What makes Viper’s poison? What tricks can Omen use? And what is the most effective way to play Jett? Our Valorant Agent Guide reveals it. We give an overview of each agent skill and how to best use them. All in easy-to-digest guides, one Valorant character at a time. Today it’s the turn of a badass: Sova.

We’ve already done a bit of groundwork in terms of guides: About a month ago, we took a detailed look at all three Valorant maps, from both a defender and attacker perspective:

• Valorant Map Guide: Split
• Valorant Map Guide: Bind
• Valorant Map Guide: Haven

Just before that we had our ranking of all Valorant agents – an overview for a short impression of the strengths of each agent. After many updates and the official release, it’s time for a proper Valorant Agent Guide: A detailed look at each of the 11 Valorant Agents, their abilities and how and when to use them.

Sova has been available since Closed Beta and much like Sage, he can be incredibly helpful to his team. Combining reconnaissance and offensive abilities, Sova is a preferred attacker, but can also be used defensively. He can be found in almost any good team lineup and we explain why.

Sova Skills Guide: Owl Drone

The Owl Drone is Sova’s first basic ability and can be used to gather information about the enemy. Whoever manages to hit an enemy with the drone’s arrow will briefly mark it for their own team. However, the drone can be easily destroyed, so you should try to mark the enemies as soon as possible. However, the technical tool can also be used to force enemies out of their position. If you coordinate with your teammates, you can bait enemies this way and lure them into a teammate’s field of fire.

Unlike the Recon Bolt, the drone can fire multiple shots before being destroyed. This guarantees you at least some information every time you use the drone. Either you can tag someone or the enemy will shoot at the drone, giving away their position.

Sova Skills Guide: Shock Bolt

Shock Bolt is Sova’s second basic ability and gives him the ability to deal additional damage in a small area. The damage ranges from 14 to 90, depending on the distance to the opponent. In addition, it can have up to two charges, so it is theoretically possible to almost kill someone or barely scratch them, depending on how well you aim.

The ability is probably the less popular of the agent, as it is usually more important to buy the Owl Drone when money is tight at the moment. Still, Shock Bolt can do significant damage if used correctly, even if it’s damn hard to hit someone at close range. However, the range damage makes it good for damaging enemies behind cover or for destroying Cypher’s cameras, for example.

Sova Skills Guide: Recon Bolt

Recon Bolt is Sova’s signature ability, which he gets for free every turn. It has a single charge, but recharges every 35 seconds. Recon Bolt, as the name suggests, can be used to detect enemies. It can be used in several ways, to check the way forward or to see if an enemy is holding a certain position. It can simply be shot straight ahead, but it can also bounce up to twice before getting stuck, making it especially useful for looking behind corners for campers. Sova’s signature ability can often be combined with other agents like Breach, whose abilities also damage enemies through walls. But beware: the Recon Bolt can be destroyed by enemies with a single shot, so it’s important not to place it directly in front of their feet.

Sova Skills Guide: Hunter’s Fury

Hunter’s Fury is Sova’s Ulti. If you’ve played Overwatch before, this Ulti will look very familiar. It works almost exactly like Hanzo’s Dragonstrike (Ryuuga wagateki wo kurau!), except that you have three shots instead of one. Each of these shots goes through walls, deals 80 damage, and briefly marks the enemy it hits. So, similar to his other abilities, Hunter’s Fury can be used to gather information or kill well-covered enemies. To fire the three shots you have 8 seconds, but you can abort early at any time should you find yourself in a difficult situation. Since each shot does 80 damage, three shots are enough to take out an enemy. However, this can be difficult because if the first one misses you have to guess where the enemy is.

Sova Strategy Guide

Sova is exceptionally good at clearing corners and putting pressure on the opposing team. However, the style of play changes depending on whether you are playing on the attack or defense side. As an attacker, you use the Owl Drone to bait and expose opponents – either the opponent shoots you down and gives away their position or allows you to gather even more information. You should always try to combine the reconnaissance abilities with the damage from other agents. Brimstone, Breach or Viper are the best choices here, as they can do damage through walls or over long distances.

On each map there are some spots that are perfect to get a lot of information with a Recon Bolt. For Haven, we’ve already listed the best ones here: Valorant Tips: 5 tricky spots for Sovas on Haven – gg, ez!

Sova Tips & Tricks

• The Recon Bolt has a certain range, so you don’t place it too high to take full advantage of its potential.
• If you hit a player directly with Recon Bolt, they cannot remove it themselves.
• Shock Bolt takes about half a second to activate after it hits before it does damage. In return, it hits everyone within a certain radius, even behind cover.
• Owl Drone lasts 10 seconds and the arrow has a 5 second cooldown. So you can fire up to three arrows.
• The drone must be hit several times before it is destroyed. You should use it to distract enemies and give your teammates time to attack.
• When using Hunter’s Fury, one should not hesitate to fire all three shots within the 8 seconds.
• To cancel the Ulti, the Ulti button must be pressed again. Simply switching weapons is not enough.
• The range of Hunter’s Fury is quite large, but not unlimited. Always check the minimap to see how far you can shoot.

That’s it for our guide to the Russian reconnaissance specialist. We hope that this will secure the next Valorant victory!

Valorant Beginner’s Guide

Overwhelmed with Valorant? No wonder… Without experience in similar games (such as CS:GO or Overwatch) the start in Valorant is difficult. But don’t worry, we are here to help you with our Valorant Beginner Guide.

Valorant is a special game. Many think that getting into the game is easy, but without shooter experience, you’ll quickly be on the ropes. Even CS:GO veterans can get into trouble… In Counter Strike, there are no flying knife-throwing things-people. But that’s why we are here.

This beginner’s guide is meant to help you get started in Valorant and introduce you to the world of Valorant. After that, the most important features should be clear to you, so that the fun in Valorant is not lost.

Valorant Beginner Guide: Basics

Let’s start with the meaning behind the game. In other words: What is Valorant anyway? Valorant is a first-person shooter in which two teams consisting of five players face off. The first team to win 13 rounds wins. Both teams have a different role – attacker and defender.

The goal of the attackers is to place a spike and protect it until detonation. This must happen on one of the three spots (A/B/C). In turn, the defenders must prevent the attackers from doing so.

Each match consists of two halves. After the first half (12 rounds), the two teams switch roles. The attackers become defenders, the defenders become attackers. Easy.

Agents

Before the start of a match, each player must choose an agent. Agents have unique skills, which in most cases also require a certain playstyle (offensive, defensive, support, etc.). Currently there are 16 agents in total, but new agents have already been leaked and should be added soon.

As a new player, you can initially choose between 5 free agents: Brimstone, Phoenix, Sova, Jett and Sage. To unlock more agents, you will have to sign contracts, which is mostly done via Daily Quests or earning experience points.

Valorant Beginner Guide: The best agent to start with

Phoenix is by far the easiest agent to start with in Valorant. His skills are not too complicated, can be combined well in any situation. But watch out with the flashbangs (aka your Q skill)! You’ll probably flashbang yourself and your mates quite often in the beginning, but practice makes perfect!

Valorant Beginner Guide: The best mode to start with

Stay away from Unrated mode for the beginning. This may sound strange, but especially the beginning of Valorant might be hard for you. Frustration will lead to quick quits, which in turn will get you involved in penalties and XP loss. That’s why you should start with Spike Rush first. An average game here lasts 8 minutes, while other modes can easily go over 50 minutes. In Spike Rush, you’ll be quickly released from suffering without having to take any penalties.

In addition, you don’t have to do any eco rounds in Spike Rush. This means that you’ll be able to try out your agents’ abilities, as well as the most varied weapons. Spike Rush is a great mode to learn the basics of Valorant. When you feel like you’re firmly in the saddle, you can try your luck in Unrated mode. After 20 matches in Unrated mode, you’ll gain access to Competitive mode, where you can earn ranks.

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