Omen - An assassin who uses the dark to his advantage, ensuring his foes cannot see him before the kill. He can use a special shot to restrict enemy vision and teleport a short distance after a delay, akin to Reaper from Overwatch . His signature ability is an invisible shot that bursts into a sphere of obscuring shadow, and his ultimate allows him to appear anywhere on the map, go briefly incorporeal, and appear back at his initial location with full health when kil

However, by releasing the game in a beta format but making it relatively simple to earn access to the beta , it’s clear that Riot is doing its best to polish the game as much as possible. This leaves room for significant iteration and improvement should player interest in _ VALORANT _ w

Orbital Strike is Brimstone's Ultimate Ability and it allows players to perform a laser airstrike using a tactical map. This laser deals a massive amount of damage to all players inside it with more damage occurring the closer a player is to the center of the str

Finally, Viper's ultimate is the Viper's Pit. This creates a large cloud of poisonous gas that cannot be seen through at all and damages all who step inside it except for Viper. It remains active as long as Viper stays inside it and all enemies that enter it will be mar

All of this points to Riot’s hope and expectation that VALORANT will be the next top-tier esport. And, with good reason, too. Esports are more popular than ever. With the amount of money now changing hands in competitive gaming as well as projections around the long-term outlook , it’s no surprise Riot Games continues heavily investing in esports after is success with League of Legen

The Slow Orb is an explosive orb that spreads across the ground and slows all players that step in it. Player in it cannot jump and make more noise than usual. This orb can be hit off walls to get around corners and ang

Sova - A hunter who marks foes and then takes them down with a bow and arrows. He can fire a bolt that explodes in an area for damage, or launch a flying camera drone that can fire a dart to reveal enemies. His signature move is an arrow that emits a pulse which tags and reveals nearby foes, while his ultimate fires three powerful, wall-piercing shots across the entire map. Reveal foes, then blast them from anywh

Still, in order to create an optimal competitive experience, the best way to solve this issue is to simply remove aim assist entirely, as Riot Games has chosen to do with VALORANT. Then, it becomes a true test of skill with no clear benefit from choosing the control

The event, which featured shout casters Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez and Chris "Puckett" Puckett, had a total prize pool of $25,000. Gen.G, to the surprise of many, took home the first place prize of $20,000 and Team Brax, which featured T1's own Braxton "brax" Pierce, Keven "AZK" Larivière and Austin "crashies" Roberts, finished second over

Sage - She's the healer of the game, preventing and healing damage wherever she goes with various orbs. She can create a slowing area of effect, or create a solid wall to block bullets, line of sight and movement. Her signature ability is Healing Orb, which heals someone back to full health over a short duration, and her ultimate is Resurrection, which requires a corpse to w

Run it Back is Phoenix's ultimate ability and the true reason for his namesake. If Phoenix dies a short amount of time after casting it in a location, he will come back to life where it was cast. However, Phoenix can be attacked while being revived, so players should plan where they set this ability

Valorant bears more similarities to CS:GO than it does to Overwatch , and the mechanics of the games are very different. Players will have to buy some of their characters' unique powers in-between rounds just like they will have to buy the weapons they can steal off their enemies. It is similar enough to CS:GO AWP that one of that game's commentators and former pros adored it , and seems to be an innovation to a breed of shooter that has not advanced anywhere for a very long time in the same way Overwatch updated many aspects of Team Fortress 2 's gamep

The core four of Sage, Cypher, Brimstone, and Breach dominated the event. Mostly every team ran this composition, choosing Sova for the fifth spot if they wanted more information, Omen if they wanted utility or a duelist (Pheonix, Raze, Jett) if they wanted more dam

Valorant also feels like a perfect esports game. While a game like CS:GO has had success, perhaps its simplicity has held it back. There's something about the "pop" of Valorant that makes it so exciting to watch, as even ESPN has announced an upcoming Valorant invitational . It's a hyper-competitive game that gives players the one-more-round feel and is ultra-colorful, exciting, and uni

Regardless, the choice to put the primary focus on competitive play has some risk. The strategy to cater only to competitive players means it will never reach mainstream global popularity as a game like _ Fortnite _ . So, if the pros don’t find themselves enamored with the game over the long term, then this could prove to be a major is