Fariha B. October 31, 2020
Valorant first strike NA qualifiers revealed Omen, Sova, and Jett as the most played agents by the professional players. Among the three agents, Valorant's shadow hunter dominated the top spot on the majority of the maps with a pick rate of 98%.
Riot's tactical shooter Valorant largely relies on aim. It'sone of the reasons why Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionals are finding easy wins in Valorant. However, agent abilities can make or break the game. Picking the right agent according to the ma, may not be as simple as it seems.
According to Vlr.gg, Valorant professionals are not a fan of sentinels as Omen, Jett, and Sova see the highest pick rate in most maps. Cypher is the only sentinel who comes closer to the third spot, with 70% pick rate in overall maps.
TSM's Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik and Cloud9's Josh "shinobi" Abastado both opted for Omen in different maps, ending the qualifiers with a rating of 1.22 and 1.00, respectively. Omen's 99% pick rate on Ascent shows that the shadow hunter's smokes are extremely valuable in a map as diverse as Ascent that has just the right amount of chokepoints on a vast playground. Players chose Omen 94% of the times in Bind, which is his lowest but still the highest when compared to other agents.
Sova generally has a 45.2% win rate in Valorant, which has made him the second most picked agent in First Strike. Spencer "Hiko" Martin's favorite initiator has a 78% pick rate across all maps, 93% being his highest in Bind. The Russian hunter's recon bolt can be extremely deadly on Bind's expansive bomb points.
With a 75% win rate, Jett's ability to fly has landed her on the third spot. The agent has proven to be the top choice of some Valorant professional players in Haven, Split, and Ascent. The duelist enjoys a pick rate of 58% on Bind, one of the highest as compared to other duelists.
Reyna is not the top pick in Valorant First Strike
In Radiant competitive matches, Reyna is statistically the most played agent. However, in First Strike tournament, Reyna sits at number four spot with 41% pick rate, followed by Raze with 39% pick rate. Both the agents are one of the top choices of Valorant players in Radiant rank.
Sage and Viper continue to rest at the bottom both in general rating as well as that of First Strike tournament. While some players like TSM's James "hazed" Cobb picked Viper in different maps, Sage remains to be the least picked agent with only 2% pick rate. The players completely overlooked both the agents in Bind and preferred other controllers and sentinels like Raze and Killjoy.