Valorant team composition and roles guide: The best Agents for the job

Hype is at an all-time high for Valorant with the gameplay reveal and closed beta right around the corner in a time where any escapism of some sort is much needed.

With more information surrounding Riot's new tactical shooter, a game that mixes the fast pace of CS:GO with Overwatch's ability-based characters, theory crafting compositions and roles for each Agent has started.

Just like the game it draws inspiration from, Valorant classifies each different agent on a specific category. So far, we know the in-game roles of:

• Phoenix: Duelist
• Jett: Duelist
• Sova: Initiator
• Sage: Sentinel

While little is known about what each role means, Riot has given us tidbits of information regarding the Agents that will be available at release, letting us speculate about ideal compositions and how to mix and match each agent when the game releases later this year.

Phoenix - Entry Fragger/Support

Phoenix's abilities make him a perfect fit as an entry fragger while having the capacity to aid teammates. He can control space while healing with either his Hot Hands or Blaze purchasable abilities, plus his Curveball - a flare that blinds enemies- helps him initiate in an advantageous scenario, even if he's outnumbered.

To round his kit, Phoenix's Ultimate ability will let him get a free respawn when he gets killed, letting him take even riskier approaches with little setback.

Jett: Duelist - Entry Fragger/ AWPer

Jett has been described as a feast or famine type of agent by the developers. Her abilities seem to favour a playstyle similar to that of CS:GO's AWPers, with most focusing on giving the Korean Agent a high mobility and insane escape tools.

Bobby Prochnow, game designer on Valorant, described how Jett as a character came to be in an interview with ESPN: "We had a clear product deficiency: we needed someone you could lock in to mechanically outplay your opponents with style."

She can either be meticulously played, looking for angles to frag, having enough tools to escape without trading, but her ultimate ability gives her that extra firepower to potentially clutch in every possible scenario - throwing knives that instakill with a headshot, being replenished upon getting a kill.

Sova: Initiator - Lurker

It's hard to determine what Riot means by initiator, but judging by his kit, Sova is looking like a very important tool for scouting the enemy team.

Not only can he reveal enemies with his Recon Bolt arrow, but he can also acquire an Owl Drone for a more precise pinpoint of the enemy squad. To top it all off, his ultimate allows him to shoot three powerful bolts that deal damage and reveal anyone that gets hit by them.

Sage: Sentinel - Support

Sage is not only centered around being a healer, but she can also deny space with crowd-control abilities that will be familiar with Overwatch players.

Besides her Healing Orb, the Chinese Agent can cast a Barrier Orb to deny space, blocking paths to engage on enemies or to protect teammates from getting picked, and a Slow Orb, denying any sort of stealth abilities while slowing down anyone hit by it.

Brimstone - Leader/Support

One of the several unrevealed heroes, the US Agent has the potential to dominate a lot of map space based on the overview of his abilities, calling out the shots for the rest of his team.

His Sky Moke ability lets him get an overview of the map, calling out smoke screens on a specific location, providing cover for his duelists or initiators. Brimstone can also add firepower to his teammates via the Stim Beacon.

Brimstone's ultimate ability is a classic Call of Duty orbital strike, lasting several seconds.

Cypher - Lurker

Cypher in Valorant (Picture: Riot Games) 

The Moroccan tech-savvy Agent is filled with tools to reveal the enemy's position and strategy, slowing their approaches with traps that can be spread out around the map.

Both Spycam and Trapwire can reveal locations, with the latter restraining the enemies on a single spot for a short time. His Ultimate is useful once you get a frag, allowing him to scout the rest of the opposition that's still alive.

Viper - Entry Fragger

Viper is what seems to be a powerful close combat fragger, with most of her kit revolving around constant damage-dealing coming at the cost of fuel, being one of the few Valorant agents - so far - with a particular gimmick to her.

Both her Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud will be using the aforementioned resource, with snakebite aching to be more of a burst DPS cooldown.

Her ultimate ability allows her to control a portion of the map with Viper's Pit, which will remain active as long as she's inside the toxic cloud.

Omen - Lurker/AWPer

With teleporting abilities akin to Reaper, Omen seems to be the perfect Agent to stay in the shadows before engaging trying to get a quick frag before moving back to safety,

He can also toy with the enemy's visibility, preventing them from doing proper scouting thanks to his Paranoia ability, adding this with his ultimate that lets him teleport to any part of the map,  and Omen's stealthiness is looking like a powerful asset.

Ideal Compositions

With the information we have available on 8 of the 10 Agents that will be playable on release, there are a few team comps that already sound like worth giving a shot when the closed beta comes around on 7th April:

• Jett
• Phoenix
• Sage
• Cypher
• Brimstone

It's all about setting up the fraggers. Brimstone can add extra cover with smoke for Jett and Phoenix to position themselves, which can then immediately engage based on intel the Cypher player manages to get with his several tools to do so.

To top it all off, Sage can play either a passive or aggressive role depending on the situation. Her wall can ensure a swift exit for the fraggers or open up new ways to engage in a favourable advantage - adding to this, her healing capabilities paired with Phoenix's can make them a little bit tankier on prolonged team fights.

• Cypher
• Sova
• Viper
• Omen
• Phoenix

This composition is all about getting bunkered, scouting the opposition and bursting them down before they even notice you're there.

With Cypher and Sova, you can control bigger portions of the map, covering space with Owl drones, Spycams or Trapwires. Viper and Phoenix can close out more chokes with their walls that add extra sustain and damage. They also add utility in terms of burst damage and negating visibility, putting them on a silver platter for Omen to pounce and get the picks.

It's a much slower-moving composition, sure, but it can be highly effective if your team's the one defending the Spike.

Excited for more Valorant? Don’t forget to check out our Weapons Guide and our guide to watch and earn a beta code by watching the Twitch Rivals event.