Breach: a guide to Valorant's barrier-countering Initiator

Valorant only has one agent that is an expert at ignoring barriers, and that’s Breach. He is a Swedish member of the Valorant protocol, and he uses his seismic powers to start fights before the enemy can react. The man packs quite a punch, even if it’s not with his fists.

So let’s give the best tips on how to play Valorant’s most aggressive Initiator, Breach.

In combat Breach uses his earth-shattering abilities to cause havoc across the battlefield. His wall-ignoring abilities help him confront enemies with surprise attacks. They are handy for attacking chokepoints without putting yourself in the line of fire.

Breach equips a fusion charge. He fires it for a slow-acting burst through the wall. The ability does heavy damage to anyone caught: 60-175 hp. That means that Breach could one-shot a fully-shielded enemy with Aftershock, and even do 60+ damage to other enemies in the blast radius. This move is very telegraphed, though, and can be hard to land. Sometimes it’s best to use it to force enemies out of their hiding spots.

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

Breach equips a blinding charge. He fires the charge which creates a fast-acting burst that goes through walls. When detonated, it blinds all players (including allies). That means Breach has to be a little careful when shooting it, or he may disadvantage the enemy AND his own teammates. It has a duration of 2 seconds. Flashpoint is very similar to Phoenix’s Curveball except that it doesn’t, y’know, curve.

This ability costs 200 credits and a player can only keep two in their inventory per round.

Breach’s signature move is Fault Line. He equips a seismic blast. He can hold fire to increase its distance, from a minimum of 10 to up to 50 meters. A player can see the fault’s direction and distance on the minimap. Then, release the fire button to set off a quake in a straight line, dazing all players in the zone for 3 seconds.

Unlike the other abilities, Fault Line is free and has a 35-second cooldown, so it can be used multiple times during medium/long rounds.

Breach equips seismic charge. He can then fire to send a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. It dazes and knocks up anyone caught for 6 seconds. The range of Rolling Thunder is 38 meters and there is a .25 second delay between each cascading shock blast.

This ultimate ability costs 7 points and should be used to advance on the enemy with a powerful push.

Breach excels in leading a calculated and oppressive charge. While most initiators do recon, Breach is the king of engagement. Since he can shoot through walls, his team can make plays on the enemy before entering their line of sight. Focus on common map positions to shoot Breach’s abilities or find a way to make sure you have eyes on enemy locations, which can help make his attacks more targeted.

Breach doesn’t have to be the first person in every room, but he should be the first teammate to use an ability, either forcing enemy players to re-position or disarming them for his team to come in and clean up.

He probably works best with another recon initiator to inform him where to use his abilities effectively.

Breach can be difficult to pull off on his own, but if you learn favorite hiding spots on each map, Breach can surprise and disable an entire team. Rolling Thunder mixed with some expertly quick headshots could take down multiple enemies in one fatal swoop.

Also, his blind and other abilities are great deterrents in a pinch. Between Aftershock’s damage and Flashpoint’s blinding, Breach could either make enemies back off or turn the confusion into an opportunity. Just do your best to be innovative; Breach has more to him than you might think.