Perhaps you're unsure about which Agent will fit your playstyle or what are the easiest ones to pick up. So we're here to help.
Playing Valorant can be a bit intimidating for new players. Not only it's a team-based tactical shooter, every mistake you make counts as there's only one life per round (unless you get revived by Je... sorry, Sage), making it a very scary thought to become the first casualty, leaving your team at a disadvantage.
On top of that, the ever-expanding cast of characters, or Agents as they are known here, have a great variety of skills, and it might seem impossible to find the one that fits you the most.
It's recommended that you at least dominate a couple of roles to not be considered a one-trick pony and avoid the pain of getting that one Agent you've practiced instalocked by someone else.
Having said that, we're here to help you take your first steps in the world of Valorant by answering: who should you main?
How To Pick A Main In Valorant?
In this guide, we'll take two main factors into consideration:
- Ease of use: Listen, we don't want to discourage you from playing more complex characters like Astra, Yoru, or Vipe. But be advised: these are not entirely newcomer friendly picks
- What role you might like: Playing Initiator is completely different from trying out a Controller or a Duelist!
With that said, we'll break down a general idea of how to play each role and give you a couple of picks to get you started on them.
Duelists
Agents we recommend:
- Phoenix
- Reyna
Duelists need to be aggressive, leading the team while entering sites or retaking them. Some, like Neon, thrive in chaos but require high mechanical skill to use effectively, the same thing applies to Jett.
Reyna and Phoenix particularly excel as newcomer picks, as they have very simple but effective tools to get you acquainted with the game. Reyna has blinding eyes and can regenerate health on kills or go invincible for a few seconds allowing you a quick exit in case you've overextended.
Phoenix has flashes, a firewall that can obstruct vision and do damage, and classic mollies to close out areas or flush out enemies from different spots. Not to mention, all his area of effect abilities heal him (they also damage your allies so keep that in mind).
Controllers
Agents we recommend:
- Brimstone
- Omen
Controllers are an essential part of any team. Their primary function is to block lines of sight using smoke abilities, flush out enemies from dangerous spots with mollies or disruption abilities, and even help the team set fakeouts to take your opponent by surprise. In this role, you need to be a bit more conscious of your surroundings and have a bit more map awareness than with duelists.
Our recommendations are Brim and Omen to start in this role. Brimstone is the ultimate all-rounder in the game, with simple-to-use smokes, very easy-to-understand mollies, and a stim-beacon that amplifies your fire rate in case you need to clutch out a round.
Omen on the other hand has more mobility, with him able to teleport within any place in his line of sight and use blinding abilities to force an enemy out of position or go aggro on them.
Sentinel
Agents we recommend:
- Sage
- Killjoy
Sentinels are kind of like supports in other games. They lack the abilities to properly help your team enter sites, but they excel at bunking down and securing locations with anti-lurk capabilities, crowd control utility, and more. If you don't feel comfortable relying on your aim to provide value, this might be your role.
In this regard, Sage and Killjoy are two amazing choices. Sage can wall off certain areas for an extended period of time, forcing teams to rotate or make their presence known by bringing it down. She can also heal both herself and allies, use slow orbs to disrupt the tempo of the enemy team, and of course, her signature ability: resurrect allies.
As for Killjoy, she can protect a site all on her own with multiple tools to stop lurkers, prevent enemies from rushing sites with mollies, and a turret that can alert you where they might be coming from. The only downside is that once you set up, it might be difficult to rotate since all your abilities will be on a hefty cooldown and your nades will be unusable.
Initiator
Agents we recommend:
- Hanzo
- Breach
Initiators can help teams in a variety of ways, being perhaps the most versatile category of the bunch. There are ones like Sova, who have recon capabilities and tricky easy to use and difficult-to-master techniques like bouncing shock arrows to tag enemies and flush them out of their setups!
Then there's Breach, a character who has massive area of effect disruption tools like flashes to blind opponents, aftershocks that deal significant damage, and of course, seismic blasts to stun opponents lowering their visibility and rate of fire for a few seconds.
And that's it! We hope you find this guide useful.
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