One of the main appeals of Valorant is the inclusion of Agents with skills to complement the solid gunplay. Without the Agents, Valorant is far too similar to CSGO and would struggle to find it’s own lane. The Agents not only enable themselves through their abilities but also their teammates and a thorough understanding of team play. Regardless of your goal in Valorant, keeping a thumb on the pulse of the meta around Agents is required and we here at Run It Back are here to help!

MUST PICK

Sage

Sage is a staple and will remain so for the foreseeable future. If your opponent is fielding a Sage in their composition and your team is not, you are instantly at a severe disadvantage.

Sage is alone in her ability to heal her teammates through her Healing Orb ability and offers absurd amounts of utility to boot. Her Barrier Orb is one of the most effective ways to bring pushes to a standstill as well as give her the ability to create sightlines.

Slow Orb is a powerful ability that brings zone control and yet another way to slow pushes. Resurrection, her Ultimate, needs little explanation. Her ability to bring a teammate back from the dead not only leads to economic gains but also the ability to alter entire situations. Being able to resurrect a teammate to keep their gun at the end of a round victory or the ability to turn a 1v2 into a fair match-up is something that no other agent can bring to the team.

Notable players; Jack “kpiz” Pragnell of Royals, Matthew “Wardell” Yu of TSM, Danny “huynh” Huynh of Gen.G, and Keven “AZK” Larivière of T1.

Near Must Picks

Brimstone

Brimstone has the honor of being the Agent with the best “smoke” in the game. Not only is it the longest-lasting, but multiple can be dropped at once and safely from a distance at that. No other Agent can prep a bomb site for the taking as Brimstone can. Brimstone should remain a meta pick for the long term as his smoke is unlikely to be rivaled and his Ultimate is one of the most impactful on a single round.

His incendiary grenade launcher adds to his ability to control zones and push people out of positions. The Stim Pack is a serviceable ability that can give Brimstone and his team a little edge but isn’t a highlight of his kit. Additionally, his Ultimate, Orbital Strike, is one of the best in the game. A huge Area of Effect damage ability that quite literally can rain down hellfire on the majority of a bombsite.

Notable Players: Keven “PLAYER1” Champagne of Gen.G, Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks of fish123, and Niels “luckeRRR” Jasiek of Valorando.

Cypher

Cypher‘s theme is information gathering and in Valorant, those are skills that are essential for a team, especially defensively. Cypher is one of the few agents who can reliably hold a site by himself long enough for his team to rotate. The spy is going to be a mainstay in the meta for the foreseeable future as his ability to gather information and hold a site efficiently by himself is unrivaled.

His Spycam ability can be put in all sorts of positions on the map to gain valuable intel to determine what site a team is working towards. His Cyber Cage serves as a decent “smoke” and can help thwart a push, though it’s not as effective as other smokes. Cypher’s Tripwire ability is the crown jewel of his kit. When placed properly, they can’t really be avoided by most Agents, which means you and your team are gathering precious information. Through the use of these abilities, he can physically hold one angle/entrance to a bombsite while having another booby-trapped impeccably. Cypher’s Ultimate is no slouch either, especially when deployed later in a round, as it reveals the location of the opposing teams surviving members.

Notable Players: Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, Austin “crashies” Roberts and Braxton “brax” Pierce of T1, Artūr “leakeN” Gonserovskij of Royals.

Breach

Breach is a unique Agent in the mix, as he needs proper teamwork to be worthy of this position. Not a great character for solo queue, Breach’s abilities primarily serve to enable teammates as he is usually not in a position to best capitalize on their use. Breach is the best Agent at capitalizing off the information that is gathered by other Agents and will be a fundamental piece in teams for a long time.

Breach’s entire kit has an underlying focus on forcing players out of position. Aftershock is a brilliant ability that will force people out of tight corners or face death. Flashpoint is the best flashbang in the game at the moment as it can be deployed at range, through walls, and lasts longer than competing flashbangs.

Fault Line not only forces players to move, if they can, but also slows them for a few seconds. The combination of these abilities just really disrupts the rhythm of a site defense or site assault and makes Breach vital for top-tier team play. His ultimate, Rolling Thunder, is simply a Fault Line on steroids that can cover the majority of a site. Breach is an interesting Agent because the case can be made that he is overpowered, but it really requires the participation of a competent team for his abilities to be used to their full effect.

Notable Players: James “hazed” Cobb of TSM, Loic “effys” Sauvageau of Gen.G, and Harry “DPS” MacGill of Royals.

Sova

Sova is one of the Agents that we haven’t seen the limits of in competitive play. An Agent primarily based around information gathering at range, Sova is the most picked Agent in competitive play outside of the Core Four (see above).

Sova’s Owl Drone is a free entry/corner check which can be used in ways ranging from checking flanks to trading for a kill if used aggressively. The Shock Bolt is the weak point of the kit here but still serves a purpose. Firing a bouncing Shock Bolt around corners to deal damage/push enemies out is always going to be a decent idea. Recon Bolt is the primary skill of Sova and is what creates the high skill ceiling of the Agent. The ability to scout positions on the map from far away by arcing, bouncing, and lining up these arrows is unmatched in Valorant.

Sova is one of the best cases for the rumored substitution rules of Valorant as an esport, as his kit requires immense knowledge and practice. Hunter’s Fury is a fitting Ultimate for Sova as it allows him to capitalize on his own information as well as cause damage and push players out of position.

Notable Players: Taylor “Drone” Johnson of TSM and Anthony “gMd” Guimond of Gen.G.

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