VALORANT Rostermania 2025: Breaking down the biggest offseason roster moves

VALORANT Rostermania 2025 kicks off, opening the transfer market for players and teams to shuffle rosters and chase new opportunities. The offseason never fails to deliver surprises, and this year is no exception. Some major moves are already shaking up the competitive scene ahead of 2026.

Hopefully, this year we won’t see many players stepping away from the scene. However, following NRG’s victory at VALORANT Champions 2025, veteran player Sam “s0m” Oh announced that he will not be competing in the upcoming season, instead taking an indefinite hiatus. As he explained, this isn’t a farewell. It is just a well-deserved break after years of intense competition.

In September 2025, Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov officially announced his retirement, closing the chapter on an incredible 20-year esports career. From his early days in Counter-Strike to his run in VALORANT with NAVI, ANGE1 has been a defining figure in competitive FPS.

While he’s stepping away from professional play, he’s already set his sights on a Head Coach position, as revealed on social media. He may be leaving the server, but fans can expect to see ANGE1 continue to shine from behind the coaching desk.

On the other side of NRG, the first two-time World champion, Ethan "Ethan" Arnold, might be extending his contract with the team for another two years, as Sheep Esports reported. However, we are still waiting for an official confirmation in the meantime.

Exciting contract extensions are taking place on the other side of the world. Kang "BeYN" Ha-bin has signed a renewal with DRX that will keep him with the team until 2027, despite experiencing a rollercoaster journey with them in 2025. Similarly, Kim "t3xture" Na-ra has also renewed his contract with Gen.G for an additional two years.

Fans were worried that Jake “Boaster” Howlett might retire this year after reaching three Grand Finals without securing a single win. There’s still one empty spot on his shelf: the Champions trophy, the only one that has eluded him so far. Fortunately for FNATIC fans, the organization has renewed Boaster’s contract for another year, keeping their charismatic captain in orange and black for the 2026 season.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest roster moves shaping the 2026 VALORANT season. Some of the moves are still pending Riot's approval.

Amid a flurry of offseason rumors, some transfers have already been confirmed. One of the biggest is Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov’s departure from FNATIC after three years with the team. The initiator will now be donning black and yellow, having officially signed with Team Vitality for the upcoming season.

Playing for FNATIC, Chronicle won three domestic titles, the Masters Tokyo 2023, and the VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo.

After an impressive VALORANT Champions 2025 run with MIBR, Gabriel “cortezia” Cortez quickly caught the attention of several top organizations as one of the most promising young sentinel players in the scene. Following the season’s end, MIBR released him to explore new opportunities. Rumors suggest he’s been testing with Sentinels during the offseason, though nothing has been officially confirmed just yet.

On the other hand, the young Sentinels duelist Zachary "zekken" Patrone has been rumored to join MIBR in the 2026 season. However, just as with cortezia, nothing has been confirmed. After the lack of titles both domestically and internationally, Sentinels are expected to make some major changes in their roster. Sean "bang" Bezerra was the first player to be released.

Ko “Sylvan” Young-sub, winner of the Masters Bangkok, has been benched from T1 since June 2025. Following his arrival, the team experimented with rotations between Sylvan and Carpe in the starting lineup: Carpe led the roster during the latter part of Kickoff, while Sylvan started throughout Masters Bangkok and Stage 1.

However, Sylvan gradually became absent from team activities and bootcamps, prompting the organization to release an official statement addressing his situation. After almost five months away, T1 Sylvan is leaving the team and officially joining Team Secret.

Like Sentinels, Team Liquid is making roster changes following an underwhelming season. Two players, Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko and Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski, were already released to explore new opportunities.

However, Georgio “keiko” Sanassy has been in the spotlight recently. Rumors suggest that keiko may be joining NRG for the 2026 season. Adding fuel to the speculation, NRG mada even posted a message on X, seemingly greeting keiko and sparking further excitement about a potential transfer.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on all VALORANT Rostermania 2025 roster changes and major news as the new season approaches.

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