How to play initiators in Valorant?

Like every other Agent class, Initiators have the utility kits fit for their respective role which is to essentially set up an environment for their team to flush out a site and begin the offense. Although they usually aren’t the first line of Attack, their movements or abilities aid other Agents, usually Duelists, to push forward setting them up for success. Currently there are five initiators in the game namely:

• Sova
• Skye
• Kay/O
• Breach
• Fade

How to play Sova?

Any video game fanatic can recognize at a single glance that Sova was meant to be the stereotypical Marksmen character. However, Riot being innovative in their approach decided to further his utility pool by introducing a recon aspect to his arrows. Boasting a 32.56% pick rate, he was chosen as the go-to Agent by several pros during VCT 2022 - Champions Istanbul including Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi whose plays came in clutch for the team to win the title.

Sova's Abilities:

Q - Shock Bolt: An arrow that detonates upon collision and damages players nearby.

E - Recon Bolt: Arrow that activates upon collision revealing the location of nearby enemies caught in the line of sight of the bolt.

C - Owl Drone: A mobile drone that can be controlled by the player. Can be used to survey the battlefield or shoot a marking dart revealing the location of any player struck by the dart.

X - Hunter’s Fury: A bow with three long-range wall-piercing energy blasts that can deal damage and reveal the location of enemies caught in the line.

Tips for Sova:

• Map knowledge is key for Sova as his ability is reliant on your prediction of the enemy’s position in the game. Think about where you would stand if you were trying to defend the site, and shoot an arrow at that location.
• Recon Bolt can’t see through walls so you have to make sure the area you want revealed is within the arrow’s line of sight, which means that it is much better in an open location than a narrow opening with multiple exits.
• Try using his ultimate for denying an area. If you know the enemy players are trying to get out of a door, using it can hold them back. Or even better, if you plant the Spike, you can use Hunter’s Fury to stop the enemy team from defusing while you’re standing a safe distance away since you can use the minimap to accurately target the defusing target.

How to Play Skye?

Skye is Valorant’s 13th Agent, and the first hailing from Australia. Her extensive utility kit is perfectly suited for an Initiator role especially here trademark flash that helps breach sites with great ease. At a plausible 21% pick rate, Skye got a lot of on-screen time at the Champions event with XSET’s Brendan "BcJ" Jensen perfectly executing her abilities in their match against FPX.

Skye's Abilities:

Q – Trailblazer: A Tasmanian tiger is sent out on the battlefield under the player’s control that can leap onto enemies exploding in a concussive blast and dealing significant damage.

C – Regrowth: Allies within range and line of sight can be healed until her dedicated healing pool is depleted but this effect does not apply to the player themselves.

E – Guiding: A hawk is sent out which can be guided from a long distance and used to flash enemies as well as serve as recon detecting enemies within a set range.

X – Seekers: Three seekers to track down the three closest enemies. Following the seeker’s movements will direct you to the enemy’s location and also provide a distraction.

Tips for Skye:

• Skye’s guiding light is arguably the best flash in the game due to its lower audio cue and versatile control. Using these factors to your advantage, you can flash out corner before approaching a site or flash out of a smoke to catch your opponents off-guard.
• To improve the efficacy of your guiding light, don’t use it in the same way each time to maintain the element of surprise.
• Since her kit is designed for support rather than fragging, her ultimate is also most useful when the player stays behind and uses the Seeker’s movement to alert their teammates.

How to play Kay/O?

Kay/O did not earn the best welcome upon release as his abilities seemed to be lackluster in being completely effective. It seemed like they didn’t do enough to justify his use. However, a year and a ton of patch notes later, he was the 4th most used Agent during Champions and arguably the best Initiator with underlying Offensive abilities. His usage on Ascent was at an all-time 97.06% with only one team opting out from taking him.

Kay/O’s Abilities:

Q – FLASH/drive: Player equips a flash grenade that explodes after its thrown, blinding enemies in its line of sight. Alternating between either of the fire options can delay or lengthen the flash.

C – FRAG/ment: KAY/O equips an explosive fragment that sticks to the floor when thrown exploding multiple times damaging opponents in the radius with each blast.

E – ZERO/point: Throws a blade that sticks to the first surface it hits, winds up, and suppresses anyone in the radius of the explosion.

X – NULL/cmd: KAY/O instantly overloads with polarized radianite energy emitting brief pulses from within which can suppress inflicted enemies briefly. This ability provides KAY/O with combat stim and also allows him to be revived if he is downed by enemies.

Tips for Kay/O:

• ZERO/point is a great tool to use on pushes that go through narrow chokes, or where you tend to know an enemy will hold since it can essentially render them useless in terms of putting up a strong defense.
• Fragment has a large area of effect and can punish players for planting or defusing, but it might make you momentarily defenseless while launching it so you might need to work with a teammate while deploying it.
• His ultimate is extremely effective as entry tool, especially if combined with a flash ability either yours or a teammates so when you decide to push, it will often suppress an enemy leaving them vulnerable while your teammates take over the site.

How to play Breach?

Breach was one of the first Agents in the game in the game being available since the closed Beta. His kit has proven to be the best among the lot in closing off areas and forcing the opposition to rotate out of unfavorable sights. Unfortunately, most of his abilities can only be used across walls; therefore, require extensive map knowledge to maximize usage. His usage was noticeably lower than most Initiators with a couple of maps seeing no Breach lineups at all during the Champions event.

Breach's Abilities:

Q — Flashpoint: Fires a fast-acting burst through the wall which detonates to blind all players looking at it for 2 seconds.

C — Aftershock: Fires a different fusion charge to set a slow-acting burst through the wall which can inflict considerable damage to anyone caught in its area.

E - Fault Line: Fires a seismic blast dazing all players in its zone and in a line up to the zone for 3.5 seconds.

X - Rolling Thunder: A more damaging earthquake is induced within a larger radius that dazes and knocks up anyone caught in it for 6 seconds.

Tips for Breach:

• If you suspect a player is hiding in a small corridor, firing the Aftershock an angle that will hit most of the room forcing the enemy to rotate out where you can have your teammates stationed for an an easy picking.
• While its Flashpoint isn’t as versatile as Skye’s, it can nonetheless be effective when you are about to take a site and can find an angle through the surrounding walls of a site where enemies are hiding out.
• Sometimes you might be left defending a site alone leaving you vulnerable to enemy pushes. Fault Line tends to come in clutch in those situations as the opponents will have to hold back until the effect of this ability wears off or find a different opening to attack.

How to play Fade?

Fade is one of the more recent additions to the game being announced during the finals of VCT 2022 - Stage 2 - Masters Copenhagen and released in the subsequent update. Her abilities are centered around on locating enemy players and either blinding them or restricting their movement from a set location. Despite being a new Agent, she gained a lot of interest from the community and the second most selected Agent during Champions Istanbul being almost a necessity on Haven and Pearl.

Fade's Abilities:

Q - Seize: An orb of nightmare ink will drop to the ground after a set amount of time causing it to explode and subsequently create a zone in where caught enemies cannot escape the zone without using other abilities.

C - Prowler: A Prowler is sent in a straight line locking onto any enemies or trails within their line of sight. Upon locating one, it chases and near-sights them.

E - Haunt: Throw an orb that will form a nightmarish entity and reveal the location of enemies caught in its line of sight.

X - Nightfall: A wave of nightmare energy will be sent out that can traverse through walls. Creating a trail to the opponent while simultaneously deafening them.

Tips for Fade:

• Since Prowler has quite a narrow angle for detection, its most effective in confined spaces, narrow corridors and tunnels.
• Unlike the conventional arc-like trajectory, both of Fade’s orb-reliant abilities will plummet straight down to the ground. Therefore, it's essential to choose the placement of throws much more carefully and doing so without attracting unwanted attention towards yourself in the set-up stage.
• If you have earned your ultimate, update your team using comms and plan a push together starting with you deploying nightfall. If your teammates are able to get recon using Sova about the enemies placement on the site, it will be easier for you to determine the ult’s placement maximizing your chance of success.