Valorant Character Guide

Here’s a quick rundown on each type of abilities a character has.

• One ultimate ability – This powerful ability requires multiple charges to use that are earned from kills or completing objectives (like defusing the bomb). It might take three rounds or more before you have enough charges to use yours.
• One signature ability – This ability is automatically usable each round. How many times and how often you can use it varies between characters.
• Two purchasable abilities – Each character has two extra abilities that require charges bought from the store at the beginning of a round. Think of them like grenades in Counter-Strike, an optional item that gives you some extra utility in combat.

Phoenix

Abilities

• Blaze: Summon a wall of fire that blocks vision and hurts anyone passing through it. The wall can also be bent when casting.
• Curveball: Throw a flashbang that curves around corners.
• Signature Move – Hot Hands: Throws a fireball that covers a small area in flames after a short wait or when it hits the ground. These flames damage your enemies but heal you.
• Ultimate – Run it back: Marks your current location and starts a short timer. When the timer expires, or if you die, you respawn at the marked location with full health.

Tips: Phoenix is an aggressive character who is best at rushing into battle and pushing players to ambush spots for your teammates. Force enemies out of corners using Hot Hands, and use Curveball to flush campers in corners.

Sova

Abilities

• Shock Bolt: Fires a bolt that radiates damaging bursts of static energy on impact.
• Owl Drone: Use a pilotable, flying drone to scout the map and fire darts that reveal enemies.
• Signature Move – Recon Bolt: Fires an arrow that emits sonar waves that marks and reveals nearby enemies for as long as it remains in place (can be destroyed).
• Ultimate – Hunter’s Fury: Fires up to three energy blasts that pierce walls and travel the length of the map. Any enemies that are hit take near-fatal damage and are revealed to your team.

Tips: If you like wallhacks, you’ll love Sova. However, avoid sending Sova’s Shock Bolts near teammates as this ability damages allies, too. Instead, work on bouncing your arrows off walls to hit opponents lurking around corners and behind cover.

While Sova’s Recon Bolt reveals nearby threats, remember that well-placed enemy smokes counter it to keep opponents hidden.

Cypher

Abilities

• Trapwire: Place a tripwire between two walls that restrains and reveals enemies who cross it for a short time. Can be retrieved and reused.
• Cyber Cage: Places a trap that, when activated, slows enemies who pass through it. Cypher can also detonate the traps, either one at a time or all at once.
• Signature Move – Spycam: Place a remote camera that can be manually operated to fire tracking darts at enemies.
• Ultimate – Neural Theft: Steal intel from a dead enemy, revealing the location of their allies.

Tips: If you like spying on enemies, use Cypher. He has the tools to lure enemies into traps and reveal their movement. Place Cypher’s Spycam high up near a bombsite, ideally obscured from view. This allows you to check on the bombsite while you hold another angle.

By stacking your Trapwire and Cyber Cage abilities and hovering close to them, you can promptly react to incoming opponents. These abilities buy you just enough time to eliminate a slowed enemy before taking lethal damage.

Sage

Abilities

• Slow Orb: Throws an orb that creates a zone that slows any who pass through it, preventing them from jumping and emitting a distinct noise when they move through it.
• Barrier Orb: Creates a large, impassable wall.
• Signature – Healing Orb: Heals you or your ally over several seconds.
• Ultimate – Resurrection: Revive an ally to full health after a quick delay.

Tips: Sage is able to revive downed allies but also impair enemy movements. Don’t waste Sage’s Barrier Orb by placing it as soon as the round begins. Commit to using it once you know roughly where the enemy team is heading.

Coordinate with other members of the team to combine Sage’s Slow Orb with another ability, such as an incendiary or poison cloud.

Omen

Abilities

• Paranoia: Launch a shadow clone in a straight line that inflicts anyone it touches with blindness.
• Shadow Walk: After a delay, teleport a short distance.
• Signature Move – Dark Cover: Throw a stealth orb that explodes into an obscuring sphere of shadow once it reaches its destination. Can be charged to increase its maximum distance.
• Ultimate – From The Shadows: You can teleport to anywhere on the map, but it takes a few seconds to complete. Enemies can see a “shade” at your destination and cancel your teleport by killing it. After teleporting, you become invincible for a short time.

Jett

Abilities

• Cloudburst: Throw a smoke grenade that obscures vision wherever it lands.
• Updraft: Launch yourself upwards after a brief pause.
• Signature Move – Tailwind: Dash a short distance in whatever direction you’re moving.
• Ultimate – Blade Storm: Wield several throwing knives that deal moderate damage and kill on headshots. Getting a kill replenishes your daggers and you can choose to throw them one at a time or throw all remaining daggers in a short-ranged burst.

Tips: Jett loves to jump around and outflanking enemies with quick ambushes. Combine Cloudburst with Updraft to place a couple of smoke grenades ahead and propel yourself onto a higher platform while concealed.

Maximise Cloudburst’s effectiveness by sending your Cloudburst smokes around corners and through windows by holding C and flicking your crosshair around in your desired direction. Also, if you see cover or a nice blind spot, always Tailwind to it.

Viper

Abilities

• Snakebite: Fire a projectile that creates a pool of acid.
• Poison Cloud: Throw a gas bomb that emits a cloud of poisonous smoke at the cost of fuel. You can retrieve the gas bomb and throw it again after a short cooldown.
• Signature Move – Toxic Screen: Creates a line of gas emitters that can be activated to create a wall of toxic gas at the cost of fuel.
• Ultimate -Viper’s Pit: Creates a poison cloud that blankets a large area, letting Viper easily pick off enemies trapped within it.

Tips: Viper is best when planting spikes and denying areas from opponents. Her shields allow for safe planting. While she has good AoE attacks, they require fuel. Using both Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen will drain your fuel quickly.

Brimstone

Abilities

• Incendiary: Throw an incendiary grenade that coats an area in flames.
• Stim Beacon: Select an area to call in this beacon that gives any player nearby a boost to fire speed.
• Signature Move – Sky Smoke: Use your map to call in multiple smokescreens that block vision.
• Ultimate – Orbital Strike: Call in a deadly orbital strike that strikes a targeted area repeatedly over several seconds.

Tips: Brimstone’s abilities focuses on dealing damage and manipulating enemy movement. Drop his Stim Beacon at the start of the round to boost your team’s rate of fire. Sky Smoke is effective for blocking off portions of the bombsites when taking and re-taking. This makes it harder for the enemy team to see you and reduces the corners you need to clear.

Breach

Abilities

• Aftershock – Fire an explosive charge that breaches through walls and damages enemies standing near it.
• Flashpoint – Fire a flash charge into a wall that flashes enemies on the opposite side.
• Signature – Fault Line: Create a concussive quake in a straight line in front of Breach that disorients enemy aim and travels through walls.
• Ultimate – Rolling Thunder: Fire a powerful seismic charge that travels through walls, dazes opponents, and knocks enemies upward.

Tips: Breach isn’t a solo hero, but he’s useful in breaching walls and disorienting enemies for your lead attackers to push forward. Coordinating with your team is essential as some of these abilities damage allies, if they’re standing too close.

Ability indicators are displayed on the minimap to ensure you always place them accurately. When playing on Bind, use Fault Line to guide your team safely through the teleporter.

Raze

Abilities

• Blast Pack: Instantly throw a Blast Pack that will stick to the surfaces. Re-Use the ability after deployment to detonate, damaging and moving anything hit.
• 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.
• Signature Move- 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.
• Ultimate – Showstopper: Equip a rocket launcher. Fire shoots a rocket that does massive area damage on contact with anything.

Tips: Raze is the Valorant equivalent of Overwatch’s Junkrat. Use her Paint Shells (Grenades) to flush enemies out of cover or just kill them from a good distance. Blast Pack (Satchel) can be used to get yourself to higher ground faster.

Protip: Raze’s Satchel lasts for 5 seconds until it explodes automatically. You can place it down with 2-3 seconds before the round starts so that you can get to places or heights faster. To get the most momentum, run and jump as the Satchel blows up.

Reyna

Abilities

• Passive – Soul Harvest: Enemies killed by Reyna leave behind soul orbs that last 3 seconds.
• Leer: Equip an ethereal, destructible eye and send it ahead of Reyna. Enemies that look at it will be nearsighted.
• Devour: Instantly consume a nearby soul orb to heal. Health gained through this skill exceeding 100 will decay over time. If Empress is active, this skill casts automatically and won’t consume the soul orb.
• Signature Move – Dismiss: Instantly consume a soul orb to become intangible. If Empress is active, also become invisible.
• Ultimate – Empress: Increase the speed of firing, equipping and reloading weapons, and gain infinite charges of Soul Harvest abilities. Renews upon eliminating an opponent.

Tips: Reyna is an expert-level character who relies on kills to get powered up. She’s best when you want to secure eliminations early in the round. While she may seem overpowered, she can’t do much if you’re playing too defensively with your team, and she needs to take point with the kills.