Valorant is Riot Game's most recent tactical shooter that players are calling a mix between Counter-Strike and Overwatch. The game is a 5v5 Search and Destroy game much like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but players also have to select different Agents which have unique abilities much like Overwatch. Valorant currently has nine playable agents each having their own skill set that can help a team claim victory over their opponents. While players chose and buy whatever weapon they want to go with their agents, pairing agents' abilities well can help turn the tide of battle.
Riot Games has made it explicitly clear that the game focuses heavily on gunplay more than it does the use of abilities. This means that the player with the better aim will win fights more than a player with better abilities. This is unlike Overwatch as the use of abilities is heavily encouraged. However, team composition is still key to winning rounds and having a team pick the right characters can be what determines a loss from a win. Here is how a team can make the best team composition in Valorant.
Picking the Right Team in Valorant
For a team to be composed of all the right parts, teams will need to diversify their agents. Luckily, with there only being nine agents to choose from at the moment, making a diverse team should not be too hard. All agents have the same amount of health, and weapons can be purchased in the game. So, unlike Overwatch, characters are stuck with the same weapon each round, but they are stuck with the same Agent for an entire match. This makes picking the rights agents even more important than ever.
In a game like Overwatch or League of Legends, players have an arsenal of characters to choose from meaning a team could be composed of all tanks, all attackers, too little defense, not enough offense, etc. While the pool of Agents is small in Valorant, it is important to note that as a rule of thumb, a team should be composed of agents that cover all of the team's bases. Obviously, Valorant plays much differently than any other tactical shooter, but good team composition can help players win more rounds. Here are the categories that team composition should cover.
• Offense (Bomb Planting)
• Intel
• Support
• Damage
• Mobility
Offensive Agents in Valorant
In Valorant, teams will switch between offensive and defensive rounds. While defense is important, offensive rounds are much harder to win as teams will need to push on to a point compared to holding and defending a point. This makes prioritizing offensive agents slightly more important than defensive agents.
Both Viper and Pheonix are great offensive agents as they can easily put a lot of pressure on point by using their abilities which makes it easier for the team to plant the bomb. However, Viper's ultimate ability can single-handedly move an entire team on to the point, whereas Pheonix's ability is more selfish and gives him a second life. Outside of their ultimate abilities, Viper and Pheonix share similar abilities so their ultimates are the deciding factor when choosing an offensive hero.
Viper is an incredible offensive agent as two of her abilities recharge and uses fuel from her poison tank. She can put up a smoke wall to blind enemies, throw down a toxic area of effect grenade, and can summon a poisonous smoke cloud to help choke a point. But most importantly, her ultimate ability fills an area with toxic smoke that blinds enemies. The area is big enough to fill an entire point which makes it easy for a team to move on to a point and plant the bomb before the enemy team figures out where players are located.
Intel Agents in Valorant
Knowing where the enemy is at all times in the most important part of Valorant, and being able to know where your enemy is without seeing them is even more important. Luckily there are a couple of agents that have abilities that allow them to show their entire team where their enemies are located. These agents are Sova and Cypher.
Both agents have vastly different abilities that help them locate players, but Sova is a must-have on any team. While Cypher's abilities may allow for more damage mitigation, Sova can ultimately locate players faster and easier.
Sova is an archer who has a purchasable drone that he can fly around the map to locate enemies. This makes peeking around corners far less dangerous, and the drone has the ability to mark enemies and reveal their location to teammates. Sova also has a recon bolt that recharges over time and can be used to locate enemies. Wherever the bolt is fired it will shoot off three pulses and reveal the enemy's location.
Lastly, Sova's ultimate, Hunter's Fury, is a laser beam that shoots through walls and reveals the location of enemies that are hit while also dealing a massive amount of damage. The ultimate has three shots.
Support Agents in Valorant
Support plays a huge role in any team-based shooter. Being able to heal, or even revive, teammates can give a team a huge upper-hand. Luckily for Valorant players, there is only one support style agent to choose at the moment: Sage.
Sage has the unique ability to heal players or herself, but her other abilities can be used defensively to control the battlefield. However, her ultimate can be used to resurrect from the dead. This effectively gives a player another life. She can also wall off teams from coming on to the point and has a large area of effect ability that drastically slows enemies.
Damage Agents in Valorant
Defense is half of the name of the game, and agents who can deal massive amounts of damage with abilities can help push players off point and hold them at bay. While there are plenty of agents that can deal damage (Raze, Brimstone, Breach) the newest addition to the game has proven to be the best damage dealer, and that new agent is Raze.
Raze, the explosives expert has a slew of damage-dealing abilities at her disposal. She has a purchasable robot, commonly referred to as a roomba, that scouts out players and explodes when it gets close to an enemy. She also has a throwable C-4 that can push back enemies and launch the player forward. She has two grenades that cause an area of effect damage and burst into smaller explosives to cause even more damage.
However, her ultimate packs the biggest punch. When her ultimate is ready, Raze fires a rocket launcher that causes a massive explosion wherever the rocket lands that deals devastating damage to those within the blast radius. This can be compared to Brimstone's airstrike, but there is far less warning for Raze's incoming rocket.
Mobility Agents in Valorant
While there is not a lot of mobility in Valorant, to begin with, characters who possess mobility skills can take the upper hand in almost any battle. As aiming is a key element in Valorant, any skils that disrupt the normal amount of mobility are sure to mess with a player's aim.
Agents Jett and Omen have mobility skills with Jett being able to jump and glide around the map, and omen being able to teleport from one place to another. Both share a smoke ability, but Jett ultimately has more mobility options that make her the most agile agent in Valorant.
Firstly, Jett has a passive ability that allows her to glide when jumping from a high point, and it negates fall damage. She also has an updraft ability that allows her to jump very high in the air to get the "jump" on her enemies. Jett can also use a quick dash that recharges after getting two kills. And if that were not enough, her ultimate is endless. She summons five kunai blades that she can throw at enemies. There is no timer on her ultimate so she can summon it at the beginning of a match and use it all the way through. AND her ultimate resets if she gets a kill with her blades. Meaning as long as one of her blades kills someone she will get all five back.
In short, to cover all of your team's bases, a team consisting of Viper, Sova, Sage, Raze, and Jett makes for great team composition.
Valorant is in closed beta on PC.