A successful agent selection in Valorant can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Some roles should not be missing from any team – but you also need to keep a cool head in emergencies.
A ranked round in Valorant starts and immediately chaos breaks out: three duellists, no smokes – and nobody wants to dodge. Even in such scenarios, communication is crucial: indicate your main agent; communicate which roles and characters you are good at to find the best solution for the whole team.
Mobility and smokes: Crucial for every composition
Smokes are essential in every shooter because they force the enemy team to react, which you can exploit. They also reduce their awareness of you and prevent you from being attacked from too many places when you advance. In Valorant, the abilities of tacticians provide the necessary cover.
Your choice of tactician largely determines your playstyle: Brimstone Smokes appear at the same time and his Stim Beacon ability increases your movement speed, making you perfect for fast attacks. Viper, on the other hand, can reactivate her abilities, rewarding a patient approach with many rotations.
Equally important are duelists with mobility. Their abilities allow them to pass through chokepoints unimpeded and to pressure waiting opponents from a different direction. Then the rest of your team can follow. Without this agent archetype, every small gate can be a major hazard. Jett, Neon, and Raze fill this role – Yoru can work as well. The newest agent, Waylay, is also a mobile Duelist.
In just two steps to a balanced composition
For a good team, complete your lineup with a guardian and an initiator. With the defensive guardians, you have protection on the flanks when you’re the defender and when you’re the attacker. The initiator supports you during aggressive moves.
If you lack one of these classes, you will have to adapt the way you play – a balanced team can react to any situation. Without an initiator, you will find it difficult to get onto the site; without a guardian, you will have problems defending important locations.
You can fill the last slot with an agent of your choice, depending on your playstyle. If you like playing duelists without mobility, this is the perfect time to do so.
In eSports, balanced teams are almost always the norm – like FOKUS and CGN in the final of the first split of the Challengers: DACH Evolution. Each of the six compositions in the final was built according to this pattern. The winners FOKUS used an initiator as a fifth agent on two maps, with an additional tactician.
Agent Synergies: Winning Combos
To give yourself an extra edge, you can rely on agents that work well together. Breach, for example, synergizes very well with mobile duelists, as his “Fault Line” ability stuns opponents over a very large area. With enough mobility, this can be quickly punished.
Another example: Astra’s “Gravitational Well” pulls opponents together – perfect for Raze’s grenade or Sova’s shock arrows. Such synergies between agents are numerous. Used correctly, they can decide not only rounds, but entire games.
Three duelists or four controllers – what now?
If the character selection is a bit chaotic, don’t give up just yet – even unbalanced compositions can work. The important thing now is to play to the strengths of your composition. Consider what makes each agent special and adapt your playstyle accordingly.
If your team consists of three duelists, then you should also aggressively occupy spaces on the defender side – don’t just wait statically at your sites. Do you have four controllers with you? Then cover the site with smokes and place yourself with shotguns in and around the vision barriers.
But such compositions are always limited. With the right counter-strategy, you will quickly face problems.
