Building comparison
head to head
Quake LivevsValorant
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Quake Live
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Browser-era refinement of Quake III, the benchmark for raw arena FPS skill.
Valorant
Execution · Grand Arena
A tactical hero shooter decided by aim duels and adapting to human opponents.
Quake Live leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Valorant leans Execution (Grand Arena).
Quake LiveValorant
Axis by axis
Execution10 vs 9
Quake Live leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Quake Live
Rail aim and strafe-jump movement are the purest hand test
Valorant
One-tap aim and crosshair placement decide most duels.
Reads7 vs 7
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Quake Live
Duels are mind games against an adapting human opponent
Valorant
Humans constantly adapt peeks, fakes, and ability timings.
Variance1 vs 2
Valorant leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Quake Live
Symmetric arenas, full information, almost no randomness
Valorant
Light spray RNG and unknown enemy positions.
Optimization6 vs 6
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Quake Live
Item timing and map control are deeply solvable
Valorant
Agent comps, util usage, and economy are studyable theory.
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.