If you’ve ever scrolled through your Valorant skin collection wishing you could grab that high-tier Vandal or Phantom skin without dropping full price, you’ve probably thought about the Night Market. It’s easily one of the most anticipated recurring events in the game, and if you’re asking when is the Night Market Valorant runs, you’re far from the only one. Millions of players log on each rotation to hunt for rare, heavily discounted cosmetics for their go-to weapons and agents. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about its typical schedule, how it works, tips to get better skins, and common mistakes to skip so you don’t waste your chance at a great deal.
When is the Night Market Valorant Scheduled for Each Act?
Riot Games doesn’t release exact public dates for upcoming Night Markets months in advance, but there’s a very consistent pattern you can follow to guess when the next one will drop. There is no set exact date for each Night Market, but the typical window is 2 to 3 weeks after a new Act goes live. It then runs for 14 full days before closing, with no extensions unless there’s a major technical issue that prevents players from accessing it. For context, the last three Night Markets all launched between 15 and 20 days after their respective Act’s launch date, and Riot teased each one 3 to 5 days before the official drop on their Twitter and Instagram accounts. You won’t ever see a Night Market run during major VCT events like Champions or Masters, either. Riot avoids overlapping these sales with limited-edition event skins, so they don’t pull focus from exclusive, time-limited cosmetic collections that only drop once a year. If you want to get the earliest possible heads up, turn on in-game notifications for Valorant, or follow the official Valorant social media accounts. They always announce the exact start and end time for each region at least 72 hours before the market goes live, so you’ll have plenty of time to plan.
How the Valorant Night Market Works: Rules You Need to Know
When the Night Market goes live, you’ll see a new icon on your main menu that takes you to a page with six random, discounted skins. Discounts range from 10% all the way up to 70% off the base VP price of each skin, and the offerings are completely unique to your account. Your Night Market offerings are tied to your account, and you can't refresh them once they're revealed. All skins in the pool are non-limited, non-battle pass skins, so you won’t find exclusive drops like Arcane skins, Champions bundles, or battle pass exclusives here. Riot added a pity system a few updates back, too, so you’re guaranteed to get at least two Premium Edition (1275 VP or higher) skins in your six slots, so you don’t end up with a full page of cheap, low-tier skins you don’t care about. Before you get too excited about your first drop, make sure you understand the basic eligibility rules:
That means if you have a bunch of Radianite saved up, you can still unlock all the VFX, finishers, and color variants for any skin you buy from the market, just like you would for a skin you bought at full price. It’s also worth noting that you can only buy each skin in your market once, and you can’t gift them to other players, even if you already own the skin yourself.
Tips to Get the Best Possible Skins in Your Night Market
If you’ve spent any time on Valorant TikTok or Reddit, you’ve probably seen hundreds of “hacks” that claim to let you manipulate your Night Market pool to get the exact skin you want. Let’s get this out of the way first: contrary to popular viral myths, there is no trick to manipulate your Night Market offerings before it launches. Riot has confirmed multiple times that the pool is completely random, and things like locking certain agents, only playing one weapon for a month, or uninstalling and reinstalling the game have zero impact on what skins you get. That said, there are a few legitimate things you can do to increase your chance of getting skins you actually want, and make the most of the event when it goes live. First, go to your account’s cosmetic preferences and ban any agents you never play. If you don’t main Omen or Viper, for example, banning them from your cosmetic pool means you won’t get their exclusive gun skins in your market, leaving more slots open for skins for weapons you actually use. Second, save up VP in advance if you know a Night Market is coming up. I’ve made the mistake of running out of VP right when a market drops with a skin I’ve been wanting for months, and had to scramble to buy a VP gift card last minute before it sold out. Third, don't impulse buy skins you'll never use just because they're cheap. It’s easy to see a 70% off Sheriff skin and hit buy immediately, but if you only use Sheriff once every 10 games, you’re just wasting VP you could save for a skin you’ll actually use every match. Finally, always preview the skin before you buy it. Even if a skin has great reviews online, you might not like the finisher or the sound effect when you shoot, and Riot doesn’t offer refunds for Night Market purchases, so you’ll be stuck with it forever if you regret it.
Common Night Market Mistakes to Avoid
After covering dozens of Night Market rotations and talking to hundreds of players about their experiences, there are a handful of mistakes I see people make every single event that cost them great skins or waste their money. The first and most common is waiting until the last day to buy a skin you want. I’ve had at least four friends tell me they waited until the final 24 hours of the market to buy a Reaver Vandal or Prime Phantom they wanted, only to have payment issues, forget the market closes at a specific time, or have server outages that prevent them from logging on. Once the Night Market closes, all offers are permanently removed, so there's no way to get that discount later. If you see a skin you know you want, buy it as soon as you can, don’t wait for the last minute. Another common mistake is falling for scam links that promise early access to the Night Market or guaranteed rare skins. Riot will never send you a DM on Discord, Twitter, or any other platform asking for your account login details to give you early access to the market. All official announcements are only posted on verified Riot Games channels, or sent to you via in-game notifications. You also shouldn’t assume that you’ll get the same skin in a future Night Market if you pass on it now. The pool of eligible skins grows every single Act, as Riot adds 2 to 3 new skin collections each update. That means the chance of the exact skin you want showing up again in a future rotation is less than 5%, according to community-calculated drop rates. If you see a skin you’ve been waiting for for months at a good discount, grab it while you can, because you probably won’t get another chance. Finally, don’t buy extra VP right before you have confirmation the Night Market is launching. Riot occasionally pushes the market back a week if there are technical bugs to fix, so you don’t want to have hundreds of VP sitting in your account for weeks waiting for an event that got delayed.
At the end of the day, the Night Market is one of the best parts of Valorant’s cosmetic system, letting players of all budgets get high-quality skins for a fraction of the regular price. If you’re still asking when is the Night Market Valorant runs, just keep an eye on official Riot announcements 2 to 3 weeks after a new Act launches, and you’ll be one of the first to know when the next rotation drops. Take the time to adjust your cosmetic preferences ahead of time, save up a little VP, and avoid the common mistakes we covered, and you’ll have a great chance of grabbing your dream skin at a steep discount. I’ve picked up half of my favorite skins from past Night Markets, including my go-to Oni Phantom and Prime Vandal, both at 50% off, and it’s always worth the wait when you see that perfect skin pop up in your six slots.
