Valorant Best Agents For Beginners – Top 7

Valorant is no longer the game it was at the launch with only eight agents, as the roster has expanded more than threefold, beckoning the question as to which Valorant agent is the best for beginners. With the release of Deadlock in Episode 7 (Evolution), Act 1, the Valorant agent roster currently sits at 22 agents, with 5 Controllers, 6 Duelists, 5 Sentinels, and 6 Initiators. So, if you’re a new player looking to get into any of these roles, we’ve got you covered!

Best Controllers for Beginners

Brimstone, Astra, and Viper are the best Controllers for beginners. The Controller role is perhaps the most filled-in role in competitive Valorant, so you should ideally grasp the basics of these agents before queueing up Ranked.

Brimstone (Bind, Ascent, Fracture, Lotus)

Brimstone’s Sky Smokes can be put down very easily and precisely, allowing you to fully cover choke points whilst giving enemies little to no room to play around them. You can further stall the enemy by mostly eye-balling his Incendiary toward choke points. 

Furthermore, his Stim Beacon is amazing for rushing through choke points with your team as well as making a break for a fast rotation as soon as your “Rush B” plan goes south. Lastly, his ultimate ability, Orbital Strike, is a great way to not only deny map control of power positions but also force enemies off the Spike in post-plant situations.

Astra (Haven, Split, Pearl)

Astra is a very comfy Controller to play on large maps where Brimstone is forced to reposition to smoking areas outside of the range of his Tactical Map. With Astra, simply go to your nearest piece of cover, enter Astral Form, and start placing Stars! 

As long as there is some form of communication in the game, you can greatly assist your team by honing in on enemy agents with her Gravity Well (pulls enemies whilst making them Vulnerable) and Nova Pulse (inflicts Concussion). Lastly, you can use her ultimate ability, Cosmic Divide, to split bomb sites in half for easier rushes with additional cover.

Viper (Icebox, Breeze)

Icebox and Breeze are two maps with unusually more site lines that can not be effectively covered even with Brimstone’s three smokes, making Viper very relevant for her Toxic Screen. You can also cut off additional sightlines with her Smoke Cloud, although it is difficult to eyeball perfectly and does require some line-up learning.

However, since you’ll already be learning line-ups for her Smoke Cloud, you can go the extra mile by learning line-ups for her Snake Bite for easy post-plant victories. Lastly, her ultimate ability, Viper’s Pit, is great for locking down sites (both on defense and offense), especially when paired with a shotgun due to the Nearsighted and Decay debuff.

Best Duelists for Beginners

Reyna and Phoenix are the best Duelists for beginners. Duelists are hyper-carry agents who rely on their team’s utility to assist them in fights, as they usually make first contact with the enemy.

Reyna (Any Map)

Beginners at Valorant often can’t avoid getting traded or drawing out long fights due to poor positioning, crosshair placement, and recoil control, making Reyna very beginner-friendly. Her Devour allows you to heal up considerably after an arduous fight while her Dismiss prevents any trades from coming through.

While Reyna does not have much utility to master for entering sites, that does make her relatively simple to play – throwing a Leer or two into a site for Nearsights and rushing with your team usually does the trick. Lastly, her Empress form is a great clutching ability that can win out 1-versus-x situations with fast healing, easy repositioning, and enhanced fire rate.

Phoenix (Any Map Except Breeze and Split)

Phoenix is another easy Duelist to play, although his kit focuses less on self-preservation and more on aggression. While you can heal by standing in the area of his Hot Hands or the wall of his Blaze, you can also force repositions and deny sightlines with them, albeit temporarily. 

Curveball is a very easy flash to administer and is best used around corners before peeking – just make sure it doesn’t bounce off the corner, and you’ll be free from the curse of team flashing! Lastly, his ultimate ability, Run It Back, is amazing for creating space and soaking up enemy utility, allowing you to take fights with utmost confidence.

Best Initiator for Beginners

Skye and Gekko are the best Initiators for beginners. Initiators are tasked with assisting entry-fragging Duelists on attack and gathering information to predict enemy pushes on defense.

Skye (Any Map)

Skye is a great all-in-one Initiator that can heal with her Regrowth, gather information with her Trailblazer, and flash enemies with her Guiding Light. The best part is that you can control her flashes, and even if you aren’t that confident with your flashes at the start, you can always use them to collect intel.

Her ultimate ability, Seekers, is very easy to get value out of since it gets the job done itself after activation. Simply use it to create diversions or gather mass intel on enemy positions in situations where your team is info-starved.

Gekko (Split, Pearl, Icebox, Fracture, and Ascent)

Gekko’s flash, Dizzy, can not be dodged and, thus, can easily be thrown in the direction of the enemy or anywhere where intel is needed. Moreover, Mosh Pit is a very powerful molly that, although it lasts for a few seconds, can force sightline repositions, even in post-plant situations.

Wingman is great for planting the Spike without taking as much space and even better for defusing as it allows one more agent to defend the defuse. Lastly, his ultimate ability, Thrash, is amazing for collecting information (especially if recalled since it can be reused) and clutching up 1-versus-1 situations if you are extremely low on HP.

Best Sentinels for Beginners

Sage and Killjoy are the best Sentinels for beginners. Sentinels are responsible for holding down sites by stalling enemy pushes at choke points, both when they try to take the site to plant the Spike and when they try to defuse it.

Sage (Any Map Except Breeze)

Sage is one of the easiest agents to play well with. Her Barrier Orb is a one-of-a-kind wall that can stall by denying space and extorting information. She can further stall with her Slow Orb that, if timed correctly, can even cut off entry-fragging Duelists like Jett, Raze, and Yoru from the rest of their team.

On top of nursing teammates back to full health with her Healing Orb (not so incentivized towards healing herself), she is the only agent that can resurrect fallen agents with her ultimate ability, Resurrection.

Killjoy (Any Map Except Icebox)

Killjoy is great for anchoring sites with her utility and taking sites with her ultimate, Lockdown. She can gather info with her Alarmbot (in a small range whilst also inflicting Vulnerable) and Turret (in a wide range whilst doing chip damage), allowing her to defend sites quite well alongside holding flanks.

Furthermore, while her Nanoswarm can be triggered to disrupt enemy pushes, they can also serve as mollies to deny the defuse in post-plant situations. Her utility in both attack and defense, coupled with her ease of play, make her one of the best sentinels for beginners.

For more Valorant guides, both beginner and advanced levels, check out how you can improve your game sense and ZmjjKK’s Valorant settings!