Now the game has launched, there's a total of 11 Valorant characters in the game, and each of them have their own unique abilities. While you begin with five characters available, you can slowly start to unlock the rest as you play more Valorant. Read on for all of the Valorant characters and their descriptions, so you can work out which character is the best fit for you.
If you're jumping into the game for the first time, read up on our top eight Valorant tips to give you a head start!
Sova
Sova hails from Russia and is a specialist when it comes to scouting out the area ahead of him. He's a common agent to pick when it comes to a co-ordinated team meta, because he can communicate enemy locations to his teammates.
Sova abilities:
- Shock Bolt: Equip a bow with a shock bolt. Fire to send the explosive bolt forward, detonating upon collision and damaging players nearby. Hold fire to extend the range of the projectile. Alternate fire to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
- Recon Bolt: Equip a bow with a recon bolt. Fire to send the recon bolt forward, activating upon collision and revealing the location of nearby enemies caught in the line of sight of the bolt. Enemies can destroy this bolt. Hold fire to extend the range of the projectile. Alternate fire to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
- Owl Drone: Equip an owl drone. Fire to reploy and take control of movement of the drone. While in control of the drone, fire to shoot a marking dart. This dart will reveal the location of any player struck by the dart.
- Hunter's Fury (Ultimate): Equip a bow with three long-range, wall-piercing, energy blasts. Fire to release an energy blast in a line in front of Sova, dealing damage and revealing the location of enemies caught in the line. This ability can be re-used up to two more times while the ability timer is active.
Jett
Jett comes from Korea and is one of the most aggressive characters in the game thanks to her movement abilities. She's a frequent choice for players who are solo queueing because her abilities are relatively selfish, but an exceptional Jett player can lead the charge on attack rounds.
Jett abilities:
- Updraft: Instantly propel Jett high into the air.
- Tailwind: Instantly propel Jett in the direction she is moving. If Jett is standing still, she will propel forward.
- Cloudburst: Instantly throw a projectile that expands into a brief vision-blocking cloud on impact with a surface. Hold the ability key to curve the smoke in the direction of your crosshair.
- Blade Storm (Ultimate): Equip a set of highly accurate throwing knives that recharge on killing an opponent. Fire to throw a single knife at your target. Alternate fire to throw all remaining daggers at your target.
Phoenix
Phoenix comes from London, England, and his voice lines are some of the best in the game with his cockney twang. He's another aggressive character in the same category as Jett, but specialises in fire-based abilities instead of movement.
Phoenix abilities:
- Curveball: Equip a flare orb that takes a curving path and detonates shortly after throwing. Fire to curve the flare orb to the left, detonating and blinding any player who sees the orb. Alternate fire to curve the flare orb to the right.
- Hot Hands: Equip a fireball. Fire to throw a fireball that explodes after a set amount of time or upon hitting the ground, creating a lingering fire zone that damages enemies.
- Blaze: Equip a flame wall. Fire to create a line of flame that moves forward, creating a wall of fire that blocks vision and damages players passing through it. Hold fire to bend the wall in the direction of your crosshair.
- Run It Back (Ultimate): Instantly place a marker at Phoenix's location. While this ability is active, dying or allowing the timer to expire will end this ability and bring Phoenix back to this location with full health.
Sage
Sage is the sole healer on the Valorant characters roster, akin to Mercy in Overwatch. She hails from China and if you don't have a Sage on your team, you're likely in for a bad time because she's the most important agent there is thanks to her healing and revive abilities.
Sage abilities:
- Slow Orb: Equip a slowing orb. Fire to throw a slowing orb forward that detonates upon landing, creating a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.
- Healing Orb: Equip a healing orb. Fire with your crosshairs over a damaged ally to activate a heal-over-time on them. Alt fire while Sage is damaged to activate a self heal-over-time.
- Barrier Orb: Equip a barrier orb. Fire places a solid wall. Alt fire rotates the targeter.
- Resurrection (Ultimate): Equip a resurrection ability. Fire with your crosshairs placed over a dead ally to begin resurrecting them. After a brief channel, the ally will be brought back to life with full health.
Brimstone
Brimstone is a big burly bloke from the USA and he has a few flexible abilities that don't fall under one specific playstyle. He can attack specific areas, block off lines of sight with smokes, and boost his team. He's often a tech choice in pro lineups, but can often be left out in favour of someone more targeted.
Brimstone abilities:
- Incendiary: Equip an incendiary grenade launcher. Fire to launch a grenade that detonates as it comes to a rest on the floor, creating a lingering fire zone that damages players within the zone.
- Sky Smoke: Equip a tactical map. Fire to set locations where Brimstone's smoke clouds will land. Alternate fire to confirm, launching long-lasting smoke clouds that block vision in the selected area.
- Stim Beacon: Equip a stim beacon. Fire to toss the stim beacon in front of Brimstone. Upon landing, the stim beacon will creatie a field that grants players RapidFire.
- Orbital Strike (Ultimate): Equip a tactical map. Fire to launch a lingering orbital strike laser at the selected location, dealing high damage-over-time to players caught in the selected area.
Omen
Nobody knows where the mysterious enigma known as Omen comes from, and his abilities reflect his ominous nature. A skilled Omen player can sneak behind enemy lines without a problem and when all eyes are on his teammates pushing, he can silently take players out from the back.
Omen abilities:
- Paranoia: Instantly fire a shadow projectile forward, briefly reducing the vision range of all players it touches. This projectile can pass straight through walls.
- Dark Cover: Equip a shadow orb and see its range indicator. Fire to throw the shadow orb to the marked location, creating a long-lasting shadow sphere that blocks vision. Hold alternate fire while targeting to move the marker further away. Hold the ability key while targeting to move the marker closer.
- Shrouded Step: Equip a shrouded step ability and see its range indicator. Fire to begin a brief channel, then teleport to the marked location. Enemies only can hear the sound from your departure location.
- From The Shadows (Ultimate): Equip a tactical map. Fire to begin teleporting to the selected location. While teleporting, Omen will appear as a Shade that can be destroyed by an enemy to cancel his teleport.
Raze
Typically, most new players will complain about how overpowered Raze is because her abilities are incredibly offensive, with every single one dealing serious damage. If you're not on a co-ordinated team she's tough to play against and while solo queueing, Raze players will often end up as the top fragger on the team. She's rarely seen in competitive settings due to her inability to support her teammates though, making her actual effectiveness controversial in the Valorant scene.
Raze abilities:
- Blast Pack: Instantly throw a Blast Pack that will stick to surfaces. Re-use the ability after deployment to detonate, damaging and moving anything hit.
- Paint Shells: Equip a cluster grenade. Fire to throw the grenade, which does damage and creates sub-munitions, each doing damage to anyone in their range.
- Boom Bot: Equip a Boom Bot. Fire will deploy the bopt, causing it to travel in a straght line on the ground, bouncing off walls. The Boom Bot will lock on to any enemies in its frontal cone and chase them, exploding for heavy damage if it reaches them.
- Showstopper (Ultimate): Equip a rocket launcher. Fire shoots a rocket that does massive area damage on contact with anything.
Breach
You may often get Breach and Brimstone confused; similar names, they look alike, and have similar abilities. Breach hails from Sweden and can shellshock enemies in multiple ways with his earthquake-esque abilities.
Breach abilities:
- Flashpoint: Equip a blinding charge. Fire the charge to set a fast-acting burst through the wall. The charge detonates to blind all players looking at it.
- Fault Line: Equip a seismic blast. Hold fire to increase the distance. Release to set off the quake, dazing all players in its zone and in a line up to the zone.
- Aftershock: Equip a fusion charge, Fire the charge to set a slow-acting burst through the wall. The burst does heavy damage to anyone caught in its area.
- Rolling Thunder (Ultimate): Equip a Seismic Charge. Fire to send a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. The quake dazes and knocks up anyone caught in it.
Cypher
Cypher is an all-knowing agent in the same vein as Omen and Sova, but he specialises in gadgets like cameras and tripwires. Another frequent tech choice, his ultimate can be a guaranteed round victory with a competent team, but can easily be wasted if he's not co-ordinating with his team.
Cypher abilities:
- Cyber Cage: Instantly toss the cyber cage in front of Cypher. Activate to create a zone that blocks vision and slows enemies who pass through it.
- Spycam: Equip a spycam. Fire to place the spycam at the targeted location. Re-use this ability to take control of the camera's view. While in control of the camera, fire to shoot a marking dart. This dart will reveal the location of any player struck by the dart.
- Trapwire: Equip a trap wire. Fire to place a destructible and covert tripwire at the targeted location, creating a line that spans between the placed location and the wall opposite. Enemy players who cross a tripwire will be tethered, revealed, and dazed after a short period if they do not destroy the device in time. This ability can be picked upt o be redeployed.
- Neural Theft (Ultimate): Instantly use on a dead enemy player in your crosshairs to reveal the location of all living enemy players.
Viper
Viper is a master of poison who has a number of abilities that allow her to control the map, blocking off angles and areas. She can decay enemy shields and health with all of her abilities, but she doesn't tend to excel in anything specific so isn't a popular choice in top level gameplay.
Viper abilities:
- Poison Cloud: Equip a gas emitter. Fire to throw the emitter that perpetually remains throughout the round. Re-use the ability to create a toxic gas cloud at the cost of fuel. This ability can be re-used more than once and can be picked up to be redeployed.
- Toxic Screen: Equip a gas emitter launcher. Fire to deploy a long line of gas emitters. Re-use the ability to create a tall wall of toxic gas at the cost of fuel. This ability can be re-used more than once.
- Snake Bite: Equip a chemical launcher. Fire to launch a canister that shatters upon hitting the floor, creating a lingering chemical zone that damages and slows enemies.
- Viper's Pit (Ultimate): Equip a chemical sprayer. Fire to spray a chemical cloud in all directions around Viper, creating a large cloud that reduces the vision range and maximum health of all players inside of it.
Reyna
The first Valorant character to be added to the game post-launch, at the time of writing, Reyna is incredibly powerful. She has self-healing abilities — provided she can get a kill in the first place — and she can blind enemies, which sounds similar to what Phoenix or Breach can do, but the difference is Reyna's flash has no friendly fire.
Reyna abilities:
- Leer: Equip an ethereal, destructible eye. Activate it to cast the eye a short distance forward. The eye will Nearsight all enemies who look at it.
- Soul Harvest: Enemies killed by Reyna leave behind Soul Orbs that last 3 seconds.
Devour: Instantly consume a nearby soul orb, rapidly healing for a short duration. Health gained through this skill exceeding 100 will decay over time. If Empress is active, this skill will automatically cast and not consume the Soul Orb. - Dismiss: Instantly consume a nearby Soul Orb, becoming intangible for a short duration. If Empress is active, also become invisible.
- Empress (Ultimate): Instantly enter a frenzy, increasing firing, equip and reload speed dramatically. Gain infinite charges of Soul Harvest abilities. Scoring a kill renews the duration.
