Harbor is the newest VALORANT agent (number 21) who is coming with Episode 5 Act 3.

A Controller from India who possesses a rare artifact, Harbor offers water-based abilities that are mostly based around blocking sight lines.

Harbor’s abilities display aspects from other agents as well as some new and unique mechanics.

Let’s dive into how his abilities work and how good we think he might be.

Harbor’s Abilities

Cascade (C)

Effect: Equip a wave of water. Fire to send the wave rolling forward and through walls. Re-Use to stop the wave. Players hit are slowed.

What you need to know:

• The wave can be sent through walls, and sent while behind cover.
• If Chamber continues to be meta, this ability will be a great counter to him as it allows multiple people to take ground with the cover of the wall while Chamber can set up in front of other controllers’ static vision blocking utility.
• This ability is great for clearing angles systematically by walking with it down a lane and clearing the angles to the left and right.
• This ability can be shot through, so it can be combined with Fade or Sova to kill enemies through it.
• Defensively this can be used to slow a push and block off choke points.

Cove (Q)

Effect: Equip a sphere of shielding water. Fire to throw. Alt Fire to underhand throw. Upon impacting the ground, spawn a water shield that blocks bullets.

What you need to know:

• The shield lasts 14 seconds, and there is a 1 second period at the end in which the shield is down, but the vision blocking water is still up.
• The shield has 500 hitpoints, and can be destroyed. If the shield is destroyed, only the water will remain for 1 second, and then disappear. This happens no matter how much time is left on the ability.
• This ability can be used a multitude of ways, as a traditional sight blocking smoke (lineups will most likely be needed), a way to block crossfires, and as cover to plant and defuse the spike safely.
• No hitscan bullets nor abilities (Neon, Chamber, and Jett Ultimates) cannot pass through, but projectiles can pass through such as Shock Darts and snake bites.
• This smoke can also be used to set your own team up for pop flashes without running the risk of the enemy team spamming the smoke your team is in.

High Tide (E)

Effect: Equip a wall of water. Fire to send the water forward along the ground. Hold Fire to guide the water in the direction of your crosshair, passing through the world, spawning a wall along the water’s path. Alt Fire while bending to stop the water early. Players hit are Slowed.

What you need to know:

• The wall lasts 14 seconds and recharges every 40 seconds.
• This ability can be sent through walls, is activated on the highest wall it passes through like Viper’s Toxic Screen, and curved like Phoenix’s Blaze wall ability.
• Being able to curve this wall allows it to have more versatility than Viper’s Toxic Screen. For Example, on Icebox A site Viper typically uses a Toxic Screen along Screen to the left of site.
• Harbor can use High Tide along Screen to the left and curve it to block off Rafters and the door to CT.
• Being able to curve the wall also allows you to create little pockets for yourself and teammates to hide in. Use this to your advantage, and be careful of defenders who may try to do the same when Harbor uses a wall offensively with gaps in it.

Reckoning (X)

Effect: Equip the full power of your Artifact. Fire to summon a geyser pool on the ground. Enemy players in the area are targeted by successive geyser strikes. Players caught within a strike are Concussed.

What you need to know:

• A total of 3 geyser strikes can be sent per person in the ultimate’s range.
• The ultimate is always sent a few meters in front of Harbor, and cannot be sent across the map.
• The geyser strikes can be seen and have an audio indicator, this gives your team information where an enemy is.
• The geyser strikes can be dodged if a player is running, so concussing an enemy is not guaranteed.
• This ult is roughly the area of many of the sites in the game, and can be used to easily take or retake an entire site, giving information and concussing an enemies defending.

First Impressions

Harbor comes at a great time in which Chamber is dominating the game. He has many tools to systematically and safely take ground while blocking sightlines from an Operator. His sight line blocking utility has more flexibility than Viper’s, and he may eat into her pick rate on some maps such as Breeze and Icebox where curving the wall and having it recharge offers advantages over Viper.

Not only does the wall offer more flexibility, but Cascade can let your team scale on to sites where Chamber commonly sets up his Rendezvous in front of a Toxic Screen. Cove is a rather controversial ability as it blocks bullets, but the ability having hitpoints puts it in check.

The utility of this ability will be similar to a Sage wall in being able to safely plant, or sneaking in a defuse. This is another reason why he may be a very good pick on Icebox, as getting the spike down on the bomb sites is rather diffciult, and many post plants on B site involve the attackers playing B main and yellow to spam the player defusing the spike in a smoke.

Harbor’s Reckoning ultimate offers Killjoy Lockdown-esque range, Breach Ultimate effects, and information gathering.This is a very strong ult that can get a site for free on smaller maps.

He comes with his downsides too. The first thing to note is his minimal stopping power on defense, arguably the least of all of the Controllers. All his kit offers is a slight slow from his Cascade and High Tide which is weaker than Sage’s slow. Viper, who is a direct comparison to Harbor, can stall much better than Harbor with the decay from her abilities as well as her Snake Bites.

The other major issue with Harbor is that he does not have global smokes that can be placed from long ranges like other Controllers. This lack of range and inability to smoke various places on the map may limit his ability to be the primary Controller on a team, especially on maps with many lanes such as Haven.

Be sure to check back in on Harbor’s release for more information on the agent such as synergies, map strategies, lineups, and agent-specific tips and tricks.

For more agent ability info, lineups, and more, head to our VALORANT agents portal.

The post VALORANT Harbor Preview: Agent Abilities and First Impressions appeared first on Mobalytics.

Welcome to our Valorant agent tier list for climbing ranked! We created this list with the help of our high ELO experts (Immortal 3+) who play in NA, EU, and OCE.

This is a general list that is meant to be helpful whether you’re playing solo or with a squad, but it does lean more towards coordinated teamplay rather than trying to carry lone-wolf style.

Valorant Agent Tier List (Patch 5.07)

Click the icons for champion builds, counters, and more!

S-tier Agents

Chamber

Fade

Kay/O

Raze

A-tier Agents

Breach

Jett

Neon

Omen

Phoenix

Skye

Sova

Viper

B-tier Agents

Astra

Brimstone

Cypher

Killjoy

Reyna

Sage

Yoru

To learn more about our methodology and other explanations (like agent difficulties), click here.

Note that at the beginning of the patch, we will give predictive placings based on the buffs/nerfs. Check back midway through the patch for an update (if it’s still the same, it means we predicted correctly!).

Valorant Predictive Tier List for Climbing Ranked

Patch 5.07 Valorant Agent Tier List

Agent Explanations

Here are the explanations why we’ve placed each agent in their tiers. If you have any questions please ask in the comments below and our experts will reply as soon as they can.

If you have trouble facing a particular agent, check out our article on How to Play Against Every Valorant agent.

S-tier Agents

Chamber

[Learn more about Chamber]

Chamber is the strongest agent in the game and in solo queue there is far more dry peeking, and less clearing out angles with utility. This makes Chamber even stronger as he gets so many free kills, and can teleport away to prevent a trade or even continue holding an angle because trades are slow.

Raze

[Learn more about Raze]

Raze is the only duelist who can get some information on her own, make space, and is the strongest defensively. She is an all around agent who can make many solo plays with her blast packs which make her a fantastic agent for solo queue.

Jett

[Learn more about Jett]

Jett is great on both offense and defense. She can make space on offense for the team and is still a good Operator and/or aggressive pusher on defense. Her Ultimate can also win eco rounds where enemies may take non-ideal fights during anti-ecos where a Blade Storm kill yields a teammate the enemy’s rifle.

Fade

[Learn more about Fade]

Fade’s kit is very strong and pretty easy for teammates to play off of even with minimal communication and coordination. Seize is a very underrated part of her kit as it can completely stop a 5 man push and allow for teammate rotations.

Reyna

[Learn more about Reyna]

The smurf agent. Who was recently buffed to lean even more into this role. Reyna is designed to be selfish and play for herself. In less coordinated play swings off of a teammate’s contact is much slower or non-existent which allows Reyna to dismiss or heal.

A-tier Agents

Sova

[Learn more about Sova]

At lower ranks fewer people shoot his utility and it gets far more value, and at higher ranks with more coordination his utility supplements commonly played duelists well. Sova is also a great character for solo clutches and late round to make a big individual impact on the team.

Sage

[Learn more about Sage]

Sage is a glorified duelist who can be used for stuffing 5 man rushes. Being the only character that can heal herself with no stipulations is great to have, and her wall allows for some hero plays.

Omen

[Learn more about Omen]

Omen is the controller with the kit most suited for making individual plays. He can also play many angles that may not be cleared or flushed out with utility in a less coordinated environment.

Viper

[Learn more about Viper]

Viper is a must pick on some maps, and can take over a game if the team is able to get the spike planted. This is because she has greater post plant utility that teams who retake more slowly will suffer against, and she can farm ultimates for nearly guaranteed round wins.

Brimstone

[Learn more about Brimstone]

Brim is very easy to play and a great way to help the team with smokes while focusing on gunplay. Brimstone can also be a monster in post plant between his ultimate and molly as retakes are a little slower in a less coordinated game, making this utility stronger for denying defuses.

B-tier Agents

Phoenix

[Learn more about Phoenix]

Phoenix’s buffs made him a stronger agent overall in all environments. His kit is rather selfish, and has a lot of aspects for individual plays.

Killjoy

[Learn more about Killjoy]

As players get better she really gets boxed out by Chamber. But in mid and lower ranks she is quite strong as she does not have to really on precision weaponry like Chamber, and is better for stopping all out pushes more common at lower ranks.

Kay/O

[Learn more about Kay/O]

KAY/O has a very strong kit overall, and can make individual plays with his right click flash, but it did get nerfed quite a bit. His utility that is stronger is based around setting up others, and doesn’t flourish as much in a solo queue environment.

Skye

[Learn more about Skye]

Skye was changed to play less selfishly. She also requires excessive communication and teamwork to get the most value of her kit.

Neon

[Learn more about Neon]

As a duelist Neon requires a good amount of resources from teammates. Other duelists can play better on their own.

Breach

[Learn more about Breach]

He is a strong agent, but requires so much coordination to play effectively. He is an agent as the rank gets higher becomes better.

C-tier Agents

Astra

[Learn more about Astra]

Another agent that requires a lot of coordination with your team. She also is one of, if not the hardest to make individual plays with. An agent that definitely gets better at higher ranks.

Yoru

[Learn more about Yoru]

Yoru can help players get through lower ranks as many do not know how to effectively play against him, but he worsens as players communicate better and can counter his kit.

Cypher

[Learn more about Cypher]

C for Cypher tier. The weakest agent, and in a role that is very hard to get value in solo queue.

Best Valorant Team Comps by Map

• Ascent
  • Sova, Omen, Killjoy, Jett, KAY/O
• Bind
  • Viper, Brimstone, Raze, Skye, Fade
• Breeze
  • Viper, Chamber, Sova, Jett, KAY/O
• Fracture
  • Fade, Chamber, Brimstone, Neon, Breach
• Haven
  • Fade, Chamber, Omen, Raze, Breach
• Icebox
  • Sova, Chamber, KAY/O, Sage, Viper
• Pearl
  • Fade, Chamber, KAY/O, Neon, Astra

These are some powerful team comps that we recommend for each of the Valorant maps.

Here are some additional options that you can interchange based on your agent pool.

Just make sure to build wisely, so if you’re replacing Omen, you may want a Brimstone and so forth.

For more details, check out our dedicated guide on our Team Comps by Map.

Format and Methodology

Tier Ratings

Overall, the criteria for S/A/B are as follows:

S-tier

• S-tier agents are optimal for the current meta. They can fit into any team comp and are expected to be in almost every team comp for almost every map.

A-tier

• A-tier agents are very good but aren’t as consistent as S-tier. They can fit into most team comps and perform well on most maps but there are some exceptions where other choices may be better.

B-tier

• B-tier agents are underpowered compared to their peers, are inconsistent due to feast/famine tendency, or depend on certain maps/team comps in order to succeed.

Agent Difficulties

These ratings are more suited for newer players (Iron, Bronze, and Silver) and relate to how much time and experience you need to be useful to your team compared to other agents.

Here are examples for each:

Brimstone (Easy)

Brimstone is an ideal agent for beginners with abilities that are very straightforward and easy to understand.

They can all be safely used from behind cover and are useful even when you’re playing from behind.

Cypher (Average)

Cypher’s abilities require you to have additional macro understanding compared to Brimstone.

You need to understand where to place your gadgets, how to balance between switching back and forth to your camera, and how to use your gadgets in combination with each other.

Defending can be more forgiving for a beginner, but on offense, you need to learn how to lurk and where flankers are likely to come from to make your Trapwires useful.

His ultimate is also harder to activate compared to Brimstone.

Sova (Hard)

To be an effective Sova player, you need to spend time in custom games to practice your ability lineups with your arrows.

If you don’t it can be incredibly easy to whiff your Shock Darts and your Recons may land in areas that provide no value.

Because of the amount of time commitment he requires and due to how easy it is to mess up his abilities, he is quite hard for beginners to pick up compared to other agents.

As always, we welcome all discussion and feedback so please leave any comments/questions below! Be sure to check out our Valorant site to find the best character ability lineups for every map.

The post Valorant Agent Tier List (5.07) by Mobalytics appeared first on Mobalytics.

Each map has its own unique characteristics, using certain agents lets you and your team leverage these characteristics to give advantages in the game.

Using the right agents opens up new possibilities for offense and locks down enemies on defense.

This guide will go over the best agents for each map, and how to use them based on professional and ranked win rate data (from rib.gg) as well as how an agent’s utility interacts with the map.

To see useful lineups for each character on every map, check out our Maps Tool.

Pearl

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, KAY/O, Neon, Astra
  • Notable Pro Team: XSET
    • With this composition XSET beat FPX twice and FNATIC during Champions.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 54.65%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.72%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 14.08%
• How To Play
  • Fade is able to take advantage of the high rooftops on Pearl to get vision using her Haunt to get information and/or break crosshair placement to destroy the Haunt. Use the Prowlers to clear out the tight angles through mid as well as pockets on site to near sight enemies or lessen the number of angles that need to be cleared.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.33%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 19.44%
• How To Play
  • On defense take aggressive fights for first bloods all throughout the map. Use Trademark in Art, Mid Doors, or the pillar B Main to allow teammates to stack other positions or to use damaging utility or Flashes once an enemy activates the Trademark.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.03%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.93%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point is good for getting early information on defense as well as clearing out tight portions of the map. His Flash/Drive is great for assisting enemies on the wide open B site when he is rotating through spawn as well as pop flashing through the tight choke points and smokes.

Neon

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.38%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 2.08%
• How To Play
  • Neon’s Fast Lane is a great tool for getting on to site, especially B site which has very limited coverage for attackers to get deep into the site. High Gear allows Neon to rotate from site to site quickly as Pearl is a large map. Neon’s Relay Bolt is a great tool to stun enemies in one and done angles as well as attackers moving through choke points.

Astra

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.52%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.33%
• How To Play
  • Pearl is one of the largest maps and Astra is the only controller that can utilize her abilities no matter where she is on the map. This makes her great for lurking. During site executes use her Gravity Well and Nova Pulse in common defender spots to give your entry teammates advantages in fights. Astra’s Gravity Well is still great for post plant and halting attackers when they push through choke points.

Synergies

• KAY/O Frag/Ment + Fade Seize, Astra Gravity Well, Chamber Trademark
  • A damage synergy that can be used in choke points to stop attackers or to flush defenders out on executes A Dugout, Backsite A, B Screen, or B Hall.
• Fade Haunt + Neon Fast Lane
  • During a site execute, utilize the Fast Lane to get Neon deep into site with cover, and the Fade Haunt allows the Neon to shoot highlighted enemies through the Fast Lane.
• KAY/O Flash/Drive + Chamber Trademark
  • Using the Trademark for information, KAY/O can pop flash enemies who are stuck in the Trademark’s slow field.

Substitutions

• Raze for Neon
  • Raze is more dependent on teammates’ utility for site executions than Neon, but Raze does have more lethal utility that can clear the tight corners of this map and halt attackers.
• Viper for Neon
  • Viper is a solid option if Neon is not in the composition due to her Toxic Screen serving the same role as Neon’s Fast Lane on offense, and is a better tool for retakes on defense.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Icebox

Ideal Team Composition

• Sova, Chamber, KAY/O, Sage, Viper
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, Leviatan
    • LOUD and Leviatan went to overtime in a mirror matchup with this composition.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 50.00%

Agent Breakdown

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.93%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 13.33%
• How To Play
  • Sova’s Owl Drone gets a ton of value on offense to clear out the many angles for defenders to hide in B Main and A Site. This is because there are so many positions for defenders to play at various elevations which the drone is better for clearing out. On defense Sova’s Recon Bolt is great for checking for early pushes to A Belt and mid.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.44%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.75%
• How To Play
  • Chamber’s Rendezvous lets him take advantage of a lot of angles to Op from. Don’t be afraid to get aggressive and use elevated angles. Many players only Op on A rafters or behind B Yellow. Chamber can get in front of A pipes or under B Green to get quick kills from unexpected angles and get out. His Trademark is great for using in Kitchen and Orange to detect when enemies lurk through mid.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.48%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.82%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point is great for clearing out close angles, especially if a Chamber is playing there, forcing him to use Rendezvous. Learning basic Frag/Ment lineups to stall a plant is a great use because it will damage a planter through a Sage wall which is a very common way to plant on Icebox.

Sage

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.60%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.45%
• How To Play
  • Sage’s Barrier Orb is almost a necessity to get down a spike plant. Taking ground to the back site on both A and B is very difficult to do, and her Barrier Orb allows you to plant front site with more protection. Barrier Orb is even fantastic for retakes on defense as teams will typically plant front site and play back in post-plant. Her Slow Orb is good for stalling pushes and throwing at common post-plant positions such as behind B Yellow.

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.39%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 15.02%
• How To Play
  • Viper’s Poison Cloud is a fantastic way to lurk mid by throwing in mid to the right of where players can go under Tube. This allows players to lurk into Kitchen or Orange with a defensive player on Boiler not seeing them. Poison Cloud is great for setting up one ways on defense on 410 at A site or on the edge of Green Box B Main. Toxic Screen is a great way to gain ground on B site and to block Screens on A Site. Use Toxic Screen defensively by placing it across 410 from mid and through B Main to make clearing angles for offensive players more difficult.

Synergies

• Sage Slow Orb + Sova Hunter’s Fury
  • If enemies are playing in predictable post plant positions or are executing on site. Sage can slow the area, and Sova uses his Ultimate to easily hit enemies that are unable to move quickly to dodge his ultimate.Sova can ult from Boiler to 410 and Snowman to B Yellow as these are good angles to hit enemies and easy places for Sage to safely throw Slow Orbs to.
• Viper Snakebite + Sova Shock Dart
  • During post plant, both these characters have very strong utility. Viper’s Snakebite makes the diffuser vulnerable and Sova’s Shark Dart will then be able to deal double damage to kill an enemy. This can also be easily performed if playing defense and the other team is planting default A Site by throwing utility from the door at A rafters and banking it off the wall next to Generator onto default.
• KAY/O Frag/Ment + Viper Snakebite
  • It’s important to know that if shot on one side of a Sage wall, both of these abilities will damage enemies on the other side of the wall. This allows both of these pieces of utility to be used simultaneously on the defensive side of a Sage wall to prevent a planter from sticking a plant behind a Sage wall.

Substitutions

• Raze for Kay/O
  • Raze’s Blast Pack mobility lets her take advantage of elevated positions on this map. Her explosives are great for clearing out angles and forcing defenders back. Boom Bot is one of the few pieces of utility that allows teams to try to take control of back site when attacking.
• Fade for Sova
  • Prowler is good for clearing the tight angles near 410 and B Main. Be careful of elevated positions as Prowler can track enemies up high, but the ability needs line of sight. Haunt works similar to Sova’s Recon Bolt, and Seize is great for stalling pushes as well as decaying enemies trying to defuse or plant the spike.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Haven

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, Omen, Raze, Breach
  • Notable Pro Teams: FNATIC, Team Liquid, XSET
    • These teams all have a plethora of set plays utilizing the two Initiators and Raze with this composition.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 53.69%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.54%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.14%
• How To Play
  • Just like on Pearl, Fade can use her Haunt on top of rooftops to break enemies’ crosshair placement and to see over cover. Prowler is a great tool to clear out Garage. Haven has tight choke points to sites and very few spots for defenders to play, so Seize works great in these commonly played defender locations and to halt a push.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.36%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.61%
• How To Play
  • Be sure to rotate on defense when playing Chamber to not let the game pass you by. When holding A, make sure to get into A Sewer or down A Long so you have a view of A Lobby. This way you cut off all entries to A site and your 4 teammates can hold other positions. Trademark can be placed in Garage or B Site to allow teammates to stack other areas of the map.

Omen

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.50%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 11.83%
• How To Play
  • Smokes are smokes, nothing new here. Omen offers unique value with his Shrouded Step and Paranoia. Shrouded Step allows Omen to play various defensive positions such as on top of any of the boxes on A, B, or C. He can also play behind the back platform on C or behind Brick Stack A Long because if he is spotted he can use Shrouded Step to get to safety. Paranoia can be used for teammates through walls. This is great for retakes on all sites and using when in C or A Link for teammates who are under pressure.

Raze

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.70%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 6.20%
• How To Play
  • There are few defensive locations for players to use, so Raze’s Paint Shells are great for clearing them out. She can also use Blast Packs to quickly close on an enemy who is flashed and/or stunned from her teammates’ utility. Boom Bot is a good ability to clear some tight corners if no Fade Prowlers are available.

Breach

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.54%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 2.35%
• How To Play
  • His pick rate is low in ranked, but he is definitely worth trying out. Every lane in Haven is conveniently the exact same width of his Fault Line which can be used through walls to assist teammates all over the map. The geometry on sites is rather uniform, making his Flashpoint consistently blind enemies, and his entire kit is fantastic for retakes. This last bit is very important because Haven has 3 sites, and retakes are very common on this map.

Synergies

• Fade Seize + Breach Fault Line + Raze Paint Shells
  • Teams use this combo in A Lobby to trap players inside of a Raze Grenade. Breach can stun from A Long or B Link while Raze and Fade are on A Long.
• Breach Fault Line + Raze Blast Packs
  • This is a great combination for taking a site. If an enemy’s location is known, Breach can stun the enemy as Raze Blast Packs towards the enemy to close the gap and get an easy kill.
• Fade Haunt + Omen Paranoia, Breach Flashpoint
  • Flashes synergize very well with Fade’s Haunt because an enemy either is flashed they cannot see the Haunt to shoot it, or they have to turn the flash and they will get scanned. Professional teams will coordinate the timing of utilizing Fade Haunt and a flash exactly for this reason.

Substitutions

• Killjoy for Chamber
  • Haven has more lanes which makes Killjoy intriguing. Because of this, Chamber can be easier to avoid by attackers and his lone Trademark doesn’t cover as much of the map. Meanwhile Killjoy can cover more area with her utility, her Lockdown is great for retakes and taking site, and her Nanoswarms are strong for post plant which you’ll find yourself in often on Haven.
• Jett for Raze
  • Offensively Jett plays similar to Raze with her movement and being able to close in on enemies affected by utility. The other bonus to Jett is having a secondary Op. Haven is a large map and running two Operators is a viable strategy, and Jett gives you that flexibility if she is played alongside Chamber.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Fracture

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, Brimstone, Neon, Breach
  • Notable Pro Teams: DRX
    • In Champions DRX went undefeated on Fracture with this team composition, beating OpTic, FNATIC, and 100 Thieves.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 60.00%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.82%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.67%
• How To Play
  • Haunt and Prowler are able to get early information on defense which is quite useful as there are multiple angles attackers can come from. Haunt is also great for marking enemies behind Fast Lane or Toxic Screen. Prowler clears out the sites on Fracture quite easily and is great to clear out Sands as it can open the door.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.97%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 18.38%
• How To Play
  • Op aggressively, that’s how to play chamber no matter where you are. But when on Fracture take advantage of some unique angles such as on top of the double box on A site looking towards Dish or on top of B Generator looking towards B Arcade. These are two common Op spots used by bdog of Shopify Rebellion who had a 40 kill game against Cloud9 in the NA LCQ on Fracture. Trademark is a great tool to use for Chamber to watch one area aggressively and to make sure no enemies come from the other direction he has his back turned to.

Brimstone

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.13%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 10.84%
• How To Play
  • Brimstones smokes are daunting for enemies to push through, and having 3 smokes is great for coverage on a fast execute. Between his Orbital Strike and Incendiary, Brimstone is fantastic for post plant as the common plant spots on this site are wedged into corners that are easy to shoot his Incendiary into and trap enemies with Orbital Strike. This map has 4 Ultimate Orbs, be sure to farm these on Offense as Brimstone to utilize his strong post plant Ultimate.

Neon

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.65%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.14%
• How To Play
  • Neon’s kit lets her isolate angles on site, and stun those who are playing site. Her Relay Bolt can stun enemies playing on B site, meanwhile her Fast Lane lets her cut off defenders playing near B Generator and B Canteen to prevent these players from helping the site anchor on B. The same can be done on A site by cutting off Link and Sands. There are very few places to play defensively on A Site, and Relay Bolt can cover this entire area for easy entries. High Gear allows Neon to make space and quickly get to enemies who are affected by Breach’s utility.

Breach

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.15%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 12.93%
• How To Play
  • Fracture is a map where using Breach’s utility through walls gives tremendous value. His Fault Line is great for clearing Operators off of B Main and A Main. It is important to know that his Fault Line hits enemies at multiple elevations, this is very strong on A Site where enemies are affected both high and low site. Breach’s Rolling Thunder works like this too, which makes him able to use his ultimate from underground in B Tunnel to B Site. His Aftershock is also great for post plant, and delaying plants when enemies are tucked in site, forcing them into open sight lines.

Synergies

• Brimstone Orbital Strike + Breach Rolling Thunder
  • This combination can result in multi kills without even seeing an enemy. On defense with information from Fade, this is a great combination to use on enemies who are approaching A Hall or B Bench. This can also be used on both A and B Site as well as B Tower when attacking.
• Chamber Trademark + Neon Relay Bolt, Breach Fault Line
  • With information from the Trademark, Neon can use her Relay Bolt and Swing enemies who are detected. This combination can also be done with a Breach Fault Line on its own or in tandem to cover more area.
• Fade Seize + Brimstone Incendiary
  • If an enemy is in the back of A Site or the Trapezoid on B Site, these pieces of utility can be used to trap an enemy in a molly. This is also a solid combination to use when attacking by throwing it at a smoke in case an enemy is waiting in the smoke to get a backstab kill.

Substitutions

• KAY/O for Fade
  • Flash/Point is a very effective ability on this map to pop flash on both offense and defense due to how common Brimstone is on this map, and all choke points being occupied by his smokes. His Zero/Point is good for getting information in the early rounds on defense to get a feel for where attackers are set up.
• Raze for Neon
  • Paint shells are another great option for clearing out this map’s sites that enemies can get trapped in corners on. Boom Bot is a good piece of utility to clear out defenders in A Hall, B Main, and B Arcade in the early round. The mobility from her Blast Packs lets her make space for her team on executes by being able to get on top of A Site or to quickly capitalize on initiator’s utility.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Breeze

Ideal Team Composition

• Viper, Chamber, Sova, Jett, KAY/O
  • Notable Pro Teams: OpTic, BOOM Esports
    • These teams faced off against each other in a mirror match using this composition during Champions in which BOOM came out on top, 18-16.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 46.59%

Agent Breakdown

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.28%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.16%
• How To Play
  • Viper is a must pick for this map because of her Toxic Screen. Offense is nearly unplayable without a Viper. Toxic Screens should be placed diagonally across A Site and along B Wall for B Site. Poison Cloud can be used defensively in A or B Main and offensively to block off Mid Nest or A Metal Doors at the end of Halls for a lurk. You’ll need to learn lineups for those two offensive Poison Clouds, but they are well worth it. With how open this map is post plant line ups using Snakebite are very effective.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.35%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 18.97%
• How To Play
  • Breeze has a lot of long sight lines, so a Chamber Operator is great to have. Be sure to move around, and take advantage of some angles in mid that are not commonly cleared by utility such as B Tunnel to Mid Wood Doors, walk out Mid Wood Doors, or walk out Tunnel to B Elbow while a teammate in Mid Nest watches Mid. Trademark is commonly placed at the end of A Hall on defense and A Lobby or B Elbow on offense.

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.32%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 13.14%
• How To Play
  • Breeze is a more open map making Sova better suited for it than Fade. Owl Drone is great to use next to Ultimate Orbs to get vision of site for Operators or players playing close angles. Recon Bolt can be shot along the back walls of A and B Site to reveal enemies through Viper’s Toxic Screen for easy kills. Be sure to shoot the arrow high so it can see over the Toxic Screen. When on defense Shock Darts can be banked to damage planters on default for both sites.

Jett

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.09%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 19.04%
• How To Play
  • Jett is able to make space on offense using her Tailwind and a Cloudburst. On defense Jett can take early fights mid or even walking into A or B main by prepping Tailwind as she walks in. This requires a second teammate to watch down A Caves or B Window, or a feel of the timing to dash out by the time an enemy could be at one of those locations. If taking an aggressive fight like that, use Tailwind and/or Cloudburst to escape.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.26%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 6.96%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point counters both Sova and Viper, two agents with a very high pick rate on this map. Save this ability on defense once Sova is using his Owl Drone and/or Viper puts up her Toxic Screen for an execute. This will stall a push to allow for teammates to rotate and waste the enemy’s Owl Drone. Frag/Ment can be used A or B Main to stall pushes even further. Flash/Point is a fantastic flash to use to pop flash through a Toxic Sceen to get back site on offense or to counter flash enemies who are entering on site.

Synergies

• Viper Poison Cloud + KAY/O Frag/Ment
  • On defense this combination stalls the attackers immensely. This combination can be used in tandem or alternating so the choke point is occupied to deter attackers from pushing through. Viper can add Snakebites into the mix here which can occupy a choke point for more than half the round.
• KAY/O Flash/Point + Jett Tailwind + Viper Toxic Screen
  • This is a strong combination for scoring kills on enemies who are defending back site behind Toxic Screen. Once Toxic Screen is up, KAY/O can left click a flash that pops just on the other side of the Toxic Screen, and Jett can use Tailwind to get to these players quickly while they are still affected by the flash.
• Chamber Rendezvous + Sova Recon Bolt
  • Chamber can set up a Rendezvous close B or A Main to try to grab a quick Op kill once the round starts by looking towards B Elbow or A Ultimate Orb in A Shop. The Recon Bolt can be shot down A Cave or B Window to make sure no enemies are pushing the areas that Chamber is exposed to and not looking at so he can tunnel vision on one sight line then Rendezvous after he shoots, the Recon Bolt expires, or the Recon Bolt is destroyed.

Substitutions

• Skye for Kay/O
  • Guiding Light can pop flash through a Viper Toxic Screen and having an extra Owl Drone-like ability in Trailblazer is nice to have for finding Operators. Breeze is a massive map, so Seekers are great for information and many fights result in damage, but no kill. Because of this, Regrowth gets a lot of value.
• Cypher for Chamber
  • Having two Trapwires and a Camera that can work at any range, Cypher offers much more coverage than Chamber, and isn’t restricted to a small area on a large map like Killjoy.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Bind

Ideal Team Composition

• Viper, Brimstone, Raze, Skye, Fade
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, 100 Thieves, Leviatan
    • In Champions this composition didn’t have the best round win rate, but Leviatan was able to take down Paper Rex who were regarded as the best Bind team with this composition. FNATIC and OpTic ran this composition with a Chamber instead of Fade due to having two of the best Chamber players in the world.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 44.53%

Agent Breakdown

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.73%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 1.28%
• How To Play
  • Viper is commonly used to lurk in to A Lamps (U Hall). She does this by throwing a Poison Cloud into the entry of Lamps and a Toxic Screen to the right of A Short. When attacking B Site Viper can use a Snakebite on top of the Tube on B Site to clear a defender out of Tube because it will damage an enemy inside despite the Snakebite being above them. Defensively Toxic Screen can be set up across multiple lanes and Poison Cloud can be set up to block Hookah, A Short, or one way A Bath.

Brimstone

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.50%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 10.41%
• How To Play
  • Brimstone’s 3 smokes and Stim Beacon are great for fast burst executes which are common on Bind. His smokes are not hollow, making them daunting for attackers to push through when using them defensively. Brimstone is very strong for post plant with both Orbital Strike and Incendiary. Using Orbital Strike to clear out B Site Tube, A Lamps, and Hookah in the early round helps supplement an offensive push to take ground.

Raze

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.53%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 15.11%
• How To Play
  • Bind is Raze’s playground with a 100% pick rate at Champions. Offensively Raze can clear out many angles with her Boom Bot and Paint Shells as well as make space on site using her Blast Packs. On defense her Boom Bot gets early information and her Paint Shells can stall a push and force an attacker off a plant. All of her utility can go through the teleporters, using her Boom Bot and Paint Shells through the A Short teleporter into Hookah is a good way to crunch attackers B Short in Sands.

Skye

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.97%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.11%
• How To Play
  • Trailblazer is a good ability to get information on both offense and defense. When on defense use Trailblazer through the teleporters to get information down B Long and then outside A Bath as well as A Short and then B Short. This same thing can be done with Guiding Light. Skye plays very well in B Garden on defense as she can quickly flash enemies who are coming down B Long.

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.92%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.01%
• How To Play
  • Prowler is a great ability to clear out the close angles that bind has, especially shotguns in Hookah and A Lamps. Haunt can be thrown on top of the buildings to get a good view of site. Seize can be paired with other teammates’ damaging utility to get easy kills in defenders who are playing in one of the many one and done angles this map has. Nightfall is very strong on this map as it covers the entire area of both sites, letting your team quickly rush down a site.

Synergies

• Fade Seize + Brimstone Incendiary, Raze Paint Shells
  • This combination is good on both sides. On defense it works best in A Short when enemies are in the cubby; it can also be used to counter a plant in front of Truck on A Site when a team uses a Sage wall to plant by throwing the Seize and then banking an Incendiary off the back wall or using right click with Paint Shells to lob it over the truck. On attack use it to clear out common pockets defenders play in.
• Brimstone Orbital Strike + Raze Showstopper
  • This is a set play many teams use for fast executes on A Site. Brimstone uses his ultimate in A Lamps which either kills an enemy or forces them out the back door while Raze Blast Packs over the Truck with Showstopper to kill the enemy fleeing towards Pipes back site.
• Skye Guiding Light, Skye Trailblazer + Raze Blast Packs
  • When Skye flashes or stuns enemies they’ll hide back site while they regain their site. Raze is able to Blast Pack on top of B Tube or A Truck to get a vantage point on these enemies while that would otherwise have been safe back site.

Substitutions

• Sage for Fade
  • Barrier Orb can stifle an entire push and is great for safely planting on A Site in front of Truck. There are plenty of spots to stand on top of Barrier Orb to catch players off guard.
• Chamber for Fade
  • This map has fewer lanes, which means the attackers are more likely to run into Chamber and there is less of a need for Sentinel utility. Chamber is great for taking control of one lane with his Operator and another lane with his Trademark.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Ascent

Ideal Team Composition

• Sova, Omen, Killjoy, Jett, KAY/O
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, XSET, OpTic
    • LOUD went 4-0 on Ascent with this composition which was the cornerstone of their run. XSET was able to beat OpTic and nearly beat FPX. OpTic swapped to this composition in the middle of the tournament which made headlines as Yay moved from Chamber to Yay which coincided with Derke of FNATIC swapping from Chamber to Jett on Ascent.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 54.43%

Agent Breakdown

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.20%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.14%
• How To Play
  • Jett has once again become meta on this map, and Sova synergizes with Jett a little better than Fade does, which is why he is the pick here. Sova can get information using Recon Bolt on all parts of the map on defense. It can also be used to spam B Main with a high penetration gun. On offense support your Jett with Recon Bolt and get information using Owl Drone through A Main, B Main, and Tree. Shock Darts are great for destroying Killjoy setups that utilize an Alarm Bot and Nanoswarms in B Lane as well as a Killjoy Alarm Bot that is placed near Pizza to watch mid.

Omen

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.14%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 12.00%
• How To Play
  • On defense Omen can set up one ways A and B Main. Shrouded Step allows him to play Mid Catwalk Cubby as he can teleport out if being spammed with utility. On offense Shrouded Step can be used to get from B Main to Logs or A Main to Front Generator to make some space for teammates. Paranoia is very strong on this map and is the main reason Omen is a great pick. Ascent has small sites and Paranoia’s width takes up a good portion of the site’s Area, most notably all of A Generator, a very common defensive spot.

Killjoy

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.31%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.34%
• How To Play
  • Alarm Bot is great for allowing defenders to stack as it can cover mid when placed at Pizza or Tree. She can also hold down B Site with set ups in Lane and A Site with Nanoswarm Alarm Bot setups to kill a player who closes the door. Lockdown is great for taking sites and retaking. If using lockdown B Main, put it behind the box with the Ultimate Orb so it does not get spammed by a high penetration gun. If using Lockdown to retake B Site, place it next to the button to close the door as the platform the button is on blocks enemies on site from destroying the ult and it covers the entire site.

Jett

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.92%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 16.31%
• How To Play
  • Jett can play the open mid portion of the map very aggressively by using her Tailwind and Cloudbursts to get out if needed. She can do this much better than Chamber who is tethered to his Rendezvous range. When attacking Jett can make space by dashing into a Cloudburst. When doing this on B Site, dash towards the button to close the door to Mid Market and on A Site she can dash towards Dice or on top of A Generator.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.30%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.20%
• How To Play
  • As mentioned earlier, Ascent has small sites. Zero/Point can cover a big area of a site for both information and suppress a sentinel, making an execute very easy. Flash/Point can be used with a left click through the window grates B Main or thrown straight upwards A Main to blind enemies on these sites without blinding teammates, or it can be pop flashed with a right click if there is a smoke blocking A or B Main. On Defense, Flash/Point is very strong mid to be used via a pop flash from Mid Market or into Tree if KAY/O is smoked off in Garden. Frag/Ment can be used to force defenders out of certain locations like Logs, Generator, or behind Dice.

Synergies

• Jett Tailwind + Omen Paranoia, KAY/O Flash/Point
  • In pro play this is commonly used by the defensive team the moment a round starts. Omen can flash from B Lane through B Main, B Main to Tiles, or A Button to A Ultimate Orb. Jett can dash through B main, mid to tiles, or down A Main to capitalize on enemies blinded. And if no one is there, then your team gets a lot of ground and good information.
• Killjoy Lockdown + KAY/O Frag/Ment
  • Killjoy’s Ultimate leaves small gaps in the area in which it detains; KAY/O’s Frag/Ment can be used in these gaps to force an enemy to die to the Frag/Ment or walk into the Lockdown.These can be done by throwing the Frag/Ment into wine with an A retake Lockdown, A Rafter with an A Main Lockdown, or B Back with a B Main Lockdown.If Frag/Ment is thrown on A Rafter it damages players under Rafters too.
• Jett Cloudburst + Sova Recon Bolt
  • When Jett dashes into her Cloudburst, Sova can simultaneously shoot his Recon Bolt. If an enemy is pinged Jett can shoot the highlighted enemy while inside her smoke. This works best when Sova shoots his Recon Bolt behind A Generator and Jett is on top of Generator as she can see all of A Site from there.

Substitutions

• Fade for Sova
  • She is used very similarly to Sova, and can even be used alongside Sova due to how strong highlighting enemies and getting information mid is on this map. Prowler can clear out close angles on site and is great for pushing defenders back who are playing aggressively.
• Astra for Omen
  • Astra’s strength comes from being able to stall the A and B Main chokepoints with a Gravity Well. On offense she is able to use Gravity Well and Nova Pulse to clear out the few places defenders can play on Ascent’s sites.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back regularly for updated comps and remember to check out our VALORANT map tool for useful lineups for every agent.

The post Best VALORANT Team Comps for Each Map appeared first on Mobalytics.

First known under the codename “BountyHunter”, Riot did not promise too much with Fade, the fourth Initiator to join VALORANT.

When her appearance was first revealed, Fade was immediately compared to Reyna, carrying similar features in both her appearance, her backstory, and her personality.

Fade has some very unique abilities packed with CC and some new effects which haven’t been in VALORANT before.

Let’s run them down.

C: PROWLER

• EQUIP a Prowler. FIRE to send the Prowler forward. HOLD FIRE to steer the Prowler towards your crosshair. The Prowler will chase down the first enemy or terror trail it sees, and nearsight the enemy on impact.

Prowler is very similar to Skye’s Ultimate or the Twin Hunters Orb in Spike Rush.

This ability, although it can be destroyed, is incredibly powerful for entering sites and fast pushes. It has 100 HP, so it requires at least 3 bullets from most common weapons.

Q: SEIZE

• EQUIP a knot of raw fear. FIRE to throw. The knot drops down after a set time. RE-USE to drop the knot early. The knot ruptures on impact, holding nearby enemies in place. Held enemies are deafened, and decayed.

Fade’s Q ability rounds off her kit very well, giving her an ability that can be very effective when used defensively.

Seize is another grenade-like ability, which is thrown and travels very similar to Phoenix E (Hot Hands) ability. The re-use option makes Seize even more versatile and allows you to throw it to your desired destination relatively easily.

Similar to Astra’s Gravity Well, this ability is strongest when combined with utility that deals area damage such as Killjoy’s Nanoswarm, Brimstone’s Molotov, or Kay/O’s FRAG/MENT.

E (Signature Ability): HAUNT

• EQUIP a haunting watcher. FIRE to throw. The watcher drops down after a set time. RE-USE to drop the watcher early. The watcher lashes out on impact, revealing enemies in its line of sight and creating terror trails to them. Enemies can destroy the watcher.

The Haunt is very effective, especially when combined with Fade’s Prowler since the Prowler will follow the trail of enemies affected by Haunt.

Haunt travels relatively fast and can be thrown very far, which makes it very difficult for enemies to react fast enough and shoot it in time. It’s a very versatile ability and we can recommend learning some lineups for it.

Just like with Reyna’s Eye, Haunt is a great ability to mess with your enemies’ crosshair placement so make sure to throw it up on high surfaces.

X: NIGHTFALL

• EQUIP the power of nightmare itself. FIRE to unleash a wave of unstoppable nightmare energy. Enemies caught in the wave are marked by terror trails, deafened, and decayed.

Nightfall not only looks cool, but it’s also one of the strongest abilities when it comes to taking control over a site, whether it’s on attack or a retake situation on defense.

When placed well and with correct timing, Nightfall is almost guaranteed to hit all enemies who will be a major threat while entering the site. The amount of information you and your teammates receive from the trails can be very strong. Combining that with the fact that deafened enemies won’t hear your footsteps while entering the site, it will give you a major advantage in gunfights.

One can say that Nightfall bundles all of Fade’s abilities and effects, which are already strong on single targets, and allows her to apply them to all her enemies at a time. Sounds strong right?

A Radiant player’s thoughts on Fade

Fade is a very promising agent and it’s pretty much guaranteed that she will be a strong pick in professional play. She shines the most in a coordinated environment and offers some very deadly combos with other agents.

She also brings a whole new effect into the game, “Deafened”. In a game like VALORANT where sound matters so much, taking the ability to hear from your enemies AND blocking off their map at the same time can be really powerful and we’re excited to see this effect in action.

So far, she also seems promising in Ranked, quickly becoming one of the most picked agents on all Ranks and maintaining a Win Rate of over 50%. This is not typical and most agents had relatively weak starts after their release because it took players a while to figure out how to use them effectively.

Having high teamplay potential also comes with the disadvantage of when not using her in a coordinated team, Fade’s kit can seem a little underwhelming. Compared to meta agents like Jett and Chamber, who are very strong even without much teamplay, Fade offers lots of value to her entire team and can’t capitalize on that value by herself.

Nevertheless, it’s also important to stress Fade’s potential in 1vs1 clutch situations. During these situations, where two players are walking with SHIFT on a site, not knowing where their enemy might be coming from, the trails from Haunt or Nightfall can offer an advantage that can almost be described as overpowered.

I think Fade will be the most effective on maps that have many close quarters like Fracture, Haven, and Bind over maps with long lines of sight such as Breeze and Icebox.

Hope you learned something about the new agent here, and as always, good luck with your VALORANT grind!

w: Fade

‘Fade’ is the 19th agent set to release in the next Act. She is of Turkish origins and is likely to be classified as an initiator.

There is also a lot of speculation around “Codename Bounty Hunter” being a character with a Turkish background.

In a recent dev blog post that spoke of the state of Valorant Agents, there was some brief discussion around what sort of agent will be released next, followed up with this image.

VALORANT has shared a few images prior to her release, including this scene above. This image resembles Fade’s interest in other initiators and their methods, as Sova is pictured on screen with what seems like information about him.

Additionally, front and center of this image is a black coffee served in a traditional Turkish style. This image was accompanied by a phrase in Turkish, ‘Herkesin bir korkusu var’, which translates to ‘everybody has a fear’.

The devs mentioned that after some research into current initiation recon tactics they found an opportunity to explore more ‘localized’ methods of intel gathering.

They stated this new agent should give off a more ‘intimate feeling’ when you are hunting down enemies.

Considering this, it sounds like their kit will be fairly in-your-face as opposed to gathering information from afar.

The Spike Rush game mode has been a good source of insight into new agents’ abilities. Riot generally test-run how some abilities will function in this game mode before releasing the new agent. This was the case for Skye, as there was a form of ‘Seekers’ in Spike Rush, and the ‘Golden Gun’ was a good indication of how Chamber’s Ultimate would function.

This time around, there has been a ‘Paranoia’ orb which leaves the enemy victims with a screen like this:

When one has fallen victim to this Paranoia their senses are obscured significantly and they are left tunnel visioned. This is most likely going to be an integral part of Fade’s Kit and will be her version of making enemies vulnerable for her duelists to capitalize off of her initiation tactics.

Bounty Hunter’s Ability Kit Preview

Prowler

Equip. Fire to send a creature out which will travel in a straight line looking for enemies AND/OR Trails. HOLD FIRE AND MOVE MOUSE to steer the creature in the direction you’re facing. When the creature finds a trail on an enemy, it will move toward them. Upon reaching the enemy, it will start a 0.5s cook time and then NEARSIGHT the closest enemy for 3s. Only one Creature can latch onto a Trail ever.

Somewhat similar to Skye’s dog, but it sounds like this ability will be most effective after the enemy’s Trail has been revealed.

The strength of this ability will depend on how fast this creature travels and how long they can travel.

No other agent has been able to Nearsight enemies thus far for a significant period of time other than Omen. A full 3 seconds of Nearsightedness will give plenty of opportunities for teammates to capitalize on the vulnerable enemy.

Seize

EQUIP an orb. FIRE to throw the orb. The orb will travel in the air a maximum of 1.5s until dropping to the ground. Upon hitting the ground, it will stick in a place and begin to cook for 0.5s. After 0.5s a zone will expand out to 7m and all enemies caught will be tethered to the center. Tethered enemies suffer 75 decay damage, are deafened and cannot escape the zone by normal means for 0.5s. Can be reactivated in flight to drop earlier.

It is assumed a 7m radius will be similar to the circumference of the Controller’s smokes.

This is an interesting ability since it seems very strong on paper. The act of ‘deafening’ the enemy is something new so that is cool to see.

It is assumed they will still be able to communicate on voice chat/ but it would be very unique and add to the feeling of isolation and vulnerability if the tethered agent couldn’t hear comms and or comm either.

This may function similar to Neon’s Lightning Quake ability, a fast-moving projectile that travels in a linear trajectory. It can often be hard to make sure you are placing this exactly where you want, but with Bounty Hunter’s power to ‘reactivate’ this mid-flight to drop it earlier it might be a fair bit easier.

Haunt (Trail ability)

EQUIP an orb. Fire to throw the orb. The orb will travel in the air a max time of 1.5s until dropping to the ground. Once it hits the ground, it raises back up and turns into an eye that can be destroyed. If the eye sees opponents, it will REVEAL them and apply a Trail debuff that lasts 12s. Can be reactivated in flight to drop the projectile earlier.

12s is quite a long time for the trail to last and allows for ample chance to use the ‘Prowler’ ability to catch enemies and Nearsight them.

The size of the eye, how fast it raises up and activates/ spots enemies, and reveals them will play a major role in how strong this ability is.

In other words, hopefully, it is difficult to shoot this eye so that it is viable and can compete with other meta kits like Sova.

Nightfall (Ultimate ability)

EQUIP this ability. FIRE to send out a wave of dark mist. If the mist comes in contact with an enemy, they will be TRAILED, DEAF and DECAYED for 12s.

As seen in Spike Rush, there is a ‘Paranoia Orb’ which showcases a new variation of being nearsighted. This may be indicative of what agents experience when they have been marked by a trail and or are suffering the effects of Fade’s mist.

This ultimate ability sounds like it will be an immensely strong form of initiation.
It is assumed this mist will have a similar cut-off distance to Breach’s ultimate. The mini logo for Nightfall is similar in design to Breach’s ultimate.

So it may have a very structured deployment/travel path as opposed to a mist that spreads across the map like Viper’s ultimate.

After activating the mist, Bounty Hunter’s Prowler ability will play a crucial role in clearing out a bomb-site and spotting multiple trails.

Final thoughts

This agent seems well designed and hopefully, their kit is balanced well upon release. Riot have been playing it safe and recently lean towards an underpowered kit when releasing a new agent.

Hopefully, they are confident to disrupt the Sova meta by really empowering each of these abilities. Initiators are staple picks for every map and for a while now in pro-play most teams have been opting to select two initiators.

There are lots of Sentinels, and Duelists that get left out every game but Initiators and Controllers are a staple pick. So it is likely that we will be seeing a lot of Bounty Hunter if their abilities are powerful.

P.S. Remember that Chamber was “Codename Deadeye” for a long while up until his release, so this may not be the new agent’s final name.

Thanks for reading! Check out the rest of our VALORANT agent articles.

The post VALORANT Agent Guide: Fade (19th Agent) appeared first on Mobalytics.

KAY/O had a bit of a rough start when he was released since he didn’t see much play in competitive nor was he really utilized in pro play.

Despite his slow start, he did manage to pick up a few small buffs down the line, the most noticeable one being to his flash timers and the way they are set off slightly faster.

Alongside this, the SFX is slightly less noticeable than the way it was upon release. Arguably, this has made him the king of pop-flashes and if you master how to incorporate his underarm flashes into your game you will secure a lot of picks on blinded enemies.

The main thing that I believe has seen KAY/O’s playrate increase is the pervasiveness of Chamber in team compositions. KAY/O is Chamber’s biggest counter since he can completely disarm him from his ultimate and his sheriff down to a measly old Classic.

Additionally, it is becoming popular for teams to run two Initiators, (1 Controller, 1 Duelist, 1 Sentinel), in their team comps, so there is an opportunity for KAY/O to be picked side-by-side with the meta pick, Sova. In this guide, we are going to run through 5 tips that you should understand if you are hoping to add KAY/O to your agent pool.

1. Early round information

KAY/O’s knife is a rechargeable ability, in other words, you should waste little time at the start of the round trying to pick up information on the whereabouts of enemies.

If enemies are clustered the ZERO/POINT can occasionally scan almost the entire team and this can from the beginning of the round really allow your team to establish early map control by slowly pushing up other regions of the map. On top of that, it buys some time for your team to rotate since it prevents the enemy from using any abilities for a short while.

Important considerations:

• Repeatedly throwing your knife the same way every round will most likely lead to the enemy being very prepared for it, and hence, avoiding it and as a result, sending you false information.
• Swapping bombsites occasionally when defending will increase the unpredictability of your early round knife.
• Waiting a few seconds at the start of the round, roughly between 5-10 seconds may trick the opponents to think you aren’t using your early round knife the way you have been, and they might have crept back in your Zero/point radius.

2. Choose when to suppress carefully

Keeping an eye on the scoreboard is going to allow you to understand when certain enemy agents are going to use potentially devastating ultimates. Seeing ‘READY’ beside the enemy Raze, Jett, Chamber or Neon is going to allow you to understand the type of threat you are facing round-to-round.

Raze’s Showstopper and Neon’s Overdrive work on a timer function and suppressing with either your knife or ultimate nullifies them from being able to use their ultimate since their timers run out. Contrastingly, Jett and Chamber will regain their ultimate when your suppressive powers run out.

Knowing this, it is worth trying to capitalize on this window of opportunity where their powers are decimated. Generally, when enemies are attacking, they may save their Jett/Chamber ultimate for eco rounds.

If you are aware that the enemies are on some form of a save or weak buy, and you have suppressed their deadliest players on this particular round, it is worth trying to initiate a fight within this timeframe by communicating to your teammates, and or simply gaining some map control.

3. Pop-flash is your best friend

One important thing to consider is that it will take some time and practise to understand the functionality of his underarm flash. The flash has a certain travel distance that you need to familiarize yourself with, particularly with the alternate fire, underarm method.

Understanding where to position your flash is going to increase your chances of successfully full-blinding the enemy. If done correctly, you are giving the enemy very little opportunity to turn your flash.

There are niche ways to throw your flash and it is important to understand the differences that small distances can make.

For example:

If you are aiming to pop-flash B-Long on Bind, standing this close to the wall and underarm throwing your flash is going to give the enemy almost a full second to react to the flash and be able to turn it.

As you can see in the image above, the flash has almost reached the ultimate orb when you are standing this close to the wall.

Ideally, you want to reduce the amount of time that the enemy can see the flash mid-flight, which in turn will mean they have less time to react. This is the most important principle to consider when pop-flashing.

In the next image, I am standing further back and you can see that the flash only just passes the entry point to Garden and will most likely full-blind your enemies, especially if they are unaware you are playing Garden.

After you flash you want to begin pre-aiming the angle as quick as you can and making your way to peek immediately, it should look something like this:

You can play mind games with your opponents, if they are aware that you may flash something due to patterns of play, you can do a flash like in the first image that takes longer to pop, but peek it before it has been set off.

As a result, you may be peeking enemies that are attempting to turn the flash and have their back to you. In low elo opponents may not be this alert and aware so sticking to the first method is recommended and safer.

A word on overhead flashes

These are best launched as big quarterback throws from a distance, hurled high so they are set off at the top of your enemy’s screen. These have been referenced as ‘god-flashes’ in previous tactical-shooters, they aim to surprise and be unpredictable since often the enemy is unaware of its trajectory and doesn’t really see the projectile in motion before it is set off.

These types of flashes work best when your team is gelling together well and there is solid communication between you and other teammates. One specific example where this may be viable is if you are late on a rotate on Bind, the enemy has planted the bomb on B, you are rotating through Defender Side Spawn and your team is ready to exit out of the ‘CT’ door.

You can communicate with them that you are going to send a high flash and count them down to peek.

Overhead flashing like this against walls is not recommended since this provides the enemy with the largest time-frame to be able to turn your flash.

4. Maximize NULL/CMD

Be careful not to activate your ultimate too early since it only lasts roughly 10 seconds. It is best to use this right as your team is going to initiate.

One exception to this is if you are defending and you can see an enemy KAY/O on the team has ultimate and you believe you have the correct read where and how they will be pushing, (I.E. you begin hearing a lot of noise around A Cave/Shop on Breeze and you know the enemy KAY/O has ultimate).

It may be worth using your NULL/CDM before theirs. This will buy time for your team to rotate and or gain map control. Moreover, you will be able to safely use your ZERO/POINT without it being destroyed and this will provide you with rough information on how many players are around A Shop.

• Don’t be afraid to entry and when you have this ability since there is always an opportunity for you to be rebooted.
• It is strong to use if you gain information with a drone or a knife that the enemy Chamber is using his ultimate on A Site Breeze for example. This will not only force him to wait a timer until he can use his in-built Operator again, furthermore, he won’t be able to teleport out either, making him vulnerable since they often play aggressive angles.
• Communicate to your team even when you are down and waiting for a reboot, often you can still see where an enemy is positioned.

5. Master your FRAG/MENT

Your FRAG/MENT is a good way to clear chokepoints and/or prevent enemies from lurking and attacking your side whilst you are pushing the site.

For example, if you are attacking B Site Split through Heaven, you may want to throw your FRAG/MENT towards stairs to buy time to safely jump to site without getting peeked from that side of CT.

This is also a valuable ability in an aggressive sense to clear out commonly played, one-and-done spots, I.E. this spot on Icebox:

It is also very valuable in post-plant situations if you can safely throw it down onto the bomb to take the defuser off it, and or to prevent pushes to site and buy some time.

If you would like to see heaps more valuable lineups for your ZERO/POINT and your FRAG/MENT head over to our Mobalytics VALORANT app. There is information for both Attacker and Defender side lineups and it is definitely recommended to learn a few of these to add to your game.

The app has you covered with everything you need, you can easily filter through what map and or what ability you would like to learn a lineup or strategy for. Check out this post-plant molly for the common default plant on Ascent, learning something simple like this can be the difference between winning and losing the round.

Closing Thoughts

I hope this article helped you learn a few new things about KAY/O if you have already played him, and if not, I hope you are convinced that he is a worthy agent to add to your playable pool.

If you can see your team has already locked in 1x Controller, 1 x Sentinel, 1x Initiator, 1x Duelist, sometimes as opposed to adding another duelist to the mix which is often what people opt for, a second duelist like KAY/O can provide some handy utility and is a solid gatherer of information. As always, best of luck with your ranked grind.

Thanks for reading! For articles on other agents, check out the rest of our VALORANT agent guides.

The post 5 KAY/O Tips and Tricks (From a Radiant Player) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Chamber currently holds a strong position in the meta and is a very effective solo-queue agent to play when aspiring to climb. He provides benefits for his allies by boosting the team’s economy with his in-built weaponry.

Further, a good Chamber can change the course of eco rounds with his ultimate, Tour de Force and his Headhunter Sheriff. His traps can be used both offensively and defensively and provide vital information for the team.

Not only does this utility provide information for the team by covering flanks, if activated the slow lasts quite a long time and can completely compromise enemy attacks.

Chamber is the agent for you if you feel confident at times ego-peeking angles and making cheesy plays. Crosshair placement needs to be your forte as you will much of the time be pre-aiming opponents.

This article will explain how each ability of his should be used and some strategies to incorporate into your gameplay for all maps on both attack and defense. Let’s start off by exploring his general playstyle on defense and how to best use his Rendezvous teleport ability.

Thoughts on Rendezvous

Chamber’s Rendezvous is his best ability, playing weird off angles whilst easily evading danger makes him such an annoying agent to play against.

It is one of the best forms of disengage in the game since it is almost instantaneous and he does not require a kill like Reyna to Dismiss. The Rendezvous, therefore, goes toe-to-toe against Jett’s dash regarding escape potential.

Having a bunch of go-to set-ups on each map is recommended, especially on defense. Moreover, it is important to mix up the way you are placing the teleport anchors in order to keep the enemy guessing and remain unpredictable.

Similar to how Jett is able to take wild peeks in an attempt to secure opening picks, Chamber can do the same. It takes practice and experience to gain confidence holding certain angles but after repeated interactions across the same lines of sight you will increase your chances of swinging the round in your favor right from the start.

To maximize the effectiveness of his Rendezvous Chamber players must at times be audacious and bold in the way they hold and peek angles upon barrier-drop.

Rendezvous and Trademark setups for Defense (All Maps)

Important considerations

• Be creative
• No strict rules, mixing it up is key. Any little corner and crevice makes a good spot to catch enemies off guard and slow them.
• Placing them near chokepoints and or in very obvious positions repeatedly will increase the risk of these being either smoked and covered, or cleared out by cautious enemies using utility such as Shock Darts etc.
• Chamber only has two Trademarks that he can use in a single round. (There are multiple spots shown, choose two and keep changing things up). Make sure you are playing around your slows and traps and staying alive so that they activate).
• Utilizing your Rendezvous at the very beginning of rounds is worthwhile since you will then have it recharged to use again later in the round/ post-plant . So – Be brave and go for that opening pick, place one anchor for the area you will be peeking in an attempt for first blood and another in a safer area towards the back of sites or spawn so that you are safe after Chamber snaps his fingers.
• KAY/O’s suppression counters Chamber significantly since you will no longer be able to use Rendezvous and teleport out if caught by KAY/O’s ultimate or knife.
• Understanding how to set up for all bomb sites as a Chamber will give the enemy a hard time predicting your setups and strategies.
• Red squares are used to highlight his Trademark/trap ability, whilst red circles will be used to showcase where his Rendezvous anchors can be placed.

Haven

A Site

This one must be placed after barrier drop but provides good early information and slows enemies before they have reached the site to allow teammates more time to rotate.

B Site

Mixing it up playing B for one round can be a good option on Chamber, especially when his Ultimate is ready you might be able to catch enemies that peek mid window off guard. Go all the way to the end of the generator when peeking as shown, this will reduce your chances of being blinded by a Leer, etc.

C Site

Placing a Trademark in Garage when playing C allows for greater control of this region of the map. In solo-queue you can’t always whole-heartedly trust your teammates and this prevents any confusion between enemies pushing from grass/versus long, (it allows you to focus solely on C Long).

Bind

Note, teleporters can be placed to rotate between A and B Site on this map. One anchor is to be placed in U-Hall whilst the other should be on B Site in the cubby.

A Site

These are some options for your Trademark, keep mixing it up round-to-round to keep the opponents guessing. You can also opt to place one outside of showers.

Be confident to occasionally get aggressive on A Main. See clip below.

B Site

There are plenty of options to place your Trademarks and Rendezvous anchors on this site. Keep changing it up as rounds progress. (If you are playing back site you might opt to place the anchors deeper into the site like cubby and or the green box. If you are playing around Garden it may be best to place it in/under Hookah and garden/or just outside.) If you are the Sentinel responsible for holding B site it is reliable to place your 2nd anchor Deep into Elbow for safety if you have to fall off site.)

Breeze

A Site

The trap closest to A Main is unable to be spotted by enemies until they are already too close. See image below…

Aggressively holding the push out of A Shop and A Cave is a strong option as a Chamber player. It is not worth overdoing this though as the enemy team will begin cautiously clearing you out with their Initiator and utility.

Placing a trap inside Hall in the corner where the door switch is at will provide valuable information and prevent enemies from slowly lurking into your spawn.

B Site

The teleport anchor right beside B Main is placed there when planning on peeking Elbow immediately upon barrier drop. (There is a very small opportunity to take your shot when making this play as you can be peeked from Window, you must either rely on a teammate holding Window for you; inform them before the round starts to hold Window for you).

Ascent

A Site

It is safer to retreat to the other side of Heaven, or even Hell, but this play can be utilized on a Pistol round as a tactic to catch the enemy off guard.

It is not recommended to wide-swing/swing at all from this position, hold a line of sight towards the player that will push the door switch for free picks (whilst still being hidden behind the box), it is highly unlikely you will be cleared properly.

B Site

The teleport anchors can be placed as you wish here, One on Stairs, and then another back site, One near B Main and then another back site or CT, keep mixing things up that is the key as a Chamber player.

Creeping inside B Main and holding an off-angle for an early pick can pay dividends. Teleporting back towards Back Site is also a solid option especially when you have a trip set up for players dropping down from Lane. See clip below.

Fracture

A Site

Chamber players should be holding relatively aggressive off angles, and the first anchor is set up for this purpose inside A Main. To retreat safely, it is best to place it at the Link towards Defender Side Spawn. However, you can place it under site/top site to play off your trips if you wish and or have support from another teammate playing A. If no one is playing Dish it is worth placing a Trademark there as well.

B Site

The aggressive anchor is placed to peek B Main, and your second safety/retreat anchor can be placed inside Tower, towards Defender Side Spawn or in the middle of Site to play off the Trademark rightmost in the image above.

Icebox

A Site

Chamber excels on Icebox as there are so many angles available to hold and he can easily mix up his defensive positioning before enemies have even made it to site.

Take for instance, here…

…and here.

B Site

A teleport can also be set up aggressively on top of the box below the crane, to peek at Garage or Attacker Side Spawn when barrier drops.

Split

A Site

Plenty of options on Split to mix up the location of your Trademarks. It is recommended to have one up at Heaven just to gain information on how far enemies have advanced up Ramp, it prevents the danger of ‘timing’ and sneaky enemy lurks.

B Site

Teleport anchors can be set up around Pillar however you wish and whatever angles you feel comfortable holding most, and then back Alley/CT for a safe retreat to play retake if the enemy is flooding the site.

Trademark setups for Attack (All Maps)

This section will just showcase images of where you can position your traps to watch for flanks.

Sometimes if you are hard pushing a particular site with the team it is worth holding onto one Trademark to save for later in the round, either for the purpose of clearing out certain parts of the bombsite and/or to set up a trap for post-plant.

Moreover, if you do not have an initiator on your team, it can be hard to push out smoke since it is difficult to clear 270 degrees left and right of your screen. Placing a trap out of the smoke can clear close angles and detect where the enemy is on the minimap for you if they are close.

See the video below for how Trademarks can be used aggressively to check for the presence of opponents and catch them off-guard.

Haven

Bind

Breeze

Icebox

Fracture

Ascent

Split

Headhunter and its Guardian-esque functionality

For 100 credits a bullet, Chamber is able to one-shot headshot enemies no matter the distance. Considering this, there is value in making yourself accustomed to using his Headhunter’s scope in function.

Being comfortable when scoping in with his Sheriff will allow you to more easily make small adjustments at distances since it is slightly more easy to see and the adjustments will be slightly less miniscule and therefore not as difficult to pull-off.

The Headhunter makes Chamber an eco-round demon since he basically has a Guardian (a weapon valued over 2000 credits) at his disposal for 100 credits a bullet.

Pre-aiming commonly held angles at longer distances that opponents with rifles will need to tap and or burst you in return is your best bet in securing a pick. By doing this you level out the playing field regarding your weapon versus theirs.

Additionally, on pistol rounds it is worth holding longer angles with his scope as this places him at a significant weapon advantage. See clip below.

At the end of the day, Chamber is an aim-based agent. In other words, he is highly skill focused similar to Jett. Expert Chamber players are ones that understand the intricacies of aim and the myriad of ways an angle can and should be held.

To maximize Chamber’s potential you should feel comfortable securing picks on his Headhunter and you should feel like you excel when using the Sheriff and or Operator. If you do not feel comfortable and don’t like using the Sheriff and Operator, Chamber might not be the agent for you.

Tour de Force is broken, make the most of it

An Operator that can one-shot enemies anywhere and has the fire rate and feel of a Marshal?! The movement error of Chamber’s Tour de Force feels a lot less significant than the Operator and it feels very easy to use similar to how the Marshal functions.

Its fire rate makes it difficult for opponents to re-peek you after you miss your shot, this often favors you to re-peek them as their positioning will be much the same.

At times, Chamber’s ultimate is worth saving for eco-rounds as it can completely change the course of the round. The enemy will have a false sense of confidence since your team has very little money and weaponry. But if you manage to find the opening pick or two with your ultimate this not only has given you a 5v4 or 5v3 situation but you have gained one or two rifles for your teammates to use.

This is more than enough to bring the odds back in your favor and help you steal the round. Communicating to your team to hold back and live, and asking them if you can play first contact with your Tour de Force is recommended since they might be able to pick up a rifle. The longer the round goes the more opportunity you give yourself to find a pick, be patient when it comes to your ultimate on eco rounds.

In the example below, my teammates are all saving and just have an assortment of pistols, but after these two opening picks they are able to grab some rifles and we were able to secure the round. It is worth taking risky peeks and ego-peeking since you have very little to lose: your team is saving anyway and the odds of the round are heavily against you.

Final thoughts

• It is worth becoming acclimated to both sides of each map before playing Chamber.
• Chamber is a skill-based agent and you should feel confident using the Sheriff and Operator before adding him to your agent pool.
• Mix things up round-to-round on defense regarding your Trademark and Rendezvous setup as a large part of Chamber’s strategy revolves around off-angles, unpredictability and surprise.
• Chamber economic benefits to the team are considerable. He is a strong solo-queue agent and can change the course of rounds with his weaponry Headhunter/Tour de Force, especially on Eco rounds.
• Similar to Cypher, Chamber is an effective agent to ‘lurk’ on and retain map control with. For example if your team is attacking A Site on Ascent, as a Chamber player, you could place a trap outside B Main and play slowly around the opposite side of the map and try to catch enemies off that are rotating. As the bomb is planted, you can creep towards A Short/Tree Room to reconnect and play around your teammates. Lurking is a viable option on Chamber since he can use his Rendezvous to return quickly to his teammates.

Hope there were some takeaway points for you and you learned something new about Chamber in this article. As always best of luck with your ranked climb and future Chamber games.

Head to our dedicated Chamber agent page to find more setups for each map.

The post Advanced Chamber Guide By a Radiant Player appeared first on Mobalytics.

How Valorant abilities work

Each character gets an ability they can use for free each round.

The two other non-ultimate abilities must be purchased at the gun shop during the buy phase like you would a grenade in Counterstrike.

This means that they have finite uses meaning that players should use them conservatively. Abilities cannot be spammed on cooldown like you can in Overwatch.

Lastly to cast an ultimate, you need a certain amount of skillpoints. Skill points can be grabbed around the map (gives one to all team members), earned through kills (1 kill = 1 point), or passively with each round.

Are you able to choose the same character multiple times?

From the revealed gameplay so far, it appears that each player must pick a different character. We have not yet seen two of the same character on one team.

How to unlock Valorant characters

Some starter agents will be available but others will have to be unlocked through progression/battle pass system.

The system will probably be similar to blue essence in League of Legends.

Are Valorant characters from League of Legends (“Valoran”)?

No, Valorant takes place in a near-future Earth, so it does not take place in the same world as League of Legends.

All Valorant Characters (so far)

In the following section, we’ll give you a quick overview for every Valorant agent with links if you want to learn more.

If you found this article looking for how to beat a particular agent, check out our other post on How to Play Against Every Valorant Agent.

Astra

Astra debuted as one of the most unique agents in Valorant due to her abilities that you can place anywhere on the map.

[Learn more about Astra]

She’s a controller that can play the game like a chess match, being able to set her team up with smokes, stuns, and blackholes.

Breach

Breach is designed to be an initiator who excels at playing through walls and opponents that are positioned to hold chokepoints.

[Learn more about Breach]

His mechanics go through terrain and across the map to CC and kill enemies.

Brimstone

Brimstone is a tactical commando with versatile abilities that involve using the minimap.

[Learn more about Brimstone]

He can call down smoke grenades, fire napalms that act like molotovs, buff allied agents with additional firepower, and call down an airstrike.

Chamber

Chamber functions as a sentinel but is by far the most aggressive when compared to his counterparts. His Rendezvous (teleport) ability allows him to peek risky angles and find opening picks for his team, much of the time if he teleports in a timely manner he can escape unpunished.

[Learn more about Chamber]

He is great both on attack and defense rounds, and provides a lot of economic value to the team with his Tour de Force sniper and Headhunter pistol.

Cypher

Cypher is a spy who’s a master of gathering information through his camera and trip wires.

[Learn more about Cypher]

He’s great on defense as he can hold a lot of real estate on his own, but he can also be useful on offense since by limiting potential flank routes or making preventing a defusal easier.

Jett

Jett is the most mobile agent in Valorant, making her an ideal duelist, especially when she gets her knife ultimate.

[Learn more about Jett]

She doesn’t provide much utility outside of a smoke grenade but she can dash to engage/disengage or get up to high positions with her boost jump.

KAY/O

KAY/O is a valuable asset to any team due to his “Suppression” capabilities that prevent enemy agents from using their abilities

[Learn more about KAY/O]

In addition he’s very versatile with a flash and molly, as well as a potent engage ultimate that allows his teammates to resurrect him after he dies for a short amount of time.

Killjoy

Killjoy is a German genius who uses an arsenal of turrets, mines, and traps.

[Learn more about Killjoy]

She provides an incredible amount of information gathering, area control, and is the only agent that can disarm her enemies.

Neon

Neon can traverse any map rapidly with her sprint and thrives at catching enemies off-guard by repositioning herself quickly. Additionally, her slide allows her to engage in a manner that makes her very hard to track and gun down.

[Learn more about Neon here]

Unlike other duelists who are pretty self-sufficient when it comes to fragging, Neon’s all in type playstyle works a bit better when there is synergy with Initiator and Controller utility.

Omen

Omen is a flanker who is able to get behind enemy lines with teleports and strike from sneaky angles.

[Learn more about Omen]

He has some utility in the form of a smoke grenade and another ability that can go through walls and obscure the vision of enemies.

Phoenix

Phoenix is a pyromancer with an explosive playstyle, utilizing fire to control the flow of battle. He can use them to create walls, as flashbangs around corners, and of course, as an AoE molotov.

[Learn more about Phoenix]

Naturally, he has an ultimate that suits his name as he can activate it, fight and die, and then come back to life where he originally activated it.

Raze

Raze is the de facto explosives expert of Valorant with some of the most kill potential in the game.

[Learn more about Raze]

Her kit has everything from a remote detonated grenade and a cluster bomb to a rocket launcher and even an exploding Roomba-like robot.

Reyna

Reyna is a vampire whose abilities are fueled by kills.

[Learn more about Reyna]

What she lacks in utility is made up for by her raw killing power.

She can inflict Nearsight on her enemies, heal herself, turn intangible, and even turn invisible.

As a result, she’s one of the best duelists and skirmishers in the game.

Sage

Sage is currently the only “healer” in Valorant with a defensively-oriented kit, with a healing orb she can use on herself or an ally.

[Learn more about Sage]

She’s able to use ice abilities to slow and block off her enemies (her ice wall can also be used to boost allies to high ground).

She has one of the most powerful ultimates in the game with a resurrection.

Skye

An initiator who can provide a lot of information to her team through her animals. Her dog can clear out spaces and concuss opponents if found; it functions similarly to Sova’s Owl Drone when it comes to clearing space.

[Learn more about Skye]

Her flashes can be set off very quickly and this makes them hard to dodge consistently even at high elo. Not only this but her flash alongside her Seekers are great information gathering abilities.

She’s an Initiator + Support hybrid that can help her team by engaging, scouting, and healing.

Sova

Sova is a master archer who is able to bounce his arrows to scout enemies or kill them around corners. He also has a handy owl drown that can be used to mark where an enemy is.

[Learn more about Sova]

He can use his ability to track his opponents in combination with his ultimate, which allows him to fire three bursts of lightning through walls.

Viper

Viper wields toxic gases that run off of a refillable reserve. She can emit poison from a grenade or create a line wall with the vapors.

[Learn more about Viper]

Her ultimate basically creates a poison “room”, making her a great bomb planter.

Yoru

Yoru is a tricky duelist that is built to lurk, acting as the worst nightmare to potential flankers. His kit allows him to deceive enemies and bait out utility by faking site executions on the attacker side.

[Learn more about Yoru]

Yoru is soon to receive a rework since he has been underperforming in both ranked and pro play. There has been a lot of speculation around his new abilities being very strong and he might just find himself jumping some spots up to the top of our VALORANT agent tier list.

Thanks for reading! For more tips and tricks for all agents, head to our dedicated Valorant agent feature!

The post All Valorant Characters (Agents and Abilities Overview) appeared first on Mobalytics.

The Valorant balance team has done a seriously good job at fine-tuning most of the agents and allowing teams to create a myriad of synergistic combinations that aren’t gamebreaking.

Sure, there have been some long-lasting metas like Viper’s lineups, or the supremacy of Jett and Sova but as time has passed the player base has learned to work around most overpowered strategies. This isn’t to say that all agents are of equal strength, that would be an outright lie.

Agents like Jett or Raze are far superior to counterparts like Yoru and Phoenix. Despite this, the dev team are well aware of major discrepancies and are hearing the community out. For example, they just recently released their official rework plans for Yoru and what that is going to look like.

Firstly let’s explore how both agents and maps are holding up after 3 whole Episodes and 9 Acts. Towards the end of this article there will be some details about the Yoru rework to check out if you are interested.

Brim

It would be nice to see some of Brimstone’s kit reworked, especially his Stim Beacon. Compared to the abilities that other Controllers have this is one of the main things holding him back.

It certainly doesn’t have as much impact as Omen’s Paranoia or Astra’s Gravity Well. Riot has mentioned that they are looking to improve the state of Brimstone but this was a long while ago.

He has been left out of the meta for a long time. It would be nice to see him compete equally with Astra and Viper. I don’t think Brimstone needs his entire kit reworked like Yoru, his molly and ultimate are quite strong especially when it comes to post-plant situations.

It would be cool to see more of Brimstone in pro play, with a few small buffs I think he would be back in the meta.

Neon

There was plenty of hype around the release of this lightning-fast new agent, but at the moment it is safe to say that excitement around her release has died down and so has her pick-rate in games.

Unfortunately, she is not as strong as much of the community was predicting, her abilities are much more situational than expected and or maybe intended by the Riot dev team. Sprinting and sliding around can more often get you killed as opposed to successfully opening up space and initiating fights for your team.

I think down the line there may be a few tweaks to her kit, whether it is the strength of her ultimate ability or her re-equip timers for guns after sliding and sprinting.

Many of us believed that this zippy agent would take down Jett from her throne and be a worthy nemesis of hers but at this moment in time, I think it is apparent that Jett is still much stronger.

Neon has relatively strong engage potential but has basically no way of disengaging whilst Jett can dash out. Jett’s dash is something that will keep her as one of the most desirable agents for a long time to come.

Chamber

As just mentioned, Jett has been at the top of tier lists and a staple pick in pro-play and much of this comes down to how easily she can disengage from enemies with her dash.

Similar to Jett, Chamber can use his Rendezvous to almost instantaneously take himself out of danger and in fact, change his location entirely. (At least when Jett dashes you still have a rough idea as to where she may be but with Chamber this is a little less obvious).

Chamber’s teleport anchors are his strongest ability, especially when paired up with his Tour de Force sniper.

It is like having another Jett on your team, except he is also able to watch flanks and set up traps on-site to detect and slow incoming attackers. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Chamber is broken but he is certainly a strong pick and the fact that other Sentinels like Sage and Killjoy still find lots of play in solo-queue and pro play highlight how he has been balanced well.

Some thoughts on other agents

Remaining agents like Cypher, Sage, Raze, Reyna, Breach, Skye all feel very balanced. Some agents like Raze have a super high skill ceiling and opportunities for players to express themselves yet they remain feeling balanced, I think the devs deserve some praise for that.

When certain things have felt a little overtuned, I.e. Raze’s Boombot warranted a nerf in regards to cost increase and damage decrease. Another example is how Astra was able to activate stars immediately when the barrier dropped.

There is now a slight 1.5-second delay and this goes a long way in allowing the enemy team to seize some space and not be trapped behind the barrier as the round starts. Smart little changes like this have kept agents fine-tuned and gameplay well balanced.

Even small price costs to agent ultimate abilities have kept gameplay steady, I.e. Increase in the cost of Skye’s ultimate when she was feeling slightly overtuned, and a decrease to Cypher’s Neural Theft when it was feeling a bit underwhelming.

A change of heart for Breeze, Fracture and Icebox

For a long time after the release of each map, there was a strong negative sentiment towards each one. I would even go as far to say that these maps were hated by a significant portion of the community.

After release, there was quite a lengthy period of time where players would repeatedly dodge agent-select purely because the new map popped up. I know that there still may be dodges when it comes to Breeze or Fracture but after being out in the map rotation for this long now this is a rarity to see.

Personally, these 3 maps are some of my favorites when compared with originals like Haven or Bind. This may come down to repetitiveness; being a player from Episode 1, I have played more games on the older maps than the newer ones.

But the fact that Riot stuck to their guns and were confident that the community would learn to appreciate and like maps like Breeze and Fracture as time passes showcases just how calculated they are about what they are engineering and releasing.

Breeze, Fracture and Icebox all took a fair bit of time for players to wrap their heads around and begin understanding team strategies since they are drastically different to what tactical shooters have seen up until now. Heading towards the second Episode of Act 4 the community have had plenty of playtime on each of these maps I am starting to hear a lot of positive discussion around the new maps that were formerly disliked.

Furthermore, it is nice to see the Riot dev team track how maps are performing and continuously think of ways that they can improve playability for competitive gamers.

The simple changes towards Breeze, and Bind released at the start of Episode 4 saw barely any complaints from the community and for this they should be commended. Changing things that players have spent time familiarizing themselves with generally warrants some forms of backlash from the community.

Since this wasn’t the case it goes to show how the devs are aware of what is best for players and are thoughtful with their decision-making.

The addition of the yellow container (above) and double box/broken wall (below) are examples of the dev team making sure defenders have adequate cover both when retaking the bombsite and trying to hold it down from incoming enemy attackers.

Episode 1 of Act 4 is coming to an end and I don’t know about you, but I have almost entirely forgotten what the maps used to be like, this already feels so normal and so right.

Yoru Rework

On the VALORANT official website, a recent dev post outlined all the things we should be expecting from the new strengthened Yoru. Up until now picking Yoru in solo queue has almost always had your teammates questioning whether you are trolling, that alone says enough regarding just how weak he is compared to other duelists.

One of his weakest abilities was his Fakeout (footsteps), despite this ability encapsulating everything that Yoru is about; a sneaky and deceiving agent aiming to trick and confuse enemies, it was just far too weak and lacked any real impact.

It was easy for enemies to decipher and rarely assisted Yoru in making deceptive plays. The devs were aware of this and his Fakeout “is now a full copy of [himself], that runs forward, and when damaged, explodes and debuffs enemies.”

This small clip reveals how Yoru’s clone appears from both a teammate and an enemy’s perspective. It also showcases how he faces an enemy if shot at and then explodes to flash them.

Yoru’s Gatecrash now has an added option for faking the teleport. Whilst faking the Gatecrash, the same SFX is produced at the precise location and this is what should mess with opponents most. Only until they see Yoru’s puddle on the ground will they realize it was a misdirection.

Check it out here:

Lastly, there are a heap of changes for his ultimate: Dimensional Drift.

Here is the list from the devs,

• Yoru is no longer revealed to enemies
• Yoru is able to cast all utility while in Dimensional Drift
• Enemies can hear Yoru’s footsteps
• Nearsighted is removed
• Unequip delay time is increased slightly
• Cast delay added when casting Dimensional Drift, preventing the invulnerability frame on cast.

It is nice to see the nearsightedness eradicated as this lost Yoru some time whilst in his ultimate and forced him to zig-zag a fair bit to be sure that he is collecting the right intel.

It is interesting that enemies can hear Yoru’s footsteps, players that are using the dimensional drift will need to pair up other abilities like his blind to be able to exit his ultimate safely and stealthily.

These changes will push Yoru in the right direction away from his solo mission, in-your-face Shorty playstyle whilst ulting and channel his powers to be more team-oriented.

Since he can use abilities whilst ulting this should allow him to create deep flashes for his teammates and or force enemies off the angle they are holding to check whether his Fakeout is real or not.

These changes are really well thought out and I hope his new invigorated kit will be able to compete with other high tier duelists.

Final thoughts

Honestly VALORANT is in quite a good spot right now and there isn’t much to critique. It is going to be interesting to see how the game progresses as the agent pool continues to grow larger.

I don’t think that Riot devs have been guilty of any absolutely game breaking updates, sure the Ares meta at the start of this Act was pretty painful and probably one of their worst updates but there really hasn’t been too many of these sorts of changes.

Moreover, we have to give them credit for the way they promptly sorted out that Ares problem. Additionally, they are always hearing the community out and responding to any major problems. I.e. The player base was becoming far too familiar with how strong the Classic was and the ‘free gun btw’ movement in all-chat saw a nerf on its way in no time.

The balance team is really calculating and measuring things well. There is definitely an agent hierarchy with certain ones being more powerful than others, nevertheless, Riot are doing what they can to maintain balance and integrity for each agent’s kit with smart nerfs and buffs as time passes.

I am interested to see what efforts they make to bridge the gap between certain agents, especially in the duelist category.

Regardless of certain balance imperfections, more often than not if your opponents are dominating and you have just lost a game it is because the enemy team was simply better and or had smarter strategies.

I don’t think I have once thought to myself that one particular agent was hyper carrying with a broken kit, or ‘we lost that game because that ability is overtuned’, etc. Valorant is heavily skill and strategy based and I think the balance team is doing a great job at making it feel that way.

Thanks for reading! For more articles by our resident Radiant, Dandy, check them out here.

The post The State of VALORANT: Episode 1, Act 4 (A Radiant Player’s Thoughts) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Valorant’s new 18th Agent is a lightning-fast duelist (literally).

Neon is a cool and stylish Filipina imbued with electric powers.

Her kit is centralised around her ability to harness electricity as well as her speediness.

She is live now on all servers now so make sure to start grinding her contract if you want to play her.

ABILITY 1: HIGH GEAR (SPRINT & SLIDE)

Instantly channel Neon’s power for increased speed. When charged, ALT FIRE to trigger an electric slide. Slide charge resets every 2 kills.

Neon sprints with both hands empty and her arms are swinging. Activation of this ability is risky since Neon is completely vulnerable and needs time to whip her gun out.

This will best be used to surprise enemies by seizing space quickly and unexpectedly. She has the power to reach areas of the map faster than other agents, this will make her proficient at flanking quickly, entering sites rapidly, as well as seizing contested ground early in the round when the barrier drops.

Dying to a sliding Neon player may just be the next most tilting thing in Valorant. Using a combination of her sprint and slide makes her extremely hard to track. She clears a fair bit of terrain with her slide so if you thought you were getting wide-peeked before just wait until you fall victim to this.

After sliding, Neon is vulnerable momentarily; she can’t shoot her gun straight away. This is done deliberately in effort to balance how overpowered this ability could be if she was instantly shooting and sliding with precision.

Her slide functions like her passive since it resets. After 2 kills she gains another slide.

Popular streamer and YouTuber ‘Red’ is feeling confident that there is a lot of potential to make ‘movement’ plays with Neon and that the skill ceiling regarding her movement is expected to be high.

He has spent some time playing her alone in custom games to see how her Slide interacts with walls and objects and he found some pretty interesting things that experienced players most likely will be taking advantage of, (check it out from 6:45 onwards.)

ABILITY 2: LIGHTNING QUAKE

Instantly throw an energy bolt that bounces once. Upon hitting each surface, the bolt electrifies the ground below with a concussive blast.

This ability functions as a mixture of Yoru’s flash that rebounds off walls as well as Phoenix’s molly that drops down to the ground once it has reached its maximum travel distance.

Its circular radius is quite large like that of a Brimstone smoke and dazes enemies similar to Breach’s Faultline and Skye’s Trailblazer. This ability will be strong at clearing commonly played angles and should synergize well with the rest of her kit since she can close distance quickly to reach the concussed players.

For 400 credits you can purchase 2 of her quakes which allows her to stun up to 4 areas of the map.

ABILITY 3: FAST LANE

Fire two energy lines forward on the ground that extends a short distance or until they hit a surface. The lines rise into walls of static electricity that block vision and damage enemies that pass through them.

Sorry Phoenix, but the new chick on the block gets double what you have. Neon throws up two walls at once which travel quite a distance.

Its damage function impacts enemies over time similar to Phoenix’s wall.

ULTIMATE ABILITY: OVERDRIVE

Unleash Neon’s full power and speed for a short duration. FIRE to channel the power into a deadly lightning beam with high movement accuracy. The duration resets on each kill.

A beam of electricity shoots out of Neon’s hand in a straight line unaffected by her movement. This seems to deal tick damage and PBE gameplay has revealed there is no instant headshot for this ability.

Since it is a continuous stream of electricity that radiates out of her it would be too overpowered for it to have a one-shot headshot style function. Regardless of whether Neon is targeting her opponent’s head, torso or legs this electric shock will deal a similar amount of damage.

Credit: ShahZam

The fact that she can sprint whilst firing this electric beam will make her a very hard target to track and makes up for the fact that she can’t deal instantaneous lethal damage.

Strafing and fast non-linear movement are hard to track at close distances and this will see Neon excel in fast-paced, in-your-face type skirmishes. Nevertheless, her lightning beam is not restricted by distance and this makes her a threat from anywhere.

Neon Tips and Tricks

Let’s dive into some thoughts to keep in mind when using each ability

HIGH GEAR

• Sprinting allows for faster flanks than ever. Look to abuse this.

• Sprinting allows for even safer and faster jump/jiggle peeks.
• Switching from sprint to gun is not instantaneous
• Neon has a bar showing how much energy/ electrical charge she has remaining for this ability, when this is depleted she has to wait for it to recharge slowly.
• You only get one slide until it is recharged after 2 kills.
  • Therefore you should be careful with how you use this ability. It is a strong way to engage on individual enemies but can be suboptimal if you are unsure how many people you are peeking into.
  • You should be cautious and prudent with how you decide to use your slide round to round as it is one of her best ways to secure a kill.
• Neon can’t activate the slide whilst holding A or D by themselves. She needs to be holding W to activate her slide, hence she can only slide diagonally and or straight ahead.

LIGHTNING QUAKE

• Be thoughtful about where you are rebounding this ability since the first point of impact is also an area that is concussed.
  • Keep an eye out for quake lineups that will soon be invented and shared around the community.
  • It will be possible to concuss to chokepoints and or commonly held angles, I.E. If you rebound it off the top of Market from B Main on Ascent angled so that it hits stairs as well.
• Unlike Yoru’s flash ball that requires a left click to activate after pressing Q, there is no need for a left click activation on this ability, it will instantly be thrown out by Neon so be aware of this.
• Communicate to your team what areas you are deciding to quake as this will allow them to seize space to attack the concussed enemies, I.e. Jett will be aware that she should dash have her crosshair ready for Ascent B Stairs.

FAST LANE

• Make sure not to use this ability selfishly since your teammates can also take damage from this wall when walking through it. Make sure not to wall them off awkwardly in ways that forces them to walk through and take damage or stay stuck inside or outside.
• Although it functions well as a passageway for you to run through you shouldn’t be overly confident that it is keeping you safe. Beware of brave enemy players that decide to peek into the wall with agents like Jett, Chamber, and Reyna who have strong disengage methods.
• Try not to be obvious with this wall, this wall allows you to add a layer of deception to your team’s strategy since the enemy is denied a serious amount of vision. You don’t always have to push directly through it. Sometimes you can unexpectedly try to push out the sides early or use it as a diversion. Pairing this up with your Lightning Quake can make for a solid entry plan
• It might be worth sliding out of her Fast Lane to catch enemies by surprise.
• Communicate with your team how you should use her Fast Lane, or at least make them aware of what you are going to do since this ability pairs up well with other utility such as a Sova Drone, Sova Recon Dart etc.

ULTIMATE: OVERDRIVE

• Make sure you aren’t standing still whilst using this ability. Sprint, strafe and slide so that you are a hard target to hit.
  • Jumping resets the momentum of Neon’s sprint so make sure not to jump unless you are prepared to slow down your speed.
• This ability has a timer similar to Reyna’s ultimate; it resets with every kill. Neon should only activate this ultimate in a similar manner to how Reyna activates her Empress when she is anticipating a fight.
  • If you activate it right at the start of the round you may not find an enemy in time.
• You should feel confident at tracking opponents before being aggressive with this ultimate ability.
  • Practising some aim trainers like KovaaKs or Aimlabs and completing tracker specific tasks may help you feel more comfortable using this lightning beam.

• Sliding does not pause her lightning beam, so be sure to use it whilst firing.
• Don’t be afraid to hold down your LMB and continuously shoot your ultimate.
  • Prefiring your opponents is going to increase the speed at which you deal lethal damage. You have infinite ammo so there is no need to be conservative about using the beam.

Maps

Haven, Ascent, and Bind

Her Lightning Quake will excel at clearing multiple commonly played angles on bomb sites since there is a lot of opportunity to rebound this ability and maximise the dual concussive function.
I.e. Rebounding from A Long can clear the Cubby at A Short as well as back site.

It is thought that Neon has the potential to excel at most maps in the game given that the high-level streamers and pro players establish valid lineups for Lightning Quake and uses for her Fast Lane.

It is tough to predict right now whether some maps are better suited to her than others. She is strong when in close-range skirmishes with opponents as it is tough to track the speed at which she can come flying in.

Final Thoughts

Chamber was released not long ago with two deadly weapons in his arsenal and now Neon is inbound inflicting electric shock to her opponents from her fingertips.

This beam of electricity easily deals lethal damage to opponents. These two additions back to back highlight how Riot developers seem set on providing agents with more unique and inbuilt ways to kill enemies. This spices up the game and prevents things from getting bland with stock standard rifles used every round.

It is cool to see the devs empower Neon with a lethal ultimate that seems like it will go toe-to-toe with Jett’s Bladestorm. It is safe to say that nothing up until this point can compare to Jett’s fast-paced and nimble playstyle.

She has been able to get out of danger free with evasive dashes. Moreover, she has been bamboozling her opponents by adding Updrafts into the mix and then securing kills with the pixel-perfect precision of her kunai.

Rest assured, the era of Jett duelist supremacy may finally be over. Neon’s kit may just be deadly enough to compete equally against Jett. I’m pretty excited to see Neon sprinting, sliding, and zapping enemies dead all at the same time. It seems much of the community is pretty hyped too.

Hope this information has left you feeling a bit more confident to lock in Neon and give her a shot. It is strongly recommended to give her a practise in the range, in custom games and or in Unrated before picking her in ranked as she is tricky to get the hang of. As always best of luck in your ranked grind!

What do you think of the new VALORANT agent? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Neon – VALORANT Agent Guide appeared first on Mobalytics.

The release of ‘Deadeye’ has been heavily anticipated by the VALORANT community. We can now confirm that this agent is actually named Chamber.

He is very suave and looks a bit like a hitman or secret agent. In his cinematic reveal, we get a glimpse into his slick aesthetic and learn of his French origins.

His smooth criminal demeanor has much of the community raving about him being VALORANT’s coolest agent yet.

Additionally, the cinematic gives us a bit of an insight into his abilities, let’s run through them now.

C- Trademark

Place a trap that scans for enemies. When a visible enemy comes in range, the trap counts down then destabilizes the terrain around them, creating a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.

Unlike Killjoy’s Alarm Bot, this trap is visible to enemies and if it is not concealed well it is easily destroyable. Its range is massive, roughly 3 or 4 times larger than the Alarm Bot’s radius.

This ability has two charges meaning Chamber is quite competent when it comes to covering flank routes as most maps generally have more than one route which the enemy can flank from.

This sounds like a traditional ability you would find in a Sentinel’s kit. Apart from this the rest of his abilities are quite unique for a Sentinel.

Killjoy, Cypher and Sage assist their teammates immensely without having to aim, they are proficient at delaying pushes to sites with abilities like Slow Orb and Nanoswarm + Turret combo. Meanwhile, Chamber is going to have to rely on outplay and aim to maximise his kit and effectively hold sites for his team.

Q – Headhunter

Activate to equip a heavy pistol. Alt fire with the pistol equipped to aim down sights.

Unlike the Sheriff, Chamber’s Headhunter will be able to one shot enemies at any distance with a headshot. To help with this, right-clicking will allow you to aim down sight.

This is going to help tremendously when it comes to securing long range kills. These two features make it more advanced than the Sheriff.

Despite looking like a pistol, it has the power to function more like a Guardian. (Which is crazy when you think about the hefty 2250 price of the Guardian that you are getting at the price of a cheap ability.)

Each bullet of the Headhunter costs 100 credits. However many bullets that were not used end up being carried on to the next round.

Arguably the Headhunter at 100 credits a bullet will be able to go toe-to-toe with the Vandal and Phantom at very long range duels. In these types of gunfights precision is key and neither one of these rifles should be sprayed, they need to be tapped or burst fired.

If you are comfortable using the aim down sight function with rifles then the Headhunter is a very viable option in these sorts of aim duels.

For example, there is no need for Chamber to buy a Marshal on Breeze since the Headhunter will do just about the same job, see below.

E – Rendezvous

Places two teleport anchors. While on the ground and in range of an anchor, reactivate to quickly teleport to the other anchor. Anchors can be picked up to be redeployed.

Only Chamber can use these teleport anchors. After using them there is a time delay of roughly 10 seconds before he can use it again. He can use it regardless of whether it is in his line of sight.

There can be an object in between him and the anchor but as long as he is within its radius he will be able to use it.

It seems as though Chamber’s playstyle will lean towards trying to secure one kill on site before using his Rendezvous to retreat to safety and play retake.

He can also play riskier positions on site before using Rendezvous to teleport to a safer area.

X (ULTIMATE) – Tour de Force

Activate to summon a powerful, custom sniper rifle that will kill an enemy with any direct hit. Killing an enemy creates a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.

This is stronger than the Operator since this custom sniper can one shot even to the legs.

If the enemy decides to fast push something like C Long on Haven, and Chamber kills one of them with his Tour de Force rifle.

It is going to completely derail their plan of attacking the site as not only have they lost a member of their team but they are also slowed and can no longer commit to the fast push.

This ability costs 7 ultimate points. You only get one clip of 5 bullets with this sniper.

The Tour de Force sniper rifle’s functionality is more like a Marshal than an Operator. It is a dual scope meaning it has two levels of zoom distance like the Operator. Despite its appearance, it feels lightweight and easier to control when compared to the sluggish and slow Operator.

The fire rate is significantly faster than the Operator meaning you can re-peek angles with more confidence. After firing the Operator, the enemy that was shot at has a small window to try and advance their position or change the angle that they are holding.

This can often lead to the player on the Operator getting picked off since they are caught off guard when re-peeking.

It is much tougher for enemies to try to make plays or seize space immediately after Chamber has fired his Tour de Force since it is cocked and loaded much quicker than the Operator.

Ultimately, Chamber’s re-peek potential is very strong and could lead to him securing multiple picks on enemies attempting to rush him. If Chamber did manage to secure a kill with his sniper, there will now be a slow field below the fallen enemy immobilizing any teammates they have nearby.

The fact that enemies are now slowed may prevent them from retreating behind cover since the Tour de Force will often be able to catch them off with its fire rate.

Furthermore, the fact that even a legshot does 150 damage means that the player has more confidence to aggressively flick to the enemy as they don’t need to perfectly line up shots for chest height.

All of this combined is going to lead to Chamber’s Tour de Force feeling like an Operator on steroids. The only downside is that there are only 5 bullets.

A Radiant Players’ Thoughts and Opinions on Chamber

I can see Chamber relying on a lot of mechanical skill to be used to his fullest potential, similar to Jett. In low elo Jett can be a bit of a punching bag as she is a high-risk high reward agent.

The low elo Jett may cop a bit of abuse from her team from time to time, ‘instalock duelist and bottom frag’.

I can picture the same sort of thing happening to those who pick Chamber. His kit is relatively risk-reward orientated and will rely on you hitting your shots.

Other than his Trap he doesn’t have much else to delay enemy pushes and is arguably a weaker Sentinel round-to-round in comparison to Cypher or Killjoy who can anchor a site very comfortably with their utility.

Again, similarly to Jett, Chamber will strengthen his team’s eco rounds significantly. I can see Jett and Chamber pairing up well on a team for this very reason. On eco rounds, Jett can have her knives and Chamber can use his custom sniper rifle.

If the other 3 players manage to organize a decent half-buy the team will be in a pretty strong position compared to standard eco rounds. Chamber is debatably going to be the best agent when it comes to being frugal and maximizing team economy.

For example, even if he doesn’t have his ultimate on a save round, he can use his Headhunter and then purchase a pistol for his teammate.

Depending how comfortable you are with the Headhunter you could even opt to use it round to round whilst buying rifles for teammates who couldn’t afford any. This is like a cheat code for your team’s economy since every round it only costs 800 credits to have 8 bullets of a Guardian esque gun.

I can see Chamber being popular on maps with long lines of sight where his Tour de Force will thrive and be used to its fullest potential. I assume he will have a high pick rate on Breeze, Fracture and Icebox. Especially on Fracture, since there are 4 ultimate orbs to be farmed, this will mean that Chamber can unlock his Tour de Force more frequently.

Hope you learned something about the new agent here, and as always, good luck with your VALORANT grind!

What do you think of the new VALORANT agent? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Chamber – VALORANT Agent Guide appeared first on Mobalytics.