How to Valorant: Understanding Fade as an Initiator
Joining the Valorant protocol as the twentieth agent, Fade took the Valorant world by storm. The first Realm agent to join the protocol, Fade, was introduced to the game as an enemy but joined the protocol after persuasion.
As initiator, Fade took over the game after its launch, becoming the most used initiator, taking over Sova. As a radiant hailing from Turkey, Fade's powers revolve around Nightmare and Fear in the lore and translate into the game as sensory-dampening abilities.
Like all agents, Fade had four abilities: one signature ability, two purchasable basic abilities and an ultimate. Fade's passive ability is Terror Trail which leads to the enemy position. Let's look at them one at a time and understand what they are.
Seize is similar to Astra's gravity well. As Fade, you equip the orb and FIRE to throw. Upon hitting the ground, the orb will catch the enemies in a radius. The ability costs 200 Credits and lasts for 4.5s deafening the enemy and decaying health by 75. It takes five seconds to restore health.
The Prowler is one of the strongest of Fade's abilities. The player can steer the prowler by holding FIRE. Once fired, the prowler travels in a straight line. If there is a terror trail or an enemy in the prowler's vision cone, the prowler locks onto an enemy. Once the prowler hits the opponent, it blinds and deafens the enemy.
The ability costs 250 credits. It lasts 2.5s and has 100 HP, and its effect lasts 2.75 seconds.
Haunt is a recon ability of Fade. The haunt reveals enemies with direct LOS and creates terror trails for them which Prowlers can later use. The Cooldown is 40s and lasts 2s. The trails last 12s, and the eye has 1HP, similar to sova recon.
Firing unleashes a wave of nightmare energy, deafening, decaying and marking the enemies. The trail lasts for 12s, and 75 HP decays the HP. The Ultimate needs eight ult points.
The abilities are pretty straightforward and easier to master than Sova. The Recon ability of Fade is relatively easy, making her a better choice over Sova.
With the recon-based kit, Fade's job is to flush out enemies and force them out from angles to make the fight in favour of teammates. Fade especially shines on maps with closed maps like ascent and bind, where the prowler can help clear angles without face-checking them or using flashes.
On attack, Similar to Sova, Fade's recon will help to clear out certain angles of a bombsite giving the team smaller angles to worry about. The prowler can be steered, helping to clear out close, off-angles well, making the entry into a site much more effortless.
Fade's prowler especially shone in the Chamber meta when players used them to force Chamber to TP out of a forward position. On defence, A well-timed Haunt can completely slow or shut an enemy's incoming attack. Seize has limited use, but when used with Brimstone's Molotov or Raze's Paintshell can maximize its impact. Players can design some ingenious plays using Fade's seize.
Fade's ULT nightfall is especially good on a smaller site. The terror trail helps clear out enemies holding sneaky angles, making Fade a critical asset, especially in Higher ranks and professional competition.
Fade's kit makes her versatile and does not limit her. But using Fade with Raze or Brimstone elevates her play. Especially a well-timed seize with any damage-dealing ability can deal an insane impact. Fade is especially strong on maps like Icebox, Ascent, Bind and Pearl. Breeze is the only map where Fade isn't viable.
Fade's kit makes it easier to play a recon and not to worry about line-ups like Sova. One can practice basic Haunt line-ups on each map by themselves. Watching pro plays play is a great way to understand how the agent plays. Shao is an excellent example of a good Fade. Fade is almost a self-sufficient agent if one can use the kit well.
With her easy-to-use kit and effective abilities, Fade impacted Valorant Champions, was the second most used agent with a 53% pick rate and was played on all maps except Breeze. If one is playing the game for a while, Fade is an easy switch and can be played well with little effort.
Credits: Riot Games
As initiator, Fade took over the game after its launch, becoming the most used initiator, taking over Sova. As a radiant hailing from Turkey, Fade's powers revolve around Nightmare and Fear in the lore and translate into the game as sensory-dampening abilities.
Fade Valorant Utility Kit:
Like all agents, Fade had four abilities: one signature ability, two purchasable basic abilities and an ultimate. Fade's passive ability is Terror Trail which leads to the enemy position. Let's look at them one at a time and understand what they are.
Basic Ability Seize (Q):
Seize is similar to Astra's gravity well. As Fade, you equip the orb and FIRE to throw. Upon hitting the ground, the orb will catch the enemies in a radius. The ability costs 200 Credits and lasts for 4.5s deafening the enemy and decaying health by 75. It takes five seconds to restore health.
Basic Ability Prowler (C):
The Prowler is one of the strongest of Fade's abilities. The player can steer the prowler by holding FIRE. Once fired, the prowler travels in a straight line. If there is a terror trail or an enemy in the prowler's vision cone, the prowler locks onto an enemy. Once the prowler hits the opponent, it blinds and deafens the enemy.
The ability costs 250 credits. It lasts 2.5s and has 100 HP, and its effect lasts 2.75 seconds.
Signature Ability Haunt (E):
Haunt is a recon ability of Fade. The haunt reveals enemies with direct LOS and creates terror trails for them which Prowlers can later use. The Cooldown is 40s and lasts 2s. The trails last 12s, and the eye has 1HP, similar to sova recon.
Ultimate Nightfall (X):
Firing unleashes a wave of nightmare energy, deafening, decaying and marking the enemies. The trail lasts for 12s, and 75 HP decays the HP. The Ultimate needs eight ult points.
The abilities are pretty straightforward and easier to master than Sova. The Recon ability of Fade is relatively easy, making her a better choice over Sova.
Playing Fade in-game:
With the recon-based kit, Fade's job is to flush out enemies and force them out from angles to make the fight in favour of teammates. Fade especially shines on maps with closed maps like ascent and bind, where the prowler can help clear angles without face-checking them or using flashes.
On attack, Similar to Sova, Fade's recon will help to clear out certain angles of a bombsite giving the team smaller angles to worry about. The prowler can be steered, helping to clear out close, off-angles well, making the entry into a site much more effortless.
Fade's prowler especially shone in the Chamber meta when players used them to force Chamber to TP out of a forward position. On defence, A well-timed Haunt can completely slow or shut an enemy's incoming attack. Seize has limited use, but when used with Brimstone's Molotov or Raze's Paintshell can maximize its impact. Players can design some ingenious plays using Fade's seize.
Fade's ULT nightfall is especially good on a smaller site. The terror trail helps clear out enemies holding sneaky angles, making Fade a critical asset, especially in Higher ranks and professional competition.
Fade Valorant Agent Composition:
Fade's kit makes her versatile and does not limit her. But using Fade with Raze or Brimstone elevates her play. Especially a well-timed seize with any damage-dealing ability can deal an insane impact. Fade is especially strong on maps like Icebox, Ascent, Bind and Pearl. Breeze is the only map where Fade isn't viable.
Learning to play Fade:
Fade's kit makes it easier to play a recon and not to worry about line-ups like Sova. One can practice basic Haunt line-ups on each map by themselves. Watching pro plays play is a great way to understand how the agent plays. Shao is an excellent example of a good Fade. Fade is almost a self-sufficient agent if one can use the kit well.
With her easy-to-use kit and effective abilities, Fade impacted Valorant Champions, was the second most used agent with a 53% pick rate and was played on all maps except Breeze. If one is playing the game for a while, Fade is an easy switch and can be played well with little effort.
Credits: Riot Games