VALORANT Agents and Abilities

VALORANT is the new competitive first-person shooter from Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra. In this game, players can pick from ten playable Agents, each with their own special abilities and unique styles of play, to battle it out in a competitive 5v5 24-round match.

Valorant Agents

There are ten playable characters in VALORANT at the moment. Some Agents are better defensively, while some excel on the offence. Others are great for support and complement specific team compositions. Agent abilities can be synergized for some strong combos like in Overwatch. Here are the current playable Agents:

• Phoenix
• Jett
• Sage
• Viper
• Brimstone
• Cypher
• Sova
• Omen
• Breach
• Raze
• Reyna

Phoenix – United Kingdom

Phoenix ignites the maps with his team or on his own. He wields the power of flame, throwing deadly fireballs, flame walls, and flashbangs to disrupt the enemy team. He’s the ultimate offensive Agent to run in any team composition.

Phoenix Abilities

• Hot Hands – throws a fireball that explodes on impact, dealing fire damage to the enemies and healing teammates.
• Blaze – puts up a flame wall that blocks vision and damages anyone passing through it.
• Curveball – a fiery burst that blinds any enemies looking into it when it explodes.
• Ultimate: Run it Back – marks your current location and respawns you there if you die before the ability expires.

Jett – Korea

Jett has abilities that deal with air and wind. She has at least two confirmed abilities. Her first ability is Cloudburst which can be thrown anywhere on the map. She has multiple charges of this ability, and it basically creates a globe of smoke on the map that cannot be seen through. Cloudburst also sticks to whatever it hit on impact and expands from there.

Jett Abilities

• Cloudburst – a projectile that spawns a smoke cloud that obstructs vision.
• Updraft – launch yourself forward.
• Tailwind – dash in the direction you are moving.
• Ultimate: Blade Storm – unleash deadly throwing knives.

Sage – China

Sage is a master of support, bringing safety to herself and her teammates when things get rough. She can revive teammates, stop enemy assaults, and heal the team in the heat of battle. Sage proves to be a great utility Agent in most team compositions.

Sage Abilities

• Slow Orb – an orb that explodes and covers the ground in a substance that slows any enemies that move through it.
• Barrier Orb – spawn a large barrier which you can rotate prior to placing.
• Healing Orb – heals an ally or yourself to full HP.
• Ultimate: Resurrect – resurrect a friendly player with full health.

Viper – United States

Viper has at least one confirmed ability called Toxic Wall. This ability casts a wall that you and the enemy can move through but cannot be seen through. It also has a meter that depletes as the wall is up, so the wall can only go up for a set amount of time. The meter recharges when the wall is down, and you can choose to toggle the wall on or off freely.

Viper Abilities

• Snakebite – a projectile that explodes with acid, damaging enemies.
• Poison Cloud – created a poison cloud from a gas canister, which can be picked up and thrown again.
• Toxic Screen – creates a wall of gas for a limited time.
• Viper’s Pit – a toxic cloud that damages enemies and reveals their locations, and lasts as long as Viper is inside of it.

Brimstone

Brimstone uses an orbital arsenal to make sure his team has the tactical advantage. His support skills can synergize nicely with other Agents for superior zone control on the offensive. Defensively, Brimstone’s Orbital Strike and other abilities make pushing bombsites a challenge for the opposing team.

Brimstone Abilities

• Incendiary – a grenade that deals fire damage in an area.
• Stim Beacon – gives all players rapid-fire in a target location.
• Sky Smoke – calls in an orbital smokescreen in a target location.
• Ultimate: Orbital Strike – calls in an orbital strike in a target location, damaging all enemies in the vicinity.

Cypher – Morocco

Cypher is the surveillance network for the entire team, keeping tabs on enemy positions and revealing information about them. Cypher is a must-have Agent on your team for preventing flanks, gathering intel, and supporting the team.

Cypher Abilities

• Trapwire – places a tripwire between walls which is triggered when an enemy walks over it, immobilizing them and dealing damage.
• Cyber Cage – a remotely detonated trap that cages an enemy.
• Spycam – a remote camera that can be toggled to at any point to view an area, capable of firing a tracking dart.
• Ultimate: Neural Theft – reveals location information from a downed enemy.

Sova – Russia

Sova utilizes Recon Bolts and Owl Drones to scout out the enemy locations and reveal their positions. Shock Bolt can force enemies out of positions by bouncing around walls. Sova’s ultimate, Hunter’s Fury, fires three times and goes through walls making it perfect for clearing large areas.

Sova Abilities

• Shock Bolt – an explosive bolt that damaged enemy on impact.
• Owl Drone – a drone that can reveal the enemy locations.
• Recon Bolt – a destroyable sonar that can ping enemies and reveal their locations.
• Ultimate: Hunter’s Fury – three deadly energy blasts that launch through the entire map dealing damage to anyone it passes through.

Omen

Omen is a shadow hunter, capable of blinding enemies and teleporting around the map.

Omen Abilities

• Paranoia – launches a shadow in a straight line, partially blinding anyone it hits.
• Shadow Walk – teleports you a short distance.
• Dark Cover – a stealthy projectile that explodes at its destination.
• Ultimate: From the Shadows – teleport to anywhere on the map and become invulnerable for a short time, respawning back where you started if you die.

Breach

Breach is the designated team tank, utilizing explosive charges to execute assaults and defend bombsites. His abilities are ideal for crowd controlling large groups of people and securing chokepoints so his team can push in behind him.

Breach Abilities

• Aftershock – Equips a fusion charge which can be charged up before releasing a slow-acting burst through the wall that deals heavy damage to anyone caught in it.
• Flashpoint – Equip a blinding charge that fires a fast-acting burst through the wall that detonates and blinds all players.
• Fault Line – Equips a seismic blast that releases a quake, dazing and anyone caught in the path. The distance can be increased by holding left-click.
• Rolling Thunder – Equips a seismic charge that sends a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. It dazes and knocks around anyone caught in it.

Raze

Raze has a huge arsenal of explosives. She uses a blunt-force-trauma playstyle and excels at pushing enemies out of tight quarter spots with a big boom.

All her moves damage enemies and the chokepoints on the maps are all very small. Therefore, she’s extremely effective at holding down any chokepoint and can easily stop any push on her own.

Raze Abilities

• Boom Bot – Equips a boom bot which deploys when you fire. It goes in a straight line on the ground and bounces off the walls. The Boom Bot locks on to any enemies in its frontal cone and chases them, exploding for heavy damage if it gets to them.
• Paint Shells – Equips a cluster grenade that you can throw to damage enemies. Creatures submunitions, each doing damage to anyone in their range.
• Blast Pack – Instantly throws a Black Pack that sticks to surfaces, which detonates when you re-use the ability. Damages enemies and launched Raze in the air.
• Showstopper – Raze equips a Rocket Launcher that has one-shot capabilities. Can be fired one time and the damage is the same throughout the entire blast radius.

Raze has a huge arsenal of explosives. She uses a blunt-force-trauma playstyle and excels at pushing enemies out of tight quarter spots with a big boom. At her current state, she is kind of overpowered in that all her moves damage enemies and the chokepoints on the maps are all very small. She’s extremely effective at holding down any chokepoint and can easily stop any push on her own.

Reyna

Reyna has a range of abilities that contribute to her overall power. Upon killing enemies, she can collect Soul Orbs to heal herself or make herself immune and invisible if she grabs them during her ultimate phase, Empress. Let’s take a look at her abilities:

Reyna Abilities

• Leer – Reyna equips an ethereal, destructible eye. Activate to cast the eye a short distance forward. The eye will Nearsight all enemies who look at it.
• Devour – Enemies killed by Reyna leave behind Soul Orbs lasting three seconds. Devour instantly consumes the soul orb, healing her for a short duration. Health gained through this skill exceeding 100 decays over time. If Empress is active, the skill automatically casts and does not consume Soul Orbs.
• Dismiss – Reyna instantly consumes a nearby Soul Orb, becoming intangible for a short duration. If EMPRESS is active, she also becomes invisible.
• Empress – Instantly enter into a frenzy, increasing fire rate, equip, and reload speed. Gain infinite charges of Soul Harvest abilities. Getting a kill renews the duration.

Reyna is the newest Agent in Valorant, so we haven’t seen much gameplay out of her yet. Her abilities seem insane for solo play, and a good player might be able to carry matches with her single-handedly.