Intro

In the recent VCT Masters Berlin tournament, Astra dominated the pro matches. With a 60% pick rate overall, she completely surpassed Viper’s 48% pick rate and the abysmal 8% for Omen and 5% for Brimstone. But that is at odds with her 5.7% pick rate over all the normal matches in the last 3 months: the lowest in the game. This guide will explain why Astra is such a special agent and whether you should learn to play her.

Astra and Her Abilities

Astra is a Radiant controller agent originating from the country of Ghana. Her space-themed abilities give her access to up to 5 Astral Stars every round. Each of her Astral Stars can be used as a:

Nebula - A smoke to block vision and angles. It is completely hollow and lasts 15 seconds.

Gravity Well - A black hole that pulls players toward the center and inflicts Vulnerable after a few seconds. Enemies that try to escape will be slowed and have movement inaccuracy.

Nova Pulse - A stun that affects all players with its radius.

Astra can also pick up her Stars whenever she wants. When she does, it will create a very short 2-second smoke and will be returned to her after 15 seconds.

Her ultimate is Cosmic Divide, an infinite wall that can span across the whole map. Although abilities and players can pass through it, It stops bullets and sound.

One restriction on Astra is that she can only place down her Stars and her Cosmic Divide while in Astral Form, a special view of the map where she can’t hear anything. She has to be in Astral Form to place Stars, but she can use or pick them up whenever she wants.

Why Astra Is So Special

Astra is a unique agent. First of all, Astra is incredibly versatile because any of her Stars can turn into either a pull, stun, or smoke. Her abilities are also completely global and can influence any part of the map at a moment’s notice. This gives her countless ways to use her Stars.

There are many ways to play Astra. On Attack, she can smoke off common angles and stun and vulnerable defenders. Her post-plant is also very potent because her pull can stop a defuse. On Defense, she can smoke off chokepoints and stall pushes very well by pulling or stunning enemies that attempt to push in. Astra’s Stars can act like traps. As soon as an enemy pushes and walks over her Star, she can use it and get an easy kill. Even if she uses only smokes, she can have a total of 75 seconds of smokes. That’s a lot considering that the Attackers get 100 seconds to plant the spike.

Astra’s abilities also have very little counterplay besides baiting them out and avoiding them because the Stars can’t be destroyed. Experienced Astras will also place Stars all around the map so you can’t predict their intentions based on them.

Her pull and stun both also create many opportunities to combine with other agents’ abilities. For example, a Nanoswarm and a Gravity Well can devastate pushes, while a Reconned and stunned enemy is absolutely defenseless.

This is why professional teams love Astra so much. She is one of the most powerful and flexible agents in the game with tons of potential.

Why No One Plays Astra

If Astra’s so strong, then how could she have the lowest pick rate in the game?

One reason is that it’s hard to learn Astra. Even though she is one of the few agents that don’t have any lineups, she is the most complicated agent to learn. Her Astral Form is a very unusual way to place abilities. Every single other ability in the game keeps your usual POV besides Omen’s smokes and Cypher’s camera. Forcing players to place Stars and then activate them to do anything can be very weird for players without experience playing Killjoy or Cypher. Another mechanic of the Astral Form is that you cannot hear anything at all. So it can be dangerous to place Stars without teammates to protect you.

Although these things can make it initially challenging to pick up Astra, with some practice these issues can be overcome. Once you get used to it you can very quickly set up and use your Stars.

The main downside about Astra is that even though she has so much potential, she relies on having teamwork and communication.

Having impactful ability usage is hard without proper communication and coordination. If an Astra can hear or see enemies, then she can easily tell when to activate her Stars. But a lot of the time, Astras are trying to support their teammates from across the map and don’t know when to use their abilities. Without good communication, they are forced to guess the timing, which often doesn’t work as well.

The reason that the timing of her abilities is so important is that her abilities need to be capitalized off of to be useful. Astra’s abilities don’t deal any damage or give info on their own at all, so someone has to take the opportunity for them to have any use. Stunning an enemy is useless if no one peeks off of it. Most of the time, the Astra player won’t be close enough to get the kill themself because they have to be safe to place the Star.

It’s also straining for Astra players to be aware of the whole map and look for opportunities for plays while also paying attention to what’s in front of them. They constantly have to think about how to use their abilities. Should they pick up and move their Stars? Should she activate her smoke? It can become exhausting after a match or two.

Not a lot of people play Astra because she is difficult to learn and requires teamwork, communication, and concentration.

Should you play Astra?

Short answer: it depends. If you are planning on consistently stacking with some friends you can depend on, it is definitely worth learning her as Astra is an amazing agent. But if you mostly solo queue or don’t expect to have comms, Viper or Omen are better if you want to play a controller agent. They can be impactful without depending on teammates.

Astra is also easier to learn if you have experience with Omen and Cypher or Killjoy. If you play these agents, you’ll already be accustomed to using Stars like traps and placing smokes. It’s also perfectly fine to learn Astra for fun or as a challenge.

Astra Tips

For those that want to learn or get better at Astra here are some tips.

For Beginners:

Play Astra a lot. No one minds an instalock Astra and you’ll need the practice to get used to her abilities. First, practice using her abilities just for yourself and don’t worry about having teammates play off of it. Once you can start understanding the timings and quirks of Astra’s abilities, you can do more complicated plays.

On Attack, you want to make sure you properly smoke. Don’t rush and make sure there are no cracks in them. On Defense, place your Stars in chokepoints and use them reactively when the enemies attack. Using your Gravity Well and Nova Pulse at the same time is lethal. Opponents can’t get away from the stun in time and they’ll be sitting ducks, vulnerable and stunned.

For Intermediate Astras:

Don’t be predictable. Switch up how you use your Stars and don’t make it easy to guess where your team will go based on Star placement.

Most of the time you’ll have little info and have to play reactively, so keep a spare Star ready to place at all times, at least on Defense.

Communicate as much as you can with your teammates. Relay info, ask for info, and try to set up plays. Examples include: “Do you want me to stun?” and “I’m going to pull Default as we push in.”

Because you know the basics of Astra, you should also learn the more advanced plays using her abilities. There are plenty of one-way smokes that you can learn, but they’re not always easy to place, so practice in a custom so you can get them right consistently. Also, be able to place a Star that can always pull an enemy off the spike if they try to defuse. Place the Star so the spike is close to the inside of the inner ring. This will always force defenders to have to tap spike again. It’s beneficial to learn Astra walls for attacks and retakes. Astra walls stop sound, so you can defuse or take teleporters without the enemies knowing which can lead to some interesting plays.