The top five hardest agents to play in Valorant

Many of the agents in Valorant are easy to pick up and play, but the hardest can take dozens of games to get a handle on.

As soon as one hops into a Valorant game, there are plenty of agents to pick from catering to players of different skill levels. The game is already arduous as players must refine their aim and maximize their kit. But for those seeking to push their skills to the limit, several agents can keep them on the edge of their seats.

Out of all agents available in Valorant, the five on this list are known to be the most intricate and hardest to play effectively. Mastering each one is a lengthy process. Keep an eye on them because these agents are considered to have a high skill floor and ceiling or simply require tons of game sense to really shine.

The hardest agents to learn in Valorant

Viper

Viper’s skills are pretty straightforward. She has three smokes of different sizes and shapes plus a molly. But don’t let that fool anyone into thinking she’s an easy agent to play. Mastering Viper takes a good amount of game sense, map knowledge, and a massive list of lineups per map.

The challenge with Viper’s abilities lies in their placement and timing. As a chemist, Viper uses toxin to fuel her skills, and activating her Poison Cloud (Q) and Toxic Screen (E) depletes this resource. But with the continuous nerfs aimed at toning down her power in pro play, it is getting harder and harder to manage her passive. With this in mind, it’s important to know when and when not to activate her smokes. This prevents her from wasting fuel, considering that it now depletes quicker and regenerates slower than before.

It’s also worth mentioning that poor placement and timing of her smokes can leave allies exposed to vulnerable angles. bas smokes can even allow enemies to exploit them to their advantage. A great Viper player must be able to memorize smoke lineups for every site and map. Not only does it allow the player to place the smoke accurately, but it also helps them position the smoke from a much safer spot.

Sova

Sova is among the free and unlocked agents that newcomers can easily choose for their first game. While it’s not overly difficult for a beginner to get a hang of his abilities, it takes hundreds of hours of matches, custom games, and perhaps even research on YouTube or TikTok to actually get good at using the Russian hunter.

With his bow, arrow, and drone, Sova excels at gathering intel, revealing enemy positions, and punishing them when caught. However, it is important to note that he has a high skill ceiling. Simply throwing a single bounce arrow as Sova may be effective, but there are better ways that a player can maximize his kit. With the right lineups, Sova’s dart can reach hard-to-spot places and scan as many areas as possible. This is especially tough on segmented maps like Split. Additionally, this makes it easier to hit enemies with Sova’s ultimate, Hunter’s Fury, which players quickly learn is a tough thing to do.

Astra

Astra is a controller agent boasting a strong set of skills that are useful during executes, on defense, and during post-plant situations. She has area denial abilities that either stun an entire group of enemies or round them up together. Moreover, she can use her stars to block off vision or deceive enemies. The Ghanaian agent brings a lot to the table, so why does she have such a ridiculously low pick rate?

According to Tracker.gg, Astra has the lowest pick rate of 0.5% in Valorant across all ranks and regions in Competitive mode. A low pick rate doesn’t necessarily indicate weakness. Many players shy away from choosing this agent because mastering Astra requires a significant investment of time and effort to truly excel.

Players who try Astra for the first time often feel overwhelmed, and this feeling may persist even after hours of play. Astra can use her stars to either smoke or disorient opponents, which seems easy at first glance. However, there are many complexities involved when using Astra.

Her maximum number of stars dropped from five to four after getting hit by a massive nerf during 4.04. This goes to say that players need to be more resourceful and must think twice before using her stars. Apart from that, one also needs to learn how to accurately and quickly place her stars, especially in fast-paced rounds. Additionally, the player must also be aware of her surroundings while doing so as she won’t be able to see if there’s any nearby threat during astral form. If that’s not enough, Astra’s Cosmic Divide (X) has many uses both in attacking and defending, however not everyone knows how to play around it.

The problem ultimately lies with communication. Astra’s abilities can instantly help the team, even from the other side of the map, thanks to her global abilities. However, this also highlights the need for strong communication within the team to coordinate ability timings effectively. For instance, pairing Astra’s Gravity Well (C) and Nova Pulse (Q) with a Raze player can synergize well. However, effective communication is often lacking in Valorant matches, making Astra more effective in a coordinated five-stack team rather than solo queue.

Yoru

Similar to Astra, Yoru also struggles with an incredibly low pick rate largely due to his complexity. In fact, Yoru may be the absolute hardest agent to master in Valorant. Relative to other agent, it is much more complicated to gain value using Yoru.

When using the Japanese riftwalker, one needs aim, skill, proper timing, unpredictability, and maybe bring some luck too!

Yoru’s abilities are all about deceit and outwitting the enemies. He can blind them, and leave them guessing where he will be shooting from next, or if the one they’re trying to kill is the real one. With Yoru, there are plenty of big brain tricks and gimmicks that can be pulled off, and those actually require practice.

A player can try the flash and TP combo. Blindside (Q) renders the enemies blind and his teleport ability Gatecrash (E) enables him to either close the gap or reach unexpected places before tapping their heads. It may sound simple, but its effectiveness hinges on whether opponents lack knowledge of how Yoru’s abilities work or their inability to predict the player’s next move. Deceiving lower-ranked players might be easier, but this challenge increases significantly in higher skill tiers.

With that said, mastering Yoru does not happen overnight. After all, players must be able to muster all confidence and courage they need to pull off these tricks.

Raze

Thanks to her blunt-force-trauma playstyle, Raze ranks among the best duelists in the game, evident in both competitive and pro scenes.

She boasts explosive grenades and a drone to significantly damage enemies or flush them out. By using these, she may even score a kill or two from it, making her an actual menace. But unlike Jett and Reyna, she scares off other players from using her because mastering her movement and double satchel mechanic is rather complex.

It takes a skilled player with excellent mechanical skill to excel as the chaotic agent from Brazil. Unlike Jett’s updraft and dash, mastering Raze’s Blast Packs isn’t straightforward. Pro players like Wang “Jinggg” Jie may make it seem effortless due to their smooth movement, but mastering her double satchel mechanic requires dedication and practice. With the recent nerfs in patch 8.11 that toned down her satchel mobility, playing her, whether as a beginner or an experienced player, has also become more challenging than ever.