Solo queuing in Valorant can be difficult and inconsistent. Your random teammates could either be the best you have ever had or the worst. Picking an agent can be difficult while solo queueing because it is often hard to gauge in agent select how well your team can play off you or your utility. Initiators especially depend on their team to play off their utility to start and win gunfights.

So, in this article, we are going to rank the Initiators based on their ability to play off their own kits in solo queue. While Initiators agents are most successful using teamwork, it is good to analyze their solo abilities in case you get into a tough situation with an uncoordinated team.

#5: Breach

While Breach is a great agent for teamwork, it can be hard to play off his own utility in solo situations. His signature ability, Faultline, can be good to use if you are clearing corners, or if you already know where an enemy is close by and can quickly swing off the stun effect. This can be hard if you are unsure of how many enemies are nearby, so when you do swing off the stun effect, be sure you do not position yourself in front of other enemies. Since his Faultline stun is vertically long but not wide, it is also harder to hit multiple enemies unless you know where they are and are able to get the right angle to stun them.

His ability to flash the enemy with Flashpoint is an average ability with how difficult it can be to place and time the flash, but the flash does last a long time for the enemy. Breach’s ultimate, Rolling Thunder, is useful in most solo situations, since it can stun a large area to clear out enemies or prevent them from pushing. Breach’s Aftershock is only useful when trying to clear out a corner where an enemy is trapped to damage them, or to block off an entry point for a short amount of time. The largest problem with this agent is that his utility takes a long time to pull out and take effect, so his utility often gets dodged, or enemies swing as he has it out. Breach struggles as a solo Initiator because of how situational his utility is, and how hard it is to play off of it in solo situations.

#4: Sova

Sova has been one of the best Initiators in Valorant for a long time; if played well on a team, this agent can work on almost any map, in any type of team composition. With his recent nerf in Valorant’s 4.08 patch he has gone down on the leaderboards of ability to solo play. He still has great qualities that can still be used, but it often becomes greatly situational like Breach after the nerf.

His Recon Bolt is still strong if you have good lineups to ensure the enemy can't destroy it before it scans at least once. His Shock Bolt ability is useful to flush out an enemy from an area to reposition if you know they are there, but with the nerf, double shocking an area is less effective with the bolts doing less consistent damage.

His ultimate, Hunter’s Fury, is still strong for post-plant situations, or when an enemy is tagged by either his Recon Bolt or Owl Drone. With the nerf, his Owl Drone becomes less useful in solo situations because it has a shorter duration and when an enemy is tagged, their location is only revealed twice. So, unless you are already close to the enemy to kill them after droning, the only plus you are getting from the drone is information on an area. Another aspect of Sova to keep in mind in solo situations is how fast or slow it takes to pull out his equipment and for it to be effective before an enemy finds your location and possibly pushes you for a gunfight.

Sova has a strong kit, but it takes a while to learn how to effectively use his abilities for each map. He also does not have anything to get him out of a situation like other agents have flashes or stuns, so once a gunfight is started, it is hard to escape unless you win. Overall, his kit relies a great amount on teammate follow up, so playing in solo situations can be a lot harder to navigate than some other Initiators.

#3: Skye

Skye overall is a well-rounded agent for solo play with her kit both being successful on offense and defense. The upsides to playing Skye is her Guiding Light (flashes) and Trailblazer (stun) – if used correctly. Often you will find Guiding Light to be your best friend in Skye’s kit, as you can control when to time your flash to either get you out of a tough spot, or to make a gunfight easier.

Trailblazer is used best when you want to stun and damage an enemy that is close when you already know where they are, and then can swing them quick to take the gunfight as they are stunned. The downside of Trailblazer is that it can only stun and damage when you guide it to hit an enemy directly, so if you swing off it to take a gunfight, you must make sure you do not get hit by enemies you have not directly hit. It is also harder to use Trailblazer to gain information if your teammates are not protecting you when you are controlling it or following it to pressure an enemy. If you use Trailblazer to clear corners, but the enemy sees and hears it coming, they already know of your presence. With no one following it up, it can be tough to swing from a further distance or if you miss a direct hit.

Her ultimate, Seekers, are useful in solo play to gain information on where the enemy team is so you can decide on the best position to put yourself in. The Seekers’ nearsight effect often does not do much when they travel long distances because of it being easily shot and destroyed before reaching the player to take effect. In close gunfights, it may be useful to deploy these in unexpected times to nearsight them and gain the upper hand for a few seconds.

Skye’s Regrowth (heal) is almost useless in solo play as you cannot heal yourself with it, but it is still safe to buy in case your teammates do end up needing healed. Skye’s kit in solo queue is balanced with both useful and useless utility, which puts her in the middle of the rankings.

#2: Fade

With Fade being Valorant’s newest agent, she is still being figured out by players trying to use her utility in the most optimal ways to give their team an advantage on information and gunfights. When using her in solo situations, her utility is strong in the sense of displacing the enemy team.

Her signature ability, Haunt, is a bit harder to learn at first, but after understanding its throwing distance and finding effective placements, it can be strong with how instantaneous it displays the enemies in a large area. Her haunt not only allows you to see the enemies' position, but also gives you a trail of their repositioning where you can send her other ability, Prowler, to nearsight them in seconds. In solo situations, her Haunt and Prowler being able to play off of each other gives a great advantage with taking gunfights in an area you have not cleared out yet.

Not only can her Prowler follow an already set up trail, but they can also be sent out on their own to track down an enemy it sees in the direction it is sent. This is extremely helpful in solo play by giving consistent information about a certain area that you are looking to clear by yourself. Her other ability, Seize, is useful in situations where you know where an enemy is and want to take the gunfight. With it keeping the enemies in place, decaying, and deafening them, it is a strong tool to give you the upper hand in a solo gunfight. Her ultimate, Nightfall, is arguably her strongest ability in solo play with how large an area it covers, and how much it does to the enemy. With this ability, you deafen, decay, and track an enemy by trail. Pairing her ultimate with her Haunt and Prowler will no doubt give you at least one free kill in a round. Being able to use her abilities on top of each other and for the effects to last long enough for you to play off of them is the best possible situation you could have when playing solo.

The small negative aspects of her abilities are mainly focused around deploying them, and just learning how to use them. Often people find their Haunts being destroyed too quickly before anyone is revealed, but Sova, who also can reveal enemies’ positioning with his Recon Bolt, also has this problem as well. The work around is to try to be as unpredictable as possible with placing the Haunt where it can’t be destroyed as quickly. Fade is one of the best Initiators to play solo because of how effective and stackable her kit is to give you the advantage in information and gunfights.

#1: KAY/O

KAY/O is the strongest Initiator when in solo queue because of how strong his abilities are for shutting down the enemy. His kit varies in helping the player get out of gunfights, stopping pushes, gaining information, doing damage, forcing repositions, and aiding in solo pushes of a new area.

His signature ability, Zero/Point, not only points out enemy locations within the area it's thrown, but also shuts down their kits for a short amount of time. This prevents you from being overwhelmed by the enemies' abilities and gives information that can be used to either reposition to have a better angle, take a gunfight, or fall back if you are outnumbered. This being his free and replenishing ability gives the player a huge advantage compared to other Initiators. The only struggle with Zero/Point is that you must throw it in an area that it will not be destroyed by the enemy, but also still scans a large enough area where the enemy could be.

His Frag/Ment ability is a good molly to block off the enemy from pushing a certain area or damage someone in a space that will force them to reposition. Flash/Drive is a good flash that you can physically throw into another area which can be useful to prevent flashing yourself. Flashes as usual are helpful in solo situations to blind the enemy and either take a gunfight or reposition.

His ultimate, Null/CMD, is just an amplified version of his signature ability as it shuts down enemy utility in a large radius from himself for a long period of time. Null/CMD also stims KAY/O so he shoots faster, and if he gets shot, he can be resurrected. His ultimate in solo situations is ideal to slow the enemies down so that he can use his own other abilities to make his gunfights easier. KAY/O is overall the best Initiator because his kit is selfish. All his abilities are useful to him as he can play off of them quickly and efficiently.

Conclusion

This analysis of each Initiator's kit shows just how much these agents use their abilities to help their teammates take up space, get kills, and find good positioning. All these agents can be strong in certain situations, but overall, these ranks show just how good they truly can be on their own. Solo queueing can be a challenge when your teammates aren’t communicating or looking to play off your utility, so looking to be selfish is not always a bad thing when you are looking to rank up in Valorant. So next time you queue alone, be sure to keep in mind just how beneficial an agent can be not only for your team, but for yourself.