant.

But let’s go through the good news to start with – your skins, player cards, sprays, and other items in your collection will all transfer over to the new RoR without any problem. Characters, mission progress, contracts, and Battle Pass progression will also be transferred to the new server location without hassle. Loadouts, MMR, Shard Affinity, and your rank rewards from previous seasons of Valorant will be ported over to the new server location when you switch region too.

So, what will be lost when you change region?

Unfortunately, your current ranked season data, purchase history and complete match history will not be moved over to the new region. As such, these will be reset.

There is an exception to the rule – anyone transferring between Brazil, North America, or Latin America, will find that all of thier data – including current season progress, match history, and purchase history – will be transferred over. However, this is the only region switch where this happens, so be warned.

While the ability to change region in Valorant is the main draw for players looking to invest in a VPN, these applications will unlock other perks too.

For starters, VPNs can bypass certain restrictions on your Wi-Fi. For example, content blocks or speed restrictions imposed on certain content (like video games, for example) will not apply when using a VPN since all of your traffic is encrypted, leaving the system unable to determine what you’re using the bandwidth to do. This could be particularly useful when trying to play using a school, University, office or hotel Wi-Fi where these types of restrictions and limits are commonplace.

The best VPNs can also bypass throttling from your internet service provider (ISP), which is used to restrict some bandwidth-intensive tasks, like online gaming, during peak hours.

Finally, some countries block VoIP services, including FaceTime Audio and WhatsApp VoIP calls. This can also impact in-game chat services, like the voice chat system built into Valorant.

Egypt is one example where this sweeping ban can prevent Valorant players from communicating with friends and rivals during gameplay – creating a huge impact on their ability to play. Changing your Valorant region using a VPN can bypass this block, so you’re able to communicate with teammates and other players as normal.

We’ve rounded up our top choices for the best VPNs for Valorant players looking to change region below.

ExpressVPN is a superb VPN service for Valorant – and any online multiplayer title. It earned the full five-stars in our ExpressVPN review, and is ranked in the top spot as our best VPN for Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 – another game where a good connection speed is essential for players.

As you’d expect, routing all of your data via a VPN server located on the other side of the planet will have an impact on your speeds, but ExpressVPN does a brilliant job of mitigating any drag on download or upload speeds. It offers one of the fastest connections we’ve seen from any VPN service, making it the perfect choice for gaming and streaming.

ExpressVPN charges a little more than the competition for its fast and reliable connections. However, for those who value performance above all else – the extra cost is definitely worth it.

If you’re new to VPNs or a little unsure about whether ExpressVPN will be worth the cost, you can take advantage of the 30-day no-quibbles money-back guarantee, which acts almost like a free trial for the service. At any point, you can contact the customer service team – available 24/7 so you’ll be able to reach them from any time zone – to request a full refund.

That should give you the confidence to sign-up for a longer subscription plan, and unlock the best discounts and deals on offer. Klarna is also available at checkout, so you’ll be able to secure the massive discount available on a one-year plan, but still pay for the subscription in small, manageable instalments.

Of course, VPNs are only about changing region in Valorant or bypassing broadband restrictions to unlock faster performance. One of the main draws of these apps is the additional privacy afforded to customers. As such, it’s reassuring that ExpressVPN never collects identifying information about its customers, including IP address, online activity, traffic destination, or even the length of each session. In fact, ExpressVPN has taken a number of additional steps to prove its dedication to privacy.

The VPN service is based in the British Virgin Islands because there are no data retention laws there.

That means ExpressVPN isn’t legally obliged to keep tabs on the browsing habits of its customers, so even if law enforcement request data on you …ExpressVPN has nothing to hand over. This is different to companies based in the UK, mainland Europe and United States which are required to keep some records on customers.

ExpressVPN accepts a wide range of payment options, including Mastercard, VISA, American Express, and Discover. Paypal and Bitcoin are also offered at checkout.

NordVPN is another stellar VPN service, with thousands of server locations across 59 countries worldwide. Subscriptions to NordVPN are a little more affordable than ExpressVPN, one of the key factors highlighted in our five-star NordVPN review. As such, those on a tighter budget who still need to be able to change Valorant regions might be better suited with NordVPN.

While ExpressVPN limits its subscribers to 5 devices with the same login credentials, that limit is increased to 6 separate devices when using NordVPN. While this won’t make any difference to those who only want to use their new VPN service for Valorant on their Windows PC hardware, those who want to take advantage of the added security perks on other gadgets (iPhone, Android, iPad, Linux, macOS, Fire TV, and more) will be grateful for the extra capacity with NordVPN.

Split-tunnelling is included as standard with NordVPN, so your Region of Residence (RoR) in Valorant remains locked abroad, while other devices or applications on your PC continue to connect directly (and unprotected) to the internet.

NordVPN isn’t just a Virtual Private Network as your subscription also covers a password manager from the brand. For those who don’t know, password managers allow you to generate unique passwords for every website or app that you use. These are all stored within the password manager, so you don’t need to remember every % symbol or random sequence of numbers.

NordVPN offers a number of possible payment options, including all major credit card providers (Mastercard, VISA, AMEX, and Discovery). PayPal and Amazon Pay are also accepted too.

Unlike most of the other providers on this list, you can also pay for NordVPN using Apple Pay and Google Pay. This will allow you to breeze through the checkout process, with your iPhone or Android filling in all of the payment details – keeping your credit card details locked away during the transaction too.

Those who want the lowest bills for their new VPN service should look no further than Surfshark VPN. This Virtual Private Network boasts some of the best VPN deals around, regularly offering discounts of 80% off its usual monthly cost.

Despite this incredible price tag, Surfshark VPN remains a full-featured VPN service with many of the same features as ExpressVPN and NordVPN above.

Surfshark VPN has dedicated VPN applications for all of your devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Linux, Fire TV, and macOS, to name just a few. For those with plenty of devices at-home, Surfshark VPN is a brilliant choice as it allows subscribers to sign-in to an unlimited number of devices using the same login credentials.

That’s a sizeable advantage over the 5 and 6 device limit imposed by ExpressVPN and NordVPV, respectively.

Like the other VPN services highlighted in this guide, Surfshark offers a password manager for subscribers (at an extra cost) so you can secure all aspects of your digital life with a single monthly bill. Password managers allow you to create unique alpha-numeric passwords for every online account, with all of these impossible-to-remember passwords stored in an online repository. All you need to do is remember the password to the software vault.

For those who want to do more than change region in Valorant, Surfshark and its built-in password manager could be a good option.

Elsewhere, Surfshark boasts a generous 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support, so there’s no risk to signing up for a longer subscription (the only way to unlock the biggest discounts). The money-back guarantee acts a little like a free trial as you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you can get a full refund if you don’t get along with Surfshark VPN for whatever reason.

Surfshark VPN accepts all credit cards, from VISA to Mastercard, AMEX and Discover. There’s also Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay – handy if you don’t want to manually fill-out all of your details at the checkout. You can also pay for your VPN subscription with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.