Released this June, Valorant has already gained traction and penetrated into the esports scene, attracting fans from Overwatch and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The instant hit is now introducing its first new agent, Killjoy.
Tactical team shooters have always been a staple in competitive gaming, with huge followings and high-stakes competitions. Valorant is Riot Games’ fresh take on this popular genre with so much more content to come.
Free-to-play tactical team shooter Valorant has revealed a new Agent, Killjoy. Check out her release date and abilities today.
The game splits its updates into ‘episodes’ and larger content drops called ‘acts’. Act II will begin on August 4, featuring changes to its competitive ranked mode and the addition of Killjoy. She will be the 12th agent in the game and will follow the ‘engineer’ archetype. This means that Killjoy will have several deployables in her arsenal, making her very similar to Overwatch hero, Torbjörn. Her damage inflicting abilities indicate a shift away from traditional shooting gameplay and a focus towards the tactical use of abilities.
Her first ability, Alarmbot, allows Killjoy to equip and deploy a bot to hunt down nearby enemies. The bot explodes upon approaching a target, similar to Raze’s boombot. This is perfect for information gathering without having the player to personally check corners.
Her second ability, Turret, gives her a deployable turret which automatically shoots targets within a 180-degree cone. This is the highlighted ability for most characters under the ‘engineer’ archetype in games such as Overwatch and Team Fortress 2. Turret abilities have traditionally allowed players to gain extra control over the map and deter enemies from pushing onto a site.
Her third ability, Nanoswarm, is a grenade that doesn’t initially explode on impact. Instead, it camouflages itself and can be re-activated to deal damage over an area. This ability is an interesting twist on the classic grenade utility, giving players an additional level of control and the element of surprise.
Last but not least, her ultimate ability Lockdown has got to be one of the most high-risk, high-reward ultimate abilities in the game. After deploying the Lockdown device, Killjoy can detain all enemies within its huge radius. The only downside is the long time it takes to deploy and the fact that it can be destroyed.
Killjoy will become the perfect fit for teams with a weak defense line-up. The slow and calculated nature of her abilities gives her an overwhelming advantage on the defense, allowing her to potentially hold a site alone. Overall, she is balanced and a welcomed addition to Valorant’s pool of agents.
Killjoy joins Valorant on August 4th. Find out more here.
