Want to learn how to play an Initiator but don’t know which one best suits your playstyle? Initiators have a wide versatility of playstyles and roles on top of just information gathering, and this guide will show which initiator is the perfect one for you.
Initiators play an essential and widely versatile role in the game of VALORANT. They range from agents with incredible information gathering abilities, like Sova (as well the newest addition to the family Fade), to others with insanely good flash abilities, like Breach. Then of course, there are agents that carry both information and flash abilities, like Skye and KAY/O.)
The versatility of Initiators comes from the many different ways that some abilities can be used. Whether it is using your abilities in order to help a teammate gain an advantage when peeking an enemy, or to even help yourself and play quite aggressively against the enemy team. It may even be to help your team gain information as to where the enemy team may be. Having a mixture of these two different playstyles in the game can be very helpful, as it can keep the enemy team guessing and on their toes at all times.
Whether your team is defending or attacking, gathering information will always be useful. Being able to obtain information as to where the enemy team is located on the map is a great way to gain map control, as well as just very helpful information overall. Initiators like Sova, Skye, KAY/O, and Fade are well-suited for this job of gaining information, whereas a less information-oriented agent like Breach, may not fill this role as well. The abilities that these initiators can use to gather information include:
Gaining this information does not just benefit the player playing the initiator, but also positively impacts everyone on the team. Many of the abilities listed reveal just as much information to the team (by pinging or tracking an enemy) as to the player playing an Initiator. An Initiator’s voice chat communications can also give more information than what is revealed through game mechanics, such as a Sova player describing what he sees while using his Owl Drone ability. Additionally, using one of listed information-gathering abilities and then not seeing or hearing an enemy in the vicinity that the ability was used is a source of information as well! Your team now knows that there is nobody in that area, and to be careful on the opposite side of the map, where the opponents may be gearing for a heavy push on the other site.
In the game of VALORANT, there can be many obstacles that prevent your team from pushing onto a site while attacking. Those obstacles can include: a player with an Operator, Sentinel agents (e.g., Killjoy, Cypher, or Chamber) holding down the site, or maybe just an absurd number of enemy players on that site. In order to prevent these obstacles from slowing or stopping your team’s push, Initiators such as Skye, Sova, KAY/O, and Fade should use their information gathering abilities in order to warn and prevent their team from engaging with the said obstacles.
Clearing angles and corners with initiators is a piece of cake. Initiators like Sova can use his Own Drone and Skye can use her Trailblazer in order to clear those who may be playing with a shotgun in a close corner, or to clear out a player who might be using an Operator. Breach can use his Aftershock (C) to clear out the corners and angles players may commonly hold.
The initiator is a role that greatly benefits the entire team. Communicating to your team that you will do a specific play or use an ability a certain way may lead to a much more impactful play if a teammate is involved. For example, using Breach’s Fault Line or Flashpoint on an angle that you’ve noticed a player usually holds, and then having a Jett dash or Raze satchel onto the stunned or flashed enemy player can secure an easy kill for your team. This is a great way to help your team conduct a push and to get an easy first blood advantage for you and your team.
A large population of VALORANT players can agree that all initiators have some of the most powerful abilities in the game. Some might say the best ability is Breach’s Fault Line, a very long-lasting stunning ability that affects players standing in the zone when the ability goes off. Others might argue for Sova’s Owl Drone, marking any enemy players that are struck with the drone’s dart. Although these abilities are very important and need to be utilized just as well as every other ability in VALORANT, some of the most impactful abilities that some initiators hold are their well-known flash abilities. Those abilities include:
All three of the abilities stated above are abilities that will leave enemies who look at the flashes blinded for a certain amount of time.
Playing aggressively as either Skye or Breach can be quite simple, as their flash abilities can help secure easy kills onto the enemy team. Making plays such as standing in a smoke and then flashing out of that smoke will catch many of your enemies off-guard and unable to react. Although, you must be careful and use this play very wisely, as the enemy team may start catching onto your plays and start adapting to them in the rounds to come. Additionally, be aware as to where your teammates are playing on the map, as they are affected by these abilities as well.
Another Initiator that can be used very aggressively is KAY/O. When first seeing KAY/O’s ability kit, you might assume that his kit is made for a duelist agent. Well, it certainly seems like it, especially in his ultimate form. KAY/O’s FLASH/Drive is a flashbang that can be thrown further with a left-click and shorter with a right-click. One of the best ways to use the right-click FLASH/Drive, is as a popflash, a flash that pops as soon as it appears in the enemy’s field of view.
Speaking of ultimate abilities, in order to play Initiators the best you can, you must use your ultimate the right way, and most importantly, the right time!
Cost: 8 Ultimate Orbs ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Sova’s ultimate ability is an ability that has three long range laser blasts that deal 80 damage per hit. Enemies who are caught in the line will briefly have their location revealed for Sova’s eyes only. One of the best ways to use Sova’s ultimate on the attacking side is to save it until after the spike is planted. Once an enemy tries defusing the spike, they will be struck by Sova’s ultimate and will have to stop defusing the spike until his ultimate ability runs out, or else they will die to your Fury.
Cost: 7 Ultimate Orbs ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
When activated, Skye sends out three Seekers to track down the three enemies that are the closest to Skye. Once reaching the enemies, the Seekers will nearsight them for three seconds.
One of the best ways to use Skye’s ultimate, is by using it to clear the site your team is planning on executing. Keeping an eye on where the Seekers are heading will help give you a good understanding as to where the enemy team is hiding.
Cost: 7 Ultimate Orbs ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Once used, Breach sends out waves of tremors, concussing all enemies caught within those waves, as well as knocking them up into the air.
The most optimal time to use a Breach ultimate ability is when your team plans on taking a site as quickly as possible. Those who are affected by Rolling Thunder will have little to no chance of getting kills onto the attacking team flooding into the site.
Cost: 7 Ultimate Orbs ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
While KAY/O is in his ultimate ability NULL/cmd, he receives faster attack speed, suppresses those within a certain distance, and most importantly, he is able to be rebooted by a teammate once downed.
NULL/cmd is one of the strongest ultimates in the game, primarily because when pushing a site with a KAY/O ultimate, the enemy team will have nothing other than their guns to assist them. This is a nightmare for Sentinels like Killjoy, Cypher, and Chamber who rely on their defensive abilities to lock down sites by themselves.
Cost: 7 Ultimate Orbs ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Speaking of nightmare, Fade’s ultimate ability is used similarly to a Breach ultimate, but instead of the enemies being knocked into the air, the waves of nightmare energy will deal 75 decay damage, deafen, and also leave trails for Fade’s Prowlers to latch onto.
The optimal time to use Fade’s ultimate is much like Breach, when your team is planning on doing a quick execute onto a site. Her ultimate will cause the enemies to not be able to hear any footsteps or the spike being planted while being deafened by the Nightfall.
In VALORANT, all Initiators play a different role for the team. Some Initiators can be used a lot more aggressively, while some of them could be used a lot more passively and laid-back. But now that we have told you exactly what each of them specialize in, we hope you have figured out which initiator is perfect for you and your playstyle. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this guide, and found it useful enough to apply it to your own gameplay! Good luck and have fun!
