Finding a role in Valorant that both suits your playstyle and that you are comfortable with is crucial to contributing to your team and also improving at the game. This guide explains each role, their best agent classes, and a playstyle that fits them.
In every match of Valorant, the players on each team, premade or random, will be fulfilling certain roles. How well these roles are played will determine the outcome of the match. You may have experienced having a Sage that repeatedly goes in first and dies or a Phoenix that lurks and doesn’t entry. Sometimes this can work, but more often than not these players often have very little positive impact on the game. When top teams go into a match, the pros know exactly what roles to carry out to help the team the most and also pick their agents and play accordingly.
Beginners to Valorant are often still searching for their role and comfortable playstyle to have the highest impact on the game. Finding a role that suits you and sticking to it will greatly accelerate your improvement.
First and foremost is the In-Game Leader or also known as the IGL. The IGL’s job is to lead the team and call strategies and plays. The first thing an IGL should do every round is to look at the scoreboard that will provide information about both teams’ economies and as well as the ultimate points of each player. The IGL should choose what the team should be buying from this information. Then, the IGL can call whether to rush a site or play a slower default at the beginning of the round. The IGL should make this call based on a variety of factors including previously observed weaknesses and habits, economies, and available and nearly available ultimates. As the round progressives, the IGL must make decisions to proceed with the original plan or call for rotations.
An IGL needs to be aware and observe what is going on in the game. The IGL must also be able to read the situation and make predictions and decisions based on strong game sense and experience. IGLs often play support agents or play towards the back of the team because it provides better perspective over the entire game and it’s easier to concentrate without constantly taking fights. But this isn’t always the case. For example, in the recent Valorant Masters Reykjavík, Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan was the IGL while playing Jett for the champion team Sentinels.
The IGL role is good for players that have great overall game sense, awareness, communications, and are calm and comfortable with leadership.
The flashiest and most highly sought-after role is the entry fragger. The entry fragger’s job is to open up bomb sites and create space for his team and pick off opponents. Entry fraggers often do the most fighting and can rack up many kills and are consequently appealing to many people.
This role is almost always carried out by a duelist. This is because duelists often have flashes, healing, area damage abilities, or mobility abilities. These abilities enable the entry fragger to quickly enter the site, clear cubbies for enemies, take favorable gunfights, and then heal afterward. One example of this is Phoenix, who can entry frag by using his flashes and heal afterward with his Blaze Wall and Hot Hands. Jett, another Duelist, can also entry by aggressively dashing in with a smoke and divert attention away from her teammates following her.
Entry fraggers need both confidence and top-notch aim. All of the entry fraggers’ fights will come down to aim duels so they need both good aim and confidence to take fights to be successful. Entry fraggers also need the game sense to pick up on the habits and locations of how defenders play and also understand the timing to push when the support players are ready. Entry fragging is suited for people that are confident, precise, and understand good timing. If you want to learn to be an entry fragger, two of the top players to look at are Tyson "TenZ" Ngo playing for Sentinels and Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk playing for 100 Thieves. Both players are among the best in the world.
Next are the support players of the team. These players use their powerful utility to locate and disable their enemies to give their entry fraggers unfair advantages in their fights. A variety of agents act as support agents. Agents like Sova and Cypher can help pinpoint enemies using their drone, recon arrow, and camera. Controller agents can block angles and entrances so the entry fragger doesn’t have to worry about as many angles, and Initiators like Breach and Skye can use their potent flashes and stuns to take areas of the map.
The most vital thing for support players is not using utility selfishly and focusing on using it for the team. If playing back and assisting and helping the team win sounds appealing, then support is for you. Two top-tier support players are Spencer "Hiko" Martin on Sova and Dom "soulcas" Sulcas who can use multiple support agents proficiently.
The Lurker’s job is to provide impact while acting separately from the team. There are two ways to accomplish this. One way is by carefully and unobtrusively gaining map control without alerting enemies and also providing information to teammates. The Lurker can sneak into the enemies’ back lines and backstab enemies and also relay information on rotations and positions of enemies. Another way the Lurker can be played is by distracting and drawing enemies away from the main force of your team. This could be accomplished by using utility or being very loud to make the enemy think there are many players there and committing to that site.
This role is most suited for info-gathering agents like Cypher or agents with global abilities such as Astra or Omen that can provide support to teammates while being far away. A Lurker will need to have good map knowledge, game sense on rotations and positioning, clear and precise comms, and be able to act independently. Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik and Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella are both great Lurkers to learn from.
Many of the previous roles are more prominent on attack but the next two roles are used more or exclusively on defense. The first one, the Anchor, is the last person to rotate out on defense and defends the site for the whole round. Anchors should only rotate if it’s definitive that the enemy team is attacking and committing to the other site or the spike has already been planted. Agents that suit Lurkers similarly suit Anchors. Sentinel agents like Cypher and Killjoy can either lock down sites on their own or provide aid to their team from a distance like Astra and Omen.
Anchors must be able to maintain clear communications to know when to rotate. Anchors can often be the sole defense when the enemies attack, so they have to be good at stalling the enemies with their abilities like mollies and Cyber Cages for as long as possible to give time for their teammates to come help. The Anchor role is good for people that can wait patiently for enemies and excel at defending and holding down bomb sites.
The Opper is the player on the team that uses the Operator, a powerful sniper rifle that allows the user to one-shot kill opponents from any distance and is best used at long range. The Opper’s job is to take and hold long angles and punish enemies that carelessly contest them. A formidable Opper can make it a daunting task to push them and make the enemies think twice about it. Oppers can also help teammates on attack by holding angles for teammates.
Although other agents like Raze and Reyna can utilize the Operator adequately, Jett is indisputably the best agent for using the Operator. Jett can use her Updraft and Drift abilities to take unexpected off angles that can catch opponents off guard to give her the advantage in split-second fights. The Operator’s slow fire rate is punishing when the first shot is missed, but Jett’s dash can also be used as a “Get out of Jail Free” card to escape dangerous situations after a missed Operator shot where other agents would die.
One of the most important things for Oppers is fast reflexes to be able to react quickly to opponents swinging angles on them. Oppers must be able to patiently hold angles and wait for enemies to push, but also be able to predict where enemies will push. An Operator is much more effective at holding an angle, so good Oppers must also proactively guess where the enemies will attack and go there instead of reacting late to the enemy’s movements.
Oppers can also be very impactful by picking off opponents on both attack and defense. Opping is a good role for players that can predict enemy pushes and are skilled with sniper rifles. Matthew "Wardell" Yu is a master of using the Operator and is an excellent example of how a good Opper plays.
After reading this guide you should understand what the roles there are and how to play them. Pick some that you think you’ll enjoy and try them out. Remember, these roles are necessarily distinct. A player could be a Support, Lurker, and IGL all at the same time for example. Find your role, good luck, and have fun!
