Why do I need a duo?

Many people go into ranked as a duo, since they know how important communication is. To get a better edge over the opponent, you could choose agents that have good synergy. Some agents complement each other well, some benefit each other, and others just work well together. it is important to know the strengths and weakness of duo agents so you can best optimize your play style and know what to avoid. having two agents that work well with each other could increase your wins by a lot. Having a duo will help you rank up, since now you have amazing communication, and you can work on building a synergy with your duo too. This will allow you and your friend to play well with each other and always be on the same page. Also, for people wondering why not have full team comps, the main reason is not many people can always get a five man team to do competitive. Many people however can always grab one friend or find a duo from previous game and play with them. which is why having a duo is particularly important.

Killjoy and Brimstone – Area control

Strength

These two agents together allow for heavy site control and allows you to push site. Combined they make sure you can push sites while having your flank covered. For example, if you are pushing a site you will be able to push in with brimstones sky smokes, allowing you to get in a site without the enemy being able to see or kill you. Killjoy can place her Alarmbot to cover the team's flank so you can push without having to worry about being pushed from flank. Furthermore, Brimstone can help your team pull off a plant with his Sky Smokes again and Killjoy can place her Nanoswarm so they cannot defuse. The main reason why this duo is overpowered is because of their ultimates. Both of their ultimates force the enemy to leave the area or possibly die. Killjoy's ultimate can be used when trying to plant on a specific site.

It will force enemies to stop holding peek angles and leave the site empty. This is a perfect time for you and your team to push the site and take control and have someone plant. Just be careful sometimes the enemy team waits in the ultimate until the last second to get a few kills when people rush the site. Once the spike has been planted you can use the Brimstone ultimate to make sure enemies do not defuse. Killjoy and Brimstone together allow for a lot of site control and make for easy plants. So, if you have a hard time getting plants off, I suggest having a duo with this team comp. it allows for a lot of map control.

Weakness

They both get extraordinarily little map information compared to other agents in the game. So, you will need to rely on your teammates for a lot of the map information in the game. It is important to have someone like Cypher or Sova on your team, because you do not want a full duelist team without any proper support Agents. Both these agents do not have any kind of self-heal, so having someone like Sage would help you out a lot.

Jett and Sage – Yin and Yang

Strength

These two agents complement each other very well. Jett is an overly aggressive agent and usually the one doing all the peeks and spawn peeks, especially when she has the Op. Since she plays aggressive and has no heal ability, Sage is able to fill that void. In this duo, the main point is for Sage to protect Jett so she can play aggressive. Sage’s wall could allow Jett to peek sites without getting killed or the wall can be used to block of one side of the site while Jett peeks the other side. The best thing is when Sage gets her ult. Jett can then do aggressive spawn peeks with her Op and, if she dies, Sage can revive her by placing an ice wall in front of her then reviving her. This is now more important than ever because the Op cost 5k, so dying with it pretty much means your economy will be ruined and it will be hard to recover from.

Weakness

The biggest weakness of the Sage and Jett combo is eco. If Jett goes for risky plays and full buys early and dies, her economy will be completely ruined and the only way it could recover is if Sage can buy for Jett for one round so she can full save. Another huge risk is if Sage dies early, Jett will be very vulnerable. I would only recommend going Jett and Sage combo if you are greatly confident with your Op skills and fast movement. Most of time, if you miss your first shot when you peek with an Op, you will get shot and die. That is why Sage needs to have her Barrier Orb, since if she revives you in the middle of the map, you will most likely get shot again.

Sova and Cypher - Map vision

Strength

These two agents together give you tons of map information which is very important in VALORANT. With this duo set up you should always be able to know where the enemy team is.

Sova’s Owl Drone allows you to see places where you normally could not peek without getting shot and gives a lot of info on where everyone is even if it gets destroyed. Cypher's Trapwires can make it so you cannot get flanked from your backside or it can also be used after a plant to know when enemies are getting closer, since their only option is to shoot it. If they activate the trap or shoot it, it will give away their position, and you can get ready for them to peek. Sova’s Recon Bolt can also give information to the whole team on where the enemies are and depending on how many people are on a site, it could mean you can aggressively take over the site. The reason why these two agents are powerful together is because of their ultimate’s. If Cypher uses his ultimate, Sova can use his to get a near guaranteed kill. This is especially more powerful toward the end of a round, since people take less risks near the end of rounds and stay in the same spot. If done correctly and quickly, Sova should be able to get a kill or two.

Weakness

Both Sova and Cypher work the best when they communicate with the rest of the team. You need to make plays depending on what your team is doing. For example, there is no point of putting traps and camera as Cypher on the site where everyone will be at, or covering your flank at plant area B while the team goes A. To a certain extent, you need to play as a support. Also, as Sova, when attacking you should always know where the spike has been planted if you have your Shock Arrows up. If you practice in private matches, you can land Shock Arrows without even peeking the site. However, to do this you will need to know exactly where the spike has been planted or ask your team to plant in a specific area.

Raze and Reyna – Aggressive play

Strength

If you and your friend play aggressive Raze and Reyna are the perfect Duo. Reyna can self-sustain with her heals and invincibility. Raze has fast movement due to her Blast Pack, which means she can even get up ledges or walls very quickly while other agents cannot. Reyna’s kit allows her to be immensely powerful in 1v1 or 1v2 situation because of her heals and intangibility. Raze’s kit makes her powerful when people are gathering up. Her grenades and ultimate and even Blast Pack force people to spread out and not stick together. This is greatly beneficial for Reyna since if she gets a pick, she can heal to full health or even more. Raze’s Boom Bot can also be used to gather vison. If it sees someone, it will beep and speed up forcing the enemy to shoot or take damage and, in either case, it reveals their position. Since they are both aggressive agents, their Ultimate only benefit themselves.

Weakness

Both Raze and Reyna play their best when they have map information. For example, if you know where someone is because of a Cypher cam, Raze can throw her grenade and get a guaranteed kill. Same applies to Reyna if your team communicates the location and health of enemies Reyna will do well. For example, if she knows the enemy team Cypher has low hp when she sees him, she can play more aggressive and not worry about dying since the enemy Cypher is near death. Even if she gets shot a few times she can heal thanks to her abilities. Even though Reyna can self-sustain pretty well, her knowing where enemies are and their health can cause her to play more aggressive or play more defensive based on the circumstance. These two agents also do not provide much map information other than Raze’s Boom Bot. This is not enough information however to win a game. So, you will need at least one or two agents who can give good map information, I would say Sova or Cypher.

Final note

It is important to know, if you decide to try these duos out with your friend, you should first get comfortable with the two agents and learn how they benefit or complement each other. Just jumping into a game with these duos will not equal into a free win. You really need to get a feel for how these agents work with each other. If you and your friend already have a preferred agent you both play then I suggest you stick to those since you already have good synergy with those agents, however you should know what the weakness is also.