Neon

Agent Introduction

VALORANT’s sixth Duelist, Neon’s abilities tap into the incredible power of lightning, allowing her to surge past any other agent with unmatchable speed.

Not even Jett can hold pace alongside this supercharged speedster Duelist. Her speed lets her cover maps like none other, making her an incredible asset on attack and defense, whether rotating or pushing.

Neon is the Speed Queen of game pace manipulation, and long considered one of VALORANT’s most broken agents. When you want to strike like lightning, she’s the agent you need.

“Enemies in our way? Hope they like getting hit by lightning.” Tala “Neon” Nicole Dimaapi Valdez

Quick answers

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers…

What’s the name of Agent Neon? Neon’s real name is Tala Nicole Dimaapi Valdez.

How old is Neon? We know she’s somewhere between 15 and 20 years old. Some sources claim she’s 19, though it’s safer to assume a 5-year age range, as we have for other VALORANT agents.

What ethnicity is Neon? She’s VAL’s first Filipino agent.

When did Neon come out? Neon joined VALORANT’s agents on January 11, 2022, as the game’s 18th agent released, and the 19th member of VALORANT Protocol.

Where is Neon from? She’s from Taguig in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.

Is Neon good? Any VALORANT agent can be good if you learn how to play them right, and Neon’s no different. If you can handle her crazy pace, master High Gear and the electric slide, and confuse your enemies with unexpected timings, Neon is an excellent agent.

What are the best Neon voice lines? There’s something about the sass in the "Remember, bullets hurt." voice line that always makes us smile, but Neon has so many epic lines it’s tough to call. Check out more of her voice lines here.

“Filipino Agent Neon surges forward at shocking speeds, discharging bursts of bioelectric radiance as fast as her body generates it. She races ahead to catch enemies off guard, then strikes them down quicker than lightning.” Riot’s official description of Neon.

THESPIKE Dossier: Neon

Bio

Callsign: Neon
Real Name: Tala Nicole Dimaapi Valdez

Age: 15–20
Height: 160 cm
Origin/country: Philippines
Classification: Radiant
Gender: Female

Affiliation(s): VALORANT Protocol
Agent number: 19
Agent type: Duelist

Difficulty level: Medium
Signature weapon: Live Wire Frenzy
Basic abilities:
•High Gear
•Relay Bolt
Signature ability:
•Fast Lane
Ultimate ability:
•Overdrive
Ult points: 8

Release date: January 11, 2022
Voice actor: Vanille Velasquez
Neon’s playlist

Personality analysis

Callsign Neon is bold, energetic, and loyal to a fault.

She has strong family ties and remains in close contact with them, despite her involvement with VALORANT Protocol – her parents were the first people she reached out to on arrival at the VP HQ.

Her commitment to a cause is unwavering. Agent Chamber believes this strong sense of service comes from her familial roots. It’s clear she cares deeply for her teammates, though interestingly is often heard stating that she hates making new friends.

Given how fast she integrated into the VALORANT team, it seems more likely that she struggles with the idea of losing people she cares about. Since she also often reminds the team to take care and stay alive, this analysis seems appropriate.

It is also reflected in her Radiant powers and her Duelist nature of being first into the fray – Neon would always put herself in harm’s way before allowing those she cares about to do the same.

She has utmost confidence in her abilities and the value they bring to VALORANT Protocol, and for good reason. Even so, she still has a way to go when it comes to mastering her powers, and often struggles to keep them under control.

Between this and her age, it is no surprise that Neon seems to regard agents Sage and Reyna as mentors, since they represent a desirable future for her – one where she is in total control of her abilities.

Agent Fade’s blackmailing opened the book on how control is a driving influence for Neon, highlighting how from her parents to her new role models in VALORANT, they all possess a level of control that she has not been able to achieve herself.

While Neon’s emotions can be turbulent at times, it seems they are no more erratic than any other teenager’s would be. However, since her powers seem to be greatly influenced by her emotions, she will likely still wear her father’s creation – the Surge Protector – until she is able to get a handle on them.

Despite all that she’s clearly endured, Neon has a feisty, upbeat attitude most of the time, which is reflected in everything from how she interacts with other agents, to how she decorates, and even her love of bedroom karaoke.

She’s a dog person, and a sports lover, though we can also assume from her attitude and appearance that her interest is more casual than competitive.

Origins

Tala Valdez’s early years have had a profound effect on her life.

Her powers have apparently affected her since she was an infant, when it seems her bioelectricity bonded with the planet’s potent radianite mesh. It’s believed that this entwining created a fierce storm roughly 20 years ago, which tore a rift in the sky around Mount Pulag in the Philippines.

Based on her current age, Tala could not have been more than a baby at this time, and evidence suggests that her parents actually discovered her at the scene of this rift storm and adopted her.

They would go on to raise her in the region’s capital city, Manila.

Her mother was a member of law enforcement, and involved in efforts to fight corruption in the city. It’s unclear if Tala herself was ever involved, though rumors claim she was trained to join her mother’s task force. Either way, it seems certain that her mother instilled a solid sense of morality in the young Radiant.

Meanwhile, it seems likely that her scientist father Nathaniel Valdez studied young Tala intently, recognizing the importance of controlling her powers to avoid their catastrophic potential.

Nathaniel is likely the one who identified that her powers were influenced by her emotions, and so prone to unpredictably dangerous fluctuations.

Given her capacity to generate enough electricity to power entire cities or unleash unfathomable high-voltage destruction, he created the Surge Protector, as a way to control the destructive nature of his daughter’s powers and keep his family safe.

His breakthrough led him to work for Kingdom, creating more technology that would help other Radiants similarly struggling with such volatile powers. According to Kingdom PR, Nathaniel’s work with them has helped countless Radiants and their families, much like he helped Neon, though it’s possible this is at least partly propaganda designed to cover up his contributions to their bulk-manufactured, less publicly approved works.

Tala would eventually join her father at K-SEC, subsidiary of Kingdom.

The extent of her role within K-SEC is unclear, though she would go on to meet agent Chamber in this position. That she has such a lasting negative, untrusting view of Chamber hints that she may have had some involvement in the Everett-Linde facility prior to its destruction.

Though we know little of her life outside of her parents and attempts to control her Radiant powers, it is believed that Tala became quite a celebrated name in the pro gaming world. Given that her room in VALORANT Protocol’s HQ has a framed basketball jersey, it seems she also has a passion for this sport.

With VALORANT Protocol

Prior to Neon’s recruitment into VALORANT, agent Killjoy was building a cross-dimensional teleporter to give the Protocol agents access to Omega Earth. She was using blueprints provided by Chamber, stolen from the Everett-Linde facility, but could not generate enough energy to power the device.

Chamber, having history with Tala Valdez at K-SEC, recommended her to Brimstone, though under stipulations that he could not make contact with her due to a past “misunderstanding”. Owing to Brim’s status as a former K-SEC veteran, Tala was more than receptive and quickly recruited into VALORANT.

She would go on to become not only their Omega-portal power source, but a valued member of their field teams, too.

She maintains a close relationship with her parents, though it’s uncertain how aware they are of VALORANT Protocol, and recently returned to her father for upgrades on her Surge Protector to give her greater control.

Though recommended by the universally untrusted Chamber, agent Neon was quick to become friends with and earn the trust of her new team. After forming an early friendship with Killjoy, while working on the teleporter, she went on to bond with agents Sage and Reyna, looking to both as kinds of mentors.

Soon after her recruitment, Killjoy reported her analysis that Neon’s powers were “enlaced with the Earth’s radianite mesh” – an incredible fact that she claimed should be impossible.

Neon was part of VALORANT Protocol’s exploratory mission into Omega Earth, arriving in an underwater dome version of Lisbon.

During this mission with Reyna and Killjoy, she held her own against a number of ATLAS soldiers, and was forced to fight without the restrictions of her Surge Protector after it was destroyed by enemy gunfire. She was, however, confined to a containment room on her return to Alpha Earth, while Killjoy repaired her Surge Protector.

It was this incident that caused Reyna to take greater interest in Neon, in the hopes of unlocking her full potential.

Other observations

• Neon’s powers are likely unique to other Radiants’, as suggested by Killjoy’s analysis of her powers being enlaced with the planet’s radianite mesh.
• Using her powers causes electricity to flow through everything from the patterns on Neon’s arms to her eyes and hair.
• Her High Gear ability sends radianite-infused bioelectric charges into her leg muscles, giving her superhuman speed for as long as she can tap into that charge.
• Her Surge Protector acts as a kind of battery pack for channelling and controlling her radianite-charged bioelectricity.

VALORANT Protocol relationships

Callsign: Brimstone (VP agent 01)

Though they rarely interact, it was due to Brimstone’s status as a former K-SEC veteran that Neon was willing to meet with him and ultimately take up her position as VALORANT’s nineteenth agent.

The two often remark on their past and training with Kingdom when in the field together. While they were likely employed within K-SEC at the same time, as far as we know, they never met before VALORANT.

Callsign: Killjoy (VP agent 04)

Killjoy and Neon quickly struck up a friendly relationship, working together on completing the Alpha-Omega teleporter and fighting side-by-side on VALORANT Protocol’s first mission into Omega Earth.

Killjoy is clearly intrigued by the scientific potential of Neon’s power, calling it “more than she could have hoped for”, and often wondering exactly how much power Neon can generate. KJ’s reckless hunger to study her powers has clearly caused Neon some discomfort, though the two remain friendly at all times.

Callsign: Sage (VP agent 07)

Sage showed Neon the ropes in VALORANT, and took on the earliest role of mentor and trainer for the new, youngest member of the team.

She has been keen to guide Neon since the beginning, both as an agent and a Radiant, and wants to mold her into an honorable, talented fighter. Her strategy for this appears at odds with the path Reyna believes is best for Neon, and the two veteran agents have clashed horns on the best way to help Neon.

Neon clearly admires Sage, often expressing how impressive her skills are.

Callsign: Jett (VP agent 10)

Neon and Jett share similar abilities and a similar headstrong nature, which has led them to develop something of a sisterly bond and friendly rivalry.

They’re each often heard engaging in playful banter with one another and talking up each other’s skills (though Neon clearly has no doubts which of the two is faster!).

Callsign: Reyna (VP agent 11)

Reyna has shown considerable interest in Neon ever since their mission into Omega Earth. She is so determined to help Neon unlock her full potential and cast off her “muzzle” that she flat-out demanded Neon begin training with her as well as Sage.

Reyna seems to consider Sage’s training methods too delicate, as the two senior agents of VALORANT have come to blows about who should be responsible for Neon’s development.

Given that Reyna intends to show Neon how to use her emotions, we can assume she sees Sage’s methods as little more than unhealthy repression.

Reyna can often be heard encouraging Neon to defy her limits, harness her emotions, and show the enemy that she is more than her powers. Neon, meanwhile, speaks to Reyna with a deference that makes her admiration for the ruthless Radiant crystal clear.

Callsign: Astra (VP agent 16)

Though they don't interact much, Neon and Astra are clearly on friendly terms.

Neon is often heard complimenting Astra, and expressing interest in the mysterious nature of her powers and crossing into other worlds.

Callsign: Chamber (VP agent 18)

Even though Chamber put Neon on Brimstone’s recruitment radar, he almost never interacts with her – an interesting twist, given that he is never short of things to say to others. This suggests that whatever the “misunderstandings” that caused Neon to be “less receptive” to him, were severe.

Neon’s few words for Chamber support this, as she is only ever heard warning others of Chamber’s untrustworthy nature and commanding the Frenchman to leave her out of his schemes.

Chamber once supported Reyna’s desire to remove the voltage caps on Neon’s Surge Protector, though backed down after realizing the enormous scope of her powers. This suggests Chamber might even have a healthy fear of Neon to go with his desire to stay out of her way.

Gamer’s Neon guide

VALORANT’s Duelists are best suited to aggressive gameplay. They’re here to get in first and fast – clear space. frag face, and tilt the enemy hard.

Being the fastest available agent, Neon is one of the best characters any Duelist could ask for to do exactly that. But her speed comes with a learning curve, and you’ll need to master that if you want to learn how to play Neon like a pro.

In this guide section, we’ll show you how to do just that, as we take a look at Neon’s abilities and how you can use them to absolutely dominate.

Quick-hitting advice

Before we jump into Neon’s kit in more detail, here are some key tips and tricks to show you how to play this Duelist like an absolute boss…

🎯 Practice, hard – no other agent in VALORANT moves as fast as Neon, so you’ll want to get a strong handle on the mechanics of that before hitting competitive matches.

• Be sure to get to grips with using her Ult and Relay Bolt at speed too!

🎯 Don’t be too headstrong – rushing into the lion’s den alone because you’re faster than your team is a good way to get yourself killed.

• Always keep an eye on where your closest teammates are and how they can support you.

🎯 Master the backwards slide – it’s a massive part of playing Neon like a boss and makes you a much harder-to-hit target.

• You’ll slide in whatever direction you’re holding.
• To backslide with High Gear, press S and right-click at the same time while sprinting.

🎯 ALWAYS be moving

• High Gear – Neon’s sprint – is one of her core pieces of utility. You need to get great at it if you want to become a masterful Neon main.

🎯 Always aim to upset enemy timings and expectations – it’s the best way to use literally all of Neon’s abilities.

• Neon plays best when she forces other agents to deal with unexpected timings.
• The best Relay Bolt lineups will do this by hitting enemies out of nowhere and catching them by surprise.
• If enemies don’t see or hear you, then get hit like this, you’re basically undodgeable.

🎯 Master air strafing and bunny hopping – both make you a super hard target and help you clear sites insanely fast.

• To air strafe, hold A or D and move your mouse while jumping.
• To bunny hop, jump normally, then jump again as soon as you hit the ground (bind your secondary jump key to your mouse scroll to make this easier).
• Air strafing in directions you’re not facing is a pro way to clear a site and maximize your energy use.
• Rotate while air strafing to clear more ground when you’re peeking smokes or walls – it makes clearing an area endlessly safer and swifter.

🎯 Prioritize taking space with your speed

• Neon’s speed can get you past choke points and take space like no other agent.

🎯 Be the bait

• When you’re air strafing with High Gear, you’ll be stupidly hard to hit – use that to your advantage.
• Try this: air strafe into the open to draw the enemy’s crosshair, and be ready to slide if needed – you’ll draw the enemy fire, they’ll probably miss, and your teammate(s) can get the kill if they swing behind you.

🎯 Zig-zag like lightning – always come at your enemies from side angles whenever possible, whether you’re sprinting, jumping, or sliding.

• Great Neon players know exactly how they’ll appear on enemy screens and how to make that work for them.

🎯 Tweak your settings to equip your strongest weapon after animations

• If you’re a Neon main, this will be a big help with all the sliding you’ll be doing!
• Here’s how: Settings > Equipment > set “Auto-Equip Prioritizes” to Strongest

🎯 Play Neon alongside an Initiator to really get max value out of her – she may be a powerhouse, but there’s only so much she can do on her own!

• Use Skye, Breach, or KAY/O to flash an area that Neon can push into.

Abilities

Energy

Neon’s one of a select handful of VALORANT agents to have a passive ability. Hers is Energy, which she uses to power her abilities – kind of like Viper’s fuel.

Energy replenishes in two ways:

• Gradually throughout a round.
• Instantly with every kill you get.

And it’s used by two of Neon’s abilities:

• High Gear.
• Overdrive.

It takes 10 seconds to fully drain Neon’s energy using High Gear, and 20 seconds to drain it using Overdrive.

It takes 60 seconds to fully replenish her energy from empty to full (0–100).

E - High Gear

Gain a speed boost and the ability to perform an electric slide.

• Ability type: Signature
• Max duration: 10 seconds
• Cooldown: 30 seconds
• Slide distance: 7 meters
• Slide duration: 0.6 seconds
• Cost: Free
• Max charges: 1 (recharges after 2 kills)

High Gear is a stupidly versatile ability that’ll totally change how you play Neon once you start using it right. It’s what makes her unique, faster than anyone in VALORANT, and one of the hardest-to-hit agents in the game.

Setups and use guide:
High Gear is the ability that ties Neon’s kit together – if you’re not using it in every round, you’re playing this Duelist wrong.

Even though the sheer speed of High Gear is easily what makes Neon so strong, we’ll start with some tips on using the alt-fire slide.

When you activate Neon’s sprint, she puts her weapons away. She also whips her gun out super fast if you end the ability with an electric slide.

Which is why our first tip is to always equip your primary weapon before you activate High Gear. That, or make sure your settings are configured to equip your strongest weapon after animations. The last thing you want after a killer slide is coming out with the wrong weapon in hand.

You’ll almost always want to end a High Gear sprint with this electric slide, especially if you need to take on a duel.

Since you’ll slide in whatever direction you’re holding when you right-click, Neon’s electric slide is just the trick to change your direction lightning-fast. Used right, this will make you seriously tough for your enemies to track.

Used wrong, you’ll faceplant a wall and get fragged in the back of the head. Always make sure you’re holding the right direction when you activate Neon’s slide.

Neon’s slide is best used around corners or when you’re near enemies – basically, anywhere you’ll force them to adapt their crosshair placement and upset their angles.

When it comes to the sprinting part of High Gear, our top tip is to avoid “just sprinting” wherever you can – it’s rarely useful on its own.

To get max value from this ability, you want to jump… lots.

By jumping while sprinting, you make your head a constantly moving target that enemies will have a super hard time hitting.

This High Gear sprint/jump combo is an absolute god-mode activating game-changer strat. It’ll help you clear multiple angles on a single choke point in a way that other agents simply can’t do alone. The chances of you being hit in the head (or at all) while you’re zipping across tight areas like this are next to none.

The value of this sprint/jump combo strat is genuinely outrageous – in one jump, you can gather insane info on the area ahead. If you spot enemies in that area, you can instantly slide back in and go for the kill.

Master that and you’ll soon master High Gear and start playing Neon like a pro.

Here’s a few other key tips and tricks to take into your next game:

• High Gear’s speed can boost you onto high objects and gain you tactical off-angles.
• You can outrun Seekers (Skye’s Ult) with it – just keep running and don’t try to shoot it and you’ll escape that pesky Nearsight effect.
• To conserve your speed, hold forward at all times.

Full ability description:
INSTANTLY channel Neon’s power for increased speed.

When charged, ALT FIRE to trigger an electric slide.

Slide charge resets every two kills.

Q - Relay Bolt

Fire an energy bolt that bounces once, and electrifies both surfaces it hits, causing concussion to agents in range.

• Ability type: Basic
• Stun duration: 3 seconds
• Cast time: 1.1 seconds
• Radius: 5 meters
• Debuff: Concussion for 3 seconds
• Cost: 200 creds
• Max charges: 2

Aka Neon stun, Relay Bolt is the ability that makes Neon one of VALORANT’s best Duelists on Defense, and ultra devastating when it comes to being unexpected and upsetting enemy timings.

Just be careful that you and your teammates aren’t the ones caught in the concussion blast!

Setups and use guide:
Relay Bolt can stop enemy pushes dead, which gives it some seriously epic utility. With two charges per round, you can effectively get FOUR stuns against your opponents if you use it right.

To get max value from this ability, hit up a custom game and practice nailing the bounce of the Relay Bolt. Learning how to ricochet this ability around corners is essential – it’s how you’ll take enemies by surprise and create super strong multi-angle-stun line-ups.

This line-up potential creates massive value for your team. And it makes Relay Bolt a total beast for taking sites safely.

You also need to know exactly how it’ll bounce at all times (because it always bounces once after initial contact, and it can stun you).

When you know your maps, and where players like to hide out, practice the angles to bounce the Relay Bolt off to hit those sneaky spots without being seen by enemy agents.

Practice bouncing Relay Bolt off the floor or ceiling, too – it’s another great way to take enemies by surprise!

Until you’re familiar with exactly how Neon’s stun bounces, you’ll never master this ability.

When lining up a Relay Bolt, you’re best off aiming in a straight line. These stuns have almost no vertical drop-off. They also don’t lose any momentum when they bounce.

This ability works great when used at a distance to make safe common angles before you approach them. Done right, it’ll neutralize the area ahead of your arrival so you avoid getting stunned and get plenty of time to frag any enemies you do stun with it.

Relay Bolt is a dream to combo with High Gear. Stun your enemies from afar, then sprint in for the kill – this makes for the ultimate in aggressive Duelist plays.

It’s also a strong ability to combo at the start of a round with other agents’ abilities like Omen’s Paranoia or Breach’s Flash Point for some easy picks.

Since it can stun your team though, be sure they’re all aware when and where you’re using it!

Our last pro tip for using Relay Bolt is to remember that it has a vertical effect too – you don’t have to hit an enemy agent directly. Hit underneath a surface they’re standing on, and the top will also get hit by the stun.

This works in reverse, too – aim above where you want to stun, hit a ceiling or wall and it’ll stun the floor beneath it.

Full ability description:
INSTANTLY throw an energy bolt that bounces once.

Upon hitting each surface, the bolt electrifies the ground below with a concussive blast.

C - Fast Lane

Create two walls of electricity on either side of you that extend to the next surface in front of you, blocking vision and damaging enemy agents.

• Ability type: Basic
• Duration: 6 seconds
• Cast time: 1 second
• Cost: 300 creds
• Max charges: 1

Easily Neon’s most divisive ability – you either love it or hate it. It’s basically a stronger version of Phoenix’s Blaze wall, though you can’t bend it while deploying – it’s a straight-line-only deal.

With only one Fast Lane per round, it’s best to save this ability for when you’re pushing sites.

Setups and use guide:
Fast Lane isn’t just handy for obscuring vision, this ability also makes it harder for enemies to hear you.

It’s best used to help you take space on a site, but you want to avoid using the channel it creates as an entry path – that’s predictable, and likely to give enemies easy multi-kills.

Instead, focus on creating multiple paths with it and blocking angles.

To get max value from this Neon ability, you’ll need to get creative with how you deploy it and what you do next.

Fast Lane is most effective…

• To bait, peek, and get the jump on enemies.
• When used to separate paths or block entrances.
• When it cuts away the space your enemies can hide in.
• To fool enemies into thinking you’re going one way, when you’re actually going another.

Rather than aiming Fast Lane straight into a site, try aiming it towards the side of the site instead.

If you’re aiming at a wall when you cast this ability, it’ll get blocked by the wall, but if you look next to the wall, Fast Lane will shoot right through it. You can also cast this ability over a wall by aiming above it – this is an epic way to cut off lines in sites you’re about to push.

Always exit the Fast Lane in an unpredictable way – don’t just step out, use a jump/slide, or something that helps you catch enemies off-guard and gives you an advantage in a duel.

Also, don’t forget that it does minimal damage too. This ability damage can hurt your team, so always be wary of that!

Full ability description:
FIRE two energy lines forward on the ground that extend a short distance or until they hit a surface.

The lines rise into walls of static electricity that block vision and damage enemies passing through them.

X - Overdrive

Gain a speed boost and shoot deadly lightning from your hand. Every kill with the lightning resets Overdrive’s duration timer.

• Ability type: Ultimate
• Duration: 20 seconds (energy recharges with each kill)
• Ultimate cost: 7

Damage:

• Head: 54-30
• Body: 18-10
• Legs: 15-8 (with falloff)

Overdrive is basically Neon doing her best impression of a cross between Emperor Palpatine and The Flash, or Marvel’s Quicksilver.

Setups and use guide:
Since Overdrive also activates Neon’s High Gear as a passive ability, this Ult taps into some next-level potential.

Plenty of pro players will use this fact to double-slide – they’ll activate High Gear to sprint then slide, then pop the Ult mid-slide and slide again. The distance you can cover doing this is shocking in the best of ways, especially since you’ll be throwing deadly lightning out during slide number two.

Enemy agents will have an almost impossible time tracking you through this kind of super speed, and it should net you a bunch of free picks if you do it right, as well as create some ungodly distance when pushing an enemy.

Overdrive’s damage may seem small on paper, but it can fry even full health/shield enemies in the blink of an eye, even on body shots. With headshots, the multiplier gives this ability serious insta-kill potential.

Unless your crosshair placement sucks, we’d suggest you aim for the head.

You’ll have no recoil to deal with when using this ability, though jumping while blasting out lightning with it will throw off your aim a bit.

To get max value from Neon’s Ult, combo it with abilities like High Gear and Fast Lane to get up close and personal before you fry the enemy, since it does more damage at a close range.

When you trigger this ability, do whatever you can to get a kill as that’ll recharge your Energy and extend the duration of Overdrive.

Use it right and this is a stupidly powerful Ult, easily on par with Jett’s Blade Storm. It’s also a dead-effective way to win eco rounds.

Full ability description:
Unleash Neon’s full power and speed for a short duration.

FIRE to channel the power into a deadly lightning beam with high movement accuracy.

The duration resets on each kill.