How to play VALORANT on Steam Deck?

VALORANT has been one of the most competitive tactical shooter games for years. Due to the gunplay mechanics and unique agent abilities, it has grown rapidly in popularity since 2020.

As of 2025, the platform availability status of the game is fairly restricted and is often disappointing to many. Riot Games required gamers to download VALORANT exclusively through the Riot Client.

Gamers who have all their games in one place find it especially daunting, given that the fans can only enjoy the game on a system running the latest Windows OS versions.

For years now, VALORANT on Steam Deck has been a hot topic. Given the popularity of the hand-held console, it is no wonder that many gamers still wonder how they can enjoy VALORANT on Steam Deck.

Well, we have the answer for you. In this post, we will take a look at how to play VALORANT on Steam Deck. Moreover, we will also check out the best VALORANT settings for the Steam Deck.

How to play VALORANT on Steam Deck?

There are many gamers who still look for the answers to the question, “Can you play VALORANT on Steam Deck?” If we speak of the official way of playing VALORANT on Steam Deck, it is nonexistent. However, there is a workaround for this for the gamers who simply want to enjoy this action game on their Steam Deck.

For playing VALORANT on Steam Deck:

• First off, you will have to install Windows 10 on your Steam Deck. Given that VALORANT requires the anti-cheat system of Windows, without installing it first, you will have no chance.
• Once you have Windows 10 installed and running, you will have to download the VALORANT installer from the official Riot Games website and install it just like you would on a PC.
• This wasn't feasible until the major update in SteamOS came from Valve back in 2022.

This is how you can enjoy playing VALORANT on Steam Deck. Steam Deck is a versatile device. Naturally, playing VALORANT in it is a popular choice among gamers. In addition to that, playing on the Steam Deck is a much more comfortable experience.

Please bear in mind that if you are looking to enjoy VALORANT on Steam Deck, consider playing the game on the lowest possible settings. It is because even though the Deck is powered by an AMD APU, which boasts a pretty powerful CPU and GPU pair, it still isn't the best hardware to run the game.

Best Settings for Steam Deck VALORANT

If you managed to get VALORANT on Steam Deck, there are some best VALORANT setting changes you would have to make in order to enjoy Steam Deck VALORANT comfortably.

Once the game is loaded on your Steam Deck using Windows, the medium preset results in a frame rate between 60 fps and 70 fps.

You might also need to plug in a mouse and keyboard to your Steam Deck if you wish to elevate your gaming experience, since controller support is not there.

While not necessary, if you are looking to enjoy the game on a larger screen, you can look for some gaming monitors to plug your handheld into.

In its natural way, there is not a huge gap in performance between the low and high presets. However, when you are looking to enjoy VALORANT on Steam Deck, consider going with a low preset.