This article will introduce you to the main gameplay idea of Valorant, as well as a breakdown of the agents or playable characters in the game. The agents and their abilities are briefly described, while also talking about team compositions. You will also find information on typical/average team compositions, which will also include variations based off starting positions and maps.
So you’ve been looking for a new FPS, or you’ve been playing games like CS:GO or Apex: Legends for years and your friends have been telling you about Valorant. You go into the game, you queue with some friends, and right from the beginning you get lost in the agent selection screen. This article will help you get familiar with the agents in the game, as well as what roles they play. It will also help you to think about the game in regards to team compositions.
For starters, let's discuss what Valorant is and how it's different from other FPS games. Valorant is categorized as a Tactical Shooter FPS. Tactical shooters are shooter games that create more realistic gunfight scenarios, which makes the game require more thinking and strategic planning compared to battle-royales such as Apex: Legends or Call of Duty: Warzone. The strategy comes in from trying to predict enemy movements, and coordinating utility usage to minimize casualties. Now that we’ve discussed the type of game that Valorant is, let's begin to break down some of the gameplay, starting with agent classes.
Valorant’s main gameplay in a nutshell is a 5v5 match, where one team tries to plant and defend a bomb, or “spike”, until it explodes. The other team works to either prevent the plant or defuse the spike. If the “attackers” (the team trying to plant the spike) kill the defending team (the team preventing the spike plant), they win the round. Defenders can win by killing the attacking team as well unless the spike has been planted. If the spike has been planted, then defenders only win by defusing the spike successfully.
So now that we know what kind of gameplay you can expect, let's discuss the classes agents are categorized into, and how each class is typically played.
To start, what is an agent? Well, an agent is a character you choose to play as and has different abilities. These agents have different play styles that can change the dynamics of the game, and allows people to control things such as vision, enemies pushing onto sites, etc. Agents are grouped into different “classes” based on the abilities they have and
First, we have the Duelist class. The description from Valorant itself describes Duelists as, “self-sufficient fraggers who their team expects, through abilities and skills, to get high frags and seek out engagements first.” The agents that are duelists are: Jett, Raze, Phoenix, Reyna, and Yoru. Duelists are the same as players who are “entry fraggers” from CS:GO. Typically, these agents have abilities that allow them to move onto a plant site first as well as force enemies away from their positions. By making the enemies move away, they create opportunities for ally teammates to move onto the site. These duelists are equipped with flashes, blinds, or damage abilities that remove vision from the enemies. Forcing your enemies out of position will expose them to be killed by you or your teammates.
Phoenix is a duelist who can play well with the team or on his own. He has 2 flashes, along with a flame wall and a molotov, or molly. His flame wall and molotov have the unique ability to heal only Phoenix when he stands in them. His ultimate is called Run it Back, which essentially gives you two lives. You can push forward and if you are killed, you’ll respawn in the spot you cast your ult from. But beware for enemies pushing that location.
Jett is our next duelist. She is an agent who utilizes smoke and mobility to either get aggressive or take unique gun duels. She has smoke clouds she can throw over long distances, updrafts which let her jump higher up than the average agent, and a dash ability in the direction of your choice. Her ultimate is called Blade Storm, which is where she gains 5 knives to throw at enemies. 1 dagger hits for 50 damage to the body, and 150 on a headshot.
Reyna is a similar kit to Phoenix, having blinds and healing abilities. She can buy two eye’s/leers to throw out which will blind enemies within a certain range. Her other abilities require kills/assists. But if you get one of those, the enemy body will leave behind a purple ball of essence called a Soul Orb, which you can choose to either heal or go invulnerable to move into a more ideal location. Her ultimate, Empress combines her heal and invulnerable abilities, healing on kills, and also boosting her rate of fire, recoil control, and reload speed by 15% for 30 seconds.
Raze is an agent who can do some form of damage with all of her abilities and can have more speed and mobility than Jett when practiced properly. She has a boombot, which is a small drone that moves forward, bounces off walls, and detects enemies in front of it. She has a grenade that when tossed has an initial explosion, and then the grenade splits into 4 smaller grenades for a second explosion. Raze’s mobility comes from the use of her blast packs, which are c4 packs that can do damage and displace both allies and enemies. Her ultimate, Showstopper is a rocket that shoots forward and does splash damage, instantly killing enemies.
Yoru is the final duelist, having abilities that give him cross map potential as a lurker. He has 2 flashes that are similar to traditional CS:GO flashes, bouncing off walls or the floor and then detonating. His next ability allows him to create distractions, placing fake footsteps that make noise, and can be cast instantly or on a delayed cast. From there, we move to his teleport ability. Yoru sends out an anchor location that he can teleport to within 30 seconds. And his ultimate, Dimensional Drift, allows him to go invisible within a certain radius and scout out enemy locations for 9 seconds. Being able to teleport during his ult can create some interesting diversions.
Controllers
The next class we’ll go to is the Controller class. The controllers are “experts in slicing up dangerous territory to set their team up for success”. This in simple terms, means that controllers divide the map by using smokes or similar abilities to create visual cover. The four controller agents are Astra, Brimstone, Omen, and Viper. Smokes remove vision from enemies, and force them to either walk through to the other side into potential danger, reposition, or wait for the smoke to fade. By taking vision away from one side, it reduces the potential of an enemy being there. Controllers can take advantage of smokes to either speed up or slow down the game.
First we have Brimstone, who utilizes equipment called in from the sky. He has 3 smokes, 1 molly that can be bounced off walls, and 2 stim beacons which gives a boost in rate of fire, reload speed, weapon swap speed, and recoil control by 15%. His ultimate is an Orbital Strike, which is a large laser from the sky. A creative Brimstone can use his molly and ultimate to delay a bomb defuse away from visibility.
Omen is a shadow realm ability user, able to teleport crossmap and provide smokes as well. Omen has 2 teleports, 2 smokes that are reusable after a 35 second cooldown, 1 blind ability. His ultimate, From the Shadows, allows him to teleport anywhere on the map, during which the enemy team’s map is blacked out. This can create for a good lurking player who can still contribute in some way to the team through smokes.
Viper is a more complex agent, requiring clear coordination with her team as her abilities take away vision from both sides. She has a single smoke cloud that she can throw around the map, which she can toggle on and off. Viper also has 2 molly’s that can be used similar to Brimstone’s molly’s. Her next ability is a wall of smoke that she can throw up to divide a site completely, where enemies can’t look past but neither can allies. And Viper’s ultimate, Viper’s Pit, covers an entire area of the map with a smoke cloud that limits vision. Viper’s smoke abilities all have a poison that causes enemies that pass through to go down to 1 HP, regardless of armor and health levels. On exit, health will regenerate back to prior levels.
The most recent agent release is Astra, who is similar to Omen in that she is able to influence the entire map with her abilities. When Astra casts abilities, she enters her “Astral Form”, which is where she enters another realm similar to Omen casting his smokes. Astra’s abilities are all placed on the floor in the form of stars. She can then use the stars in the form of a smoke cloud, a gravity well that sucks players towards the center, or a nova pulse which concusses enemies caught in the explosion. Her ultimate, Cosmic Divide, creates a wall between two points. This wall can be passed through, however it blocks bullets and strongly reduces game audio. Her kit allows for strong cross map potential, but beware because while you cast abilities, you see nothing else in the game. Enemies could work to push your location and kill you as you work on your ability placements.
Following the controllers, a similar class that controls tempo of the game are the Sentinels. Sentinels are “defensive experts who can lock down areas and watch flanks, both on attacker and defender rounds.” The three sentinels currently in the game are Cypher, Killjoy, and Sage. Sentinels can often be referred to as “slower” players because they are usually the players who make sure that no one is following them and trying to pull off a flank plan. The variety in abilities from Cypher, Killjoy, and Sage make it so that “fast site takes” require some more thought, as they intentionally slow enemies and can expose the enemies. This will be elaborated more later in the article.
Cypher’s kit revolves all around vision. His main ability is a camera that can be used to tag enemies with a recon dart. This dart reveals their location with a thermal outline that blips on and off. When not in use, the camera becomes invisible and blends into its surroundings. Cypher also has a smoke-like ability with his Cyber Cage that creates a temporary cylinder that blocks vision and makes noise when enemies pass through. Pair that with one of his Trap-Wires that highlights enemies just like his spy cam, and you understand why Cypher was an initially strong agent in the game. His ultimate, Neutral Theft, is activated when you kill an enemy agent. On their death, a Cypher can activate the ultimate that will highlight enemy locations regardless of location on the map. A well-practiced Cypher can singlehandedly hold a bomb site when defending.
Sage is an agent that from the time of Valorant Beta to now, players have thought to be very strong. She can hold sites, slow down attacks, and even sustain herself with heals to the point that she has been targeted with many nerfs but can still be seen in nearly every game. Sage has 2 slow orbs that can be thrown over walls and bounced off walls, creating an area covered in ice that will make noise when anyone is walking over it.This combined with her ice wall makes it difficult for enemies to push a site with speed. Sage has 1 heal that has a 45 second cooldown and heals for 60 HP, but can only be used on one person. Her ultimate, Resurrection, allows her to bring back any teammates that were killed. After a brief channel, allies are brought back with full HP but no armor. Sage can by definition, change the rounds through numbers when played well.
Killjoy is similar to Cypher in that she is more than capable of solo defending a site, but through different means. Killjoy’s utility revolves around her detection bots that are set off by enemies. Killjoy has a turret that acts as a sentry, firing at any enemies in a 180 degree vision cone. She also has an alarm bot that is invisible initially, and when enemies approach it will explode and apply the vulnerable trait to enemies. These two abilities are great for covering flanks, but require Killjoy to stay within a 40 meter radius or else they will “deactivate” until she returns into the radius. She also has 2 mollys that can be thrown similar to Viper and Brimstone mollys, and if placed early enough, they will be invisible until Killjoy activates them or enemies get close enough to destroy them. Her ultimate, Lockdown, creates a giant dome that when finished channeling, will “detain” all enemies and remove their ability to shoot or use abilities for 8 seconds. While this is a very strong kit, all of her abilities can be destroyed through various means.
And finally we have Initiators, which are agents that “challenge angles by setting up their team to enter contested ground and push defenders away”. The three initiators currently are Breach, Skye, and Sova. Breach and Skye are similar to the duelists with their abilities because they have flashes, which can be sent to blind the enemies and allow teammates to push with less worry. Sova however, sets up any pushes through the use of recon. Sova’s abilities allow enemies to be seen behind walls or any other forms of physical cover, exposing them to their allies.
Breach is an interesting agent because certain teams will play him as an initiator while others use him more as a backline lurker type agent. His strongest abilities right now are his 3 flashes, which he can send through walls. Breach has an ability called Aftershock, which is an explosion that is sent through walls and after a 2.3 second channel, will deal 222 damage to anyone nearby. His Fault Line ability channels an earthquake concuss that when channeled for longer will cover a farther distance. His ultimate, Rolling Thunder, is a seismic earthquake that will knock up enemies caught and concuss them for a brief duration, perfect for any fast attack plans.
Similar to Breach is Skye, whose kit also revolves around blinds and causing physical limitations to enemies. Skye has 3 flashes in the shape of birds that she can send around corners and over walls. The birds can be popped to either flash the enemies, or simply sent forward to serve as a distraction. Sky has an AOE heal ability that when channeled will heal allies in a 50 meter radius. However, she cannot heal herself and teammates have to be within line of site. Skye also has a scouting ability in the form of a dog, which she can send forward and with a left mouse click will pounce forward, concussing a single target. And her ultimate, Seekers, sends out drones that are initially invisible and hunt down the closest 3 enemies. If it reaches its target, it will cause a near-sight blind. Removing visibility as discussed earlier is great for being able to take sites without having to gamble a gun duel. Pushing enemies away with these abilities can be good on both offense and defense.
Our agent is Sova, who is a strong initiator by finding enemies before exposing yourself. His main ability is a recon arrow that can be bounced twice off any surface, and when landed will pulse 3 times while highlighting any enemies within the line of sight. Sova also has 2 Shock Darts, which similar to his recon can be bounced off surfaces twice before landing. On landing, the shock darts explode and can cause 15-90 points of damage depending on how close you are to the explosion. The owl drone is a small recon drone that Sova can use to scope around any corners for the team before pushing, and if an enemy is found can be tagged with a mouse left click that will temporarily reveal the enemy. This pairs nicely into Sova’s ultimate, Hunter’s Fury. This ability has 3 uses, and sends forward a large laser that can go through walls, causes 80 damage, and highlights enemies on contact. Sova’s recon and arrow maneuverability allows for some safe decision making before executing any type of plan.
The newest edition to the initiator lineup is KAY/O, who will make any CS veterans feel right at home. This agent has a more “traditional” utility kit with throwable flashbangs and grenades, along with a silencing ability and a second life ult similar to Phoenix. The grenade does splash damage, exploding 3 times and increases damage towards the center of the area. The flashbang is able to be thrown in 2 ways, overhand or underhand, allowing for creativity in lineups and timings. His knife explodes when stuck to a surface, suppressing enemy abilities and revealing which enemies were caught in the area of effect. His ultimate will create an energy sphere around him that will suppress enemy abilities equal to the circle for audio cues (white circle on minimap around your icon), gives him the combat stim buff, and if he is killed, he is “downed” with 950 HP, giving allies a chance to revive him. The main utility around his grenade and flashbangs will make CS veterans feel at home, while his other abilities will provide good recon.
So now that you’ve gotten a description of the agents and their abilities, how do the pieces come together to make a team? Well, for that, it will mainly depend on the map you’re playing as well as what side you’re starting on, in terms of attacking or defending. At the more competitive level you’re able to choose if you want to attack or defend, but for our purposes we’ll be talking about the general population playing in public games. For the most part, Valorant maps are open and have good opportunities for all the agents to be used.
Typically, standard team comps will run 1 sentinel, 1 controller, 1 initiator, at least 1 duelist, and the fifth spot can be filled with a duplicate of any of the roles. For example, a team comp could be Brimstone, Sage, Sova, Jett, Reyna. This provides heals, smokes, flashes/blinds, and recon. Now depending on your map, you may swap different agents for the different roles. For example, maps with entry points that are easier to choke off will be better played by a sentinel like Killjoy or Cypher, who can solo defend a site and allow their teammates to play elsewhere. Or if it's a more wide open space area, agents like Viper or Astra will be better utilized compared to Brimstone and Omen because of the space that their abilities take up. Or perhaps on the other side, you know it's a smaller map and you want to try to take things quickly so you bring a lot of aggressive agents like Breach and Omen to remove vision and push into the site by force.
Take a look down below, and this flow chart can be a simple start for finding a “right class” for you. While it’s not detail perfect, this is a basic flowchart that you can use to start your Valorant career and think about how you select agents before the match begins.
So what does this mean for yourself? Should you try to play an entry frag agent and create space for your team? Are you more of a stay behind but help people enter by removing vision? Or do you want to be a fill/jack of all trades player? This will ultimately be something that you have to figure out during your Valorant game journey while experimenting with the different agents that are open to you.
