Brimstone: A guide to Valorant's commanding Controller

Valorant has quite a few classic heroes among their agents, and the honor of brawny, gruff soldier goes to none other than Brimstone himself. His codename is Sarge for a reason. He commands and manipulates the battlefield with his mortars, missiles, and buffs.

So let’s give the best tips on how to play Brimstone, the controller commander.

In combat, Brimstone uses fire-based abilities to assist his team. While his entire kit encourages damage-dealing, ultimately his goal is to force the enemy team to engage or disengage. Or, in specific cases (like his Stim Beacon), give his team the extra damage boost to finish off a fight.

Just like his backstory suggests, Brimstone pushes his teammates to victory.

Brimstone equips a grenade launcher. Shooting in a specific direction, Brimstone fires a fiery mortar that can bounce once off of a wall and explode, spreading across the ground in a pool. This pool of lava does 20 damage per second and lasts for 8.3 seconds. Incendiary either ends up seriously damaging enemies or forcing them to reposition.

This ability costs 300 credits, and a player can only keep one in their inventory per round.

Brimstone equips a dart gun. Once fired, the Stim Beacon (that looks very similar to Sova’s recon bolt), can attach to any surface: ceiling, wall, or floor. However, unlike Sova’s Recon Bolt, the Stim Beacon cannot be destroyed. Once active, it boosts the agility and fire rate of all allies in its radius and has a duration of 12 seconds.

This ability costs 100 credits, and a player can only keep two in their inventory per round.

Brimstone’s signature move is Sky Smoke. Brimstone equips a unique tactical map and can place his sky smoke anywhere on that map. This creates a smoke sphere wherever indicated. No one can see past the Sky Smoke and any enemies and allies that pass through will not be able to see outside it. The Sky Smoke will have a 14-second duration.

The first charge of this ability is free, but if the player wants any more charges, the ability costs 100 credits. A player can only keep up to three in their inventory. So unlike many signature moves, Brimstone cannot use Sky Smoke more than once unless he purchases more charges before the round begins.

Brimstone equips a tactical map and can pick somewhere on that map to strike with his ultimate attack. Orbital Strike has a warning period of 2 seconds before it rains down a skyward laser to evaporate all enemies. This ability does serious damage and (if it catches an enemy agent in its blaze) does 38 damage per second. Therefore, even a full-health enemy with heavy shields will be dead in just under 4 seconds.

This ultimate ability costs 7 points and should be used to deal a crippling blow to the enemy team or to force them off a point that they’re protecting.

Like all Controllers and Initiators, Brimstone’s kit is best-used in team situations, being a crowd-control master. Brimstone is at his best when he can use his abilities to improve defensive set-ups or bolster offensive pushes.

At the beginning of an engagement, his Sky Smoke and Incendiary can be vital for blocking enemy sightlines or forcing them to completely change their plans of attack.

In the midst of a firefight, Brimstone can also use his Stim Beacon to give his team the edge they need to shoot the enemy down.

Brimstone exists to give his team the best advantages he can offer to clear out the enemy.

Even though Brimstone is supposed to make his team stronger, he can still be a formidable solo-agent. Since a lot of his abilities still work towards damage dealing, Brimstone can buff his own stats with Stim Beacon and use Incendiary to do some great early damage in a fight.

Brimstone can even use Orbital Strike as an awesome trump card to either completely obliterate enemies or force opponents all the way off any point, clearing a path for himself or any teammates that might be nearby.