Riot Games has, for the first time, step foot into the world of First-Person Shooters with its new game, Valorant. The game is essentially a breed of Counter Strike’s lethality and the ability to play different agents or Agents from Overwatch. Each match in Valorant is played between two teams of 5, across 4 maps. There are 10 playable Legends in Valorant categorized into 4 classes.

Types of Abilities

Before delving deep into each Agent’s abilities and ultimate, it's important to consider how abilities of Agent work in Valorant because it's different from most other shooters. By default, Valorant agents have these abilities:

1. An ultimate ability: This ability will charge over time depending upon your performance in each round. Eliminating opponents or fulfilling objectives will cause the ability to charge faster.
2. A signature, or Tactical ability: This ability is usable every round, and has a set cooldown to it; however, the time of cooldown varies on the agent selected.
3. Two Additional Abilities: Each Agent has two additional abilities that require charges to be purchased from the store at the start of a round.

Unlike Overwatch, there are no class-specific weapons, which means an Agent can buy any weapon from the store at the start of a round and equip weapons from the body of eliminated players.  

Agent Classes:

Like most FPS hero-based games, Valorant, too, has classes: Duelist: This type of class is the most offensive option and often ranks high as an Attacker. Their abilities and expertise come in handy while engaging with opponents. They act as the frontline of the team, pushing into fights on the first sight of an enemy. Initiators: Their abilities are centered around reconnaissance and can be extremely useful to know the enemy’s whereabouts. They are of great assistance to the team, especially while engaging in gunfights. Controllers: This class provides plenty of utility in the form of slowing down the enemy players through Wall, Smoke, and other methods. Their ability can be useful to get out of tough spots, or even while pursuing a jump-attack on an opponent. They offer great support to the team, in general. Sentinel: These Agents are best suitable for defense. They specialize in locking down and guarding a specific area, as well as watching out for your team’s flanks while you push into battles.  

Agents, and their abilities:

Duelists:

 

Phoenix:

Phoenix is a combative character who thrives in rushing into combat and pushing other players around, especially by using his fire abilities. Abilities: Blaze (Purchasable): Summon a wall of fire that blocks vision and hurts anyone who passes by it. Curveball (Purchasable): Throwing Flash-bang (controllable flash grenade) with the potential of blinding team-mates and opponents. Hot Hands (Signature): Throws a fireball, which either after a short time or upon contact with the grounds covers an area in flames damaging opponents while healing you. Run it back (Ultimate): Place a marker on the ground. You will respawn at the marker with full health in the event of your death or end of the time set on the ultimate ability.

Jett:

An agile soldier specializing in flanking enemies and taking them out with rapid, accurate ambushes. She has an evasive fighting style, and with her abilities she is an excellent option as an offensive Agent. Abilities: Cloudburst (Purchasable): Throw out a cloud of fog that will obscure vision on impact. The trajectory of the cloud is controllable. Updraft (Purchasable): You can propel yourself upwards and float around for a brief second, allowing you to use places to your advantage which other Agents cant. Tailwind (Signature): Dash a short distance in the direction of your movement. Bladestorm (Ultimate): You will be armed with several throwing knives which damage your opponent severely on contact and eliminate on headshots. Each kill replenishes a lost dagger.

Raze:

This explosive agent is guaranteed to do a lot of harm to her rivals and is great at outlasting out her adversaries. She can be especially useful if a player can successfully anticipate the enemy’s location. Abilities: Blast Pack (Purchasable): An item that will stick to surfaces, and upon using the ability again will detonate damaging anything in its vicinity. Boom Bot (Purchasable): Deploy a bot that will travel in straight lines and bounce off walls and it will, on the site of any enemy, lock them as target and explode causing them a lot of damage. Paint Shells (Signature): Throws a cluster grenade, inflicting damage upon exploding. Showstopper (Ultimate): Equip a rocket launcher that shoots out a rocket dealing massive area damage to anything contact with.  

Initiators:

Sova:

This agent is known for his custom bow and his recon abilities. He exposes enemies to improve the chances of eliminating them. Abilities: Shock Bolt (Purchasable): Fire an arrow radiating bursts of static energy to deal damage. Owl Drone (Purchasable): A pilotable drone launching arrows to reveal the location of your enemies. Recon Bolt (Signature): A sonar emitting bow is fired, which reveals the location of enemies in the area until destroyed. Hunter’s Furry (Ultimate): Three energy bursts are fired that can pierce walls and fly the length of the map. Any adversary that is struck can suffer a lot of damage and have their location exposed.

Breach:

Pushing into bombsites can often be dangerous and is subject to an unexpected outcome. By using Breach as your agent, you can stun and blind your enemies; thus, easing your capture of the bomb site. Abilities: Flashpoint (Purchasable): Fires a flash charge into a wall that can damage players on the opposite side. Aftershock (Purchasable): Fire an explosive charge, breaching walls and damaging players near it. Fault Line (Signature): A controlled earthquake which can travel through walls and stun enemies. Rolling Thunder (Ultimate): A stronger earthquake that dazes and deals a lot of damage to enemies.  

Controllers:

Viper:

Viper, with an expertise in chemical warfare, can deploy a range of toxic chemical devices to control the battlefield and weaken the enemy's vision. Abilities: Snakebite (Purchasable): Fires a projectile creating a pool of acid. Poison Cloud (Purchasable): Throw a gas bomb that produces a wave of radioactive smoke at the expense of fuel. After a short cooldown, the ability can be reused. Toxic Screen (Signature): Activates a line of gas emitters to create a toxic wall. This is, too, at the expense of fuel. Viper’s Pit (Ultimate): Creates a poison cloud that covers a large area, allowing Viper to eliminate trapped enemies.

Brimstone:

His skills center around controlling enemy actions and inflicting harm. His additional abilities contain the enemies while his signature and ultimate apply the finishing touch. If used effectively, Brimstone’s abilities will ensure that your team has the advantage. Abilities: Incendiary (Purchasable): Throws a grenade covering the area in contact with flames. Stim Beacon (Purchasable): Deploy a beacon granting players (teammates and enemies alike) in the area an increased fire rate. Sky Smoke (Signature): Pinpoint locations on the map where smoke grenades are deployed blocking enemies’ vision. Orbital Strike (Ultimate): Launch a deadly orbital strike on the target selected on the map. The strike lasts for several seconds.

Omen:

This agent’s abilities are extremely useful but very hard to master and use. He can teleport around the map and jump up on blindsided enemies. Abilities: Paranoia (Purchasable): Deploy a shadow replica in a straight line that inflicts blindness on everyone it hits. Shadow Walk (Purchasable): Teleport a short distance. Dark Cover (Signature): Throw an orb that turns into an obscuring sphere of shadow once it reaches its destination. You can charge it to increase its maximum distance. From The Shadows (Ultimate): You can teleport anywhere on the map, and become invincible for a brief period after teleporting. However, enemies can see a "shade" and cancel your teleportation by destroying it.  

Sentinels:

Sage:

Sage, Valorant 's only medic, can revive downed teammates. As a service worker, she requires a cautious gameplay style that holds her safe for as long as possible. Abilities: Slow Orb (Purchasable): Throws a sphere that generates a barrier slowing down anyone that moves into it, and creating a loud noise as they step through it. Barrier Orb (Purchasable):  A large unbreachable wall is created. Healing Orb (Signature): An orb that can heal you or your teammate. Health regenerates over time and isn’t instantaneous. Resurrection (Ultimate): Revive an ally to full health.

Cypher:

Moroccan Agent Cypher is the ideal character for surveillance. He possesses information about the enemy’s whereabouts and can be a viable asset to the team. This agent is a specialist at luring rivals into dangerous traps and exposing their actions. Abilities: Trapwire (Purchasable): Place a wire between two walls. Enemies who pass the wired will slow enemies and reveal their position. Cyber Cage (Purchasable): A controllable trap that can slow enemies upon being activated. Cypher has the potential to detonate these traps as well. Spycam (Signature): Place a camera with an ability to fire tracking darts at enemies. Neural Theft (Ultimate): Extracting information from a dead enemy to reveal their allies’ location.  

Key Takeaway:

Each Agent in Valorant has unique abilities to offer. The effectiveness of these Agents will vary based on how a player strategizes. Upon initial launch of the game players will unlock 5 out of the 10 Legends, while others will unlock as players progress through the game. Some Agents, such as Phoenix, are easy to use while others such as Omen can take days to perfect. All images used are courtesy of Riot Games.