Sentinel Role Breakdown: Killjoy, Sage, and Cypher and your role on the team. Will you be the anchor for your team or will the enemy sneak past you! This article will get you up to speed, so you can make informed decisions and know how best to use these agents to support your team
In Valorant, Sentinels are defensive agents that excel at holding sites and slowing enemy pushes with abilities that compliment a supportive play style. Utility and information should be your focus when playing these agents. Slowing down the enemy or locking them out of a site completely until your teammates arrive and getting info on the enemies’ movement and their control of the map will be the essence of how you play one of these agents. So let's debrief you on them and get you started with a basic understanding of their abilities, role on the map and in the game. After all, knowledge is power!
Although the abilities of these agents are very similar and the core play style of the role is the same, each agent varies on its approach to the role. Cypher, Sage, and Killjoy all have ways to slow the assault of the enemy team, buying you or your teammates time to rotate to another site. Sage with her Slow Orbs and Barrier Orb, Cypher with his Trapwires and Cyber Cages, or Killjoy and her Alarmbot and Nanoswarms allow for these agents to lock down sites very effectively and can stop an enemy team pushing a site dead in their tracks. How you go by supporting your team with each of these agents varies and can change how you approach defending a site but here are some basics that every Sentinel should keep in mind.
The role of Sentinel is one of defense primarily. All Sentinels are very effective at guarding a site, utilizing their abilities and information to prevent the enemy team from taking or retaking said site. A strong Sentinel can spell a failed push for the enemy team and can be capable of winning a round outright. Holding site entrances and flanks should be your main objective in a round as a Sentinel.
You should be placing Abilities in such a way to slow the assault and the enemy push onto your site. Giving you and your team time to assess the situation, find a better angle or rotate from another site. A simple Trapwire or Nanoswarm at Ascent B Main`s entrance could be enough to give you time to hit the door switch and take a better angle till your teammates arrive.
Sentinels are also in a good position to set up their own flanks (or lurks, commonly called) being that enemies tend to avoid a site when they know a Sentinel is set up to prevent an oncoming push. Periodically looking at your minimap and seeing how many enemies have shown on another site or somewhere else on the map can give you the info needed so you can begin your own push and take some space on the map and catch an unsuspecting enemy. Also you should keep in mind maybe leaving behind some abilities like a Trapwire, Nanoswarm or Barrier Orb wall to make it so a quick enemy can't take advantage of your lurking and take the site you just left.
Lurking can be effective but remember you are playing a Sentinel and a failed lurk is an unguarded site, and certain abilities like Cypher’s Trapwire and Killjoy’s Turret and Alarmbot are not operational when the agent is dead. Now that you have a general understanding of the Sentinel role let’s dive into more agent specific information and abilities.
Your free or signature ability with Sage is a Healing Orb that heals 60 hp over 5 seconds (10 seconds for self-heal), getting a teammate or yourself back into the round for another attempt to retake or push a site. Being aware if your teammate has a way to self-heal or is too far in the open before you cast this orb is something you should keep in mind. There may even be value in self-healing and refilling your own health, especially if your Ultimate is ready. Resurrection is Sage`s ultimate ability and a very powerful one at that, turning a 2v2 into a 3v2 and shifting the tide back into your team's favor. Remember that Resurrection takes time to cast and around 1-2 seconds for your teammate to return, them being vulnerable during the process.
Sage`s Barrier Orb is another very powerful tool in her kit. Lasting 40 seconds (400 hp/800 hp after 3 seconds fortifying itself) placing this at an entrance blocks it till destroyed. Forcing the enemy team to either wait the 40 seconds till the wall dissipates or destroying the wall and letting you and your teammates know where at least one enemy is. Setting the pace for the round either by locking your enemies into hitting another entrance or giving you info on where you should Slow Orb and allowing you time to reposition for a retake or to hold a better angle.
The Barrier Orb can also cut off a flanking enemy when you are on the attacking side giving you and your team one less entrance to worry about for sometime. Also boosting yourself and/or your teammates up is also possible with the Barrier Orb wall catching an unsuspecting enemy off guard who did not anticipate someone on top of it or a box nearby.
Healing Orb Tip: You should know that to target an ally, they must be in Sage's line of sight. Also the healing effect is briefly paused if the target takes damage.
Your signature ability with Cypher is a Spycam, giving you tons of info without having to expose your position or put yourself in harm's way. Giving your team info on how many enemies are on site and if any enemy abilities were used so far in the round. Pings and communicating on voice comms can go a long way in letting your teammates know someone is holding an angle or if an enemy peeled off and is rotating and taking some space on the map. Map information as well as info on utility/ability usage can be very powerful. Knowing that the last two enemies are Long B on Bind and the enemy Jett still has her Dash (Tailwind) can mean the difference between a round loss or you or a teammate clutching. Cypher’s Spycam also remains invisible when not in use and comes equipped with a tracking dart, revealing a tagged enemy's location indefinitely until the dart is removed by the enemy. Setting up your teammates for an easy kill or letting them know where to avoid peeking. Cypher’s Spycam dart also replenishes itself after 6 seconds
A well placed Trapwire or Cyber Cage can give your team a lot of useful info or give you enough time to sneak in a cheeky kill. When an enemy walks through Cypher’s Trapwire their location is revealed until it is destroyed but if 3 seconds pass and it is not destroyed it will stun the trapped enemy for 3 seconds and deal 5 damage. The Trapwire is invisible until the enemy is 4 meters away but makes an audible sound all while invisible, making it so a well-placed Trapwire can't be seen till its too late and a thoughtlessly placed one could be heard and destroyed before your enemy is ensnared.
The Cyber Cage is also a great way to take away some of the enemies' information by blocking line of sight. Placing a Cyber Cage in front of a doorway will make it near impossible for the enemy to see beyond it and slow down an enemy push. A Cyber Cage can also be thrown a short distance and used like a smoke grenade blocking the enemies' line of sight long enough for you or a teammate to cross an opening and hold an angle. Cages last 7 seconds when activated and if an enemy walks through one an audio cue is triggered letting you or a teammate know an enemy has entered or exited the cage. Setting up a Trapwire and Cage combo can be very effective especially when paired with something like a Ghost, Spectre, or a Phantom (tracer-less guns) letting you spray through an activated Cyber Cage without revealing your positioning.
Cypher Trapwire and Cage Tip: Watch some videos on the best places, or professional Valorant player’s streams, for Trapwires for each map and One-way Cyber Cages. You don't have to learn them all but getting ideas of some of the basic places where they can go can help you on your journey to find the best spot for this agent's Utility. Here is one such video from One Tap Valorant that shows some Cypher set-ups for a few maps:
Killjoy’s abilities fall in line with the before mentioned agents, her Nanoswarms and Alarmbot are very effective at sealing entrances and flanks. Her signature ability is a Turret with 125 hp that has a 180° line of sight and a 3 round burst gun (Dmg: 0-20m: 8, 20-35m: 6, 35+m: 4) with a 29.5% movement reduction on a enemy hit by the turrets gun. All her abilities are powerful and with some out of the box thinking and some quick peeks you could lock down a whole site by yourself… with a little help from your robot friends.
KJ’s Nanoswarms work a lot like a molatov or incendiary grenade. Set the grenade and upon landing, the Nanoswarm goes covert and is invisible to the enemy but like Cypher’s Trapwire makes an audible humming sound while invisible. Activating the Nanoswarm deploys a damaging swarm of nanobots that deal 45 Dmg to enemies standing in it and remains active for 4 seconds dealing damage all the while. Placing these in strategic places can prevent a rushing team from bursting onto a site or punishing someone who tries to take a position or some space on the map before thoroughly looking around and making sure that it's safe.
Keep your enemy guessing by conditioning them to expect a certain Nanoswarm spot by placing them in the same place for a few rounds then switching it up after watching the enemies' movement. The enemy Jett for the last 3 rounds dashed past your Nanoswarm on Ascent B site from B Main to the door switch and closed the door to Mid Market, use that info and place a Nanoswarm under the switch so when you hear her dash you activate your second grenade and pick up a kill on the overzealous duelist.
The Turret notifies you and your team with an audio cue that an enemy has crossed its line of sight giving you information when the enemy has passed through an entrance or if someone is trying to take up space on the map. A well-placed Turret could be as useful as a teammate holding an angle, you can use this to sit in an off angle (An unusual or unexpected angle) and kill an unsuspecting foe before they can even see what hit them. Though the Turret and Kj’s other abilities are very strong, some have a max range in which Killjoy has to be in for them to be active. So learning when to rotate and keeping an eye on your mini-map will let you know if it's time to anchor your site or recall your abilities and help your team with a site retake. Play it smart, remember knowledge is power and the Sentinel is a Role that reigns supreme in both defence and information gathering.
Killjoy Turret Tip: The Turret’s slow on pistol rounds can be devastating giving you time to line up your Classic or Ghost headshot and chipping some of the enemies' health before they even see you for free.
Please take the time to apply these strategies and info we've given you in game. Try playing some spike rushes and see if you can get used to the timing of these abilities and how people react to your set ups. Sentinels are a defensive role but that doesn't mean you're useless on attack, focus ability usage on post spike plant on attack rounds don't get caught with your gun down trying to place a Trapwire or a Slow Orb before your team has cleared the site. This is also a support role and nothing supports the team more than getting a kill or helping take and holding space on the map. Lock down a site post plant and make the enemy fight for every inch and every angle, be the anchor on site that slows the enemy long enough for you to call out that the enemies are moving in and hold out till your team arrives. They will be like a boulder, be like the mountain. Unmovable.
