Here's how Skye's flasher hawk can help fake a Spike defuse in Valorant

Fariha Bhatti Published 14/07/2021

The infamous Raze fake defuse introduced by Guild Esports’ Yacine “Yacine“ Laghmari can be recreated using a cheaper ability of a different agent.

Skye is an underrated Valorant agent in low-level queues but is the first choice of professional Initiator players. Her flasher hawk is generally used to blindside the enemies but a player has found a new use for the bird.

Tapping the bomb to trick enemies is a common tactic in Valorant. But just fake-tapping often doesn’t work in high ELO games, so players started employing agent abilities to suppress the defuse cue. Raze’s rocket fake is an excellent example of how agent voice comms can defuse Spike sound cues. Her princely eight-point ultimate is often employed to curb Spike audio, which can be a bit ludicrous if you fail to land kills with it or die mid-defuse.

Raze’s ultimate can help you trick enemies in post-plant positions

The same purpose can be achieved with Skye’s much cheaper ability.

A Redditor named nahoragg shared a clip in which Skye tapped the Spike and released her flash simultaneously. Surprisingly, the defuse wasn’t interrupted by her flash. Instead, the voice line “Hawk out” crushed the faint sound cue that notifies the enemies that Spike is being deactivated. This little tactic can be a game-winner, as enemies will be blinded and clueless about Spike’s status.

To successfully execute the trick, press flash and the defuse key at once. If you want your bird to travel distance and burst at a particular spot, you may want to keep spamming the control key. The agent can defuse and guide her hawk simultaneously.

This little trick is too overpowered. Now that it’s out in the open, more players may pick Skye to gain an edge over enemies. However, it’s recommended not to get used to this tactic, as this is likely a bug. Sova’s drone is pretty similar to Skye’s flash in terms of controls and this feature failed to work on his owl. This suggests that it’s most likely a bug that may get patched up in the coming updates.

How to use Raze’s ultimate to fake defuse in Valorant?

The Spike takes seven seconds to defuse, and Raze’s ultimate expires 10 seconds after activation. Therefore, players can activate the ultimate and instantly press defuse key to mask the sound cue. If you do this quickly enough, you can also utilize the true purpose of the rocket and shoot it at the enemy in the remaining time.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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