Valorant Omen Agent Guide | Abilities and How to play

Everything you need to know about Omen

Omen as a Controller is very versatile, he is great on both offence and defence, especially as he can get to angles that few other agents can. Combine his Shrouded Step (C) with Sage’s Barrier Orb (C) and Omen will have no problem removing an unexpecting enemy agent from the game.

Is Omen right for you?

If you are fairly new to Controllers or Valorant in general and don’t fancy picking up Brimstone- who we ranked to be one of the easiest agents to play- Omen is for you.

He can nearsight enemies a significant distance away behind cover, from behind cover of his own with his Paranoia (Q) as well as being able to place smokes, Dark Cover (E), anywhere on the map from wherever he wants- something other Controllers, such as Brimstone cannot.

He is very beginner friendly for a Controller and if you like to have a bit of aggression in your gameplay, Omen is perfect for you to try out!

Omen’s abilities

Shrouded Step (C)

How to use Shrouded Step (C)

Shrouded Step (C) allows Omen to channel a teleport to a short distance to a target location. Unlike Yoru’s Gatecrash (E), Omen’s Shrouded Step (C) can be placed without the enemies seeing it travel- meaning unless the enemies hear the audio cue, Omen can move out of an angle without the enemies suspecting a thing.

The ability has a cast time and Omen cannot do anything- including moving and shooting- for a short duration whilst casting and a short duration after teleporting. This totals to around two seconds, so make sure you teleport somewhere safe!

Use Shrouded Step (C) to reach high ledges to get to angles that the enemies will not be expecting you to shoot from. This is also possible in conjunction with Sage’s Barrier Orb (C) for the same effect.

When and where to use Shrouded Step (C)

Shrouded Step (C) only costs 100 credits and you can purchase two charges at a time so do not be reserved about using the ability to get an angle at the beginning of a round- especially when defending a spike site.

Be careful when using Shrouded Step (C) as newer Omen players will more often than not teleport directly behind enemies and be mowed down instantly as they can both see and hear Omen teleporting.

A safe way to teleport as an Omen and to use Shrouded Step (C) is to place a smoke- Dark Cover (E) on yourself or where you plan to teleport to. This will provide you with cover and relative safety when you teleport.

Paranoia (Q)

How to use Paranoia (Q)

Paranoia (Q) is Omen’s blind ability. It works differently to other blinds in the game as it requires Omen to hit enemies directly with Paranoia (Q). The trade off for this handicap is that it can be cast from behind cover and can go through several layers of cover.

Paranoia (Q) nearsights any enemies it hits so it doesn’t technically blind them, but it will stop a peeking Operator player holding down an angle so you and your team can push. The hitbox on the ability is actually quite small, you rely on the orb in the centre of the animation to hit enemies rather than the whole graphic, so make sure your aim is on point!

When and where to use Paranoia (Q)

Paranoia is very good for engaging and forcing a push, especially on maps such as Haven, if you are pushing along A Main, Omen can use Paranoia (Q) to nearsight a camped out enemy at the back of A Site in Heaven.

You can hit multiple enemies in different positions with Paranoia (Q) if you angle it right, so learn angles where you can hit more than one area enemies often lie in wait.

We recommend waiting a second or two after using the ability, just in case the enemy you have hit with Paranoia (Q) fires some blind shots in panic hoping you have just run out straight away.

Dark Cover (E)

How to use Dark Cover (E)

Omen’s Dark Cover (E) is his smoke ability, of which he can throw two at a time. The unique part about these smokes is that Omen can choose how high he wants the smokes to be placed at.

He can aim where he wants the smokes to go, which is anywhere on the map, and then aim how high he wants them. The smokes will then drop down until they make contact with a surface and is a tactic primarily used to block enemy vision but so Omen and his team can see the lower half of the enemies’ body.

This is made easy due to the fact that Omen can enter a phased world to place the smokes if he wants to, allowing height to be easily adjusted and the specific place it drops at. We recommend using your minimap to place the Dark Cover (E) smoke and then going into the phased world to adjust the height.

Pressing your fire and secondary fire button(left and right click) sends the Dark Cover (E) smoke further away and brings it closer respectively, with your reload key (R) being your toggle to enter the phased world.

When and where to use Dark Cover (E)

Dark Cover (E) has two charges which costs 150 credits each, and recharge every 30 seconds. This means do not be hesitant to use Dark Cover (E)- especially as each smoke lasts 11 seconds.

This means that there is a potential 8 second gap in which an enemy can see a certain angle if you use Dark Cover (E) to smoke the same spot three times.

If you are playing Omen and using Dark Cover (E), be careful as it is somewhat possible to reverse locate when an Omen is when he throws out his Dark Cover (E) smokes as a black smoke ball is sent flying to the target location. We would say use your Omen smokes from somewhere completely different to the angle you are peeking or holding as the enemies might be waiting for you to peek.

From The Shadows (X)

How to use From The Shadows (X)

Omen can teleport anywhere on the map using From the Shadows (X). OP right? Well not necessarily. From the Shadows (X) gives an audio cue to all players and turns enemy minimaps black and covers them with shadows.

This means that enemies will mostly be watching their backs as the obvious play for an Omen using From the Shadows (X) is to flank the enemies.

There is a bit of safety to this ability however, as Omen can be killed mid-teleport when he is in shadow form, which teleports him back to where he was. Better players however will wait until his teleport is fully cast and kill Omen properly then instead. Omen can cancel the teleport but is nearsighted when he is in shadow form so might teleport into a five man enemy team.

When and where to use From The Shadows (X)

From the Shadows (X) as said before, is often used to flank enemy teams, which is very expected. We suggest instead of teleporting directly on the enemies’ flank, teleport a bit further away or to an obscure angle and try to not to let yourself get seen, as they will be paranoid until they see you.

The ability is very good when playing attack, as you can five man force onto one site, wait for the whole defending team to rotate and then teleport to the other side of the map with the spike and plant, knowing your team should be able to either hold the enemy team at the original site, or rotate faster as they know the plan!

Another good use for this ability is that if one of your teammates foolishly dies with the spike in an open area, as long as you use From the Shadows (X) to teleport directly on the spike, you can cancel your teleport and go back to where you were- except this time you will have the spike!

Best and worst team compositions for Omen

Omen is very good in a team composition that are able to distract whilst he either flanks or can get to angles that he can startle the enemy from. If you have a blind thrown at you, you are highly unlikely to see an Omen perched on a wall above all of the utility you and your team have just used.

A bad team composition would consist of agents who do not provide distractions for Omen or have a significant damage output. Omen is not amazing for damage and is not your go to 1v5 agent, so team compositions really do need a bit of brute force behind them if they are to include Omen.

The best team compositions for Omen

The best team composition to play an Omen with would contain another Controller to lock down another site, at least two Duelists for damage and if not then an Initiator- although this is optional as Omen works well as an initiator himself with his Paranoia (Q). An example is as follows:

• Omen
• Yoru
• Viper
• Phoenix
• Jett

Imagine this, Omen and Yoru teleporting and surprising you from one side, with a Jett and Phoenix pushing from another, with a Viper Snake Bite (C) blocking your escape routes. Deadly. Omen and Yoru work exceptionally well together as Omen’s ability to provide cover from anywhere with his Dark Cover (E) means that Yoru can teleport behind enemies with relative safety- especially as you do not get nearsighted in Omen’s Dark Cover.

Phoenix provides utility for pushing into sites with his Curveball (Q) and Jett does a similar job with her Cloudburst (C). Viper meanwhile uses her Poison Cloud (Q) and Toxic Screen (E) to block off the other site when defending or preventing a flank when attacking.

The worst team compositions for Omen

As said before, the worst team composition for an Omen would have a severe lack of distractions for Omen. That which follows could be the worst team composition:

• Omen
• Sova
• Raze
• Breach
• Reyna

These agents are very good in their own right, but with an Omen, they struggle to assist each other. Sova and Raze provide mini distractions which can be removed before the enemy attempts to push onto site, in the form of Sova’s Recon Bolt (E) and Raze’s Boom Bot (C). Breach and Reyna have abilities in which it is easy to wait out the use of all of their utility, meaning Omen has barely anything to distract from him being somewhere the enemies would not expect.

The Best and worst maps for Omen

Omen loves maps where he can teleport to odd places to surprise enemies but likewise struggles on maps that are very linear in their angles and pushes.

The best map for Omen

Icebox is the best map for Omen by far. This is because of how much differentiation there is in height on the map. Almost the whole map can be played from a different height to your enemy, whether it be on A Rafters at A Site or on top of B Tube.

There are numerous angles that Omen can get to, that although other agents can get to some of these too, Omen can get there quickly and easily. The reason Icebox is so good is because there are so many, so Omen doesn’t have to go to the same off angle everytime, meaning the enemy cannot just predict where Omen is going to be.

The worst map for Omen

The worst map for Omen is likely to be Bind. This isn’t necessarily because Omen is useless on Bind- he is not. But instead because other Controllers are simply better than Omen is on Bind. These are the best agents on Bind.

Brimstone can provide three smokes with his Sky Smoke (E), Astra can place multiple traps and smokes with her Gravity Well (C), Nova Pulse (Q) or Nebula (E) and Viper can block off vision on both sites and/or mid with her Toxic Screen (E).

Omen’s Paranoia (Q) is sometimes useless on both sites, especially if Omen is in Heaven on A site or Showers. This is because the sites are quite long and large, meaning Paranoia (Q) struggles to cover multiple angles where enemies might be lurking.

Best and worst guns for Omen

Omen is not your solo carry agent so gun choice is less significant when playing Omen, that being said however, Omen can play offensively and defensively so you need to decide what style you are going to choose each round.

This flexibility however means that Omen should try to avoid picking weapons that will struggle to be effective if he has to alter his playstyle mid round.

The best guns to use when playing Omen

The best guns allow Omen to change playstyle mid-round, meaning he can be effective wherever he is on the map. They go as follows:

• Phantom/Vandal
• Ghost
• Sheriff
• Operator and Frenzy/Shorty

The Phantom and Vandal both come down to personal preference, both provide decent long range and close range damage, with the Vandal being better to peek a nearsighted enemy who has been hit with Paranoia (Q) and duck into cover.

The Ghost is very good on Omen due to the fact that he can kill his enemy with a few well aimed headshots before they can react, meaning that sometimes he doesn’t have to overspend on a more expensive weapon. The Sheriff does a similar thing, but struggles when multiple enemies push him due to the slow fire rate and 6 bullet magazine.

The Operator is very good on Omen for the same reason the Vandal is, but due to its lack of effectiveness at close range, a Frenzy or a Shorty is often required to be purchased alongside it.

The worst guns to use when playing Omen

Omen players should avoid using guns that are awkwardly stuck in the middle of close range and mid range combat or mid range and long range combat. This is because Omen wants to play either up close in your face or quite far away, prohibiting enemy vision. The worst guns for Omen include:

• Bulldog
• Ares
• Odin
• Bucky

The Bulldog isn’t as effective at close range as other guns Omen could buy if he is aiming to play aggressively, but also isn’t worth buying over something like a Marshal or a Guardian if Omen is playing safely at the back.

The Ares and Odin do similar things and therefore have similar problems when playing Omen, although he can mow down enemies if he catches them out from a surprise angle, he cannot play aggressively and flank with these guns, as they slow his movement. He struggles to play defensively with these guns as they want him to be constantly out in the open, something Omen doesn’t want to be doing- most of his abilities have a cast time, leaving him vulnerable to enemy fire.

The Bucky just isn’t worth Omen picking up as it doesn’t play well into Omen’s hands close range, as it won’t kill multiple enemies before they spot him and obviously is awful at long range engagements.

Defending Tips for Omen

• When playing Omen on the defending side, try and get as many one way smokes with your Dark Cover (E) as you can! This is especially easy with Omen as he can place the smokes in the air and wait for them to drop!
• Play patiently. Playing obscure angles normally means Omen will have no safe exit, so you don’t want to give up your angle just because no-one has appeared within the first 10 seconds. Leaving too soon means you may miss out on a kill or get killed trying to move positions.
• Don’t get caught in the open when casting an ability. Omen’s abilities all have cast times and wind up times. This means he can get caught out, unable to fire back at an enemy. Cast your abilities safely from behind cover!

Attacking Tips for Omen

• Do not always teleport into enemy territory. Omen is not the agent to play if you want to rush in and 1v5. Yes you can teleport behind enemies, but you cannot kill them instantly and they will probably know. You have one movement ability in the form of Shrouded Step (C) and using this aggressively will leave you stranded.
• You should always aim to mislead the enemy. Whether it be a teleport to an unexpected angle or using your From The Shadows (X) to make the enemies paranoid as to where you are, you should always be in your enemies’ head rent free!
• Avoid being predictable. It is all well and good holding angles and teleporting to places, but make sure it is not the same place every time as enemies will pre fire and check there every round. This is why Omen excels on Icebox as there are so many places he can appear from suddenly.

Omen is an agent who can be a jack of all trades if he wants to be, so try and play around that. Hopefully this guide has helped you decide whether you want to pick Omen up, and if you already have, hopefully you have found out something you didn’t already know!