KAY/O is Riot’s newest addition to Valorant in Episode 3. He is a powerful robot built for combat and neutralizing Radiants. He is part of the initiator class with strong supporting abilities: Frag/ment, Flash/drive, Zero/point, and his ultimate, Null/cmd. His signature ability, the Zero/point, and his ultimate allow him to suppress opponents. Suppression prevents enemies from using any abilities for the duration and is a completely new mechanic to Valorant. This guide will teach you how to deal with KAY/O’s game-changing abilities.

Frag/ment

KAY/O’s first ability is the Frag/ment, a colorful but highly damaging frag grenade. It has a wide radius of 5 meters, which is even more than a Phoenix’s Hot Hands. It lasts 4 seconds and has 4 pulses. Every pulse damages you, with more damage when closer to the center. At the center of the Frag/ment, it will deal 60 damage per pulse and it will deal about 25 per pulse at the edge.

Similar to other damaging projectiles, it can be used to clear cubbies or stall people from peeking angles. To avoid getting hit by it, you should avoid being predictable, do not play in the same spot often. If the Frag/ment is used as a stall, just wait it out. It lasts only 4 seconds and it’s not worth pushing through it.

The Frag/ment also has two more mechanics that can make it easier to avoid. First is its sound. As it’s being thrown, you can hear a distinct beeping sound and be prepared to evade it. Another important mechanic it has is that it requires line of sight. This means that even if you can see the radius of the Frag/ment through the wall, as long as you can’t see the actual center, you won’t take any damage.

Flash/drive

Every round, KAY/O can have a maximum of two flashes which can blind you for a while if directly looked at. These flashes are similar to CS:GO flashes and can be bounced off of walls and objects. KAY/Os can also right-click to throw the flash with a shorter activation time.

The way to counter his Flash/drive is similar to countering other flashes and is quite straightforward. You can either look away from them or play safer angles. Although flashes can seem to go off very quickly, if you can practice looking away from flashes, you can manage to prevent yourself from being blinded most of the time. This is because if you can’t seem to look away, generally it’s because you are not accustomed to looking away instead of your reaction time being too slow. The best way to practice this is to go into a custom and have a friend play a variety of agents with flashes and you can practice looking away and turning back repeatedly. Another way to counter flashes if you don’t know how to look away yet is to play safer angles that you can duck behind if you are blinded.

Zero/point

Next, onto his signature and game-changing ability: suppression. His Zero/point is a knife that when it hits a surface, suppresses enemies within a 15 meter radius and also tells everyone on KAY/O’s team exactly who got suppressed. This ability can hit through walls and even though it can be shot if you can see the knife, its activation time is faster than a recon. So it is often incredibly difficult or impossible to avoid getting suppressed if the KAY/O knows where you are. The suppression effect from the Zero/point lasts 8 seconds.

Suppression disables your abilities, but it can have slightly different interactions between each agent, so it’s good to know what happens when the agents you play get suppressed. In a “Don’t know what you have till it’s gone” sense, not having abilities can seriously limit your options and will make you rely purely on gunplay for the duration. Without utility to use, it can seriously stall pushes on attack and also prevent defenders from stalling effectively on defense.

KAY/Os on attack can use their suppression to cripple site defenders. In particular, Sentinels like Killjoy and Cypher can become basically useless, which is probably why they received the fewest nerfs in Patch 3.0. If either of them gets suppressed, all of their abilities will get disabled and they can’t stop attackers with their traps at all. To avoid getting suppressed, Sentinels should play farther back on site and also try not to stand close to walls between the enemies until the knife is used. Other players can also try baiting the knife out so agents with good stall are not suppressed. Remember, the Zero/point knife recharges every 40 seconds so if the KAY/O uses it, it will be out of the game for a while, but not for the whole round.

Defending KAY/Os often use the Zero/point for info gathering because it can provide precise info on exactly who got hit. It can also completely stall pushes for its duration because the attackers can’t use their abilities to help them take site. A good way to avoid the enemy KAY/O’s is to pick up on their habits. If they immediately send their knife B Main every round, just silently wait a few seconds and then push up. Avoid getting hit by the knife when you can to deny info.

Null/cmd

This is KAY/O’s ultimate ability. It is a powerful combination of multiple effects. Its first effect is that it gives the KAY/O a 10% fire rate boost, which is the same as Brimstone’s Stim Beacon. It also suppressed enemies within a 40 meter radius which can cover whole sites. The ultimate pulses suppressing waves a total of 5 times every 3 seconds. When he gets shot, instead of dying he goes into a temporary destabilized state for 15 seconds and 850 HP. His teammates can revive him while he is in this state, but after 15 seconds he will die.

KAY/Os often use their ultimate to take or retake sites. Because the radius of the ultimate is so large, it usually can’t be avoided. The best way to deal with a KAY/O ultimate is to let the KAY/O overextend similar to a Phoenix ultimate, and then destabilize him. If he’s too far from his team, they can’t revive him. It’s also better not to take 1v1 fights because of his fire rate boost. It can be tempting to finish off the destabilized KAY/O because it does provide your team the kill, and the KAY/O can continue to give info to his teammates, but unless you are completely safe, it’s best not to. KAY/O ultimates can take a very long time to finish because of the lack of a headshot multiplier, and you will become vulnerable to enemies while spraying him down.

KAY/Os ultimate has a mechanic that you can see the suppression pulses every few seconds. You can use these pulses to locate approximately where the KAY/O is, which can give you an advantage in many fights.

What To Do When Suppressed

You can try not to get hit, but when you’re playing against a KAY/O, you will inevitably get suppressed. If you’re in a safe position or can back off, it’s generally best to do so and wait out the effect because it only lasts 8 seconds for the Zero/point. If you are in a dangerous position, suppression can limit your options, so you will have to count on your aim. It’s also crucial to learn how suppression will disable abilities in your kit. For example, Sova drones will break but Raze boom bots will not. Raze will completely lose her ultimate but Jett can get hers back after the suppression effect runs out. It’s good to know beforehand how the agent you’re playing will be affected.

Conclusion

Although KAY/O can seem to be almost overpowered with an all-around strong kit, there are many ways to play against him. An important thing to remember is that all agents have counters. Each of KAY/O’s abilities has ways to be played around, and now that you know them, you can more effectively take on those KAY/Os.