Riot Games give first clues about new Valorant Agents and abilities

Riot have detailed what the abilities for future Agents in Valorant could look like, as they work on expanding their diverse roster of characters.

Valorant is a high fidelity, competitive FPS at heart. But one of the core attributes that sets the futuristic tactical shooter apart from the rest of the pack, is the characters and their supporting abilities. 

Split into four types, each Valorant Agent serves their own purpose in the server. Whether you rock a Duelist to support a hyper-aggressive, entry-fragging playstyle, or a Controller to bolster your team’s attack/defense, there’s an Agent tailored for you.

While the Agent meta has settled into a good spot following Patch 1.02, it seems like more characters could be joining the fold – and adding a bit of flavor into the mix – in the not too distant future, per Eurogamer’s interview with some Riot devs.

When asked about the design work that goes into Agents and their corresponding abilities, Valorant Game Director, Joe Ziegler, delved into how Riot prioritized specific functions for certain Agents.

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“Our framework for the starting eleven Agents in our roster was to cover the basics of the functions of the known tactical space in creative and interesting ways, while also adding a few new elements here and there to challenge the notion of what is possible in the space.”

Ziegler then touched on ‘the basics’ which can be seen when drawing parallels between games like CS:GO and Overwatch. “Vision blocking, breaching, flushing and distracting […] a lot of our tools for our initial characters focused on filling those purposes.”

Although, perhaps more interestingly, Ziegler delved into what we might see with upcoming Agents and how Riot are looking to expand their horizon to ensure Valorant’s meta never becomes stale.

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“With our upcoming Agents, we’re looking to broaden a bit on that and challenge some new areas of the tactical space and allow for the creation of new strategies; new types of plays. I won’t give any spoilers here, but I look forward to seeing how the gameplay evolves with these additions.”

While no specific abilities were mentioned, it’s clear that Riot are keen on remolding the tactical shooter genre, and Agent abilities will play a big role in facilitating that.