Valorant Agent Tier List – Best Characters to Use

After two years of its release, Valorant is probably one of the best tactical shooters that we have in the market today. Not only does it have a huge fan following in the world, but it also boasts of an active professional circuit as well. Truth be told, this game can be considered as a hybrid between Counter Strike Global Offensive and Overwatch. Each and every Agent in the game possesses unique abilities.

While a major part of this game depends on how well you can aim and shoot with your gun, a lot of it also depends on how well you can use an Agent’s abilities in the game. With that said, not all Agents are equally powerful. Some of them are all-rounders, while some are very situational. That said, here’s a list of Agents in the game based on their strengths and abilities in the game.

Ranking All the Valorant Agents

S Tier

Sova

Sova is the first initiator to have joined the Valorant Protocol. Hailing from Siberia, it’s very difficult to avoid his arrows. Despite being nerfed when Fade went live in the game, Sova’s Recon Bolt is probably the best intel gathering ability. And if you’re caught up in a difficult corner, Sova’s Owl Drone can help you get out of it without much difficulty. And as he loves to say, “A bow and arrow are old fashioned, but sometimes old ways are the best.” His abilities however are line-up dependent. While he’s rather easy to use, you might have some difficulty going about the line-ups for each and every match.

Fade

Intel, as you know it, is the name of the game. While Sova might have to hang back and play because his abilities are line-up dependent, the same doesn’t hold true for Fade. Despite being an Initiator, her abilities allow her to push into sites with ease. Moreover, her abilities are based on the element of fear, so if you’re caught by her abilities, not only will you be marked for a brief period of time, some of them will even distort your vision and impair your hearing, making you an easy target.

Raze

Raze is this high on the tier list for completely different reasons than Sage. Sage is an excellent support, while Raze’s abilities make her one of the most capable fraggers in the whole game. Her cluster grenade deals a ridiculous amount of damage in a very wide radius, and her boom bot can flush an enemy out and force them to move and reveal their position for your team. A well-placed blast pack can also stop an enemy push and snag a quick kill on an unsuspecting foe. Her ultimate is practically a free kill, firing a rocket that hits way harder than anything else in her arsenal. If an enemy is camping in a corner, Raze can easily shut them down.

Reyna

Reyna is capable of breaking the enemy defenses almost single-handedly. Not only can she storm into sites, but her signature ability also allows her to steal vision and bag some free kills while doing it. Although she can’t heal her allies, she can effectively heal herself by consuming the soul of her fallen enemies. You might have some difficulty learning how to use her abilities effectively, but once you’ve gotten a hang of it, you’ll be dominating the battlefield in no time.

A Tier

Viper

If there’s a Viper on the enemy team, you better be careful. Although her abilities are line-up dependent, she can block off sites and even damage the enemy without even firing a single bullet. Moreover, her abilities add certain debuffs to the enemy if they come under their influence, making them absolutely vulnerable to gunfire. Although the debuffs dissipate after a short duration, the time for which they’re active is enough for you to send the enemy packing.

Yoru

Yoru is probably the only Agent on this list who was absolutely underwhelming at launch. Despite having a well-designed ability kit, they weren’t strong enough. However, after a rework, Yoru has turned out to be the killing machine he was initially designed to be. Other than Chamber, he’s the only Agent who can teleport around the map. He’s absolutely perfect when it comes to getting a jump on the enemy. Moreover, he’s a Duelist, true, but his ultimate ability allows him to gather intel on any site and neutralize it, especially in post plant scenarios.

Sage 

Sage is arguably the best Agent on the entire Valorant roster. Barring Skye, she’s the only one that can heal her teammates. Despite being hit by quite some nerfs, her abilities are the primary reason why she hasn’t been pushed down to a C or a D tier. Her slow orb and barrier orb can effectively hold off enemies as they push into sites. Moreover, being the only Agent that can resurrect an ally, a Sage on any team can often be the wild card and change the course of the match.

Brimstone

Brimstone is an offensive agent with a handful of support abilities. He’s one of the most well-rounded agents on the roster, and every one of his abilities is useful. His incendiary grenade deals heavy damage and can control choke points and shut down pushes. Sky smoke denies vision to the enemy team, which can provide allies with an easy push or plant. It can also be used as a diversion, making enemies think you’re about to push from somewhere else. The stim beacon increases the fire rate of all nearby allies, providing an appreciated edge during firefights. Finally, his ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game, and anyone caught in the orbital strike’s radius when it goes off is pretty much dead.

Cypher

If you love lurking even in tactical shooters, Cypher should be your go-to guy. This Agent from Morocco knows everything about every single Agent in Valorant Protocol. You can run, but you can never hide from his gaze. Cypher is an Agent who can lock down any site all by himself. Yes you’ll have to be slightly skilled with the trigger to hold the line, but you can still deny the enemy vision and provide your team with the intel about a particular site without even being present there.

Jett

Jett might not be as strong as some of the other frag-focused agents in the game, but she can still make some impressive plays and clutch out rounds with her mobility options. Her cloudburst ability is essentially the same as Brimstone’s sky smoke, denying vision for both teams to set up flanks or other plays. The main draws to playing Jett are her updraft and tailwind abilities, which allow her to jump high into the air or immediately dash short distances. These skills allow Jett to reach places normal agents cannot, and her quick dashes can catch unsuspecting enemies off guard. When combined with her ultimate, which arms her with hyper-accurate throwing knives, Jett can clear an entire point pretty much by herself if you can aim well enough.

Killjoy

Wars are won by geniuses and Killjoy is a self-proclaimed genius. She’s designed most of the gadgets used by members of the Valorant Protocol, including a full-fledged robot (yes we’re talking about KAY/O). Her ability set includes grenades that can be remotely detonated and an automatic turret, which fires the moment it spots enemies. The only downside is that Killjoy will have to be within a certain radius for the Turret to remain activated. Other than that, not only can she lock down sites with her entire ability set, she can even damage the enemies even without being present in the heat of the action. And if you’re caught in her ultimate, you might not make it out of the fight at all.

B Tier

Breach

Breach is the perfect pick for any aggressive Valorant player. All of his abilities make him the perfect entry fragger, and he should be at the front of any push. All of his abilities pass through walls, allowing him to force enemies to move and put pressure on any enemies waiting for an ambush. Each of his abilities either blinds or stuns whoever it hits, so it can basically guarantee a kill if you manage to land one. A good Breach player should lead the push for their team and use their abilities to disorient enemies and open up kill opportunities for the team.

Omen

Omen’s abilities are some of the weakest in the game, but he packs a powerful ultimate to make up for it. Like many of Valorant’s agents, Omen has a vision denying orb called dark cover that can be thrown a certain distance away. His paranoia ability is best paired with push, as it hinders the vision of anyone it touches. He can teleport using his shadow walk ability, but the startup time makes it impractical unless you’re trying to get on top of boxes or reach a vantage point. His ultimate ability, however, allows him to teleport anywhere on the map, which can be incredibly useful for flanking or quickly taking the spike to another bomb site.

Skye

Skye is a very unique agent. She’s the only one who can heal her allies but not herself. She calls upon the powers of anima spirits to help her conquer the battlefield. Although she’s an initiator, her intel gathering abilities are somewhat restricted. She can concuss the enemy so that’s a plus. Truth be told, she has one of the steepest learning curves in Valorant, but those who’ve been able to master this Agent can often change the course of a match in the wink of an eye.

Neon

This Filipino Duelist is known for her speed. She zooms into fights charged with electricity and looks to decimate her enemies in a flash. She has an ability set offers a high risk high reward playstyle. Truth be told, the fact that she can zoom into a fight often means that she can get a jump on her enemies, catching them by surprise. That can often yield some free kills. However, if the enemy is prepared for her and she rushes in blindly, she can be killed without being allowed to fire a single bullet. That’s the only reason why she’s being classified as a B-Tier Agent on this list.

C Tier

Chamber

At a point of time, Chamber was dominating the meta because of his strong map presence. Not only did his traps slow down enemies, but he could also teleport around the map pretty quickly. However, the community was really annoyed with the fact that he was extremely overpowered. Chamber was recently hit with some really heavy nerfs. He still is a decent Agent in the right hands, but for casual gamers, Chamber isn’t as powerful as he used to be a few months ago.

Harbor

Coming all the way from India, this antique expert is the latest Agent to join the Valorant Protocol. He’s got a very interesting skillset if we’re being honest. However, they’re slightly underwhelming. This individual can control water and mold it into some really uncanny shapes on the battlefield. But then again, the learning curve is very steep and there are Agents on this list with similar abilities which function better. Although Harbor did receive a slight buff in a recent update, but it wasn’t enough to secure him a higher spot on this list.

Astra

In the right hands, Astra is probably a deadly Agent that you will come across in Valorant. When she went live in the game, she was arguably the strongest Controller in the game. Her ability kit is quite interesting as well. from being able to smoke sites to dropping concussion bombs, to an ultimate ability which blocks sounds and bullets, Astra was one of the Agents in the meta for quite some time. However, she was hit with a lot of nerfs and isn’t as powerful as she was before. She’s pretty vulnerable as well, and she comes with a steep learning curve as well. All these factors combined have pushed Astra down on this list.

D Tier

Phoenix

The flamboyant British duelist is the only Agent in this tier on this list. During the initial days of the game, Phoenix was probably one of the best Agents that you could get your hands on. However, as the days have gone by, Riot Games has added other Agents who are considerably better at the game. His ability kit is very monotonous, and his ultimate ability isn’t that great enough. While using Phoenix, if you’re not careful while deploying your ultimate, the enemy might just kill you the moment you respawn.

KAY/O

The only robot on this list, KAY/O was one of the deadliest Agents in Valorant at one point of time. However, he’s been hit by nerf after nerf without remorse. His ability kit does make him an Agent that can gather intel and ambush the enemy quite easily, but he can be quite difficult to play with. Moreover, even if someone can execute his abilities properly, they aren’t as powerful as they used to be at a point in time making him one of the weakest agents in Valorant.

That concludes our Valorant Agent tier list. You can customize your crosshairs in the game, so here’s how you can get the flower crosshair in the game. Check out our guides page for more guides on Valorant.

VALORANT is available on PC.