Best VALORANT Agents for Beginners
VALORANT’s diverse roster of agents, each with their unique origins, kits, designs, and playstyles, is one of its most appealing features. However, this is one of the reasons why VALORANT can be difficult for beginners. Learning the maps and mechanics is one thing, but you also need to get to know all of the agents, their abilities, and how to play them properly. To make your journey as a new player easier, we’ve assembled a list of the best VALORANT agents for beginners.
These are agents that have an easier learning curve and are perfect for beginners. With these agents, you can focus on learning the game’s fundamentals and not get confused by their kits. After you’ve gotten used to how the game works, you can start focusing on the more tactically and mechanically demanding agents.
Related Reading: Our 13 Best VALORANT Tips for Beginners
What Makes a Good Beginner Agent in VALORANT
It’s safe to say that VALORANT has a lot of agents for a tactical shooter. Each agent has its unique kit and it takes time to learn what each agent does. Some are more complex to play than others, whereas some agents are easy to pick up.
If you ask us, a good beginner agent must have a straightforward kit. At first glance, the kit should be easy to understand and use.
Using an agent like that will reduce your time spent learning the agent and give you more time to get the hang of the game: the maps, movement, weapons, and general mechanics. Once you are comfortable with how the game works and are familiar with its ins and outs, you can start focusing on learning the more complex agents.
VALORANT makes it easier on players by only giving you a handful of agents to play with at the beginning. You can then unlock other agents gradually by playing more. This makes learning new agents a more linear progression.
Do note that, if you wish to start playing competitively, you should at least have an idea of what each agent can do. We recommend checking out some quick ability showcase videos on YouTube for that. This way, you always know what you can expect when you’re up against an agent that you haven’t unlocked for yourself.
Explaining Our List
We’ve looked for agents with a rather straightforward kit that don’t require a great deal of gamesense or game-knowledge to utilize properly.
These beginner agents are in no particular order, so feel free to pick one (or a couple) that suit your playing style. Do note that -if you are on a new account- some of these agents will be locked, so you have to play a bit to unlock them.
1. Reyna
If you are moving from other first-person shooters like CS2, or are mechanically gifted in general, Reyna might be the best fit for you. Her kit is designed for players with good aim who like to play aggressively. Reyna rewards risky plays and can help you get good at the game faster.
Here is a quick summary of her abilities:
Leer: It’s an ethereal eye that once thrown lingers in the air and near-sights every enemy in its vision. It works similarly to a flash but nearsights the enemies instead of blinding them, as a flash would. The eye can be destroyed by shooting it.
Devour: Enemies killed by Reyna leave a soul orb upon death. With Devour, you can use it to heal yourself to full health. However, the healing does not last forever and decays over time.
Dismiss: The soul orbs can also be used to get yourself out of trouble. Dismiss consumes the soul orb and makes you invincible and much less visible (Reyna becomes transparent, with a purple outline) for a short period of time.
Empress (Ultimate): The Empress makes Reyna go crazy basically. You get faster reload, firing, and equip speed. On top of that, Devour becomes automatic meaning you will get healed automatically after getting a kill. Dismiss now makes you fully invisible on top of being invincible. The ultimate duration resets after getting a kill.
It is obvious that Reyna’s kit is designed for an aggressive and risk-taking playstyle. Of course, you must have the aim and movement to back it up, so we wouldn’t recommend Reyna for players who are taking their first steps in shooter games. Because of her sustainability as an agent, she has become the top pick in ranked and continues to be a dominant force even in the higher ranks.
2. KAY/O
For those players who have a tactical nature but like to be aggressive when needed, KAY/O is a worthy agent. His kit is almost identical to CS2, with a flash, molly, and recon knife. Kay/O is an Initiator, meaning your role will be to gather information and set up plays for your teammates.
With that said, let’s take a look at his kit:
Frag/ment: It’s an explosive molotov that sticks to the floor and explodes multiple times in a circle. The closer you are to the center, the more damage it deals.
Flash/drive: It’s your classic throwable flash grenade. You can underhand or overhand throw with the right mouse button and left mouse button, respectively. When it explodes, it blinds both teammates and enemies, so use it cautiously.
Zero/Point: It’s a knife that you can throw to get information on enemies around a specific area. It sticks to anywhere you throw it and disables the abilities of enemies caught in its radius. It’s important to note that Zero/Point only tells you who is around the radius of the knife and not their exact location. It takes time to recharge after use. On average, you can get 2-3 knives per round.
NULL/CMD (Ultimate): Upon activation, Kay/O radiates polarized energy that disables enemies’ abilities in its radius. While in this ultimate, Kay/O gets a faster fire and reload speed. He can also be revived if killed.
KAY/O has one of the simplest kits out of all agents, if not the simplest. He is especially good for more passive and tactical players. He can put a stop to rushes, get early information, and play for time with his kit with ease. For beginners, KAY/O is definitely worth trying out.
3. Raze
If you like to go in guns blazing, Raze might be the best pick for you. Her entire kit is based on explosions. There is a slight learning curve to master the satchels, but if you are just starting out you won’t need to go crazy with them. Instead, the sachels can act as basic vertical mobility, helping you climb onto boxes and off-angles where enemies won’t expect you.
Raze is considered a meta agent and is used frequently by the pros in their team compositions. This is because of her high-impact kit:
Boom Bot: You deploy a small roomba robot that travels in a straight line and bounces off of walls. As soon as it sees an enemy, it chases them and explodes on contact.
Blast Pack: More commonly known by the players as Satchels. You can press a button to throw it, and then press it again to detonate. It can damage players but more importantly, if you detonate it near you it blasts you with momentum. So, you can blast it beneath you to climb up surfaces and behind you to give yourself a little boost.
Paint Shells: It’s a hand grenade that explodes into more tiny grenades.
Showstopper (Ultimate): On activation, you equip a one-shot rocket launcher. It is a guaranteed kill on a clean shot, or a shot that explodes right next to an enemy.
The destructive nature of Raze and her kit is why she is still a heavily picked agent in pro matches. Even at the lower-ranked levels, Raze can be incredibly impactful. Plus, when you finally nail down how the satchels work, Raze becomes extremely fun to play.
4. Brimstone
Brimstone is the first controller on this list, and the reason for that is his reasonably simple kit. The controller plays an important role in VALORANT, and most players in the lower ranks play it wrong. That’s also because most controllers have extremely complicated kits, like Astra and Harbor for example.
In the beginning, your goal is to learn how different roles work in VALORANT, and for controllers, Brimstone is the easiest to learn. With him, your focus will be more on learning how to be a good controller rather than figuring out how to use his abilities.
With that said, here is a summary of his abilities and how they work:
Incendiary – It’s a throwable molotov.
Sky Smoke – You use a tablet to place smokes on a layout of the map on the tablet. Right-click to deploy them.
Stim Beacon – It’s a device that Brimstone throws. It sticks to the ground and allies inside its radius get faster fire and reload speeds.
Orbital Strike (Ultimate) – A lingering orbital strike laser at the selected location (selected on the smokes pad) dealing high damage over time to players caught in the selected area.
Brimstone is perfect for first-timers to VALORANT. His smokes are easy to use and deploy. The molly is great for post-plants and delaying rushes. Stim Beacon can be used for teammates or yourself to give yourself some extra punching power. Finally, the ultimate is great for securing a round, because it guarantees a kill almost every time, especially in the lower ranks.
5. Omen
Omen is an alternate controller to Brimstone for those who like to play a bit aggressively. He is a self-sustaining agent meaning you can use his abilities to make plays for yourself—great for solo queuing. Althought he has one less smoke than Brimstone, he makes up for that with mobility. Omen also has a blinding ability.
Speaking of abilities, here is a quick overview:
Paranoia – You fire a shadow blast that travels through walls and obstacles. Players caught in this are nearsighted and deafened.
Dark Cover – Basically, Omen’s smokes. You use them by going into a shadow-like realm and then placing the smokes where you want them. You get two smokes, but they recharge back up after use.
Shrouded Step – Allows Omen to teleport from one point to another. When you use it an anchor appears, you can place that anchor where you want to teleport to then activate the ability to complete the teleportation. This can only be used for short-range teleportation (think a couple of meters).
From the Shadows (Ultimate) – Allows Omen to teleport to any part of the map. The enemies can’t see where Omen teleported to, but enemies who are close to the spot where you’ve ‘landed’ will hear a faint sound. It’s great for catching enemies off-guard on their flanks or performing a sneaky plant.
While Omen is a controller by role, his kit allows you to play him like a duelist too. Pair the Paranoia with Shrouded Step and you have a pretty good attack. Moreover, Omen’s smokes are hollow inside so you can easily hide there for a sneaky shotgun play on eco rounds. To play Omen effectively, you need a bit of creativity.
6. Sage
For those who prefer a support role and like to help their team from the backlines, there’s Sage. She is a sentinel and one of the few agents that can heal. Sage is not someone you go fragging out with (although you certainly can) since her abilities are more focused on providing support to your team and watching out for flanks.
Here is a quick intro on her abilities:
Slow Orb – As the name suggests, it’s an orb that you can throw. On landing, it freezes the ground and slows down enemies who are walking on it.
Healing Orb – Allows Sage to either heal herself or her teammates. It does not suddenly heal but gradually increases the HP of the one healed. The ability also recharges after use.
Barrier Orb – It allows Sage to place an Ice Wall. Great for blocking areas of from enemies and preventing flanks. This ice wall can be destroyed by gunfire or enemy abilities, and it also disappears after some time.
Ressurection (Ultimate) – Allows Sage to revive a dead teammate.
Sage is for players who are new to this genre (tactical first-person shooters). It allows you to contribute to the team without needed to be very mechanically skilled. You can still use Sage aggressively of course, but if you’re new we recommend you to focus on your supportive duties.
7. Sova
Sova is a master at getting information. He can safely find out where enemies are, giving your team an early advantage. Whether it is finding out where enemies are camping, or scanning for traps and setups, Sova is your guy. This is the reason he is still heavily picked in the pro scene. He is extremely versatile and is good at all VALORANT maps.
Let’s quickly scan through his abilities:
Owl Drone – It’s a drone that Sova takes control of. It’s used to get information. You can also fire a dart from the drone that marks the enemy hit by it and displays his position through the walls and on the map. This dart disappear after a while, or after the enemy player takes it out.
Recon Bolt – Sova takes out his bow and shoots an arrow. On landing, this arrow pulsates two times revealing enemies caught in its area. You can control the power of the arrow and the amount of times you want it to bounce.
Shock Dart – Similar to Recon bolt, it’s an arrow shot from Sova’s bow. Only this time it deals damage instead of revealing enemies. You get two shots. If you manage to hit an enemy with both shots it’s a guaranteed kill.
Hunter’s Fury (Ultimate) – You equip your bow and fire three long-range energy blasts, that go through walls. Enemies caught in this are heavily damaged and revealed for a short while.
One of the main reasons why you should try Sova as a beginner, is the fact that he is rather easy to learn and can provide a lot of value with a kit that isn’t too hard to make good use of. All you need to do is learn a handful of lineups for different maps, and that is enough to help your team a bunch.
Best VALORANT Agents for Beginners – Conclusion
Mastering agents is one of the most important parts of becoming a good VALORANT player. That’s why it is especially important for beginners to learn what all the agents can do, even if you can’t play with them yet.
With this list, you should have a base starting line up of agents that you can use to when you’re learning the ins and outs of the game. As you play, you will naturally develop a playstyle and choose agents to accommodate that. Until then, keep trying out different agents and try to improve as you go.
You can check out all the agents and their abilities on VALORANT’s official website.
