Are you a beginner to Valorant that doesn’t know which free agent to unlock? Or have a friend that recently started Valorant? This guide will go through the most beginner-friendly agents in Valorant and explain their abilities, roles, and why they’re good for beginners.
Every agent in Valorant is unique. From killer robots to toxic scientists and reality-benders, there is a diverse set of agents to choose from. Every agent in Valorant has 3 purchasable abilities and a powerful ultimate ability. A beginner-friendly agent should not require lineups and be easy and intuitive to use at a basic level.
Duelists are often very beginner-friendly for new players because their abilities are straightforward and their playstyle is combat-centered. Duelists use their abilities to get kills for their team.
Duelists act as the entry fragger of the team. Entry fraggers are supposed to push sites first and pick off opponents. If you choose to play a duelist, you should be comfortable playing aggressively and relying on your aim.
The 4 duelists that are easy to learn are Phoenix, Reyna, Raze, and Jett. There is a fifth duelist, Yoru, but he has a distinct playstyle, and his abilities are very difficult to use effectively.
Phoenix has two flashes, a Blaze Wall, and a Molotov. The strongest part of his kit is his flash. It is a quick ball of fire that curves around corners and blinds any enemies that look at it. For a beginner, most of your opponents won’t turn flashes, so the flashes will be very effective and you can pick up many kills on blinded enemies.
His Wall can be used to cut off angles and his Molotov can be used to clear cubbies and stall pushes. But a lot of the time, it’s better to use them to heal after a fight. Just place them at your feet and it’ll heal you. But be careful, your Wall and Molotov will burn anyone else, including your teammates.
Phoenix’s ultimate is one of the best ultimates in the game. It will let him respawn if dies within the next 10 seconds or runs out of time. It lets Phoenix push extremely aggressively, knowing he will respawn. It only costs 6 ultimate points, so he can charge it up and use it many times a match. Enemies are forced to back off or risk dying without actually killing an enemy.
Reyna’s first ability is her Leer. It’s an eye that inflicts near sight and acts basically like a flash. Enemies will only be able to see the eye and anything else that’s point-blank, but nothing else. They can break the eye to stop the near sight effect, but they’ll have a hard time flicking to the eye and back to you quickly, so you can win lots of fights with it.
Whenever Reyna gets a kill or a damaging assist, her opponents will drop a soul orb. Reyna can use these orbs to Devour or Dismiss. A Devour will heal Reyna to full HP as long as she maintains Line of Sight. Dismissing will make Reyna completed invulnerable for a few seconds, but she can’t shoot while in this form. Dismissing is useful for quickly peeking out for info or repositioning safely. But make sure you get back behind cover before it runs out.
Reyna’s ultimate is Empress. Empress gives Reyna a fire rate boost, which can give her a slight advantage in one-on-one fights. While Reyna is in her ult, all soul orbs will immediately start healing her and she can also dismiss to turn invisible. After her first kill, she can go on a rampage. Kill, heal, reposition while invisible, repeat.
Raze is a destructive agent built for destroying enemies playing in tight areas. She has access to a Boombot, two Blast Packs, and Paint Shells. Her Boombot travels in a straight line and bounces off every wall it hits. As soon as it sees an enemy in front of it, it will lock on to them, chase them, and explode. After Raze places the bot, it will act on its own, so it’s quite easy to use. Her Paint Shells is a grenade that explodes into 4 more grenades. It’s extremely potent and can cover a large area, so you’ll always deal damage and sometimes pick up a kill if you throw it towards enemies. Raze’s Blast Packs are used for fast mobility, but these require precise timing and movement, so they will be difficult to use at first.
Raze’s ult requires very little skill because it’s a giant rocket that can one-shot enemies. As soon as you pop your ult, most of your enemies will run for the hills and give you lots of map control. But if anyone can’t get away or is foolish enough to fight you, a click of the mouse will end their life.
Jett initially may not look like a duelist. Her abilities, besides her Bladestorm ultimate, don’t damage, stun, or blind enemies in any way. So what advantage could she possibly have in fights? Instead, Jett’s strong point is that she can take aggressive and risky fights that no one else can without being punished. Her Tailwind, or dash, lets her quickly escape at a press of the button. So beginners can experiment and make a variety of plays and dash away if anything goes wrong. But make sure you dash in the right direction, you don’t want to dash towards the enemy team.
Jett can use her Updraft to get on top of boxes and let her get sneaky kills from off angles enemies won’t expect. Her Cloudbursts are short 4-second smokes that can cut off angles and let you take quick fights, but it may be difficult to use them to their full potential as a beginner. Her ultimate, Bladestorm, is also extremely difficult to use without top-tier aim and practice, so it’s recommended you don’t use it until you practice it elsewhere.
The first beginner-friendly support agent is Brimstone. He is a controller class agent and the head of the Valorant Protocol, which is why you hear his voice in the Tutorial. As a controller, his job is to block angles to make site takes easier on Attack and cut off chokepoints on Defense. His signature ability is his smoke. His smokes can be placed left-clicking to choose the location and right-clicking to confirm.
Brimstone is an easy agent to learn because his smokes are easy to place and last 20 seconds, so timing them is not as important compared to other controllers. His Stim Beacon can give you an advantage in spray battles, and his Molotov is simple. His ultimate, Orbital Strike, will obliterate anyone with its radius, and it’s best used in enclosed spaces where enemies can’t escape from easily.
Although Brimstone is a good agent to start with, not many players continue playing him because his smokes don’t recharge and they have a limited range. It’s a good idea to keep that in mind and not waste your smokes when you play Brimstone.
Next is Sage. She is one of the most-liked agents in Valorant because of her helpful utility. She heals, she stops pushes, and she can revive the dead. Sage’s kit consists of two Slow Orbs, a Wall, and Heal. Her Heal is simple, left-click to heal teammates and right-click to heal yourself. It will recharge every 45 seconds.
Sage is in the Sentinel class, meant for locking down sites and holding flanks. If anyone tries to push a Sage, she can place her Wall and a Slow Orb. This will delay the attack for a while and let teammates rotate over. This will make any attackers think twice about continuing to push. Sage can also resurrect a teammate with her ultimate ability. This influential ultimate can turn the tide of a round.
KAY/O is the agent made for CSGO players transitioning to Valorant. His signature ability, Zero/point, is a knife that suppresses all enemies within a 15-meter radius when it hits a surface. It also has good info gathering by telling your team which enemies got hit by it. Suppression will disable your opponents’ abilities temporarily. If you’re a CSGO player that doesn’t like all the abilities in Valorant, suppressing your enemies will let you play in a more familiar and comfortable environment.
All of his abilities besides his ultimate are projectiles like CSGO. He has a Frag/ment that acts like a Molotov and two flashes. They can be used in ways that CSGO players should be accustomed to. KAY/O’s ultimate gives him a 10% fire rate boost, 40-meter radius suppression pulses, and if he gets shot, he will only be downed instead of being killed. This lets him push confidently without worrying about enemy abilities and knowing his teammates can usually restabilize him if he’s shot. As an initiator agent, KAY/O’s role is to provide supporting utility, like flashes, and information for his team to make attacking easier for the entry fraggers.
There are many beginner agents to choose from, with at least one from every agent class. These agents cover a range of different playstyles, and each of them is able to provide high impact and support the team without much practice or experience.
