What Valorant agent should you play?

Valorant is a 5v5 competitive Tactical Hero FPS with many agents and multiple more agents to come. There have been multiple tactical FPSs and Hero Shooters in the past, but Riot Game's Valorant has to be the first to combine both Hero Shooters and Tactical FPS successfully. Starting with a base roster of five, in two years, Valorant Agents have already reached 20. For players starting, it is sometimes hard to understand what agents to play. Let's first understand the agent roles to understand what agent to play. 

Valorant Agent Roles:

Depending on the ability kit of an agent, Any Valorant Agent can be categorized into four roles: Controllers, Initiators, Duelists, and Sentinels. Let's look at each role and try to understand how they play in a game.

Controllers:

Controllers in Valorant specialize in isolating portions of the map on offense and limiting opponent vision on defense. A controller facilitates an attack while Initiators and Duelists partake in the attack. Playing a controller requires understanding the map and how the map plays.

As a controller, your job on attack is to ensure the Duelist gets as small an area as possible isolated to take control of the bomb site While also ensuring it isn't too small. On defense, A controller blocks enemy vision inside the site and tries to keep the attackers out of the site for as long as possible. 

The role's somewhat passive, along with map knowledge, and needs timing to ensure you get maximum value from the utility. But it is the role that has the most control over the game. There are five controllers in the game at the moment Astra, Brimstone, Harbor, Omen, and Viper. Astra, Brimstone, and Viper are more passive and defensive. Omen and Harbor's kit makes the agents more offensive and aggressive.

Initiators:

Just as Controllers facilitate attacks, Initiators aid the attack, and on defense, they try to get early information on where the enemy might attack. Initiators are the most demanding roles in Valorant and have the highest skill ceilings with the kits. A good initiator can make everyone's job much easier, and a lousy initiator also affects other agents' performance.

Initiators must understand the map, how their kit will interact with the map, enemies and teammates, and a good sense of timing. On attack, initiators help the Duelist with the attacks and have to play aggressively. On defense, they recon the enemy and prepare for an enemy attack. Initiators have to play with the team, which is one of the most selfless roles in the game. 

The game has five initiators: Breach, Fade, Kay/O, Skye, and Sova. All of them have unique kits. Sova and Fade are recon agents getting information on the enemy position, while others flush out the enemies with their kits.

Duelists:

The Duelist is the most straightforward role in the game. A duelist's kit allows for creating space and taking aggressive duels to make space for teammates. They are the tip of the attacking spear. An Ideal duelist is the first point of contact on attack or defense. Their kit allows them to deal maximum damage and get away with it.

 Duelists are one of the most popular roles as they usually are on the top of the stat table. Requiring good mechanical skills and an understanding of their kit, Duelist is one of the easiest roles, but also an unforgiving one.

A good duelist can change the tide of a game, and a bad one brings the team down. There are six duelists Jett, Neon, Phoenix, Raze, Reyna, and Yoru. While all of them are different, most work similarly, allowing maximum damage.

Sentinels:

Sentinel is a role that doesn't have to play with the team. On attack, Sentinels watch flanks, and on defense, their kits make them self-sufficient site anchors. The Sentinel kits are straightforward to learn. But the easy kit allows for ingenious plays.

A good sentinel is the hardest to deal with, and they can single-handedly bring a team down. And a lousy sentinel is still exemplary as long the player understands the basics of kits, making it the most forgiving of all roles. 

The role does require a lot of patience and understanding of attacks and maps, but they are the most flexible Valorant Agent role. Chamber, a sentinel, can play aggressively as a duelist, and Cypher can play as a flank. Their easy-to-understand kits allow the Sentinels to shine and give you leeway if you are playing shaky. Four sentinels are in the game: Chamber, Cypher, Killjoy, and Sage. Sentinels are also the most complex agents to balance for devs, as one bad nerf/buff can completely break/make the meta.

What Valorant Agent/ Agent Role to start with?

When starting more than learning the agent, one should concentrate on understanding the game mechanics and how the game works without the abilities. So starting with an agent with a basic kit is always preferred.

Sage is a great first agent as the kit is easy and does not require much map knowledge.

Once essential game mechanics are understood, One should play a duelist to get a sense of timing and better understand the game and the maps. The roles also help with sharpening game mechanics and timings.

What Valorant Agent/Agent Role should you main/play?

Understanding that your agent role depends on what you are comfortable with. One can't play a duelist and super passive because the role involves creating space; similarly, a controller shouldn't die in the first few seconds of the game.

It is usually preferred that one plays atleast two agent roles and is comfortable with 3-4 agents atleast to win.

One should learn duelists if one gets comfortable playing aggressively and has good mechanical dexterity.

Controllers are for players who wish to play passively and understand the map and timings.

Initiators, the hardest role, needs a lot of practice and dedication, but once you get it down, it has the most impact.

Sentinel, as a role, allows for smart plays and flanks, and you need the patience to be a good sentinel. In the 3-4 weeks of practice, you'd learn what you are comfortable with, and then you can choose an agent role and the agent which suits the way they play. 

Once the agent is chosen, one should understand the kit. Usually, there are youtube videos available for understanding the agent. Once understood, hit the servers and "Play Valorant."

Image Credit: Riot Games