In Valorant, all agents are sorted into four different role categories: Duelist, Initiator, Controller, and Sentinel. Today, let’s hone in on what it means to be a duelist and how it affects the way someone plays the game and works with their teammates. Spoilers: it involves a lot of carrying.
What is a Duelist?
In the game, Duelists are expected to be the heavy hitters. Their skills are made to attack the enemy and create opportunities for engagement. Abilities either do hardcore damage or they’re used to manipulate or disrupt enemy positions to give the agent an advantage in the coming firefight. Duelists are aggressive and self-sufficient, often taking the lead in pushing points and racking up kills.
Without at least one on your team, knocking out the enemy each round becomes much harder.
The Duelist Agents
As far as each Duelist goes, they all have specialties. Jett is an expert in quick movements, diversion, and “the blade.” Phoenix is a self-sufficient master, able to heal himself, burn others, and set himself up for effective encounters. Raze disrupts enemy lines, sending in her different explosives to damage or expose enemy agents. Reyna is made for rushing the opposition in close-quarters combat, using her Leer, Empress, and other moves to disorient and overpower enemies.
Let’s give a couple of specific examples of disrupting and damage-dealing:
With such impressive pressure power, Duelists require good reflexes and aim to survive split-second confrontations. When putting together a more competitive team, the players with the best accuracy and the most FPS experience should take on this role.