Best VALORANT Players of 2021: Top 5 Ranking

VALORANT esports had a breakout year in 2021, ending with VALORANT Champions, where Acend cemented its place as the best team in the world. But who were the most valuable players individually this year? Here are the best VALORANT players of 2021 and the players who will be in the spotlight in 2022:

Best VALORANT Players 2022

5 ⁠- Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev

Few players may deserve more international success than Derke, one of Europe's brightest stars in 2021. His hard work was not rewarded with a major trophy, but that was not his fault, as he was a constant threat to opponents in every tournament he played. The Finnish-Russian duelist won the year's first MVP in February after taking CrowCrowd to one of the top places at VCT CIS Stage 1 Challengers 2. Less than two months later he found himself playing for Fnatic. After just two maps he earned a permanent place on the team, was named MVP of VCT Stage 2 Challengers 2 within five weeks, and won three MVP awards at the Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavik. The rest of the year was a rollercoaster for Fnatic, who enjoyed some incredible highs as well as some crushing lows. Even so, Derke's talent never failed to shine, and he even finished VALORANT Champions at the top of the tournament charts despite Fnatic being sent to 5th-8th place.

4 ⁠- Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov

Chronicle, a very dynamic player who can use various agents, had the highest KDA at VCT Stage 3 Masters with Gambit at 1.96. He took over in the grand final against Envy, where he was the team's best player on two of three maps against the North Americans. Unlike nAts, Chronicle fired on all cylinders at VALORANT Champions, where he had the second-highest K/D overall at 1.28. He may not have been as flashy as nAts in 2021, but he was undoubtedly a key cog in the Gambit machine throughout the year.

3 ⁠- Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo

TenZ started 2021 on Cloud9's bench and had his first taste of action nearly three months into the year when he joined Sentinels to replace Jay 'sinatraa' Won. Just ten days later, he helped the team win VCT Stage 1 Masters. TenZ topped the tournament's K/D (1.48) and ACS (289) charts and also earned an MVP honorable mention for his superb performance in the best-of-five grand final against Fnatic on the last day of the event. Sentinels closed the year on a disappointing note, leaving VALORANT Champions in the group stage, but that should not take away from how dominant the team looked for several months - and TenZ was right in the middle of it.

2⁠ - Mehmet Yağız ‘cNed’ İpek

CNed quickly established himself as one of the most dominant players in the EMEA region. Days after being picked up by Acend, the Turkish Jett star led the team to victory at VCT Stage 1 Masters and put up some impressive stats (1.43 K/D and 281 ACS) on the way to the MVP award. The team stumbled in Stage 2 but got back in time for Stage 3 Masters in Berlin, where Acend reached the quarterfinals and cNed was once again at the center of the action (1.35 K/D, 267 ACS). CNed was not as dominant at VALORANT Champions and shared the spotlight with Aleksander 'zeek' Zygmunt, but he still played an important role as Acend took the first VALORANT world champion title. Many players shone in the first year of international VALORANT, but very few did so as brightly or as consistently as cNed.

1 ⁠- Ayaz ‘nAts’ Akhmetshin

The Russian player, who took his first steps in the esports world in CS:GO, then took the world by storm by leading Gambit to victory at VCT Stage 3 Masters, and was the team's best player in four of six matches. Everyone will remember his imposing display in the best-of-five final against Acend, leading the team to victory on Breeze and Fracture. There is no doubt that nAts was the best player of 2021, and rising to the top as a Sentinel in a world where Jett players often steal the show is proof of his raw talent.