VALORANT’s newest addition is finally here, and boy is she frightening. On top of the incredible character design and cinematic Riot Games released, the newest agent Fade provides brand new information gathering abilities that have the potential to change the game forever.
Fade’s release on April 27, 2022 brought a lot of excitement to the VALORANT community with the promise that her information-gaining abilities would rival that of Sova. Being an initiator, Fade’s main job is to provide information for herself and her team, as well as provide something unique to the initiator lineup. Fade’s specialty is receiving a ton of information, while leaving the enemies terrified, or more specifically, deafened.
Being a brand-new agent, not many players know how to play against Fade. Whether that is because of her abilities that are visually hard to distinguish from each other, or just because she is so new to the point that nobody understands a single thing being thrown by her. Both reasons are completely valid, but those who want to learn how to play Fade at her highest potential must take advantage of the enemy team’s confusion and get a head start on understanding how Fade can be utilized.
Fade’s four abilities include:
As an Initiator, Fade holds multiple abilities that can gather information for her team. She fills this role with the three information abilities she holds: Haunt (E), Prowler (C), and Nightfall (X). Each of these abilities listed do something special on top of just revealing where the enemy team is, which will be discussed later in the article.
Fade’s throwable abilities act similarly to throwable abilities from other agents in the game, most closely mimicking how Phoenix’s Hot Hands ability drops down to the ground below after a certain amount of time in the air. In contrast, with Fade’s abilities, the player is able to drop the throwable abilities as early as they want, just by pressing the ability button a second time while it is in the air. Also, along with many other throwable abilities in VALORANT, momentum plays a huge role when throwing the ability. Sprinting forward and jumping will make the ability go faster and higher, while doing the opposite will make the ability go slower and shorter.
Fade equips a knot of raw fear. Once thrown, the knot will drop after a set amount of time. The player can drop the knot early by pressing the ability button once again, while it is in the air. Once the knot hits the ground, it will create an AOE effect, capturing enemies caught inside it. Enemies who are captured by this ability are held inside of the ability’s radius, holding them in place until the ability times out.
Cost: 200 Credits
Ability Duration: 4.5 seconds
Debuffs: Enemies are deafened and decayed for 75 HP, which is then restored during the 4.5 second time limit.
One of the best ways to use this ability is by preventing enemies from entering or leaving a certain area. If you are confident that someone is sitting in a specific corner, you can use the Seize ability to prevent them from getting out of that corner, while also getting some decay damage onto them. This ability is also great when paired with another agent’s damage ability. For example, using Fade’s Seize ability paired with Raze’s Paint Shells will guarantee a kill if the abilities land where they need to.
Fade equips a haunting watcher. Once thrown, the watcher will drop after a set amount of time. The player can also drop Haunt early by re-using the ability while it is in the air, exactly like Seize. Once the ability makes impact with the surface, the watcher will reveal all enemies in its line of sight in a bright purple tone. Once revealing these enemies, the watcher will leave trails of the enemies, revealing their location even further.
Cost: Free
Ability Duration: 2 seconds
Debuffs: Enemies that are revealed are marked with a trail that follows them wherever they go for 12 seconds.
Haunt is an ability that can be used exactly like a Sova Recon Bolt, but throwable. One perk of Haunt over a Recon Bolt is how the watcher reveals enemies almost instantaneously once landing. Another is how simple it is for the player to chuck the watcher on top of a rooftop and easily scan multiple people because of how unprepared they are for an ability landing on top of a large building. Being able to throw the Haunt ability also makes Fade more viable than Sova as an information-oriented Initiators on maps like Split, where the congested areas of the map limit Sova’s darts.
Fade equips the power of the nightmare itself. Once used, she sends out a wave of nightmare energy, similar to how a Breach ultimate is sent out. Those who are hit by this nightmare energy are marked by trails, decayed, and deafened.
Cost: 7 Ultimate Orbs
Debuffs: Enemies that are hit are marked by trails, deafened, and decayed (75 HP) for 12 seconds.
Fade equips a Prowler. Using the Prowler will send it forward, and holding left click will steer the Prowler towards your crosshair, similar to a Skye bird. Once the Prowler sees a trail left behind by Haunt or Nightfall, or the first enemy in its line of sight, it will chase them down and nearsight the enemy on impact.
Cost: 250 Credits
Ability Duration: 3 seconds if the prowler does not detect anyone.
Debuffs: Nearsights enemy for 3.5 seconds upon impact.
Here’s an example of Prowler and Nightfall being used together:
As many of you know, initiators like Sova and KAY/O, have some crazy lineups that can be used because of their projectile abilities. It is no different for Fade. Her Haunt ability can be fairly easy to use due because she can drop it to the ground whenever the player chooses. Although there are some lineups that must be pixel-perfect, most Haunt abilities thrown by Fade can be estimated or dropped right into the spot you want it to go. Most of the lineups that will be shown are meant to be simple, meaning that they will not take too much time to think about or set up (which can get you killed because of how long they take to prepare). Many of these lineups will also not require you to have control of anything on the map and will be thrown from behind the spawn barriers.
The first lineup for Fade in this guide will be for the defending side of Ascent. In order to get this lineup done correctly all you have to do is stand in the corner of Tree shown below, lineup the Haunt (E) icon’s top left corner onto the spot that was pinged, and crouch fire.
This lineup will allow your team to gather early info of the enemy team as the ability will reveal all of A Main, as well as most of A Lobby
Split is a great map for Fade, especially compared to Sova. The map’s compact and tighter layout doesn’t negatively affect Fade as much as it does to Sova because she is able to throw her Haunt ability on top of rooftops to reveal players. The first lineup for Fade on Split is on defense. All you have to do is aim your crosshair right where the crosshair is shown below and jump throw. Simple lineups like this are what make Fade more effective on maps like Split, due to the greater control she has throwing her abilities over limited distances.
Early lineups like the one shown above assists the defenders in gathering early info on which site the enemy team may be trying to execute on. In this case, Fade’s ability gathers information from all of A Main, and most of A Lobby.
The next lineup for Split is for the attacking side. All you have to do is stand on the box in A Lobby, line yourself up with the lighter stripe along the edge of the box, roughly point your crosshair as to where the crosshair is shown below, and then do a running and jumping throw. Again, most Fade lineups can be estimated, especially once you get the hang of the distance and speed of her Haunt ability.
This lineup reveals almost all of A Site, all of A Rafters, and then some of A Tower. All that’s left for your team to clear on A Site is A Elbow. The image below uses ping symbols to show all common angles held by defenders that will be cleared by this lineup. The image also displays a danger symbol, used to warn you that not all angles will be cleared by the Haunt ability.
Bind is easily one of Fade’s top maps due to the large structures surrounding both sites. Because of this, Fade is able to throw her Haunt ability onto the edge of any structure along the perimeter of a site and reveal at least a small portion of the enemy team.
The first lineup for Bind with Fade is an easy lineup that you can just lineup with your crosshair—nothing too fancy. All you have to do is hop onto the platform to the right of A Short, aim your crosshair right where the big dark green leaf intersects with the wall, and jump throw.
The watcher will land on the rooftop above A Pocket, revealing almost all of the front of the site as well as enemies peeking out of A Tower, which can be very useful when playing against an enemy using an Operator. The only areas that the Haunt doesn’t clear are mostly back site. Areas like behind Triple Box will not be scanned because of how tall the boxes are.
This next defensive lineup is fairly simple and has a lot of room for error. In order to execute the lineup correctly, just stand behind Triple Box and on the left side, aim your crosshair at where the dark gray tube meets the pole on the roof of Bath (also known as Showers), and just do a simple jump throw. For this lineup you do not have to stand in an exact spot; if you move a small amount to the left, it won’t affect the outcome.
The Haunt will land in the middle of A Bath, revealing those inside. This is just a safe and easy lineup to allow your team to gather early information on A Bath.
Haven is another great map for Fade: the large buildings placed around the map allow Fade to catch her enemies off-guard with some unexpected lineups. The lineup that we will be showcasing for Haven is a simple defensive lineup for C Long. All you have to do is stand in front of the green radianite boxes and tuck yourself into the corner. Then, aim your crosshair so that it is aligned with the rooftop of the building in front of you. Next, all you have to do is a running, jump throw. This is what it should look like:
As you can see, this lineup will reveal all of C Long, as well as most of C Lobby. Doing this will provide your team with really important early information, as C Site on Haven is an area in the game that is very commonly rushed by a large number of members on the attacking team.
Because Icebox is primarily played indoors for a large portion of the map, Fade’s Haunt lineups aren’t as viable as they are on maps like Bind and Ascent, as she thrives off of rooftop lineups. However, this isn’t a reason to not play Fade on this map. Sure, her Haunt ability may not be as good as it is on other maps, but what about her other abilities? Her Prowler is great at being able to clear close corners, like Maze, when rushing A Site for example. Or maybe, you can utilize her Seize ability to protect a teammate planting the spike on the B Site because sometimes, a Viper’s Toxic Screen may not be enough. With the right ability usage, Fade can still be a strong pick as an Initiator on Icebox.
Due to Breeze’s large sites and lack of rooftops or large structures that Fade can throw her Haunt onto, you are better off using her abilities simply by estimating based on the situation at hand. As there aren’t many game-changing lineups for Fade on Breeze, she can be played similar to how most players play Sova on this map. Just throwing your Haunt ability through an enemy Viper’s Toxic Screen will allow your team to potentially secure some easy kills, simply by shooting the enemies through the Toxic Screen once they are revealed.
On a map like Fracture with four different entry points, you’re going to need a whole lot of information. This first lineup is for the defending side on Fracture and is a nice early lineup that is easy to set up and execute. All you’re going to do is line up against the wall that is shown below, place your crosshair right on the tip of the leaves sticking out from the top, and then do a simple running, jump throw. This lineup will reveal all of B Main, as well as a small portion of B Tunnel. This is how the lineup should appear in a game if done correctly:
The next lineup for Fracture is on attack. Although there isn’t a lineup to clear defenders playing in B Tower, a key area on the B Site, this lineup is still helpful in revealing most of the other common spots players stand at. The only steps you will have to do for this one is to first, stand in the corner with the one small box and one big box placed right next to each other. Then, place your crosshair on the indent on top of the roof. Lastly, just do a normal jump throw. If done properly, the lineup should look like this:
The Haunt lands on top of B Canteen and reveals most of the B Site, some of B Arcade, and then a small amount of B Link. Although the lineup does not reveal too much, it is the best that can be done because of how much of B Site is indoors. The danger symbols in the image below show what is not cleared by Fade’s Haunt ability:
Now we’ve shown you exactly what each of Fade’s abilities does, as well as shared some basic lineups that will help you and your team win some games. We hope this guide gave you a better understanding of how to use VALORANT’s newest agent, Fade. Good luck and make sure to have fun!
