Breach

VALORANT’s agent Breach is one of the game’s original Initiators, team members designed to flush out enemies, clear corners, and reinforce their squad when pushing sites and taking fights.

As a human, not a Radiant, Breach’s abilities are powered by his mechanical arms. They’re uniquely impressive among VALORANT’s already flashy roster for their destructive, seismic qualities.

"These cowards aren't ready for me. No one ever is." Erik “Breach” Torsten

Lore

The story of VALORANT’s Breach is one of pain, exile, and redemption…

A former criminal from Sweden, Erik Torsten was a double amputee since birth. When he and his family stood trial for their crimes, this caused the judge to take pity on him.

Erik served a shorter sentence, and quickly returned to his life of crime, determined not to be underestimated again, and to be considered “worthy” of his criminal family – this time equipped with a pair of mechanical arms he built himself.

With his new arms and lease on life, Erik committed such unspeakable atrocities as to leave him with no choice but to go on the lamb. During this self-imposed exile, he crossed paths with Tayane Alves, who would eventually become VALORANT’s agent Raze. Thanks to Alves, Erik’s arms received significant upgrades, becoming the reinforced carbon-steel, radianite-powered prosthetic limbs that Breach uses to this day.

Eventually, Erik accepted a position as the thirteenth agent of VALORANT. Becoming Breach meant burying his life of crime, and though part of his induction sealed his records from prying eyes, he can never truly escape his past… or return home.

“Breach, the bionic Swede, fires powerful, targeted kinetic blasts to aggressively clear a path through enemy ground. The damage and disruption he inflicts ensures no fight is ever fair.” Riot’s official description of Breach

FAQs

Where is Breach from?

Breach is from Sweden, where he was part of the infamous Torsten criminal family, and earned himself such a notorious reputation that he can now no longer risk showing his face in his homeland.

What’s Breach’s real name?

Before joining VALORANT, Breach was known as Erik Torsten.

How old is Breach?

Official VALORANT sources cite Breach’s age as between 30 and 35 years old.

How tall is Breach?

Breach is canonically the tallest VALORANT agent, standing at a towering 200cm tall.

When was Breach added to VALORANT?

Breach was released during VALORANT’s beta. Alongside Sova, he was one of the original Initiators of the game.

Is Breach any good?

Absolutely! Breach is an excellent choice for anyone who plays VALORANT best when supporting the front lines. Hey – he’s an Initiator, not a Duelist, so go pick Jett if you want to be first to the fight.

Breach’s seismic abilities are great for setting you and your team up for some big plays. Whether you want to dole out some heavy damage or shake the enemy up with so much concussion and blind that they can’t tell up from down, Breach is your guy.

Gamer’s Guide

Ready to learn how to play Breach like a pro?

Before we take a look at the tips and tricks for some epic Breach plays, here’s a quick rundown of his earth-shattering abilities…

Breach abilities

Here are all Breach’s abilities, their official descriptions, and key stats. Armed with these, you’ll be well on your way to using Breach like a boss.

E - Fault Line

EQUIP a seismic blast. HOLD FIRE to increase the distance. RELEASE to set off the quake, dazing all players in its zone and in a line up to the zone.

• Ability type: Signature
• Deploy time: 1 second
• Concussion duration: 3.5 seconds
• Max width: 7.5 meters
• Max length: 55 meters
• Cost: Free
• Cooldown: 40 seconds
• Max charges: 1

Q - Flashpoint

EQUIP a blinding charge. FIRE the charge to set fast-acting burst through the wall. The charge detonates to blind all players looking at it.

• Ability type: Basic
• Deploy time: 0.5 seconds
• Max blind duration: 2 seconds
• Cost: 250 creds
• Max charges: 2

C - Aftershock

EQUIP a fusion charge. FIRE the charge to set a slow-acting burst through the wall. The burst does heavy damage to anyone caught in its area.

• Ability type: Basic
• Deploy time: 2.2 seconds
• Damage: 80 HP per tick (160HP total)
• Cost: 200 creds
• Max charges: 1

X - Rolling Thunder

EQUIP a seismic charge. FIRE to send a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. The quake dazes and knocks up anyone caught in it.

• Ability type: Ultimate
• Deploy time: 1.2 seconds
• Concussion duration: 6 seconds
• Displacement distance: 7 meters
• Ultimate cost: 9

How to play Breach

Coordinate and communicate

Playing Breach calls for a unique playbook, since his abilities rip through walls. This makes him one of the best engagers in VALORANT, but since all his abilities can affect your own team, you’ve got to prioritize clear comms and coordination if you want to play Breach well.

His ability to stun, blind, and knockup agents can be a total game-changer, but if you catch your own guys with it, you’ll soon turn the tide the wrong way! The range indicators on your map will help make sure you hit the right target.

This is always important, but it’s a super important tip for playing Breach on attack, especially!

Follow your entry fraggers

He may have some brutal abilities, but Breach is still an Initiator, not a Duelist. Resist the urge to push into the fight before your team – Breach’s aggression is best suited to support Duelists.

Breach’s kit is simply too handy in late rounds to risk him going down in a headstrong early push. Go in second and you give yourself the time you need to support your Duelists get the kill, or at least score the trade if they fall.

Don’t act without information

Breach’s abilities are insanely useful, but you’ll need strong intel to maximize their effectiveness. This ties in with the last point – don’t rush in. Rely on the info your Duelists reveal on those early engagements, then act fast and make that intel worth dying for.

Read the enemy

Pay attention to how your enemies react to your abilities, and use that knowledge to predict the best way to play Breach’s other abilities for maximum carnage.

This isn’t something you can snap your fingers and get right. It’s going to take practice. And it’s likely to vary depending on who you’re playing against. But it’s absolutely essential to master this kind of situational observation skill if you want to play Breach like a pro.

Team up with speed-fraggers

Breach works well in any team comp, but if you’re playing in tandem with a Jett or Neon, or even an aggressive Controller like Omen with his flashes, you’ll be in for a powerhouse combo.

It’s all about fighting with agents who can sweep in fast and score picks while the enemy are disoriented and displaced by Breach’s abilities.

Prioritize Breach’s abilities

Seriously, resist the urge to grab that tempting Vandal or Phantom.

Breach’s abilities should be your first, second, and third priorities during the Buy Phase. Trust us, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel with every enemy caught in the wake of literally any of his seismic abilities.

Get creative with your utility

This is a game-changing tip for playing on attack. Breach is aggressive, but best played strategically still. Avoid the urge to rush to use your abilities or push a site. Play smart.

Deploy Flashpoint in sly places that enemies will find it hard to avoid. Don’t follow a few good shots and try to frag that corner-camper, blast them with a well-timed Aftershock and force them to play your game instead and make themselves an easy kill.

Speaking of Aftershock, if you plant the spike somewhere you can deploy this ability you can make it hell for enemies to defuse.

You can even throw an ability out as a fake-out, or just to make sure a site is clear. These are all proven effective tips for playing Breach on attack.

Play calmly, and patiently…

It seems counterintuitive for an agent with such aggressive abilities, but it’s one of the best tips for playing Breach on defense (or attack).

List for footsteps and use them as your cue to use an ability and put a stop to the attackers’ push. Be ready to rotate at a moment’s notice – don’t let yourself be baited into delaying, your team needs your abilities to disrupt the enemy.

Hold off on deploying Breach’s Ultimate until site retakes, where it’ll be most useful. Rolling Thunder is a killer defuse rush strat if your whole team is working in sync to push defuse and watch each others’ backs.

Few agents can upset enemies when they’re planting or defusing the spike as effectively as Breach – be alert to the sound cues and ready to act in the blink of an eye.

How to counter Breach

One of the best ways to counter an enemy Breach is by baiting him into using his abilities before he really needs them. Doing this will take some aggressive playing though, and if you’re playing against a true Initiator Breach, it’ll be hard to pull off.

If the enemy Breach is playing like a proper Initiator, set up traps for the Duelist he’s coordinating with, and make sure your team is in place to isolate the Breach once the Duelist is down.

If you’re up against a Breach that saves his utility until it’s needed most, keep your wits about you until those abilities drop. Some Breach players are rash though – they utility dump and rush, and should be much easier to counter.

Stay sharp on your team comms and keep count of how many flashes the Breach has used, be wary of potential flash areas, and use util that slows his pace. These are always solid ways to nullify a Breach.

Lastly, just be prepared to abandon your position if it gets blasted, and only reposition when Breach’s abilities have ended or he’s moved elsewhere.