An Overview of the Many Types of Abilities in Valorant
While many FPS games focus solely on gunplay, Valorant is in a unique spot in the FPS game realm due to agent abilities. Each agent is equipped with various unique abilities that can stall a point, give the friendly team an advantage, hinder the enemy, and more. Abilities are purchased, although each agent typically has an ability that is free and regenerates over time or earned with kills. Some abilities now fall into more than one category but usually have one “main” purpose.
Types of Abilities
Smoke Abilities
Smokes give an advantage to the friendly team by providing cover or blocking off the enemy view. They can be used to cross dangerous chokepoints, block doorways, or long sightlines. Some agents can create “one-way” smokes, which give the friendly team a small area to peek through and get the first look at approaching enemies.
Wall Abilities
Some agents have various types of walls they can put up, whether quickly to cross a chokepoint or walls that can be raised or lowered to cut an area in half. Some walls also contain damaging effects, even to friendly agents, so they must be placed with care.
Flash Abilities
Flashes are blinding lights sent towards the enemy to remove vision briefly. When thrown out correctly, they can blind the enemy while allowing the friendly team to play off the flash and kill enemies. However, flashes can also blind the friendly team, so they must be used with care.
Grenade Abilities
Grenades, or mollies, are thrown toward the enemy and can cause critical, even fatal, damage. Most grenades also damage friendly teammates, so they must be used with care. Some mollies are more like puddles on the ground, which linger for a time and cause damage if stepped in, while some act more like traditional grenades, exploding on contact.
Concussion Abilities
Agents with these abilities can stun the enemy for a brief period, allowing the friendly team to push in and potentially get kills while at an advantage. Some of these are instant, some can be bounced, and almost all concussion abilities have the potential to stun friendly teammates as well.
Slow Abilities
Some abilities can cause reduced walking speed in the area of effect. Some agents have this as an ability, and others have it as a side-effect of concussion abilities.
Vulnerable abilities
Some abilities have the side effect of vulnerability, causing agents to take increased damage or cause decay, which is an immediate reduction of hit points, which recharge after the effect has worn off.
Nullification Abilities
These abilities reduce or eliminate the enemy’s ability to use their abilities or, in some cases, even can freeze the enemy entirely. The enemy can remove these abilities by leaving the area of effect or destroying the source of the ability.
Boost Abilities
These abilities boost the friendly team or agent in some way, such as an increased rate of fire or a speed boost.
Heal Abilities
Some agents currently have healing abilities, allowing injured agents to regain some hit points. However, these abilities heal over time, so players must allow time for the heal to take full effect before rushing back into a fight. Some agents in the game can only heal others, and some can heal only themselves.
Information Abilities
These abilities gather information about the enemy, typically in the form of a trap that is set off. These abilities can typically be categorized in another area since most traps have other side effects, such as slow, concussion, or vulnerability. However, their purpose is typically to catch flanking enemies and to give the friendly team the time to rotate, thus deserving their own category.
What the Future May hold for Valorant Abilities
In the past, Valorant has chosen to give each agent unique and often single-category abilities. The developers have said that in the future, many agents will have combined-type abilities, or even new combinations of older abilities, reused from other agents.