VALORANT, a first-person tactical shooter video game playable on PC and console, just released a new agent on August 28th, 2024. With the conclusion of the Valorant Champions Tournament in Seoul, Korea earlier this week, the developers recently revealed the design of the latest character they’re adding to the game’s roster: Vyse. When I examined the leaks for the first time, I found myself very interested in the unique gameplay her kit may offer to the current state of the game. It’s been nearly six months since the last release of a new agent in the game, so I wanted to discuss how her abilities might significantly impact how the game is played from now on, and how her release could be an exciting prospect for players of the game.
If you’re not familiar with Valorant’s role system, every playable character is assigned a role to describe their abilities. A character can be either a controller, initiator, duelist, or sentinel. Vyse is confirmed to be a sentinel; a sentinel’s utility is typically centered around the idea of “locking down a site,” or essentially denying the enemy team an opportunity to plant the objective. For context, the objective of the game when you’re playing on offense is to get onto site, plant a bomb on a site, and defend it until it explodes. However, the objective of the game when you’re on defense is to keep the enemy team off of the site, or defuse the bomb once it has been planted. Defense is where sentinel utility shines the most, and Vyse’s are a novel, refreshing take on filling this role.
Vyse’s first ability is Razorvine, an AOE (area of effect) style attack that deploys a nest of liquid metal onto the floor, damaging and slowing only those who move whilst in it. Many characters have AOE abilities like this already, such as duelist Pheonix, controller Viper, and controller Brimstone; however, Vyse’s Razorvine adds a particularly “sentinel” twist to this because it forces its targets to stay still in a potentially vulnerable position, unless they want to take damage. Sometimes, this forced positioning can be more valuable than just taking raw damage. Her second and third abilities are more sentinel-leaning abilities; Shear allows her to equip filaments of liquid metal to place indestructible wall traps, and Arc Rose allows her to place a hidden rose that will flash enemies upon entering the site. Arc Rose will be the first instance in the game where a character is given a placable blinding ability, because typically, blinds are thrown off of the character itself. I’m particularly excited for how players might creatively set up site using this new ability.
Vyse’s ultimate, Steel Garden, erupts a torrent of thorns that disables all enemies’ primary weapons within a radius of where she’s standing. She isn’t the first character to have a detaining ability, however, she’s the first to be selective with how enemies should counter it; for example, purchasing sidearms (smaller guns that you can hold alongside your primary weapon) was hardly a priority late game until now, because sidearms are still usable in Vyse’s ultimate. I know for me personally, the release of this ability forced me to learn the Sheriff sidearm, even though I hadn’t had a need to touch it until now.
For new players and long term players alike, Vyse’s release should add an interesting twist to the current Valorant utility pool, and I’m excited to see the kind of game it turns into as players around the world adapt to her new, unconventional abilities.
