How to play like TenZ from Sentinels

The Sentinels have absolutely dominated the global Valorant scene lately. One of their top players, TenZ, joined during the 2021 Valorant Championship Tour on loan from Cloud9. Since acquiring him, they’ve completely swept Masters and made an even bigger name for themselves. His performance has been so stellar that, as of June 9th, he has been officially traded to the Sentinels as their new Duelist main.

Ever since his explosive performance during the tournament, everyone in the Valorant scene has been abuzz about TenZ. The Sentinels team is full of powerhouses, but his impressive work has made fans want to play just like him and smoke their own competition.

Let’s start at the easy stats: the kind of weapons and agents that define TenZ signature style.

As far as agents go, TenZ is best known for playing Jett and Reyna, two aggressive Duelists with mobility and/or power boosts. Since TenZ goes so hard on engaging, agents that can whisk themselves out of the situation or use their own sustain abilities to survive it are just his style. These two, or lesser agents with similar capabilities like Phoenix, are easy choices to start picking more like TenZ.

However, he does believe that Sova is the best agent in the game, even though it’s not one of his mains, so keep that in mind.

Meanwhile, a few months ago TenZ made a tier list of his favorite weapons, which makes talking about his top gear choices pretty easy. To summarize, he prioritizes accuracy and efficacy, choosing the Operator, Phantom, and the Sheriff as S-tier guns. Shotguns are very popular, though, so he also named the Judge ad Shorty as solid options. When sneaking up on people, though, or dealing with close-quarter situations, he gave the knife a 10/10 seal of approval (makes sense, as an aggro Jett main).

Despite his rankings, though, TenZ is actually a huge Vandal fan, preferring the way the gun works to the “S-Tier” Phantom. Also, since TenZ is the kind of carry who pushes points, it’s important that the Vandal can drop enemy agents in one headshot.

If you want to pick like TenZ, these agents and weapons are your best shot.

As TenZ is a Duelist master, his best skill is his insane aim. He thrives on small flicks of his mouse to hit his target as quickly as possible.

To aim like TenZ, you have to put in the work. TenZ spends hours training to make sure his accuracy is top-notch. Also, before he plays any Valorant matches, he starts by warming up his aim in Valorant’s tutorial mode, too. Aim is something that only gets better with exercise, and just like any muscle, your aim needs stretching and warm-ups. So, if you want to shoot like TenZ, you better get to practice.

TenZ also has a ton of tips on how to deal with things like recoil in Valorant. For example, all Valorant weapons have the same recoil pattern. They move up, then left, then right after you fire. TenZ discussed in a recent interview the importance of noticing something like that and compensate, so that you can hit exactly where you want to.

When TenZ is playing Valorant, he has a certain approach to fights. He’s always eager to peak corners and put himself on the front lines. Unlike games like Overwatch, there aren’t really tanks in Valorant, so all that matters is getting the damage dealers out in front.

TenZ sticks to that style, always being the first in fights and always playing aggressive. Now, does he just throw himself into a room or an open hallway? No. TenZ has also memorized the common corners for people to hide in and the weird angles he can peak to try to catch enemies off guard. That way, he can do his best to get the headshot and knock the competition out before they can get him.

While those 5v1 clips are fun to watch, in all actuality, TenZ’s KDA is 1.38. That means he’s more likely to just take out one or two players with him. So no, you don’t need to be a team-kill master to play like TenZ, you just have to take out your target and make as many even or advantageous trades as possible.

Even though he’s one of the best shots in the game, TenZ is such a great Duelist because he works with his team and avoids common carry-player mental traps.

For example, in Overwatch, Genji mains tend to be infamous for the “I need healing” meme. A Genji player goes in too deep, spams the voice line, and then bullies their Mercy into focusing on them because they think they’re the most important player in the game. Unfortunately for the infamous Genji, the whole team matters, not just the ninja.

But TenZ avoids that, moving with his team through choke points and realizing they need him to do damage, not show off. So often TenZ will move forward to knock out one or a few enemy players and then drop, so his team can capitalize on his damage or the enemy movements to push through. Conclusion TenZ isn’t just good because he has amazing aim. He’s also fantastic because he focuses on his team and knows the game. If you want to play like him, you have to put in the work and the patience. But if you take tips from his practice routine behavior, you’ll be a better Valorant player for it.