Developed and published by the makers of the popular MOBA game League of Legends, Valorant has celebrated its one year anniversary since release and the game has already hit a playerbase of 14 million active players.
A tactical first-person shooter by nature, Valorant has often drawn comparisons to both CS:GO and Overwatch; the gameplay and tactics being similar to CS and the colourful characters and action that comes as a result of their unique abilities being similar to Overwatch.
But Valorant is its own game and has been sporting some tremendous numbers since its debut. It had an astronomical launch fuelled by enormous amounts of hype and it feels like the game has not disappointed ever since.
After all, when you have a giant like Riot Games behind you as both the brains and beauty of the operation, it feels like success is nothing but the only option. I have spoken about my thoughts on Riot as a company before and it seems as if nowadays they just keep on going from strength to strength.
Valorant Agent Abilities
The characters or Agents in Valorant play an important role in pushing the narrative forward and the attraction to play the game as not only do they serve as the playable characters but they also constitute the storyline and lore of the game.
Each Agent is unique not only due to their abilities but also in their look, personality and where they are from. Each Agent hails from a different country on Earth and this is an excellent way for players to relate to a particular character, a hidden marketing tool from the developers no doubt.
With the personification of these characters, Riot’s potential to promote the game is even greater as marketing via cinematic videos and more can be made to bolster this growing storyline that is Valorant’s lore – and they have not disappointed with the animations.
Let’s take the official trailer for Valorant’s lore, for example.
The narrative being promoted here is that Valorant is more than just a game but also a community and another world that players can become attached to, just like anybody else would with a particular movie, book or TV series.
But enough about all that here is a list of all of the available Agents in the game right now as well as their abilities and the country that they hail from. There are 18 Agents in total.
(All image credit belongs to Riot Games)
Current Valorant Agents Overview
AGENT NAME
AGENT CLASS
LOCATION
RELEASED
Astra
Controller
Ghana
March 2, 2021
Breach
Initiator
Sweden
March 2020
Brimstone
Controller
United States (US)
March 2020
Chamber
Sentinel
France
November 16, 2021
Cypher
Sentinel
Morocco
March 2020
Jett
Duelist
Korea
March 2020
KAY/O
Initiator
Unknown
June 22, 2021
Killjoy
Sentinel
Germany
August 4, 2020
Omen
Controller
Unknown
March 2020
Neon
Duelist
Philippines
January 11, 2022
Phoenix
Duelist
UK
March 2020
Raze
Duelist
Brazil
March 2020
Reyna
Duelist
Mexico
June 2, 2020
Sage
Sentinel
China
March 2020
Skye
Initiator
Australia
October 27, 2020
Sova
Initiator
Russia
March 2020
Viper
Controller
United States (US)
March 2020
Yoru
Duelist
Japan
January 12, 2021
Below we take you through each of the agent’s weapons and abilities so you are armed with all the information to make a choice of your preferred playstyle.
Astra – Ghana
Astra – Ghana Valorant
Weapon / Ability
Description
Gravity Well
Activate a Star to form a Gravity Well. Players in the area are pulled toward the center before it explodes, making all players still trapped inside fragile.
Nova Pulse
Activate a Star to detonate a Nova Pulse. The Nova Pulse charges briefly then strikes, concussing all players in its area.
Nebula
Activate a Star to transform it into a Nebula (smoke).
Dissipate
Use (F) on a Star to Dissipate it, returning the star to be placed in a new location after a delay. Dissipate briefly forms a fake Nebula at the Star’s location before returning.
Astral Form / Cosmic Divide (Ultimate)
Activate to enter Astral Form where you can place Stars with primary fire. Stars can be reactivated later, transforming them into a Nova Pulse, Nebula, or Gravity Well. When Cosmic Divide is charged, use secondary fire in Astral Form to begin aiming it, then primary fire to select two locations. An infinite Cosmic Divide connects the two points you select. Cosmic Divide blocks bullets and heavily dampens audio.
Breach – Sweden
Breach Valorant
Weapon / Ability
Description
Aftershock
Equip a Fusion Charge. Fire the charge to set a slow-activating burst through a wall. The burst does heavy damage to anyone caught in the area.
Flashpoint
Equip a blinding charge. Fire the charge to set a fast-acting burst through a wall. The charge detonates to blind all players looking at it.
Fault Lines
Equip a seismic blast. Hold Fire to increase the distance. Release to set off the quake, dazing all players in its zone in a line up to the zone.
Rolling Thunder (Ultimate)
Equip a seismic charge. Fire to send a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. The quake dazes and knocks up anyone caught in it.
Brimstone – USA
Weapon / Ability
Description
Incendiary
Launch an incendiary grenade that deploys a damaging field of fire.
Stim Beacon
Target a nearby location to call in a Stim Beacon, giving all players near it Rapidfire.
Sky Smoke
Use your map to call in orbital deployment smokescreens that obscure vision. Click to set the locations, and confirm to launch.
Orbital Strike (Ultimate)
Use your map to target a location, launching a devastating orbital strike that pulses for high damage over several seconds.
Chamber – France
Weapon / Ability
Description
Trademark
Places a trap and scans the map for enemies. When the enemy is in range, the countdown starts and when it hits zero, the terrain around it destabilize creating a lingering field that slows the players that are within range.
Headhunter
Activate to equip the heavy pistol. In order to aim down the sights use ALT FIRE
Rendezvous
Teleport across the map with two teleport anchors. While in range of an anchor, reactivate to teleport quickly to the other anchor. You are also able to pick up the anchors to be re-used.
TOUR DE FORCE (Ultimate)
Summon a custom sniper rifle that is very powerful and will kill an enemy with any direct hit. An additional after-effect is a lingering field is created after a successful kill that slows players caught inside of it.
Cypher – Morocco
Weapon / Ability
Description
Trapwire (Free Ability)
Place a stealthed tripwire between two walls. Triggering enemies are restrained and revealed for a short time. If the trap isn’t destroyed, it activates to daze the trapped victim. It can be picked up.
Cyber Cage
Toss out a remote activation trap. Reactivate to create a cage that slows enemies who pass through it. Look at a trap and press “use” to detonate it, or hold “activate” to detonate all.
Spycam
Place a remote camera. After placing, reactivate to view the video feed. Left-click while in-camera to fire a tracking dart. It recharges when picked up or killed.
Neural Theft (Ultimate)
Extract information from the corpse of an enemy, revealing the location of their living allies.
Jett – South Korea
Weapon / Ability
Description
Cloudburst
Throw out a cloud of fog that obscures vision on impact. Hold down the ability button to bend the cloud’s in-flight trajectory.
Updraft
After a brief wind up, propel yourself upwards.
Tailwind
Immediately dash a short distance in the direction you’re moving.
Blade Storm (Ultimate)
Arm yourself with several deadly throwing knives that deal moderate damage and kill on headshots. Scoring a kill restores all daggers. Left-click throws a single dagger. Right-click throws all remaining daggers in a short-ranged burst.
KAY/O – Unknown
Weapon / Ability
Description
ZERO/point
KAY/O equips a suppression blade that, when thrown, sticks to the first surface it hits. The knife then winds up and suppresses anyone caught in the explosion radius, rendering their abilities useless.
FLASH/drive
KAY/O equips a flash grenade that explodes after it’s thrown, blinding enemies in its line of sight. Right-clicking the grenade causes it to only cook for one second before exploding. Left-clicking cooks the flash for 1.6 seconds longer.
FRAG/ment
KAY/O equips an explosive fragment that sticks to the floor when thrown. The fragment explodes multiple times and deals near lethal damage at the center with each explosion.
NULL/cmd (Ultimate)
KAY/O instantly overloads with polarized radianite energy, empowering him and causing large energy pulses to emit from his location. Enemies hit with the pulses are suppressed for a short duration. KAY/O also gains a combat stim while overloaded. If the robot is killed while overloaded, he’s downed and enters a destabilized state that allows allies to revive him by stabilizing his core.
Killjoy – Germany
Weapon / Ability
Description
Alarmbot
Equip a covert Alarmbot. Fire to deploy a bot that hunts down enemies that get in range. After reaching its target, the bot explodes, applying Vulnerable. Hold equip to recall a deployed bot.
Turret
Equip a Turret. Fire to deploy a turret that fires at enemies in a 180-degree cone. Hold equip to recall the deployed turret.
Nanoswarm
Equip a Nanoswarm grenade. Fire to throw the grenade. Upon landing, the Nanoswarm goes covert. Activate the Nanoswarm to deploy a damaging swarm of nanobots.
Lockdown (Ultimate)
Equip the Lockdown device. Fire to deploy the device. After a long windup, the device detains all enemies caught in the radius. The device can be destroyed by enemies.
Omen – Unknown
Weapon / Ability
Description
Paranoia
Send out an Ethereal shadow in a straight line, Nearsighting anyone it touches Shadow Walk – After a delay, dematerialize and teleport a short distance.
Shadow Walk
After a delay, dematerialize and teleport a short distance.
Dark Cover
Cast out a stealthed ethereal orb that bursts into an obscuring sphere of shadow at its final location. Can be charged to increase distance.
From the Shadows (Ultimate)
Select anywhere on the map to teleport and reform. When arriving, appear as a Shade, that will go back to your original location if killed. Once the teleport is complete, become Incorporeal for a short time.
Neon – Philippines
Weapon / Ability
Description
High Gear
Instantly channels Neon’s power for increased speed. When charged, press alt fire to trigger an electric slide. Slide charge resets every two kills.
Relay Bolt
Immediately throw an energy bolt that bounces once. Upon hitting each surface, the bolt electrifies the ground below with a concussive blast.
Fast Lane
Fires two energy lines forward on the ground that extend a short distance or until they hit a surface. The lines rise into walls of static electricity that block vision and damage enemies passing through them.
Overdrive (Ultimate)
Unleashes Neon’s full power and speed for a short duration. Press fire to channel the power into a deadly lightning beam with high movement accuracy. The duration resets on each kill.
Throw a fireball that explodes after a delay or upon impact with the ground. The fire zone damages enemies and heals you.
Blaze
Cast out a flame wall that blocks vision and damages anyone passing through it. You can bend the wall when casting by turning while holding left-click.
Curveball
Cast a curving flare that bursts into brilliant light after a brief delay, temporarily blinding all looking at it. Left-click curves it left, right-click curves it right.
Run it Back (Ultimate)
Mark your current location. If you die during this ability’s duration or when this ability’s duration expires, you’ll be reborn at the marked location with full health.
Raze – Brazil
Weapon / Ability
Description
Blast Pack
Instantly throw a Blast Pack that will stick to surfaces. Re-use the ability after deployment to detonate, damaging and moving anything hit.
Paint Shells
Equip a cluster grenade. Fire to throw the grenade, which does damage and creates sub-munitions, each doing damage to anyone in their range.
Boom Bot
Equip a Boom Bot. Fire will deploy the bot, causing it to travel in a straight line on the ground, bouncing off walls. The Boom Bot will lock on to any enemies in its frontal cone and chase them, exploding for heavy damage if it reaches them.
Showstopper (Ultimate)
Equip a rocket launcher. Fire shoots a rocket that does massive area damage on contact with anything.
Reyna – Mexico
Weapon / Ability
Description
Dismiss
Consume the life force of a killed enemy to turn invisible and invulnerable for a short duration.
Devour
Consume the life force of a killed enemy to restore your health.
Leer
Send out an Ethereal, destructible Orb that Nearsights any enemies that look at it.
Empress (Ultimate)
Enter a heightened state of bloodlust, giving you Rapid Fire and making enemies easier to see for the duration. Scoring a kill resets the timer.
Sage – China
Weapon / Ability
Description
Slow Orb
Cast out a radianite orb that breaks into a slowing field upon impact with the ground. All caught in the field are slowed, grounded, and make noise when moving.
Barrier Orb
Conjure a large, solid wall. Right-click to rotate the wall before casting.
Healing Orb
Heal an ally or yourself to full health over a few seconds.
Resurrection (Ultimate)
Target a friendly corpse. After a short delay, revive them with full health.
Skye – Australia
Weapon / Ability
Description
Trailblazer
Skye equips a Tasmanian tiger trinket. Fire to send out and take control of the predator. Players can fire again to leap forward as the tiger, exploding in a concussive blast and damaging enemies directly hit by it.
Guiding Light
Skye equips a hawk trinket. Fire to send it forward and hold fire to guide the hawk in the direction of your crosshair, similar to Jett’s smokes or Phoenix’s wall. Players can reuse the ability while the hawk is in the air to flash anyone caught in the blind. If an enemy is caught by the flash, the hawk will play a hit-confirm sound.
Regrowth
Skye equips a healing trinket. Hold fire to channel, healing allies in range and in Skye’s line of sight. The ability can be reused until her healing pool is depleted. Skye can’t heal herself.
Seekers (Ultimate)
Skye equips a Seeker trinket. Fire to send out three Seekers that track down the three closest enemies, nearsighting those caught.
Sova – Russia
Weapon / Ability
Description
Shock Dart
Fire an explosive bolt that emits a damaging pulse of static energy upon impact.
Owl Drone
Deploy a pilotable drone that can fire a dart that will Reveal enemies who are hit.
Recon Dart
Fire a bolt that deploys a sonar emitter. The sonar pings tag nearby enemies, causing them to be revealed. Can be destroyed.
Hunter’s Fury (Ultimate)
Fire up to three deadly energy blasts that spear across the entire map. Each hit enemy takes heavy damage and is marked.
Viper – USA
Weapon / Ability
Description
Snakebite
Fire a projectile that explodes into a pool of damaging acid.
Poison Cloud
Throw a gas emitter that you can reactivate to create a poisonous smoke cloud at the cost of fuel. The emitter can be picked up and thrown again after a short cooldown.
Toxic Screen
Deploy a long line of gas emitters that you can reactivate to create a tall wall of toxic gas at the cost of fuel.
Viper’s Pit (Ultimate)
Emit a massive toxic cloud in a large area that lasts as long as Viper stays inside the cloud. Enemies inside the cloud are highlighted to Viper.
Yoru – Japan
Weapon / Ability
Description
Fakeout
Equip an echo that mimics footsteps when activated. Fire to activate and send the echo forward, alt-fire to place an echo in place, and use the inactive echo to send it forward.
Gatecrash
Equip to harness a rift tether. Fire to send the tether out moving forward, alt-fire to put a tether in place, and activate to teleport to the tether’s location.
Blindside
Equip to rip an unstable dimensional fragment from reality. Fire to throw the fragment, activating a flash that winds up once it collides with a hard surface in the world.
Dimensional Drift (Ultimate)
Equips a mask that can see between dimensions. Fire to drift into Yoru’s dimension, making the player unable to be affected or seen by enemies during the ultimate’s duration.
