Valorant trading: how to trade kills and play in pairs

The short answer

A trade is killing the enemy who killed your teammate. It turns a death into an exchange and keeps your team in the round. The test of an execute is simple: if your entry dies and nobody trades, the execute failed.

Three rules cover it. Nobody takes first contact alone. The follower stays close enough to re-peek the exact angle that killed the entry. And a trade needs preparation: trading without reading your surroundings can cost you a second player. No guide I read gives a distance in meters or seconds: these are coaching benchmarks, not Riot rules.

How a trade works

A trade has three beats. The entry player opens space by clearing as many angles as possible. If the defenders kill them, the follower swings at once onto the angle that did it, before the defender can reposition. Then everyone resets and the team reads what is left.

The roles are unequal. An entry player who dies for free hands the defenders a big advantage. The best entry players have abilities to close the distance, like Jett or Raze; their teammates follow to trade and support them with their abilities. But their death is worth something only if the follower is right behind: the entry sacrifices, the follower turns that sacrifice into an exchange.

The follower also works before the death. Aim at the likely angle, hold your own flash or smoke, and call your swing in two words. Without utility a trade is an even duel; with it, it becomes an edge. Dry-peeking hands the defender a free duel.

Spacing: close, but not stacked

Two players too far apart cannot trade: the enemy has time to reposition. Two players stacked get hit by the same flash and the same angle. The sources give no exact distance, because it changes with the map and the angle. The useful rule is BoostRoom's: every contested angle is held by two players who can trade each other.

Here is the shape you see on attack, with the 2-1-2 split, presented as the best fit for ranked, to take by default when in doubt: two pressure pairs and one player near the spike. Roles break down like this:

1. The initiator pairs with the first-contact player for information.
2. The duelist takes space first, only when a trade is nearby.
3. The sentinel covers flanks.
4. The controller often plays near the spike carrier or the main group, and the spike carrier should not be first contact.
5. The lurker holds rotations and does not die alone.

After the first pick, do not chase the next one. Hold for the defenders' trade attempt: it can give you a second pick. If you can no longer fall back behind cover after contact, you have overextended. The execute itself is in the attack guide, and angle reading is in the peeking guide.

Trading on defense

On defense you have no entry player, but the same principle holds: if you die alone on an angle, no one can trade you. So set up two-player holds on common paths: one takes first contact, the other swings on sound. Avoid isolated corners without backup, unless you are baiting. Even a one-for-one trade keeps the site contestable.

A crossfire pushes the idea further: two players on angles that meet at the same zone. Attackers must peek one and get traded, or risk dying to both. An off-angle surprises, but leaves you open to a trade; and you should change your setup every few rounds. For the plan on each site, use the defense guide and the map guides.

Common mistakes

The sources I read do not sort them by rank. They show up at every tier:

• Entering alone, with no teammate close enough to re-peek.
• Watching your entry die without trading.
• Following without utility and dry-peeking.
• Throwing the flash before the entry is in position.
• Chasing the next pick instead of holding for the enemy trade.
• Trading blind, and losing a second player.
• Holding an isolated corner on defense, where no one can trade you.
• Never changing your setup from round to round.
• Sending the spike carrier in as first contact.

How to train it

Play a duo, or announce the plan in solo queue: "I'm behind you." Over ten rounds, count each death and note whether it was traded. Success (Road2Radiant advice, not a Riot rule): at least half your deaths are traded, and you never took first contact without a teammate who could help. If the score is low, step a bit closer and prepare your flash before the swing.

A trade is also won by your aim: re-peeking an angle takes clean crosshair placement, see the crosshair placement guide and the communication guide for calls. For site plans, Road2Radiant publishes map guides with translated callouts, an attack and defense plan for each site, and agent setups. No rank is promised: this is a method, and your aim is trained separately, with the routine.