Best Valorant Agents

Regardless of your agent mastery or your overall skill level, some agents will give you a better chance of winning than others, no matter how you put it. We know that the meta and gameplay differ accordingly to the environment, so this article isn’t aimed for a specific elo or pro play, but just an overall grading for the Valorant agents.

Viper

We start out our list with Viper, who like Astra, also took quite a big hit in these patch notes. Brimstone received some love and it seems it has done wonders for him, with his pick rate and win rate skyrocketing on the first day of the patch.

Still this is a list covering the eternity of Valorant, and although Brim’s smokes are faster now and his Stim Beacon movement speed buff is nice to have, his ultimate Orbital Strike is still one of the most lackluster ultimates.

On the other hand, Viper’s Ultimate is one of the most impactful abilities in the game across all elos and pro play. It can be used to fully deny site entrances, putting the enemy team between a poison and a predictable site hit.

Her wall is a necessary tool to help split sites in half, and considering Riot Games' recent trend of making large maps, the impact of this ability can’t be measured properly. Sure her Snake Bites now last a second less but with proper lineups you can still buy up to 12 seconds of defuse defense for 400 credits. And her smoke still remains solid considering the fact that you become vulnerable if you decide to push through it.

KAY/O

This might surprise a lot of you, but this is my bold prediction for this act. Apart from Viper, KAY/O’s ultimate might be the second most impactful ability in the game. Not only does it suppress nearby enemies, but it also gives him a combat stimulus and a revival if his teammates manage to help him.

Suppression is a new form of disarming your enemies by preventing them from using abilities, and KAY/O has two abilities that can do that. Entry Fraggers and Initiators are the classes that rely the most on their abilities to fulfill their role, but KAY/O can counter almost any agent effectively. Good luck solo holding a site as Cypher or Killjoy when there is a KAY/O on the enemy team, your agent is now useless for some time. The amount of times I have seen Jett and Neon players rush onto a site with their ultimate thinking that they're going to make a highlight play, only to be stopped in their tracks by his knife, is too low. And that needs to change, because this ability not only suppresses but can also act as an information gathering tool.

His flashes got some love recently, they last way too long and their detonation versatility is really nice for various situations. But that’s not all, this agent also has a grenade similar to Killjoy’s and you can do the same lineups for both agents. I think a lot of Valorant players have overlooked KAY/O as an agent ever since he was released and this Valorant episode might be the one he finally shows his worth. He’s been a lot more present in professional play recently as well, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time, more casual players pick him up like their idols.

Reyna

What kind of a best agents tier list would this be without the Queen herself? Ever since she was introduced to the game, Reyna has been a mainstay in the meta despite her various nerfs. People like to complain about her healing and sure ,it’s not fun to hit her for 300 damage in the second round only for her to survive.

But the main issue people face when playing against a Reyna is her ability to get out of bad situations. Apart from maybe Jett and Chamber, Reyna is the best character at taking aggressive positions and holding off angles for easy kills while getting out untouched. Apart from making the round a 5 versus 4 from the get go, this also demoralizes the enemy team and sends shivers down their spine. Sure the success and the impact of the Reyna player is proportional to his aim supremacy, since all of her kit is activated after she gets a kill. Her Leer leaves a lot to be desired but her ultimate more than makes up for it. Newer Reyna players might have a harder time adjusting to the increased firing rate, but experienced ones know how to thrive with the infinite dismisses and healing.

The reason Reyna is so popular in all elos, but dominates lower elos especially is one we already mentioned. Her Ultimate costs only six orbs, and compare that and the value she can get out of it, to the eight orb ultimates of Sage and Sova. Below Gold rank, players barely contest Ultimate Orbs and oftentimes run past them even though they are free to take, so all a smurf Reyna needs for a third round ultimate are a few frags.

Jett

Just like Reyna, Jett has been a mainstay in the meta ever since the game was launched. She has survived multiple nerfs and still reigns as the best entry fragger agent in the game, in all elos and professional play. Her single digit win rate percentage in Iron might make her numbers seem balanced but best believe Jett is still broken. She is the most played agent in the game and the higher up you go in ranks the better she performs. Dedicated Jett mains have abused her insane mobility and carry potential for way too long, and personally i can't wait for the Duelist meta to shake up.

The recent Yoru rework is interesting but i don’t think it will push Jett out of the high elo and pro play meta, and Phoenix remains underwhelming to say the least. As we mentioned her strongest suit is her mobility, which can be rivaled only by Raze’s Blast Pack, but combined with one of the most powerful ultimates makes her one of the best agents in the game. We all know that a Jett player’s success is only proportional to his skill to click on other players' heads. But outside of Cypher before and maybe KAY/O now, there are not a lot of agents that can counter her effectively. Her ultimate has no recoil and recharges on kills with the left click. Thank god they removed the right click recharge. On every map she has some double Updraft positions from where she can take your head off while she is able to free fire without you noticing.

Sure her smoke last relatively low but for skilled Jett players it's enough time for her to bunny hop into the site, Updraft, see your entire site defense, then dash into her smokes. Meanwhile the rest of her team is pouring in utility while you’re trying to shoot the Jett, and unless you play Chamber, that round is already a 3 versus 5. Never mind the fact how she can play around vertically on defense, holding off angles with her Updraft, so she can score the first kill and get out safely. This becomes especially more problematic when she gets an Operator. Overall she still remains as one of the best Valorant agents , only limited by her players capabilities.

Chamber

Chamber is the newest addition to the Sentinel role but we all already know he is a lot more versatile than that. Just looking at the numbers, it’s no surprise to see him on top of this list. He has crossed the 50 % win rate threshold in all elos below Diamond for a few months now, and has been a mainstay pick for the higher elos with more than 20% pick rate over the same time. Chamber is an S Tier agent

Ever since the return of professional play, players have realized that Chamber is an S Tier agent, mostly because he can function as a secondary Duelist while having Sentinel abilities. Remember what we said about Reyna’s Dismiss? Well Chamber does that even better, because he can do it at any range, does not need a kill and is more reliable than a Jett dash. His Teleport is slowly becoming the most infuriating ability to play against since the cooldown is only 20 seconds after he uses it. He can pick his anchors up and place them somewhere else and do the same no counterplay peek again. It’s like having three to four Jett dashes every round but you don't need kills to recharge them. His Tripwire traps are a great flank watch tool because they stay active regardless of where he is on the map, unlike Killjoy’s utility.

They can be used as a scouting tool because they can be deployed from so far away. You don't know if there is someone behind the smoke or around the corner? Just put down your Chamber trap while hugging the wall. If it triggers it creates a massive slow field that lasts for 9,5 seconds!! Oh yeah and we are yet to talk about his custom guns. His Q ability is Headhunter, a custom gun that only Chamber has and it’s an enhanced version of the Sheriff. You don't buy the gun but you do need to buy the bullets for it. Each bullet costs 100 credits and it can hold up to eight in a magazine, compared to the Sheriff six round magazine. You can ADS with it, it’s more accurate than the Sheriff, it shoots faster, the pullout time is faster and it’s a one shot headshot at any range. Not enough proof to convince you that this should be your new main? Let’s talk about his ultimate ability.

It's called Tour de Force, and it's an enhanced Operator only available to Chamber. It holds five rounds, it one shots anywhere on the body, it shoots faster than the Operator, reloads faster and creates a slow field around his killed target similar to his Tripwires. Because it reloads so fast and has a stable recoil you can use it effectively in some close range scenarios and even with no scope efficiently, unlike the Operator. All of this for just seven ultimate points. Abuse Chamber while you can because this overloaded kit will get nerfed eventually.

Notable mentions

Some of you may read this article and disagree with the points being made, which is completely fine because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but let’s address the elephant in the room. The patch is still new, some agents perform differently in different elos and not everyone has the same win conditions when they play Competitive.

Astra may not be worth it anymore

If we did this article a week ago, Astra would for sure be on it. But since her kit is harder to pick up and execute properly because it requires teamwork, she was never a good agent in lower elos. Now with the recent nerfs across the board, she might be even more difficult to pilot so I advise you to stay away from her if you are below Platinum.

Omen and Brimstone just got some minor but significant buffs that they desperately needed, and they are older agents that you are probably more familiar with. If your team composition needs a Smoke agent in the upcoming Act, you are better off locking them in.

Sova and Sage always fit in

Agents like Sova and Sage will probably always be valuable picks because of their utility, but there are a few reasons why I left them off this list. Both of these agents have been mainstays in professional play and have gotten nerfed repeatedly because of it. They both need eight Ultimate Orbs to unlock their strongest ability, which can be hard to get if your team is not coordinated or just greedy.

We have all seen Reyna players hoard Ultimate Orbs so they get their ultimate faster only to run in like a monkey, and get one tapped. Their spells rarely help them score kills on top of being harder to execute, and almost everyone knows how to counter them. Sure having Slow Orbs, a Wall, an Owl Drone and unconditional Healing Orbs will always bring value but not enough to hard carry games. And if you’re in lower elos you won't get to use your ultimate all that often, and that is a big disadvantage.

Yoru rework and it’s impact

All of the other agents still remain valuable picks in the hands of their mains, even though they won't be mentioned in this article. Sure some do better on some maps than others, but if you play a certain role/agent you should stick to it regardless of the map. Yoru on the other hand just received a major rework and it seems it made his kit more fluent to use.

We still have to see how he performs on the new patch, but everyone is excited because he was such an interesting agent upon his release. The fact that he can use the rest of his abilities while in his Ultimate is a great change that will make the playing experience a lot more enjoyable. He was left in a bad spot for way too long, with no one but the dedicated mains playing him, but now he may shake up the Duelist meta.