VCT LOCK//IN 2023: Agent Pick Rates

As the competition in Sao Paulo has come to an end, it is time to look at some numbers and see the event's headliners. We had two more articles before this, the first one after the initial 36 maps and the other right before the playoffs, and the first two places never changed throughout the event. Killjoy and Jett still lead the way, but the rest changed a little, with Viper making her entrance to the list for the first time, replacing Omen.

KILLJOY

We don’t know how often we have to emphasize this, but Killjoy is by far the strongest agent in the meta. Her utility is currently significantly more valuable for the teams both on defense and offense. She has over 50% pick rate almost on every map, excluding Split, where she is not very effective and only has a 14.29% pick rate. None of the teams that made it to the grand final, LOUD and Fnatic, preferred Killjoy on Split, even though it is the most important series of the tournament, and she is the most-picked agent.

Looking at the infographic above, you can easily understand her strength, especially in the professional scene. Haven and Icebox were the top maps for Killjoy, with 84.6% and 92.3% pick rates, respectively. She is very efficient on both maps, especially on defense. There are multiple spots that she can be used at, for instance, the C bomb site on Haven and both bomb sites on Icebox. There are two different ways to play defense: either deny entrance to the bomb sites or let the enemy come in and defuse the bomb after a successful post-plant performance. Killjoy has the kit to deny entries with her mollies and create space for her teammates in post-plant scenarios.

She boasted an impressive 70.29% pick rate in Sao Paulo, by far the most-picked and trusted agent. Leaf had a great performance with a 1.70 rating on Killjoy, despite getting eliminated earlier than expected.

JETT

Jett had been following Killjoy since the very beginning of the event. However, the Duelist never managed to take the throne as some teams chose not to play with any Duelists, and others focused on different comps with Raze as the lead. However, Jett finished the tournament with a high 60.7% pick rate.

Her weakest map was Lotus, with a pick rate of 22.7%, followed by Fracture’s 25%. Most teams chose Neon over Jett and built the comp accordingly, as Neon offers much more on the map. Raze is another agent with a decent percentage of 75% on the map, but there were instances where both Raze and Jett were picked at the same time as LOUD did against Gen.G Esports. She is a decent pick on some maps such as Split, Icebox, Haven, and Pearl but is an indispensable agent for Ascent. Teams picked her every chance they got on Ascent, and we saw two Jetts on both sides in nine Ascent games. Her overall pick rate was 60.7%. Twisten had the best rating, but we must mention Fnatic’s Derke as he won the tournament while maintaining an impressive 1.23 rating.

VIPER

Viper is the newest member of our top-five list. In our previous articles, we generally covered the same agents as they grabbed all the interest, but things took a turn in the playoffs. She was picked seven times during the series between LOUD and DRX VS and a couple more times until the end.

Teams proved Viper is not the best pick on Haven and Fracture. There are more powerful agents and better comps that don’t include Viper. Following the two, Fracture and Lotus are not the best maps for Viper. You might encounter Viper players on Fracture in your ranked games, but the pro scene is slightly different.

Viper might not be the go-to Agent for most comps, but she is probably the strongest Agent on Icebox. The map’s structure perfectly suits her abilities with lineups and defensive and offensive walls. Playoff teams relied on her, so she joined the list in third place with a 40.5% pick rate. Shin finished the tournament with a 1.65 rating, but he only played 19 rounds, while Less reached the grand final with a phenomenal 1.25 rating on Viper.

KAY/O

KAY/O was one of the Agents that most teams ignored at the beginning and relied on other Initiators. After some time, teams started picking them and saw results. In our recent list, KAY/O was third but lost its place to Viper as the tournament continued.

Sometimes it might be hard to fit KAY/O into certain compositions, especially on Haven, Icebox, and Lotus. Split could be considered a “meh” map for KAY/O, while Fracture and Pearl are slightly better. However, Ascent is the map that teams relied the most on the robotic Agent, maintaining an 88.8% pick rate.

KAY/O is the fourth most-picked agent at VCT LOCK//IN 2023, with a total pick rate of 40.5%. Ethan showed dominance on KAY/O, finishing the tournament with a 1.81 rating in 21 rounds. Zyppan competed in 182 rounds with a 1.16 rating. He is also one of the most notable KAY/O players.

SOVA

Maybe he couldn’t make it to the top two, but Sova has always been within the top five most-picked agents in Sao Paulo. His ability to gather intel is precious for teams on both ends. The Agent offers a whole new attacking strategy with his drone, and the same ability can also be used to stop rushes or ruin the opponent’s plans.

It is okay to say that Sova is one of the most useless agents on Split and Fracture, as seen above in the infographic. He might work on Pearl and Lotus, but his intel ability gets more useful with Haven, while Ascent and Icebox are almost perfect for the agent. Sova never had crazy pick rates throughout the tournament but has always been one of the trusted agents by the top teams in the scene. He finished the tournament with a 39.8% pick rate. Team Liquid’s Redgar held a 1.34 rating with the agent and a 309 ACS.

OTHER AGENTS

There are 20 agents in VALORANT, and even though some had very low pick rates, others were chosen multiple times. Omen might have lost its place despite being one of the top five agents in our previous articles. Viper took its place in the Controllers race, but Omen still had a 38.61 total pick rate at the tournament. They were picked in 88.89% of the Ascent games, becoming the most important Controller on that particular map.

Another Controller, Astra, is right behind Omen on the list with a 31.65% pick rate. Her strongest side is surely Pearl and Split, with 75% and 78.57% pick rates, respectively. Breach is the third most-picked Initiator. He actually had decent pick rates in the tournament’s first phase but eventually lost his place to KAY/O. Breach had a 31.01 pick rate.

Next is Raze, and she is above other agents because of her efficiency on Split and Fracture. We saw two Razes in every Split game on both sides, and she was picked 15 times on Fracture, finding herself a place in the top-ten list. The tenth most-picked agent in Brazil was Sky, with a 24.05% pick rate. Her strongest map was Split, with eight picks out of 14 chances.

Fade is placed 11th with a 23.42% pick rate. She is the latest Initiator that was added to the Agent lineup, except Gekko, and apart from Split and Icebox, most of her pick rates were pretty close. Sage is one of the agents that lost their popularity in time. Even though she is one of the most-picked agents in ranked, pro players don’t really prioritize her that much. Sage was never picked in any of the Haven, Ascent, and Fracture matches.

Cypher surely lost his previous power and once again didn’t get too much attention from the players, with only 25 picks out of 158 chances. Behind Cypher is Harbor, another Agent that isn’t getting much attention. Harbor’s time was pretty short compared to other Agents. After his release, he was picked for a short time and lost popularity. Harbor only had a 12.66% pick rate.

Brimstone is above five agents because of Fracture. None of the teams picked him in Fracture because his skill set is perfect for the map. Brimstone's quick execute potential remains perfect for the map and his Ultimate sees fantastic retake and denial potential here. Players picked Brimstone 15 times, all on Fracture.

The last five agents on the list start with Neon in descending order, with a pick rate of 6.96%. The most-picked agent of 2022, Chamber, was only played four times, two times by yay. Cloud9 tried different agents throughout their short run as Zellsis was the only Phoenix player with only three picks.

Lastly, Yoru was picked twice, once by Ethan and the other by QutionerX. At the bottom of the list is Reyna, with only Emman picking her once the entire event.

If you want to look at other stats, check the events page and don’t forget to look at the VCT 2023 Hub!