Valorant’s Best Advanced Agents for Every Role

Valorant’s Best Advanced Agents for Every Role

As Valorant players rank up and improve their play, they will understandably want to take it to the next level with their agent selections in each role as well. With 18 agents available currently, finding an agent that matches a player’s skill level can be tricky. We’ve put together a list of Valorant’s best advanced agents for every role to help with this.

We will cover the four roles in Valorant (Duelist, Sentinel, Controller, Initiator) below. We’ve chosen the best-advanced agent in each role and outlined what makes that agent’s kit so strong at high-level play, as well as tips for mastering each agent for players that want to rank up. 

Valorant Agent Jett
Valorant Agent Jett is an Advanced Duelist

Duelist: Jett 

While Jett may have a rather simple kit of abilities and can be an easy duelist to pick up, her skill ceiling is extremely high, making her a staple pick at high-level gameplay. Jett’s kit focuses on pure aggression from the player, with most of Jett’s abilities being movement abilities. This makes her perfectly suited to the task of site entry and seeking out duels. 

  • Jett has a smoke ability called Cloudburst, which helps block off sightlines when entering a site. These smokes can be curved around corners and used as one-way smokes. 
  • One of Jett’s two-movement abilities, Updraft, is a burst of speed in an upward motion. Jett has two Updrafts available that can be chained together to get high above the map for a birdseye view, a skill many pro players learn before using their ultimate in order to know where to dash in for a kill. 
  • Jett’s other movement ability is called Tailwind. She can dash in a forward, sideways, or backward direction, and the ability recharges after 2 kills.
  • Jett’s ultimate, Bladestorm, throws knives that are highly accurate and recharge on a kill. 

Jett’s entire kit centers around movement, from getting easily to high ground to evasive maneuvers that can turn a sticky situation around in her favor.  

Valorant Agent Killjoy
Valorant Agent Killjoy is an Advanced Sentinel

Sentinel: Killjoy 

Killjoy is known for her ability to stall out a site by herself, giving her team time to rotate. She can combo her own abilities together or even combo them with other players, making her kit versatile and strong. Players choosing Killjoy can also gather information on the enemy team through an alarm ability and her turret.  

  • Killjoy has a molly ability called Nanoswarm, which are grenades that deal a lot of damage in a circular area. These can be hidden in some areas, such as behind boxes, on ledges, and more. They are also powerful when combined with the Alarmbot or other agent’s abilities that cause Vulnerable to be applied.
  • Her Alarmbot is a small bot that is invisible to the enemy until they get close. When Killjoy is in radius, this bot charges at the enemy when they approach it, although if noticed in time, the bot can be shot. If the bot is not killed, it applies Vulnerable for a period of time, so it is really strong when combined with Turret and Nanoswarm. If Killjoy is not near the bot, it won’t be set off when an enemy approaches, but it can still provide valuable information on where the enemy is located if they shoot the bot. 
  • Killjoy’s Turret is exceptionally strong on the pistol and economy rounds. The Turret also allows Killjoy to gather information on where the enemy is without peeking, and she can swing out when the turret is shooting to quickly burst down the enemy. 
  • Lockdown is Killjoy’s ultimate ability which disables all enemies in the radius when it goes off after a countdown. Enemies that are detained in the lockdown cannot shoot back or use their abilities. The Lockdown can be destroyed, so skilled Killjoy players will learn key locations on each map for each site where Lockdown reaches the maximum area and is harder for the enemy to destroy. Lockdown is a great option for site retake or post-plant.

Sentinels are skilled at holding and defending sites until their team can rotate and typically have a utility that can help retake a site. Killjoy can quickly and skillfully hold down a site and clutch out rounds. High-level Killjoy players will spend time learning molly lineups for Nanoswarm, as well as key locations for Lockdown and Alarmbot. 

Valorant Agent Astra
Valorant Agent Astra is an Advanced Controller

Controller: Astra 

Astra has become a must-pick at the highest tier of play. With 5 stars that can be placed anywhere on the map and used as multiple different types of abilities, she is currently considered overpowered. Stars can even be pulled back for shorter “fake” smokes that can be used to cross open areas without wasting an ability. 

  • Astra’s Gravity Well pulls anyone near the star into the center, holding them in place for a period of time. This does include friendly agents, with some high-level players using Gravity Well to help other teammates get to unique spots on the map. 
  • Nova Pulse is a concussion blast that stuns the enemy (and of course, teammates) for a period of time. This use of a star can be combined with other agent abilities such as molly abilities or one-shot abilities. 
  • Astra’s Nebula is her main use for her stars. This smoke ability lasts a long time, and the slots recharge over time. Another powerful use of Astra’s stars is a “fake” Nebula, created by recalling a star. The star will create a slightly smaller smoke for a shorter period of time, but allow the enemy to think Astra is engaging at one site while being somewhere else entirely. 
  • Her ultimate, Cosmic Divide, blocks bullets and drastically blocks sound. This ability cuts across the entire map from two connecting points, and is huge for controlling a point post-plant or on retake.

Helping the team control a site, denying the enemy information, and allowing your team to reposition or have the advantage is what makes playing a Controller like Astra so strong. Players should take the time to learn key smoke positions and strategies for Astra. 

Valorant Agent Sova
Valorant Agent Sova is an Advanced Initator

Initiator: Sova 

Recon Bolt has made Sova a must-pick among pros and top-rank players for a long time and through many metas. Sova’s ability to give the team crucial information is what makes him such a strong agent. 

  • Sova’s Owl Drone is a recon ability. Sova will need to position somewhere safe, with a teammate to watch his back if possible, and his vision will enter the drone as it flies. If the drone spots an enemy, Sova can fire a dart at the enemy to reveal them to teammates.
  • The Shock Bolt does damage in an area where fired, and the bolt can also be bounced. Skilled Sova players will know common locations where the enemy will stand while waiting to enter a site or common spike plant locations and learn lineups to get Shock Bolt onto those locations from many areas of the map. 
  • Sova’s Recon bolt is one of his most valuable utilities. This bolt reveals the enemy in an area and often gets ignored by the enemy team instead of being destroyed. This ability recharges over time, so Sova can use this bolt during crucial fights. 
  • Sova’s ultimate Hunter’s Fury does a massive amount of damage. Three arrows shoot out in a direction, and anyone caught in the path will take a considerable amount of damage. Good Sova players will use this ultimate in a combination of tight spaces, when the enemy is planting the spike, or combo it with the Recon Bolt. This ultimate can also be combined with other agents’ abilities that cause the Vulnerable condition to be applied for maximum damage.  

Learning lineups is crucial to playing Sova at high levels of play, as his bolts can bounce across the map in interesting and replicable ways. Many Sova players have produced guides that show unique lineups for every point of every map. 

Advanced Agents Take Advanced Skill

With higher-level gameplay comes a higher skill level, so players attempting to climb the ranked ladder in Valorant should take the time to learn lineups, key locations for abilities, and exactly how their agent can be of the best use to the team. Be sure to check out our guide for Valorant’s Best Beginner Agents for Every Role!



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About Ghost

Ghost's passion for first person shooters dates back to the early days of Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike: Source and America's Army. He has played professionally as well as casually in a collection of FPS titles and still makes plenty of time to keep current in CS:GO, Overwatch and, of course, Valorant.

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