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Valorant Roles: Initiator
By Stephanie RoehlerJuly 29, 2020
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 an Initiator and how it affects the way someone plays the game and works with their teammates. Spoilers: they really like ruining enemy plans.
What is an Initiator?
In-game, Initiators gather information and try to influence the movement of their opponents. Their abilities are about revealing enemy locations and forcing engagements to happen. That, or forcing the opposite team to disengage completely.
When it comes to having an advantage, having recon on and influence over an enemy is vital. Initiators make starting a fight more informed, and they absolutely love to spoil strategic enemy positioning.
The Initiator Agents
As far as each Initiator goes, they both have specialties. Breach is a champion of using the illusion of cover against the enemy. Most of his abilities pass right through walls and initiate conflict. Sova is an expert in getting information and acting on it. After his recon abilities reveal enemy locations, his other arrows punish them if they don’t move.
Let’s give a couple of specific examples of recon and influence:
- Enemy recon: Sova’s Owl Drone can visually identify enemies in the next area without putting Sova in danger. If the player reacts fast enough, Sova’s drone can even shoot a locating dart into an enemy, making them a much easier target until they pull it out.
- Influencing enemies: When using Breach’s Fault Line, hitting an enemy behind a wall can force them to back off from their position or come in too hot.
- Both: Sova’s Recon Bolt not only identifies all enemies in an area but often forces them to waste bullets on the bolt and completely reposition themselves. Breach’s Aftershock hurts enemies, forces them to move, and can make them reveal their location. (Ouch).
People who play Initiators need to be adaptive and intuitive. The point is to try to influence the enemy, so unlike a duelist, their mindset needs to be about guessing where enemies are and how to deal with their reactions, not just going full-on aggro.
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