Valorant has only been out for over a week, but people are already wondering what the best agents are to unlock. In this Valorant agent tier list, I will be breaking down the best agents in the game and why they are the best.
Here is the updated tier list for Valorant:
- S-Tier – Chamber, Jett, Fade, Viper, Raze
- A-Tier – Omen, Reyna, Sova, Sage, Brimstone, Phoenix
- B-Tier – KAY/O, Skye, Breach, Killjoy, Cypher, Harbor, Astra
- C-Tier – Yoru, Neon
Table of Contents
S Tier Agents
S-Tier Agents are the creme of the crop and should be on every team regardless of the map. These are not only solo fraggers but also characters that offer unique utility.
Chamber
Chamber is one of the strongest Valorant agents in the game right now. Even with some nerfs he has received over the course of many patches, he is probably the best choice, right after Jett, for any comp.
Raze
Raze is easily the most talked-about agent in Valorant right now. All she does is damage and is often the top fragger on the team for obvious reasons. Equipped with a rocket launcher, two grenades, and a player seeking robot, Raze is a nigh-unstoppable force when paired with the right player.
- Ability 1 — Boom Bot (200 Creds): EQUIP a Boom Bot. FIRE will deploy the bot, causing it to travel in a straight 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.
- Ability 2 — Blast Pack (100 Creds): INSTANTLY throw a Blast Pack that will stick to surfaces. reuse the ability after deployment to detonate, damaging and moving anything hit.
- Signature Ability — Paint Shells (1 free; 200 Creds for extra): EQUIP a cluster grenade. FIRE to throw the grenade, which does damage and creates sub-munitions, each doing damage to anyone in their range.
- Ultimate Ability — Showstopper (6 Points): EQUIP a rocket launcher. FIRE shoots a rocket that does massive area damage on contact with anything.
She is going to be taken a look at by the developers, but even if she gets a nerf, she will still be one of the stronger agents in the game. Raze is currently the best duelist class in Valorant.
Fade
A good Fade is super scary to go up against. With her abilities that allow you to hold player(s) in place, track their location, and blind them, no site can be held long against Fade.
She also has crazy 1v1 potential due to how much information she can get with her abilities (and of course, a blind).
Jett
- Ability 1 — Cloudburst (100 Creds): 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.
- Ability 2 — Updraft (200 Creds): INSTANTLY propel Jett high into the air.
- Signature Ability — Tailwind (1 free): INSTANTLY propel Jett in the direction she is moving. If Jett is standing still, she will propel forward.
- Ultimate Ability — Blade Storm (7 Points): 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.
Viper
Lineups anyone? Even though your average Viper player will be looking straight up in the air in her spawn, all to get one clip for her lineup montage, she is still one of the stronger Valorant agents available.
For certain maps, like Breeze, you almost have to pick her just because of the raw utility you get out of her wall + poison cloud.
Her ultimate can give you a free win if used correctly. Viper’s ult covers a large area and reduces the vision of anyone who enters and reduces their HP while they stay in the zone. This allows her to dip in and out to harass enemies and take them by surprise. For both getting on site and holding it, Viper is a must pick.
- Ability 1 — Snake Bite (100 Creds): 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.
- Ability 2 — Poison Cloud (200 Creds): EQUIP a gas emitter. FIRE to throw the emitter that perpetually remains throughout the round. Reuse the ability to create a toxic gas cloud at the cost of fuel. This ability can be reused more than once and can be picked up to be redeployed.
- Signature Ability — Toxic Screen (1 free): EQUIP a gas emitter launcher. FIRE to deploy a long line of gas emitters. Reuse the ability to create a tall wall of toxic gas at the cost of fuel. This ability can be reused more than once.
- Ultimate Ability — Viper’s Pit (7 Points): 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 players inside of it.
Viper is one of the ‘controller’ classes in Valorant, aka she holds locations and sets the tempo. To be fair, she seems to be one of the better controllers in Valorant right now, but time will tell.
A Tier Agents
A Tier agents are slightly below the S tier agents in sheer power and utility. They still rank highly on the tier list with their strong kits, but they just aren’t as must-have as the S-tier agents.
Sage
Sage is an excellent addition to any Valorant match. Her utility kit makes her more of a support than a fragger. Still, the fact that she can heal teammates several times throughout a single round, block off points of entry, AND resurrect a fallen teammate makes her the strongest utility agent in Valorant.
- Ability 1 — Barrier Orb (300 Creds): EQUIP a barrier orb. FIRE places a solid wall. ALT FIRE rotates the targeter.
- Ability 2 — Slow Orb (100 Creds): 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.
- Signature Ability — Healing Orb (Free; 35s cooldown): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Resurrection (7 Points): 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.
Even though Sage isn’t meant to get kills by herself, she is exceptional at holding areas where her Slow Orb and Barrier Orb can block off entire sections of the map. Just make sure to stay behind your team and never try and entry frag with her.
Omen
Omen is a smoke controller and is one of the more important parts of any team comp. Of the two smokes (Brim and Omen), Omen is usually better. Not only do he smokes recharge, but he also gets a blind and repositioning ability, giving him far more outplay potential.
Definitely, a must-have.
- Ability 1 — Shrouded Step (100 Creds): EQUIP a shadow walk ability and see its range indicator. FIRE to begin a brief channel, then teleport to the marked location.
- Ability 2 — Paranoia (200 Creds): INSTANTLY fire a shadow projectile forward, briefly reducing the vision range of all players it touches. This projectile can pass straight through walls.
- Signature Ability — Dark Cover (2 free): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — From the Shadows (7 Points): 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.
Brimstone
Brimstone is one of the ‘controller’ agents which means he can set tempo pretty easily. Using his smokes he can block off the vision of multiple areas all at once without even having to peek, making Brimstone one of the strongest site pushers especially against enemies with Operators. Plus, Brimstone also has lots of defensive potential with his Incendiary and Orbital strike, which makes pushing into a spike site extremely hard.
- Ability 1 — Stim Beacon (100 Creds): EQUIP a stim beacon. FIRE to toss the stim beacon in front of Brimstone. Upon landing, the stim beacon will create a field that grants players rapid fire.
- Ability 2 — Incendiary (200 Creds): 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.
- Signature Ability — Sky Smoke (1 free; 100 Creds for extra): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Orbital Strike (6 Points): EQUIP a tactical map. FIRE to launch a lingering orbital strike laster at the selected location, dealing high damage-over-time to players caught in the selected area.
Brimstone’s Stim Beacon is weird and is the worst part of his kit without a doubt. I understand that it should be used to hold chokes when they push, but it just seems weird for rapid-fire to be a thing in a game where you are meant to kill in one or two shots.
Brimstone is a free agent and is one of the strongest controllers in the game, give him a try if you want to be the one leading all of the pushes/defenses.
Sova
Sova is the second informational agent in Valorant. He starts out free so anyone can play him and offers quite a bit of utility that makes him borderline must have every match. Sova’s arrow reveals any enemy in the arrows line of sight (so it doesn’t go through walls sadly), and he also has a drone he can use that will shoot darts at enemies to reveal them to everyone on your team. Used properly with a good entry fragger like Phoenix, Raze, or Jett, you can take over bomb sites immediately.
- Ability 1 — Owl Drone (300 Creds): EQUIP an owl drone. FIRE to deploy 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.
- Ability 2 — Shock Bolt (100 Creds): 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.
- Signature Ability — Recon Bolt (Free; 35s cooldown): EQUIP a bow with 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Hunter’s Fury (7 Points): 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 reused up to two more times while the ability timer is active.
Never undervalue information in a game like Valorant. Sova is one of the best initiators in Valorant right now.
Phoenix
- Ability 1 — Blaze (200 Creds): 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.
- Ability 2 — Curveball (100 Creds): 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.
- Signature Ability — Hot Hands (1 free): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Run it Back (6 Points): 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.
Phoenix’s ultimate, Run it Back, is incredibly powerful when used correctly, but has the drawback of making you susceptible to a group of enemies quickly pushing your respawn location, due to the animation taking several seconds.
Also, I wouldn’t consider Phoenix as good as Raze simply because he requires a little bit more planning and skill to frag compared to Raze simple throwing nades in a corner.
Alright, now for the final tier in this Valorant tier list, the b tier agents.
B Tier
B Tier agents are just not as good as any other agents. They either require certain circumstances to be in place for them to shine, or they just aren’t relevant to the game outside of the player’s skill.
Killjoy
Killjoy is one of those agents that people are really good at or just plain bad. Her abilities allow people to completely hold down a site by themselves, and in the case of her ult, she can take a site with zero casualties.
For certain maps, like Ascent, Killjoy is seen as a must-pick agent, which would put her tier in those specific maps a lot higher. However, she isn’t seen as viable in most comps.
KAY/O
KAY/O is an agent made for old CS:GO players. I think he is the only current agent with a pop-flash, aka underhanding the grenade, which brings back nostalgia from CS:GO. And, of course, some nostalgia in the form of losing every game too.
Cypher
Cypher is one of the informational based agents, aka, they give you a buttload of information on where the enemy is. Because of the scarcity of these kinds of agents (really only two), Cypher is one of the stronger agents in Valorant. He gets tripwires that not only reveal enemies but also damage and stun them if they don’t destroy them. Of course, let’s not forget the ultimate that reveals every single enemy on the map, something that can completely win a round by itself.
- Ability 1 — Trapwire (200 Creds): EQUIP a trapwire. 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 and dazed after a short period if they do not destroy the device in time. This ability can be picked up to be REDEPLOYED.
- Ability 2 — Cyber Cage (100 Creds): EQUIP a cyber cage. FIRE to toss the cyber cage in front of Cypher. ACTIVATE to create a zone that blocks vision and slows enemies who pass through it.
- Signature Ability — Spycam (1 free): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Neural Theft (7 Points): INSTANTLY use on a dead enemy player in your crosshairs to reveal the location of all living enemy players.
Cypher and his spycam are one of the most annoying things to run into in Valorant so far, make sure to unlock him ASAP if you enjoy knowing exactly where the enemy is at all times.
Harbor
Harbor is not a very good agent right now. He has some utility for pushing and getting onto the site. You have a smoke, which is always nice to have; you have a wall like Phoenix and Viper, except yours can move, etc.
The big problem is nothing he does is really that great, and he is outperformed by many different agents.
Breach
Breach is an initiator, meaning that he should be entry fragging to get on sites and creating chaos when the enemy pushes sites. He has a multitude of ways to disrupt the enemy. Even if they do know Breach and his team are coming, there is little they can do if they are stunned.
- Ability 1 — Aftershock (100 Creds): 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.
- Ability 2 — Flashpoint (200 Creds): EQUIP a blind charge. FIRE the charge to set a fast-acting burst through the wall. The charge detonates to blind all players looking at it.
- Signature Ability — Fault Line (Free; 35s cooldown): 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.
- Ultimate Ability — Rolling Thunder (7 Points): 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.
Anyone interested in playing Breach should learn how to properly push once they are stunned, if you waste too much time and don’t push the stun will end and you will get bopped. Also, be aware that most of your abilities effect teammates as well, so don’t end up flashing the person you are trying to help.
Astra
Astra used to be one of the best agents in Valorant. However, her time in the limelight is over.
Not only has she received nerfs for competitive play, but she is also very bad without proper communication. Smoking requires her to plan ahead and actively coordinate, something that won’t be happening in your average ranked game.
Don’t recommend playing her unless you are stacked with someone.
C-Tier Agents
C-Tier agents are unviable in most comps and should only be played if you perform above average with these agents.
Yoru
Maybe it is my bias here, but I feel like most Yoru players aren’t the best. One of my friends happens to be an absolute menace on this agent… at least for his team.
Although he does have a flash, a teleport to get on site, and a somewhat useful ultimate, Yoru isn’t precisely the easiest duelist to play. Most players will likely get themselves killed trying to do something flashy on Yoru rather than just simply shooting the enemy.
But, by all means, pick him if you’re really good with him.
Neon
And that is it for this Valorant agent tier list. There will be more Valorant content coming in the future, and this list will be constantly updated when agents are nerfed or buffed.
Good luck with your matches agents!
