Valorant is a game all about strategy, much more than almost any other shooting game in the world. Players have to get used to the important abilities and methods used to obtain success, or they won’t be able to keep up even with solid shooting ability at the higher levels of the game.
The duelist is the simplest role to fulfill for a team, and there are a lot of duelist characters to try out if players think it’s a role they might enjoy. Duelists are all about going for the big kill counts, and they have abilities to help them achieve these ends. They’re expected to go in first for the team and take control of sites after other players clear the way for them and hold back slightly more.
6 Neon
Neon is the most recently introduced of the duelist roster in Valorant and while she has proven to be a fan favorite for her speedy play and fun personality, she has been lowered more recently and is considered something of a beginner-level agent. From her unusual wall which is difficult to use in high-level play to her ult ability which is hugely dangerous against many opponents but again will be severely hindered against professional or highly ranked opposition.
Neon is able to move around the map incredibly fast due to her running ability, and her sliding and concussion bolts are all very fun abilities to try out, but she is naturally an agent that is better for having some fun in lower-ranked games and unrated. If players are looking for a duelist that can do everything required for their team under the current meta, there are others that players might want to try learning over Neon.
5 Yoru
Yoru is an agent whose abilities take a great deal of mastery, and there is much more so than other duelists an incredibly high level of skill and thought that can be put into strategy using his teleporting system and his blinds. Yoru was previously one of the very best duelists in the game, but due to other agents being improved and Yoru being somewhat nerfed over time he has become less desirable as an agent choice.
There are a number of ways that players can still use Yoru for getting in on sites and confusing enemies with his abilities. However, most of the tricks he has have been limited by the current meta, and, again, at high levels of play it can be tricky to find ways to use him that smart enemy players won’t already have seen hundreds of times. As such, it is easy to pull off impressive tricks with Yoru and his abilities to get onto a site himself, but he isn’t particularly helpful for getting a team onto the site with him, and so he becomes a lone wolf. The problem with this is that most players won’t be able to take on all enemy opposition they run into as Yoru by themselves and will be outnumbered and beaten, leaving their team high and dry.
4 Reyna
Another case of a duelist who is very strong but often leaves their team high and dry is Reyna. Her abilities are completely about self-sufficiency, and therefore she is possibly the worst out of every agent in Valorant for being a team player. Reyna's mains will often get the highest number of kills in a match, but won’t be able to do much to assist the team in any way. On attack, she will be an ideal choice to lead the team but besides her blinds, there isn’t much she can do to help the team besides getting the kills.
She isn’t a particularly great agent for high-level games either, but her abilities make it easy to get to grips with other parts of the game for players just starting out. Unfortunately, losing her self-healing ability which almost no other agents have when players try to move on to other agents to learn can be quite a shock to the system. However, a player that is hugely competent at picking up kills as Reyna can still play her at higher levels and make all the difference for their team, it will just leave their team at a slight tactical disadvantage due to her lack of helpful abilities.
3 Phoenix
One of the earliest agents introduced at the very beginning of Valorant, Phoenix is an agent with the cockiness expected of duelists. A British character with a lot of swagger in his personality, Phoenix may not be the best duelist of them all, but he has a solid mixture of abilities that make it easy to get onto sites and hold enemies off at a site while bringing his team along for the ride. The biggest talents of Phoenix are that he has the self-healing level of Reyna while also bringing the blinds and damaging abilities that can work against enemies while healing Phoenix himself.
There is a lack of healing available usually in Valorant, as there will usually be one healer on a team, but their capabilities are limited. Phoenix is able to heal himself, scout out sites with his ultimate ability, and blind or trap opponents in corners to help gain control of sites for his team. Phoenix is the first duelist on this list who really puts together the full package of what a duelist is meant to do for their team without lacking any of the self-sufficiency that someone like Reyna brings to the table. Reyna sacrifices other abilities in this case whereas Phoenix simply has more range available.
2 Jett
Jett has almost always been considered one of the best agents in Valorant, due to her completely unique style and capabilities. Jett can jump higher, sprint forward faster and more suddenly, and hit deadly shots with more accuracy, than almost any agent. She is the complete package for getting in at the enemy, making them panic and lose track of where she is, and she can get above them and find sneaky spots to lie in wait that enemies won’t think to check.
Not only this, Jett has her cloudbursts for sudden smoke cover, and mixing this with her other abilities, going for higher skill level moves, can make it completely impossible for enemies to keep track of her location. If they can’t see her, then they can’t shoot her. This mixture of abilities makes Jett a much better agent for helping bring the team along with her to a site while on the attack. She is also a better-suited agent for defense because of her hiding abilities and the sudden moves she can make to force the opposition to hesitate on the attack.
1 Raze
However, with recent changes to Jett lowering her skill level, she is no longer the best of the duelists in the game. Raze, a Brazilian agent who loves explosives is one of the most steadily rising agents around and is now quite possibly the best of the duelist crop. From her high-skill floor with the blast packs, which allow immediate entry on a site in a devastating fashion, to the ult bazooka which can completely demolish a corner or tight space filled with enemies, and the devastating grenade which can similarly decimate an area, there is no end to the ways that Raze can clear a path for her teammates.
It can be difficult to get to grips with the high-skill moves of Raze, but even a beginner Valorant player will be able to pull out some great shots with her explosive abilities to devastate enemy teams. An early smart move to learn is to use a blast pack to get up higher before firing the ultimate ability shot since this allows the blast to move across the floor and increase the damage radius. Raze also has a Boombot which, when aimed properly, can also clear out areas for her team and tell teammates exactly where on the site enemies are located. Everything about Raze screams duelist that can help the team, and look good while doing it.
Valorant is available on PC