Ultrawide monitors are a favorite among PC gamers for the immersion they add to single player titles, but competitive shooters are a completely different story. Anyone wondering how to play Valorant on an ultrawide monitor is going to run into a deliberate restriction from Riot Games rather than a technical limitation, and understanding why changes how you should approach the setup.
- Riot Games intentionally blocks native 21:9 and wider resolutions in Valorant’s competitive modes.
- Playing on an ultrawide monitor results in black bars on the sides rather than a full width image.
- The game’s supported resolution list tops out around 4:3 and 16:9 style ratios, confirmed on Riot’s own support page.
- Third party ultrawide patches exist for some games but using them in Valorant risks a ban due to the game’s anti-cheat.
Why Valorant Blocks Ultrawide Resolutions
Riot Games has been upfront about the reasoning behind this restriction. A wider aspect ratio increases a player’s horizontal field of view, letting them see more of the map on either side compared to someone playing on a standard 16:9 screen. In a tactical shooter where spotting an enemy peeking from the side half a second earlier than an opponent can decide a round, that is considered a real competitive advantage.
To keep the playing field level, Riot restricts the resolutions Valorant will actually render at. According to Riot’s own Supported Resolutions support article, the game recognizes a specific list of resolutions ranging from 640×480 up through 2048×1536, none of which reach true ultrawide territory.
What Actually Happens on an Ultrawide Screen
Launching Valorant on a 21:9 or 32:9 monitor does not crash the game or refuse to open. Instead, it renders within a supported resolution and displays that image centered on the screen, with black bars filling the unused width on either side. It is the same pillarboxing effect seen when connecting consoles to ultrawide displays.
In practice this means:
- The game window sits in the middle of the ultrawide panel, not stretched to fill it
- No amount of in game settings adjustment removes the black bars in ranked or unranked competitive modes
- The overall visible image is effectively the same width as it would be on a standard 16:9 monitor of a similar height
This is worth knowing before assuming a new ultrawide purchase will automatically improve the Valorant experience. For someone who plays Valorant as their main game, a high refresh rate 16:9 monitor is likely to be the better investment than a wide panel that will not get used at full width anyway.
Should You Try Third Party Ultrawide Fixes?
A search for Valorant ultrawide support online will surface community made patches and fixes designed to force wider resolutions in games that do not officially support them. These tools work by modifying game files or memory in ways similar to how mods function in single player games.
The problem is that Valorant runs Riot’s Vanguard anti-cheat system at the kernel level, and Vanguard is specifically designed to flag and act on unauthorized modifications to the game client. Using any tool that alters how Valorant renders or reads memory carries a real risk of triggering an anti-cheat ban, even if the intent was purely cosmetic rather than to cheat.
Quick warning: Vanguard does not distinguish between a cheat and a harmless resolution patch when it detects unauthorized memory access. The safest approach is to accept the black bars rather than risk an account ban chasing a wider field of view.
Making the Best of an Ultrawide Setup for Valorant
If an ultrawide monitor is already owned for other games or productivity use, there are still ways to make Valorant feel less awkward on it rather than accepting a small centered window on an otherwise huge screen.
- Use monitor OSD settings to fill the black bars with a static background image or the monitor’s ambient lighting features if available, purely for aesthetics rather than gameplay
- Position the monitor so the centered 16:9 game image lines up with eye level, since the extra width on either side is unused during matches anyway
- Save the ultrawide field of view for single player games or spectator modes, where Riot’s restrictions do not apply the same way
Anyone deciding what size or curvature of monitor to buy with competitive shooters as a factor should weigh that against other games in their library too, since a panel that is great for Valorant might not be ideal for slower paced or single player titles. This guide on which gaming monitor size is best covers that balance in more detail, and if curvature is also a question mark, this piece on whether a gaming monitor should be curved is worth reading before buying.
Other Competitive Shooters and Ultrawide Support
Valorant is not alone in this policy. Several other competitive titles, including certain Counter-Strike and Apex Legends configurations, have historically restricted or discouraged ultrawide resolutions for similar fairness reasons, though policies vary by game and change over time. It is a broader pattern in the competitive shooter genre rather than something unique to Riot’s approach with Valorant.
Background on how ultrawide aspect ratios are defined and why they expand field of view the way they do is covered in the Wikipedia article on ultrawide formats, which helps explain the underlying math behind why Riot and other studios consider it a fairness issue rather than just a cosmetic feature.
What to Prioritize Instead When Buying for Valorant
Since width is effectively wasted in competitive matches, the more useful specs to focus on when shopping for a Valorant focused monitor are refresh rate and response time rather than aspect ratio. A 240Hz or 360Hz panel with a fast response time will have a far bigger impact on actual gameplay than any amount of extra screen width that gets cropped out anyway.
For players who split time between Valorant and single player or open world games, a common compromise is buying a 16:9 high refresh monitor for the competitive side and treating an ultrawide purchase as a separate decision for everything else. It avoids paying for width that never gets used in the game people actually play the most.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Will Riot ever add official ultrawide support to Valorant?
There has been no announcement suggesting this is planned. Given the competitive fairness argument behind the current restriction, a policy change seems unlikely in the near term.
2. Can I get banned just for owning an ultrawide monitor and playing Valorant?
No. Simply playing on an ultrawide monitor with the default black bars is completely safe. The risk only comes from using unauthorized third party tools to force a wider resolution.
3. Does Valorant support 32:9 super ultrawide monitors at all?
No, the same resolution restrictions apply regardless of whether the monitor is 21:9 or 32:9. Both will show the game centered with black bars rather than filling the screen.
4. Is there any legitimate way to reduce the black bars in Valorant on an ultrawide monitor?
Not within the game itself. Some players use the monitor’s own picture in picture or ambient display features to fill the black bars with non game content, but this does not change how Valorant renders.
Disclaimer: Game policies and anti-cheat behavior can change with future updates. Always check Riot Games’ official support resources for the most current information before attempting any third party modification to a Riot game.
