The female VALORANT scene has grown quite a bit since late 2020 when the Discord community Galorants started hosting tournaments for teams with all-female and non-binary players. These tournaments evolved into a partnership with Riot Games via the VCT Game Changers circuit, the female counterpart to the VALORANT Champions Tour.
Ultimately, the goal is for female players to be integrated into the male-dominated VCT, but giving players of marginalized genders opportunities like Game Changers is an important first step.
Game Changers continues to grow into new regions and new organizations, as more and more rosters continue to emerge. But who are the stars of the female VALORANT scene?
Counting down from number 10, here’s our list of the top 10 female VALORANT players.
Top 10 professional female VALORANT players
Lorri
Lorrian “Lorri” Elad is one of the Game Changers players with the sweetest redemption arc. She was a staple of Shopify Rebellion’s squad in 2022 that, despite beating their all-time rivals Cloud9 White at the Game Changers Championships, fell to G2 Gozen in a heartbreaking reverse sweep during the grand finals.
As the only player from Shopify Rebellion to take a new direction in 2023, Lorri joined Evil Geniuses’ Game Changers team. The team is comprised of players mostly unknown, without spotless resumes or international track records, yet they rose to the top of North America with their victory in Series III.
Lorri mostly plays the initiator role and isn’t known as a flashy or stand-out player in her own right. Yet, her experience on the biggest stage in the world alongside her composure in her team’s most critical moments earned her a spot on our list.
Her most-played agent is Sova, but her best statistics come when she plays Fade, where she has a 290.7 average combat score (ACS) over the last three times she’s played her.
Evil Geniuses are looking forward to the 2023 Game Changers Championship in Brazil, where they will get to represent North America.
JinNy
Sarindhorn “JinNy” Wanothayarnchai is an esports veteran. She started off as a CS:GO player with Made in Thailand’s co-ed roster all the way back in 2015. She moved to MiTH.Streamer, a side team from the main MiTH roster that was made up of streamers in the organization, playing both CS and PUBG. She played her last match with MiTH in 2018. In June 2020, JinNy started competing in VALORANT right away at the game’s release.
She eventually found herself as the leader of Thai organization X10’s female roster, X10 Sapphire. After the team’s disbandment after the 2022 Game Changers Championship, JinNy and her teammates regrouped under Full Sense Sapphire. Their team has just finished third place in the 2023 APAC Game Changers series.
With a veteran presence like JinNy’s, X10 held its ground at the 2022 Game Changers championship and continues to be a powerful presence in APAC.
JinNy mostly plays initiator agents and enables her teammates to work around her utility to push for success. Though her ACS rarely floats above 200, her years and years of experience with a variety of titles make her the perfect person to have at her team’s helm.
KP
Erika “KP” Lytle is the in-game leader for North America’s Shopify Rebellion, a squad that rose up through the ranks together and was the big surprise on LAN at the 2022 Game Changers championships. Shopify is an extremely talented team.
KP is Shopify’s decision maker, despite having less esports experience than her teammate bENITA. But KP has already in her career been faced with many extremely high-pressure situations and handled them very well.
Shopify has not only had to battle with C9 White in multiple high-stakes matches within North America during the 2022 season, but after the team beat their longtime rivals in Berlin in 2022 they kept their composure all the way to the finals, where they narrowly fell to a reverse sweep by G2 Gozen.
In 2023, the team has continued its success by holding down a spot in North America’s top three Game Changers teams, despite not making the 2023 Championships later this year in Brazil.
KP, like JinNy, generally doesn’t have an ACS above 200. Yet though her teammates may outshine in terms of frags and flashy clutches, KP’s consistency is the backbone of Shopify’s roster.
sonder
Diana “sonder” Zhang was one of the biggest breakout stars at the 2022 Game Changers championship in Berlin, finishing second with Shopify. Sonder had always played well in online matches in North America but has a completely different presence on LAN.
She coined the phrase “It’s sonder time,” after displaying her incredible ability to kick things into overdrive. She particularly excels on Raze, with a 277.7 ACS on the last 42 times she’s locked in the agent according to vlr.gg.
Her repeated incredible performances in Berlin earned her many fans worldwide, and her tears when Shopify lost in the grand final prompted several tweets encouraging the star player. Though sonder was never a player to take lightly on North American servers, sonder on LAN hits differently.
Sonder quickly grew from a talented duelist player into a player known internationally to step up for her team. She is still playing with Shopify for the 2023 season under the guidance of their in-game leader KP, where the team just finished third place in North America.
Bob
Bob Tran is undoubtedly one of the most mechanically gifted players in the world. Her potential to hit her shots is exponential, and she seems to always come out with a clutch performance in every situation.
Bob joined the already stacked roster of C9 White midway through 2022 when their original initiator player transitioned into a content creation role. She previously played with Soniqs before transitioning to the C9 White roster, where she gained much fame and recognition. She joined XSET in 2023 alongside former C9 White teammate Katja “katsumi” Pfahnl but left the team in September of this year.
Bob’s role has historically been as an initiator, but her agent pool is large. Truthfully, she could probably slot into any role and fit in without a problem. Over the last eight times she’s played Sova, she has an impressive 260.1 ACS.
Though we’re not sure what’s next for Bob, we hope to see her continue to compete on the big stage.
daiki
Natalia “daiki” Vilela is the captain of Team Liquid Brazil, which has continued to dominate the Brazilian region for two years straight. Despite being just 19 years old, daiki has a veteran presence on the Game Changers stage and leads with confidence.
Team Liquid Brazil took third place at the Game Changers championship in 2022 behind Shopify Rebellion and G2 Gozen, but with the 2023 championships being held in São Paulo they will surely be eyeing the championship trophy. Despite all eyes being on the European and North American Game Changers scene in recent months, Team Liquid Brazil is certainly a favorite to not only do well but even win the 2023 season outright.
Daiki mostly plays initiator agents, with her best performances this year being on Sova. She has a 290.8 ACS over the last five times she’s played the agent, though the meta recently has been shifting her more onto Skye.
mimi
Another CS:GO veteran, Michaela “mimi” Lintrup is a highly experienced competitive player and one of only three women who has won international championships across two different esports. She has played for Team Secret, XSET, and now G2. She was initially a part of XSET’s first iteration of their NA female roster before moving back to Europe to join G2 Gozen.
Mimi’s team has a winning playstyle that saw them take the first-ever Game Changers trophy in 2022. Their combination of veterans alongside energetic fresh faces has resulted in a winning formula that continues into 2023.
Mimi is highly proficient on KAY/O and might be one of the best KAY/O players in the world with an impressive 234.8 average ACS on the initiator agent. On top of her utility usage, she also had the highest headshot hit percentage on her team throughout all of the maps in the final series at Game Changers Berlin in 2022.
She is a sharp, reliable player who is also well-spoken and a role model for others hoping to join the Game Changers scene.
MeL
Melanie “MeL” Capone is the in-game leader for Version1. She is consistently a top-performing player not only on her own team but also in any server she plays in. MeL previously led C9 White to a flawless record, with a victory in every North American VCT Game Changers tournament they entered before the team’s disbandment at the end of 2022. Since then, MeL has continued to work her way to a pristine VALORANT resume with V1.
Though her individual statistics aren’t as flashy as some other players on this list, where MeL truly thrives is as a leader.
MeL’s knowledge of the game is extensive and she excels in many roles, allowing flexibility for anyone she plays with. Her high VALORANT IQ and knowledge of team strategy even landed her a guest spot on the English broadcast during the 2023 VCT Champions tournament in Los Angeles.
MeL has received praise throughout all levels of the VALORANT scene, from people who play casually to top players in the men’s pro scene. In 2021, Sentinel’s player TenZ even said he thought meL would be able to easily make it onto a VCT team before Game Changers had established itself as an international circuit.
florescent
With her long-awaited debut in the Game Changers scene in 2023, Ava “florescent” Eugene is our top female VALORANT player of this year. A player that has been floating under the radar for a few years due to not being old enough to play in a professional league, the time has finally come for everyone to see just how incredible florescent’s skills truly are.
To put in perspective how mind-boggling florescent’s stats are, we can take a look at the winning duelist player from the men’s VCT, Evil Geniuses’ Max “Demon1” Mazanov. Demon1 has been praised as the best Jett player of that event, where he earned a 239.2 ACS on the agent through six times playing her.
Florescent has played Jett 11 times over the last month and has an ACS of 285.3. On Yoru, her ACS over the last month is even more impressive, at 310 over eight maps. An ACS over 300 for one map at the professional level is impressive, let alone having the consistency to net that number over eight maps at the highest level on an agent that is not a meta pick.
To top it all off, florescent is just 17 years old. She has a long career ahead of her in VALORANT, whether at the Game Changers or VCT level.
If you’re looking to see more of the best female VALORANT players, make sure to tune in to the 2023 Game Changers Championship beginning on Nov. 28 in São Paulo.
