VALORANT Agents and Their Abilities

VALORANT keeps adding new agents to its roster as time goes on. Keeping up with these agents' updates can sometimes be tough. So we have put together a list to make sure you don't miss a single agent. Let's take a look at VALORANT's agents together.

What Are VALORANT Abilities?

Let's give a quick rundown of the abilities in the game. Here's some general info about some of the abilities in the game;

• Q: This ability, which differs for every agent, comes in 1-2 charges, and you need to buy it at the start of each round.
• E: This ability, which also varies in number for every agent, is given to agents for free. If it has two or more charges, you can buy the ones after the first.
• C: This ability, which varies in number for every agent, is generally a single charge (it can be more depending on the agent). You can get it through an in-game purchase.
• X: Every agent has an ultimate meter that has to be filled before they can use their ultimate. You can't buy this ability with money. You can charge your ultimate by killing an opponent (one point), planting or defusing the spike (one point each), dying (one point), and picking up orbs scattered around the map (one point each).

VALORANT Agents and Their Abilities: 2023

Jett

Role: Duelist Abilities:

• Updraft (Q): An ability that lets you reach high places by briefly launching you upward. You can have a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Tailwind (E): Like every agent's E ability, this is given for free at the start of every round. It gives Jett a burst of fast movement, roughly 10 meters, in the direction you choose. In-game, this ability is called "DASH".
• Cloudburst (C): As the name suggests, a smoke cloud that briefly blocks vision. You can have a maximum of two of these per round.
• Blade Storm (X): Jett's ultimate, a set of knives. Multiple body hits are needed to take down an opponent, while a headshot kills with a single throw.

Backstory: Jett hails from South Korea. Her playstyle favors getting kills, and in blunt terms she's a hit-and-run character. Jett's ability comes from her power to bend the wind, which is how she uses her Q and E abilities. You'll even notice that in her ultimate, the knives appear to hover in the air.

Raze

Role: Duelist Abilities:

• Blast Pack (Q): A satchel charge that sticks to surfaces and lets you reach high places and move quickly. It's also an ability that damages anything it hits. After throwing it, pressing Q again detonates the satchel. If you want it to explode before its timer runs out, just press Q again. You can have a maximum of two charges of Q per round.
• Paint Shells (E): This ability is a fragmentation grenade. When thrown, it breaks into smaller pieces at the point of impact, damaging everyone nearby, including yourself and your teammates.
• Boom Bot (C): When you pick up this ability, markers appear before you throw it showing which direction it will travel. It can bounce off walls as it moves. It can also lock onto enemies it spots and chase them down, taking away some of their health once it catches them, or even taking them out entirely.
• Showstopper (X): Raze's ultimate, as you might guess from her other abilities, is another explosive, but a much more powerful one. When you fire Showstopper, if it hits an opponent, it can wipe them out in a single shot. Since this is essentially a rocket launcher, remember it can damage your teammates too.

Backstory: Raze is a Brazilian technician with a personality as explosive as her kit. What Riot has shared about her story is mostly about her homeland, her work, and of course her recently revealed relationship with fellow technician Killjoy. Judging by her earpiece and her in-game voice lines, she's also a character who loves listening to music.

Breach

Role: Initiator Abilities:

• Flashpoint (Q): The flash Breach fires through walls with his left arm to blind opponents. You can have a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Fault Line (E): Breach's E ability shakes everyone in the affected area with a seismic blast, including his own teammates. This shake results in a slight restriction of vision and a significant reduction in your firing accuracy.
• Aftershock (C): A thermonuclear ability, Aftershock is a charge fired through a wall that explodes after a delay. You can buy one charge of this ability per round.
• Rolling Thunder (X): An earthquake that rolls through a wide, cone-shaped area in waves. Anyone caught in it is dazed, has their vision restricted, and is launched into the air. Breach's Rolling Thunder affects everyone inside its area of effect.

Backstory: Thanks to the technological devices in place of his arms, the Swedish Breach has superhuman strength, and he's carved out a place among the initiators with abilities that shake and blind every corner so his teammates can advance safely. What we know about his personal life and story is that machines have replaced his arms, and that his home country is Sweden.

Omen

Role: Controller Abilities:

• Paranoia (Q): A shadowy projectile that briefly restricts the vision of anyone it touches. It can be fired forward and has the ability to pass through walls. You can only get one charge of this ability per round.
• Dark Cover (E): Omen the controller's smoke ability is Dark Cover. When you press E, you sweep a blue veil across the map and can drop Dark Cover wherever you like, restricting your opponents' vision. You can get 2 charges of this ability per round. One is given for free, like all E abilities. You have to buy the second one at the start of the round.
• Shrouded Step (C): This is the ability that sets Omen apart from the other controllers. When you press C for Shrouded Step, you'll see a small blue circle on your screen, and left-clicking teleports you to the marked location in a short time. You can get two charges of this ability per round.
• From the Shadows (X): With his From the Shadows ultimate, you can teleport to any point on the map from wherever you like, with no distance limit. If enemies spot where you're teleporting to, they can shoot you and cancel the teleport before it finishes.

Backstory: We know almost nothing about Omen's life story. The only thing we know is that he isn't human; in his in-game lines, he says he has died before, that he comes from within the shadows, and that he hides his friends within those shadows.

Brimstone

Role: Controller Abilities:

• Incendiary (Q): This ability is an incendiary bomb, much like a molotov. When thrown into a chosen area, it damages everyone within its area of effect. You can get one charge of this ability per round.
• Sky Smoke (E): Brimstone's ability to drop smoke clouds on marked points by controlling his satellites, restricting his opponents' vision. You can have a maximum of three charges of this ability per round. One is reflected for free, while you can buy the other two.
• Stim Beacon (C): A beacon thrown in a circular shape that lets Brimstone and his teammates fire faster and move quicker. It's an ability with a fairly limited duration. You can only buy one per round.
• Orbital Strike (X): The laser strike Brimstone calls down on a marked area using his satellites. If opponents don't leave the area, they'll be taken out after a while.

Backstory: Brimstone is an American agent, and as mentioned above, what sets him apart from the other agents is the satellite-guided strikes he calls in on his opponents. Judging by his in-game lines and the abilities he's been given, Brimstone is also the field leader of the agents. What we know about his personal life is that he's close friends with KAY/O and that he constantly complains about getting older. Another in-game line that confirms he's the field leader is, "They didn't hand us these stripes for nothing."

Phoenix

Role: Duelist Abilities:

• Curveball (Q): A flash that curves through the air and detonates shortly after being thrown. It can be used two different ways. If you want to throw it to the left, left-click on your mouse; if you want it to go right, right-click. This is one of the things you need to pay attention to when using it. It briefly restricts the vision of everyone in its area of effect, including Phoenix and his teammates. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Hot Hands (E): A fireball that leaves a molotov-like ring of fire wherever it lands; one free charge of this ability is given to the agent at the start of every round. While this fire ability heals Phoenix as he stands in it, it drains health from everyone else. So you can use it both to top off your own health and to take out your opponents.
• Blaze (C): Like Phoenix's other abilities, this one drains everyone's health except our agent's, and only heals him. This ability is used to restrict opponents' vision, since they can't see through the wall it creates. You can also hold your mouse button while throwing it to curve the wall. You can get a maximum of one charge of this ability per round.
• Run It Back (X): Phoenix's ultimate lets him leave his current spot for a while, engage with opponents, and then return completely unharmed. There are a few things to keep in mind when using this ability. First, the spot where you activate the ultimate matters, because when you return there, you have to wait a moment to re-equip your weapon, and if you're caught during that window, opponents can take you out and remove you from the round. If you're killed by opponents before the ultimate's duration runs out, you're immediately sent back to the spot where you activated it.

Backstory: Phoenix, known to be from the United Kingdom, draws the fire power in his abilities from the stars. He's a character who loves fiery, explosive fights, and there's no denying he has a style people admire, from his hair to his jacket. What we know about his story, based on the emblem on his jacket, suggests that in a past life he worked at a coffee shop on the map Split.

Sage

Role: Sentinel Abilities:

• Slow Orb (Q): As the name suggests, these orbs thrown by Sage explode where they land and stay on the ground for a while, slowing anyone who tries to pass through that area. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Healing Orb (E): Sage's healing ability, which she can use on injured teammates who have taken damage, as well as on herself. To use it, take the E ability, aim your crosshair at the teammate you want to heal, and left-click. If you want to heal yourself, right-click instead. This ability takes effect a short while after it's used, meaning your health rises over a period rather than instantly. You get one free charge of it at the start of every round.
• Barrier Orb (C): As the name suggests, this ability, which we'd call a barrier or a wall, is used to seal off a point. For this wall to break, your opponents either have to shoot it enough or wait for its duration to run out. Using the ability is quite simple: press C and you'll see a preview outline showing how the wall will be placed, to give you a hint of how it'll form. Also, every time you press C, the wall's orientation changes, letting you place it vertically or horizontally.
• Resurrection (X): As the name suggests, Sage's ultimate is an ability that revives a teammate who died during the round.

Backstory: Sage, who is Chinese, has the main job of keeping herself and her teammates safe and slowing down opponents. Even though her defensive traits stand out most, she's also quite effective offensively. We don't know a lot about her story, but there are a few things we can pick up from her in-game voice lines. Sage's ultimate works by collecting the souls of the opponents she's killed and using that power to revive her teammates. On the other hand, she's known to be a quiet, calm character. In one in-game line, Brimstone tells her, "If something happens to me, you're in command," which we think shows Sage holds an important position among the agents.

Sova

Role: Initiator Abilities:

• Shock Bolt (Q): Sova's Shock Bolt is fired from a bow and arrow with an explosive effect. The arrow damages everyone at the point where it lands. To extend the arrow's range, you need to hold it drawn until the bar on your screen fills up before releasing it. You can also right-click as many times as you like to bounce the arrow off surfaces. It can bounce a maximum of two times. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Recon Bolt (E): Like the Shock Bolt, the Recon Bolt can also be bounced and have its range extended. The E ability stays where it lands, and if it isn't destroyed by opponents, it reveals every agent in the area to your teammates.
• Owl Drone (C): With this ability, a drone detaches from Sova's arm and takes a short flight to scout the area, gathering information for his teammates and it can mark an enemy. You can get a maximum of one drone charge per round.
• Hunter's Fury (X): Sova's ultimate, again using his bow and arrow system, fires 3 wall-piercing energy blasts. Anyone caught in these blasts takes damage. The key thing to watch out for when using Hunter's Fury is keeping your teammates out of the ultimate's path, and being mindful that Sova is left unprotected during it.

Backstory: Sova, who grew up in the tundras of Russia, is best known for pinpointing his opponents' locations. He gathers information for his teammates with his bow and arrow, and his drone is tied to his right eye, though we don't know exactly how he lost it. Thanks to this artificial eye, marked enemies can be seen even through walls, and the drone's feed is projected directly onto his eye. From his in-game lines, it seems Sova sadly lost his eye in some tragic way.

Viper

Role: Controller Abilities:

• Poison Cloud (Q): This ability, a gas cloud that emits poison, restricts the vision of opponents caught in the circular area where it's thrown and briefly drains their health. You can only get one charge per round. You can pick it back up from where it was thrown and reuse it somewhere else. Also, like all of Viper's abilities, this one consumes fuel. It's not an ability you can use continuously.
• Toxic Screen (E): This ability is a poison-emitting screen; equipment laid down along a long line rises up, restricting opponents' vision and briefly draining the health of anyone who passes through it.
• Snake Bite (C): Using a chemical launcher, Viper's Snake Bite damages opponents with the acid it spreads at the point of impact, and this ability can also damage her teammates and herself. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Viper's Pit (X): Viper's ultimate, the Pit, releases a green gas that covers a large area. This gas restricts everyone's vision while dropping opponents' health down to 1. The key thing to watch is that if Viper stays outside her own ultimate for too long, it shuts off.

Backstory: Viper, an American chemist, damages her opponents with various chemical weapons. What we also know from her story is that she has experimented on some of the other agents. Positioned as the off-field leader of all the agents, Viper clearly has some kind of issue with Reyna. With her confident lines, Viper is one of the most popular controllers, and that's what we know about her life story.

Cypher

Role: Sentinel Abilities:

• Cyber Cage (Q): This cage, thrown by Cypher, restricts opponents' vision and slows them down. Also, every time an opponent enters or leaves the cage, it makes a whip-crack sound, which is an ability that gives information to Cypher and his teammates. You can have a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Spycam (E): This ability, which lets you get a camera feed from wherever it's placed, can be a valuable source of information as long as opponents don't destroy it. You can also use your mouse to mark opponents who come into the camera's field of view.
• Trapwire (C): Thanks to a line stretched between two walls or objects, you're alerted when opponents pass through the area, and you can shake them, restricting their vision and firing ability. Opponents can destroy this ability if they spot it before getting caught. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Neural Theft (X): By pressing X on a dead opponent, Cypher throws his hat and reveals the location of all remaining opponents to himself and his teammates, though only for a short time. The only requirement to use this ultimate is having access to an opponent agent's body.

Backstory: We learn from Cypher's in-game lines, including how Viper addresses him, that his real name is "Samir." Our Moroccan character is one who closes the map down on his enemies with his traps. Even though we don't know a lot about him, his in-game lines suggest he has a sorrowful backstory. Also, because of his line on the map Bind, "Look what they have done to my home," it was once suspected he was from Morocco, back when it wasn't yet known which country Bind was set in.

Reyna

Role: Duelist Abilities:

• Devour (Q): The ability that lets Reyna heal by feeding on the soul orbs left behind for 3 seconds by opponents she kills. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Dismiss (E): Given once at the start of every round, this ability lets Reyna consume the soul orb left by a dead opponent to turn intangible, so that even if opponents see her, their bullets won't hit her.
• Leer (C): This ability, which we'd describe as Reyna's flash, briefly blinds opponents. Something to watch out for is that opponents can destroy this flash with a single bullet. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Empress (X): Reyna's ultimate lets you use your Q and E abilities without limit for a while. Also, while this ultimate is active, your equip and reload speed increase, and you start seeing your opponents highlighted in red.

Backstory: Reyna, who comes straight from the heart of Mexico, gets more fired up with every kill and crushes her enemies in one-on-one duels. What we know about our agent is that she looks down on every agent except Skye, and we hear her constantly belittling them in her lines. Another known fact is her feud with Viper, which she holds a particular grudge over. While there are some theories about this, since Riot hasn't released any official info on it, it wouldn't be right to state them as fact.

Killjoy

Role: Sentinel Abilities:

• Alarmbot (Q): This hidden alarm bot ability catches any enemy who comes within its range and briefly disables them, and once it catches someone, it announces to Killjoy over voice that it's caught an enemy. It's an ability that can be destroyed by opponents' abilities and weapons. Once you move away from the bot, it goes passive and stops functioning. You can get a maximum of one charge of this ability per round.
• Turret (E): Killjoy's turret fires at every opponent it sees within a 180-degree cone. Even though the damage it deals isn't huge, it's great both for gathering information and for distracting opponents. You can get a maximum of one free charge of this ability per round.
• Nanoswarm (C): This bomb ability hides at the spot where you throw it and waits for you to activate it. Unlike her other abilities, it can be activated from anywhere on the map, no matter the distance. It's an ability that can be destroyed if opponents spot it. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Lockdown (X): Killjoy's ultimate, Lockdown, covers a large circular area at the point where it's placed; if enemy agents don't leave that area within the required time, they get caught in the lockdown and are left immobile with their hands bound for a while.

Backstory: Known as the German genius, Killjoy is an agent who narrows the battlefield for her opponents with the technological devices she builds; unlike the other agents, her abilities come from her intelligence, meaning the war machines she herself has built. Killjoy is the character responsible for technological devices across the whole roster, as we see from the videos Riot Games has released. We think that the recently revealed relationship between Killjoy and Raze may be rooted in the fact that they both enjoy technological weapons of war.

Skye

Role: Initiator Abilities:

• Trailblazer (Q): Using a Tasmanian tiger figure, you can get information on your opponents' locations and briefly stun and damage them by having it bite. Something to watch out for when using this ability is that Skye is left completely unprotected while the tiger figure is active. You can get a maximum of one charge of this ability per round.
• Guiding Light (E): This ability, a hawk figure, might be one of the harder abilities in Skye's kit to use, but once you learn it, it becomes one of the most satisfying to use. Skye's flash ability, Guiding Light, is actually more than just a flash. Here's how you use it: after releasing the hawk, you can steer it in whatever direction you like without letting go of your left mouse button. This lets you blind a chosen point without having to get close to your opponents. Unlike other flashes, if it blinds an opponent, it announces it out loud, something no other agent's flash does. It's also a flash that's hard to destroy. You get one free charge of this ability at the start of the round and can buy one more, for a maximum of two charges total.
• Regrowth (C): It wouldn't be wrong to call this Skye's easiest ability; as the name suggests, it's a healing ability that restores health to all of Skye's teammates in range (within a circular area), or to just one of them. You don't have to use the entire charge at once; you can use it at different times until the charge runs out. You can get a maximum of one charge of this ability per round.
• Seekers (X): Skye's ultimate sends out 3 seekers toward the nearest opponents. This ability can be destroyed. But once it reaches its target, it briefly blinds the opponent.

Backstory: Skye, who comes from the forests of Australia, is one of her teammates' biggest supporters on the battlefield with the animal figures she brings along. She's an unmatched agent when it comes to healing, flashing, and gathering information; here are the rare things known about her life story: she previously lived in the forests of Australia. All we have seen her control are the hawk and the Tasmanian tiger, and the biggest question is whether she can control any figure she wants. Skye's ability works by bringing to life these figures she's carved from wood. In in-game dialogue, her friends ask her, "Have you ever tried summoning a dragon?" Judging from these lines, even a character like Reyna, who considers herself above everyone else, seems wary of Skye's abilities alone. She even tells us that if her power ever reaches its full potential, it will reach a terrifying point. Honestly, it wouldn't be a lie to say she's the agent whose backstory we're the most curious to learn more about.

Yoru

Role: Duelist Abilities:

• Blindside (Q): Yoru tears an unstable dimensional fragment from reality and turns it into a flash by slamming it into the ground. This flash affects everyone within its field of view. You can get a maximum of two charges of this ability per round.
• Gatecrash (E): This ability, a dimensional sphere, travels forward after leaving Yoru's hand until it hits an object. As the name suggests, it's a dimensional sphere, an ability that lets Yoru teleport. After releasing it, pressing E again teleports you to where the sphere landed. You can have a maximum of two charges of this ability, one of which is free.
• Fakeout (C): When you press C and then left-click, a clone of Yoru moves forward along your crosshair; if opponents shoot it, it blinds them.
• Dimensional Drift (X): Yoru's ultimate; when you press X, he puts on a mask and sets off on a journey between dimensions. During this journey, Yoru can see everything happening around him, while opponents can't see him or harm him.

Backstory: Yoru, who is Japanese, has the ability to slip in among and behind his opponents through dimensional shifts. It wouldn't be wrong to call him the sneakiest of all the duelists. While we barely know anything about his personal life, his in-game animations suggest he cares a great deal about his style, especially his hair.

Astra

Role: Controller Abilities:

• Nova Pulse (Q): Like all of Astra's abilities, this one comes from the stars she places while in Astral Form; detonating whichever star she chooses stuns opponents within its area of effect. Nova Pulse requires a few seconds of charging up before it fires. It restricts opponents' vision and stuns them. It also briefly lowers their opponents' firing rate. You can get only one charge of this ability per round.
• Nebula (E): This ability is Astra's smoke. Using this ability, you can turn the stars you have placed while in Astral Form into smoke clouds.
• Gravity Well (C): While in Astral Form, you can use gravitational energy from one of the stars you have placed to pull opponents into the center of the circle, leaving them defenseless for a while. You can get one charge of this ability per round.
• Astral Form / Cosmic Divide (X): This ability is used in two ways on Astra. It lets her enter Astral Form to activate her ultimate and place her other abilities. Something to watch out for when using this ability is that Astra is left completely defenseless while in Astral Form. Cosmic Divide, the ultimate itself, selects stars along the same line to form a wall. This wall blocks opponents' vision and also prevents sound from passing through to the other side.