The best agents in VALORANT, ranked

The meta matters in every competitive game and VALORANT is no exception. The power of agents and weapons shifts with every change introduced to the game, whether it’s patches or evolving trends in the community.

If you hesitate on which agents to pick or just want to have a better idea of the current meta, here are our rankings for the most powerful agents as of Episode Four, Act I.

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This tier list is determined by several factors, such as the agents’ popularity in both competitive and unrated play, their synergy with top-tier picks, and Riot Games’ latest balance changes. But keep in mind that Riot is trying to strike a balance between the power of gunplay and abilities.

If you’re committed to becoming a main of a certain agent due to your personal taste, you’ll be able to win rounds and even turn the tide of a game with sufficient skills. It’s just more difficult to do so while playing some agents over others. 

1) Jett

Since the release of VALORANT, Jett has established herself as a staple pick in the meta, whether it’s in competitive setups or solo queue. She has all the tools required to be a strong duelist, as well as the agent with the highest mobility in the game. 

She’s the ideal pick for players who like to make clutch moves rather than stay back and help the team. Her abilities allow her to reach unique locations on the maps and play with verticality, which is a core element of the latest map, Icebox. She also offers some utility with her smokes. Her passive, which allows her to hover after a jump, is another way to create clutch plays. Jett is incredibly fun to play but also hard to use to her full potential. Jett is most powerful in risky positions, even though she can get killed due to the slightest mistake. 

2) Sova

Sova is a versatile agent, which makes him a valuable asset both in competitive play and unrated matches. He can be picked in almost every situation and can fit several playstyles. His Recon Bolt reveals every enemy in the radius of his sonar and can discover when the enemies are attacking as soon as the round starts. Additionally, the three charges of his ultimate can wipe a team when they’re trapped in a choke point by dealing significant damage at long range.

3) Chamber

One of the game’s newest agents is becoming a heavy favorite for the player that likes to use the Operator and take opening fights. His Rendezvous is ideal for getting early frags and getting to safety, his Trademark affords him and his team map control and info, and both Trademark and Tour De Force allow him to be impactful even in low buy rounds.

4) Viper

Although Viper is still more powerful on some maps than others, she can be picked in every situation due to her strength in post-plant situations and tools to control areas. While the sweeping changes to controllers heavily reduced the popularity of Astra while boosting Brimstone and Omen, Viper still provides a team tremendous utility.

5) KAY/O

KAY/O has many advantages to offer in a game. He can give utility to his teammates with his suppression knife and his flash grenades, and his ultimate allows him to be played as an entry-fragger thanks to the attack boost granted by it. His impactul FRAG/MENT grenade is also a very useful tool for holding off chokepoints and securing post-plants.

6) Raze

Outside of Jett, no other duelist is quite as impactful as Raze. Whereas Jett players almost always have to play aggressively, Raze can use her paintcan grenades and her boombot to flush enemies out of hiding spots before blast-pack boosting her way into sites. She’s an absolute menace to deal with on Split and Bind, and her ultimate stokes fear like no one else.

7) Omen 

Omen’s back, baby.

The changes to controllers have brought Omen back to relevance. Once an overwhelmingly popular controller who became less popular after the release of Astra, the 4.04 Patch saw his smokes, Shrouded Step, and Paranoia effects improved.

8) Brimstone

Brimstone has also seen a resurgence since the 4.04 Patch was released, which resulted in improved smokes and a monumental speed boost that was added to his Stim Beacon. The speed boost was so impactful that Riot actually had to reduce the number of charges to Stim Beacon and increase its price in a follow-up patch. Brimstone also has one of the most underrated ultimates in the game, as Orbital Strike has so many terrific situations it can be used in.

9) Astra

Astra took a significant hit in the 4.04 Patch, with the changes placing her more on Omen and Brimstone’s level when it comes to useful utility, as opposed to several levels above them. Even with the nerfs to her stars and her star abilities, the variety of abilities she can use with her stars still makes her quite viable.

10) Breach

Breach has earthquake-themed abilities that help his team get control of the map and offers very strong utility to his teammates. His abilities are most effective at close range, making him ideal in tighter maps with smaller spike sites like Split and Fracture. In high-level play, he becomes a huge threat because he excels with efficient communication and good knowledge of the maps.

11) Skye

As an initiator, Skye has a powerful flash to engage enemies while initiating or defending entry plays, plus a strong heal ability that can heal the entire team in her vicinity, but not including herself. While her scouting animal can be hard to use because she has to control it, similar to Sova’s drone, her ultimate sends out seekers that will find the opponents by themselves. Her kit makes her ideal for gathering information on lurking enemies.

12) Killjoy

Killjoy’s bots offer powerful tools that make Killjoy one of the strongest defenders in the game, controlling areas and countering flanks. On defense, she can slow down enemy pushes all by herself using her utility, and on attack, she has numerous ways of assisting the team in post-plant scenarios.

13) Sage

Sage’s role as a momentum swinger is still apparent, as she can slow or even halt enemy attacks using her Slow orb and her wall, and increase her team’s odds of winning a post-plant or retake by healing or even resurrecting an ally. Her wall is also a neat tool for retakes, especially on sites like Icebox where you can wall off angles to get a safe defuse.

14) Cypher

Cypher isn’t quite as viable as the other sentinels anymore, but he still has the tools to defend an area by himself, with his traps, cage, and camera. His ultimate can be a round-changer when he gets all the enemy’s information, but it’s hindered by needing a deceased enemy to activate.

15) Neon

The most recently added agent may not be great overall, but Neon is at the very least a better option than most of the other duelists. Her Fast Lane can be a vital medium for attacking sites, and on defense, her ability to shift into High Gear makes rotates so much more efficient. Additionally, her Overdrive ultimate is incredibly powerful.

16) Reyna

Reyna is very much a two-sided agent. In the right hands of a crispy aimer, she can be an overwhelming, unstoppable force getting kills and healing herself, and dismissing away from enemies round after round. But in the wrong hands, she’s next to useless.

17) Yoru

The extensive Yoru rework from Patch 4.04 has certainly made the once completely unplayable agent significantly better, but it’s not enough for him to be considered a threat. The new Fakeout decoy is pretty easy to detect, but the fake Gatecrash ability and being able to use other abilities in Dimensional Drift is pretty significant.

18) Phoenix

The emergence of Neon has pretty much relegated Phoenix to the bench at this point. The abilities that heal himself and hurt his teammates don’t help a team all that much, and other agents with flashes provide more (i.e. Skye, Breach, and others). Additionally, he has one of the few ultimates that has a chance to provide zero or next to zero use if he gets “killed” right away.

This article will be updated with any changes or the addition of new agents in VALORANT.

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