With the introduction of Patch 4.04, Valorant’s meta has been shattered, and agents have taken up new positions in the meta hierarchy. Buffs and nerfs to fundamental skills have allowed some agents to climb in the meta or fall further down the relevancy ladder. The strength of an agent's ultimate is an important aspect of their meta-relevancy. A strong ultimate can elevate an agent’s kit or serve as a cornerstone for a composition, while a weaker ultimate is sometimes limited to niche uses. In this piece, we’ll examine each agent’s ultimate and how they can make an impact in the current meta.

S Tier List (Best)

The first is Viper's Snake Pit. Her ultimate is still a powerful ability after Riot adjusted her gas mechanic. That adjustment meant that her smoke and wall required more gas when they're both on at the same time, but this alteration only impacted their power level. It did not alter her ultimate. Her ultimate is crucial because it does one thing well and safely: it takes up empty space at the touch of a button.

Do you need to lock down a bombed area after a plant? Plop down her pit. Do you need to deny a small entryway of the map from attackers so they can't get in? Put her ultimate down. There are many uses for it, and every reason you can think of is a good one.

Killjoy's Lockdown comes in second place on this greatest tier without a doubt. There aren't many ultimates that can guarantee the enemy team will stop what they're doing and flee for their lives. Since her release, her lockdown has had that power. Therefore, it's safe to say she deserves a slot in this tier. Many S-tier ultimates have fantastic means of freeing up space, which Killjoy does to an even larger degree than Viper's pit.

When attacking, players can employ Killjoy's lockdown to help them get on-site for free plants. When defending, players seek a definite strategy to make the attacker shuffle when attempting a retake, and this can be accomplished fairly easily with Lockdown

Sova's Hunter's Fury is third on the S-tier level. It's a worldwide ultimate that has climbed the ranks because of its versatility: it can take up space, destroy other ultimates, track adversaries when they're being pinged, and has the ability to kill quickly.

Outside of being a straight Killjoy Lockdown counter, Sova’s ult is fantastic when paired with intelligence gathering skills like his drone or Cypher's camera because it can help in so many different circumstances. One of the most useful and impactful kills is tagging an adversary through a wall and following them with your ultimate.

The S-tier category is completed with Jett's Blade Storm. It's currently one of the best weapon ultimates in the game, allowing Jett to always be a threat. Blade Storm allows her to battle on the ground, in the air, and in motion. Jett has a lot of possibilities for killing you because it's so flexible.

This ability can be more dangerous than the Operator if the player on Jett is proficient. She has total control over her knives while flying and maneuvering. If the Jett player is experienced, they can save money by not purchasing a pistol on a save round, instead activating her ultimate.

A Tier List (Great)

KAY/O's NULL/cmd is becoming the cornerstone to his identity. NULL/cmd has proven helpful in the modern meta because he can turn off an enemy team's entire defensive setup with a single button press. NULL/cmd is more than a massive area of effect (AoE) suppression though.

It also helps KAY/O since it improves his gun's rate of fire while it's active, and it gives him a second shot at life because if he's killed, he'll go down, and teammates will have a chance to revive him. It's one of the rare ultimates that buffs his own stats while simultaneously giving AoE utility to his teammates, making it a very potent ultimate all around.

Chambers' Tour De Force comes in second. Because it provides him with an ultra-powerful sniper rifle with improved benefits, this ability comes within the weapon category. These advantages include a substantially faster rechamber time between bullets, a one-hit kill to all regions of the body, and an AoE slow field under the person it has killed.

These three advantages alone make this a fantastic sniper and a fantastic weapon for zone control. When players hear this ultimate, they should be cautious because one false peek could result in them being torn apart, giving Chamber's squad open space to profit from their deaths.

Sage's Resurrection is the third ultimate in this tier list. In principle, there shouldn't be much of an explanation for why this skill is so powerful. With the ability to summon friends from the dead at any time, the round becomes a 6v5, which can be difficult for some teams to deal with in the long run.

The sole drawback to this power is that it requires players to travel to resurrect someone physically. Furthermore, bringing them back will be considerably more difficult if a buddy dies in a dangerous or unsafe location. Although this ultimate is powerful, using it carries a risk, and the high cost of eight ultimate points does not make it an S-tier choice.

The updated and better Yoru's Dimensional Drift is next on the list. The beneficial adjustments in his final duration were first increased to 10 seconds. When in the drift, players can now employ all of their skills, which opens up a universe of options for outplaying enemies and gaining territory across the board. Finally, Yoru is now fully invisible to all foes, with the exception that his footsteps are now slightly louder as you get closer to them to balance things out.

These new positive characteristics give his spatial gap a new meaning in the game, allowing him to perform things he couldn't before.

Sky's Seekers ultimate is the last item on this tier. This ability serves two purposes: scouting and near-sighting our foes. The second part of this ultimate isn't as useful as some may believe because most players will shoot them down before they even get to it.

In theory, this ability sounds great because it locks on to enemies, alerts you when they're close, and blinds them for a long time if they're close enough. Because the Seekers always go for the three enemies closest to you at the moment of activation, her ultimate is extremely effective at acquiring information.

Furthermore, suppose her ultimate goes past an area without turning blue. In that case, that area is clear of enemies. If each of your Seekers goes in a different direction, it gives you a ton of free information on your flanks and rotations.

B-Tier List (Good)

Breach's Rolling Thunder is at the top of the list. When this skill works in practice, it works wonderfully. This ultimate is highly situational because, for it to be effective, it must be perfectly aligned to cover as much ground as possible.

Breach's ability has faults in that it can be avoided if the Breach leaves some space for error in his ultimate placement. With the exception of the rare case where a player hides in a safe place and then kills you after you enter, this ultimate is great for team-wide disruption and re-entry across the board.

Raze's Showstopper was one of the more powerful weapon ultimates before its nerfs. Her ultimate had previously been great because of how quickly she equipped the rocket, allowing her to move quickly and then pull out her rocket. Furthermore, it was originally only six ultimate points, allowing her to use it very frequently.

While it's been nerfed (slower equip speed and now requiring eight points), her ultimate may deserve to be higher simply due to its in-game effect. However, the nerfs have changed how people react. In the past, when the opposing team heard this item come out, they would turn and flee. These days, many players are confident and will try to kill Raze before she fires the Showstopper.

Phoenix's ultimate Run It Back is the one redeeming element and bright point in his kit, despite the fact that he is currently in a bad place. It's fantastic for two reasons, both of which make it worthwhile. First and foremost, this ability provides free, low-cost scouting, which is ideal for retakes and general attacking pushes to ensure the coast is clear. Second, it puts a lot of pressure on your squad to kill.

When his ultimate is activated, most adversaries will either stand their ground and fight or turn and flee until the duration expires. The best part of his kit is Run It Back, and it's the only quality he has right now that makes him even remotely worth picking.

When Brimstone utilizes Orbital Strike, it works well, much like Breach's Rolling Thunder. Brimstones ultimate is heavily telegraphed because it takes a few seconds to wind up, but when it comes down, it will delete anybody and everything in a flash. Like Sova's ultimate, Brimstone may counter Killjoy's, providing significant upfront value while attempting to disrupt the opposing team's plans.

Furthermore, when you utilize this ability in tight or enclosed locations with other players that have a lot of crowd control, it's easy to obtain multi-kills.

In professional play, Cypher's ultimate Neural Theft is a fantastic ability, but it isn't as reliable in Ranked. The fact that you require a kill to activate this ability makes it inconsistent, and even if you do, it doesn't guarantee that the body will be in a good position to activate safely.

This carries a higher risk, but the free information that this skill can provide is invaluable for anticipating a teams' actions and plans in real-time.

C-Tier List (Not Optimal)

The lower tier of this list begins with Astra's Cosmic Divide. Her powers were nerfed in the most recent patch, which dealt a major blow to her character. Her ultimate hasn't been harmed in any way, but she isn't in the best of situations right now. The ultimate of Astra is still valuable, but it's not the major reason you'll choose her in the future.

Her wall's best feature isn't just that it keeps bullets and lines of sight at bay. It's the fact that the sound on the other side is muffled. It can be a double-edged sword because the wall can make it difficult to see what the enemy is doing at times, and its applications are limited. This can keep players in the dark about who's on the flank and which way the enemy's team is rotating. This can sometimes be more of a barrier than a help.

The ultimate Empress of Reyna is on the C-tier since it can sometimes do more harm than good. The fire rate buff it grants her can render her gun uncontrolled and unpredictable outside of experts and high-level gamers. That's not something you want while you're trying to clutch up.

The period on this ability is brief and it can only be recharged by killing enemies, so it's not as reliable as it appears. It's fantastic if you need superpowers to help you hold up in a circumstance where players are outmanned. However, there are instances when it is preferable to not use the ultimate than to use it because you have it.

The only visibly bad element of Omen's kit after his boost is his ultimate From The Shadows. It's ideal for rotations, scouting, and ratting out hostile troops from behind enemy lines. The existing ultimate, on the other hand, is far too telegraphed and one-dimensional in its applications.

Buffs are required for the ultimate to be usable outside of its repositionable powers. It's far too telegraphed and uninspiring to be classified higher than C-tier right now.

Unfortunately, Neon's Overdrive is at the bottom of this list. It's another weapon ability, and while it does bring value to the agent, it doesn't deliver much beyond her damage and kill potential, unlike the other weapon ultimates. It’s simply useless to the squad unless Neon is getting kills while using it.

Kills reset the ultimate, so it's useful for trying to hold on to situations and rounds. However, overall, the ultimate upfront value isn't very good.

Conclusion

This tier list concludes the latest meta for all 18 agent ultimates. For the most part, the higher scale is to create room and space and is incredibly helpful for team fights. On the lower end are players in clutch potential situations and independent play without the team. These abilities can do a lot of damage, offer impenetrable defenses, or expose enemy whereabouts. Certain Ultimates, like normal abilities, are significantly more beneficial than others and have the potential to be game-changers.