The initiator role in VALORANT might be confusing to some, because while the name suggests that you’re supposed to initiate the fight which, let’s face it, more often than not means that you run in guns blazing doing your best Sylvester Stallone impression, that’s not quite how the role plays out in the game. Instead, you’ll often find yourself sitting back a bit more, but using your utility to start a fight and, with a bit of luck, quickly end it as well.
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Using utility to initiate
First off, we have to talk about the agents that belong to this category. Currently there are four agents that Riot has classified as Initiator: Sova, Breach, Skye and KAY/O. When looking at these agents, one thing immediately springs to mind: they do initiate the fights, but they usually do this by using their utility. Breach, Skye and KAY/O are all equipped with powerful flashes, which can be used to completely blind the opponent. Skye, Sova and KAY/O are also capable of scouting out the enemy.
That’s really the name of the game here: gaining information. All these agents, with the exception of Breach, are invaluable when it comes to getting your teammates to understand where the danger will lurk. Sova with his Owl Drone and his Recon Dart can easily scan enemies and reveal them for the rest of the team to take out, even through smokes. Skye can either scout for herself with her dog, or use her birds to flash an area. Given that she yells out “Blinded!” if she manages to hit an enemy, this is often used as a scouting tool. Even KAY/O with his knife can throw it at an area and instantly reveal how many people are within a given area.
This sounds like Breach is useless, but this isn’t completely true. While the agent might not be considered a very useful pick, his initiation tools are amazing, as he can completely disrupt an enemy team. If you are playing on a map where disruption is key, picking the Swedish Giant might be the difference between victory and defeat.
Why Skye dominates the meta right now
However, if you’re going to be playing an initiator, let it be Skye. The Australian agent’s utility is beyond anything that the other initiators have to offer now, you can gain an incredible amount of information, you can heal, you can flash your teammates (or yourself) into bombsites or outside of sticky situations, in essence she is the perfect agent that compliments every possible lineup you could think of.
The optimal playstyle for an Initiator is similar to a Controller, in that they mostly play for the team. They will run into a site with everyone else, but definitely won’t be the first one in. Instead, through their utility, they will try to inconvenience the opponent and allow the duelists to get easy pickings. This is done through either revealing the opponent, blinding them, or making them unable to use counter utility with KAY/O’s knife. And if you excel at this role, the game can be just as rewarding as playing a duelist.
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