Valorant is a tactical shooter PC game developed by Riot Games Inc. It currently holds a positive rank among the top global eSports titles due to Its unique gameplay system. The inclusion of special valorant agents and their abilities make the game refreshing and commendable. Besides being a massive hit even before its official launch, this game still has plenty to offer. It is a favorite among global gaming communities and millions of viewers on popular live game streaming platforms.
What primarily makes this game interesting to watch and play is the role of its Valorant agents. Players can pick any one of them as their main characters for playing different game modes. Pair that with the game’s beautiful graphics and a wonderful anti-cheat system, it can possibly become the decade’s FPS shooter.
Let’s learn how you can start playing this game by first familiarizing yourself with all the agents.
Types of Valorant Agents
Initially, during its alpha stage, this game had 9 playable Valorant agents which increased to 10 during the beta stage. Over the months, since June 2020, the dedicated developers of Riot Games have to date released seven other valorant agents. A player can unlock them using valorant points or by completing respective valorant agent contracts.
The primary thing to remember about Valorant agents is that they each possess three unique abilities and one ultimate ability. Each agent’s ability can be very lethal in its own rights, especially ultimate abilities. While aiming and agility remain necessary to play these characters to their best, there’s more to them. The valorant agents belong to four classes for good reasons in this tactical shooter.
Initiators
This class of agents possesses abilities that help them enter contested sites by pushing away the side of defenders. Usually, they carry abilities that can help stun enemies or gather information for the team. Such abilities can help the team to push to the desired sites on the map.
Sova
If being wise and agile was personified with bravery then Sova is pretty much what you get. The arrows of this archer can do both, hunt and track. If you’re calculative, like you should be, you can wipe out the entire opposite team with his ultimate ability. It shoots bursts of lightning through the walls, and there is no escape.
You should also beware of his owl drone that can reveal your location to the entire team on the map. Don’t forget to watch out for his electric darts, because they will get you.
Skye
Released only a few months ago, this agent is much more than just an initiator. Skye’s appearance is of a commando which is apt because she can scout, heal, and combat pretty well.
Her healing pool can help with the recovery of your whole team’s health except herself. Her guiding light ability can instead gather you some intel apart from also blinding players with a flash. As if that weren’t enough, her second ability and the ultimate ability, i.e., trailblazers and seekers, can do crucial concussion damage. Thus, she adds up to being a formidable initiator.
Breach
If you like to dizzy, disorient, and blind, your opponents, then breach can do all that and more. He can also become a good defender in the hands of a player who knows their Valorant agents well. His abilities help the team push sites, clear corners, and deter the other team from controlling walls and corners.
Whatever you do, run when you hear his aftershock ability or the rolling thunder ability come into play. The former will kill you instantly in close proximity whereas the latter will shake the ground off your feet.
KAY/O
Players and gamers who appreciate the popular classic FPS tactical shooter called CSGo will admire KAY/O. His arsenal of abilities focuses on suppressing other agent’s abilities and help to gain contested territories. The Zero/point ability launches a suppression blade to temporarily stop enemies from using their abilities.
The Flash/drive ability is perhaps the favourite of many as it launches a blinding fragment. CSGO players can use this ability to the best of their capacity and precision as they used to throw flashbang! Similary, the Frag/ment ability will launch explosive grenade that deals killer damage to enemies in it. The ultimate being Null/cmd, makes KAY/O emit radianite energy that suppresses enemie’s abilities. It also lets him spawn back after being downed, but he will need the help of a teammate.
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Sentinels
These agents play crucial roles in helping both sides of their respective teams to hold ground against enemies. Their abilities -allow them to lay traps and establish or bypass flanks when attacking. They usually are the ones that hold spawn and mid-control or spike rush sites.
Sage
Being one of the first 8 valorant agents before its official launch, Sage is the most useful valorant agent. Her Ice Orbs can slow down the opponent’s movement while her ice wall has multifarious uses.
Her Ice Wall can also raise players to higher ground, limit bomb planting (which can be useful on a map like Ascent for the defending spike planting site), or of course wall off players from entering a site. However, her most remarkable feature is her ultimate ability to resurrect one dead player. It can make all the difference.
Killjoy
Introduced as the 12th valorant agent, she is quite different from other Valorant agents in terms of her combined abilities. She is most effective in securing or gaining area control. Her ultimate ability is Lockdown, which will detain players who are caught in its radius.
She’s also the only sentinel whose abilities could kill a player, she can place a turret that can shoot enemies. The turret shoots them in short bursts which also helps with tracking an enemy on a particular site. Additionally, her alarm bot and Nanoswarm grenades can deal hefty damage to the enemies who are in its radius.
Cypher
This agent is incredibly useful in a team where every player performs in coordination with one another. His basic abilities include spying and collecting intel via his spycam and trap wires. These can come in handy when you want to prevent a flank from the opponent team.
Besides those abilities, his cyber cage is also pretty useful in limiting sight and sound on a site. His ultimate ability of neural theft is incredibly nifty, which reveals the location of the living enemies across the map. Talk about a team effort!
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Duelists
Perhaps the most important members of a team on any side, the duelists’ abilities can get them maximum player trades. They are the driving force to secure round in conflict situations with an offensive playing style. These are the agents that you call when you want to clear corners, a site, or attack on all fronts.
Yoru
This agent requires significant skills to master. He shines when you are familiar with different map’s topography, and are generally capable of identifying the enemy’s location. He can prevent flanks and lead the fight by his Blindside ability that can blind enemies. His Fakeout ability can help him mimic his footsteps to a nearby location to fool enemies while remaining stationary.
For his third ability called Gatecrash, he can harness a rift that moves forward. It helps him to teleport to the location of the rift while it lasts. His Ultimate ability named Dimensional Drift works in a similar way. It allows him to teleport undetected while also keeping him unaffected in a tangible manner. His lurking abilities make him a truly worthy opponent that is difficult to outsmart easily.
Reyna
She is the ninth agent that was released before all the succeeding Valorant agents. Reyna is a class duelist that can potentially turn a 1v5 situation into an Ace result. Someone who’s got good aim can carry the game well by using her abilities which depend on taking kills.
Her Leer ability can temporarily blind enemies through walls, while her Devour ability allows her to heal herself post-kill. At the same time, her Dismiss ability practically turns her intangible for a small amount of time. With her ultimate ability Empress in effect, she can turn invisible and intangible while having an increased fire and reload rate. Such a set of abilities make her pretty lethal by all means.
Phoenix
This duelist is perhaps the most overpowered agent because of everything that is possible with his abilities. Phoenix is a pyromancer who can blind players temporarily with his curveball that is most effective in corners. His Blaze ability can raise a wall of fire which can block sight and damages players passing through it.
His Hot Hands ability is also quite useful which makes a pool of fire that damages enemies who step in it. As his ultimate ability – Run it Back, he can walk around and kill enemies until the timer runs out or he is killed. Afterward, he respawns back to the location of activating his ultimate ability.
Did we also mention that he heals in the fire? Well yes. The fire from his Blaze and Hot Hands ability allow him to heal, making him one of the best picks.
Raze
Among the original Valorant agents from the beta phase, Raze possesses immense explosive power, quite literally. Her Boom Bot ability spawns a Roomba-like bot that moves in straight lines only and explodes near an enemy. If this weren’t damaging enough, she can also use her Paint Shells ability that works like cluster grenades.
Beyond those abilities, she can also use blast packs. It allows her to not only kill players from a distance but also aids her movement by using blasts to jump around the map. For her ultimate ability, the Showstopper, it’s a rocket launcher that deals serious damage, even killing someone with armor on.
Jett
Anyone who is good with obtaining kills using the Operator or the Judge can use this agent to their benefit. Her Tailwind ability allows her to dash quickly in any chosen direction. The Updraft ability, similarly, can also be used to gain an advantage over enemies. It allows her to propel herself to a higher position which can be useful in a map like the Ascent.
Besides this, her Cloudburst ability induces a smoke orb on a location that can be curved by guiding your crosshair. Her ultimate ability, on the other hand, is severely dangerous and is called the Blade Storm. It throws knives to the crosshair and can instantly kill the enemy with a headshot. It also refreshes the depleted knives (total 5) when you succeed in obtaining a kill by them.
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Controllers
When things get chaotic or too heated, you need to rely on your controllers to turn the tables. Their abilities can help the team and themselves block line of sight by bringing out smokes, walls, and even slowdowns. When these are used effectively, they could even turn a 1v5 situation into a victory.
Viper
One of the most underrated agents in the game, Viper’s abilities can effectively help to gain control of a site. She can throw poisonous canisters that pool on the ground with her Snake Bite ability. They can slow the enemy’s movement, while also draining their health to zero in less than 4 seconds.
Her second ability, Poison Cloud, creates a cloud that blocks off sight, slows, and damages the players caught in it. It can be retracted but uses fuel, on which relies her third ability called Toxic Screen. It can create a wall of poison that can be used again once her fuel reserve replenishes.
Her ultimate ability is the Viper’s pit. It creates a zone or room filled with poison that blocks sight and hurts enemies. The damage it causes makes enemies susceptible to death by easy damage.
Omen
If you like to be sneaky, Omen could become your favorite agent. His multiple abilities allow him to teleport at various locations on the map. His Shrouded Step allows you to teleport to a marked location. You can use it to get an aerial advantage on some maps. His Paranoia ability can daze enemies alike Reyna’s Leer ability because it can also pass through walls and objects.
Omen is also capable of blocking sight with his Dark Cover ability. It will throw a shadow orb at any location on the map. Along with his ultimate ability called From the Shadows that can teleport him to any location on the map, using the Dark Cover ability allows him to sneak into any heavily guarded site without being visible.
Brimstone
Players who like to gain the advantage of blocking off sight, limiting push, dealing serious damage can use the Brimstone.
His Stim Beacon can be placed on the ground to allow the agents inside it to gain Rapidfire power that can be useful in tough combat situations. His Incendiary ability, on the other hand, throws off a Molotov that bursts on impact with the ground and is capable of killing players inside it within less than three seconds.
Brimstone can also summon smoke clouds from the sky using Sky Smoke ability on the locations visible in his minimap which can help with sneaking into a site. His ultimate ability called the Orbital Strike summons an orbital laser strike from the sky that can near-instantly kill any agent standing within it.
Astra
The most recent valorant agent to debut during the run of the Valorant Challengers 2021 is Astra. Her abilities can be placed at any location on the map which includes Gravity Well, Nova Pulse, Nebula, and her ultimate ability called Cosmic Divide.
The Gravity Well ability can be activated after placing it to attract the nearby agents to its center where it explodes to make them vulnerable. It can also be used to prevent spike plants or deter Operator carriers from holding a site in their crosshair. The Nova Pulse ability can instead cause a concussion to the players who stand in its radius when it blasts upon activation while the Nebula ability can create an astral smoke orb to block off sight.
Her ultimate ability called the Cosmic Divide can divide a site or the map in half through a nebula veil that is impenetrable to bullets, dampens nearby audio, and blocks sight. It can be crossed with foot movement and is non-impervious to restricting any agent’s special abilities.
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Final Words
All in all, each of these agents collectively offers multitudinous scenarios to every single round of the valorant game. Together they all serve to pose impressive capabilities that can keep you entertained for hours on end. But that’s not all, be on the lookout for more Valorant agents as the game matures and grows its viewership. The gaming communities among all the nations in the world sure admire a game with dedicated developers.
