New Valorant agent Astra uses her stars to create one-way chokes

Fariha Bhatti Published 02/03/2021

There’s no need to mug up tactical one-way smokes anymore if you have an Astra on your team.

Riot Games’ newest agent Astra is already under the Valorant specialists’ microscope for being too powerful. The agent manipulates space and stars to get control of the map, but there’s more that she’s capable of.

Unlike Viper and Brimstone, Astra doesn’t deal damage. The new star exploit changes that. Team Liquid’s streamer Mendo discovered a crucial loophole in Astra’s stars that serve a bigger purpose than transforming into a basic concuss, smoke, and Gravity well.

Found this and I didn’t include it in my tips and tricks video because I couldn’t find a professional way to tell you guys I’ll ban you from my chat forever if you use it against me

You can create miniscule one-ways wherever you want with the stars by doing this, kinda insane pic.twitter.com/S9A5Sy1KMe
— Liquid Mendo (@Mendo) March 1, 2021

Twitch streamer Mendo reveals potential game-breaking bug on Astra

In her Astral form, Astra can plant stars at desired locations on a map. She has complete discretion to saunter around and drop glitter balls that can transform into a Nebula, Gravity Well, or Nova Pulse. However, her stars also serve a greater and far deadlier purpose.

The little stars can act as one-way spheroids to block the enemy’s line of sight. Astra may place the specks on tactical angles and exploit her ability to peek off enemies. To make it lethal, the purple halo around the star is free-flowing that can shift shape when you point your crosshair at it.

The halo creates a vacant space for crosshair, which allowed Mendo to peak across A sit. The angle will restrict the enemy’s vision, who’ll only see a purple star, putting them in a vulnerable spot.

This exploit can be perilous in competitive lobbies as Astra has five stars that she can use liberally. As Mendo has said, he refrained from adding the trick in his YouTube videos because he doesn’t want people to get wind of this potentially game-breaking exploit. The streamer went as far as to say that he’ll block anyone who tries to use the star tactic against him in-game.

A few other game-breaking issues have been discovered in Astra’s kit during the testing phase. Players also revealed that her Astral form is broken, allowing Astra to view Spike after the plant.

It’s likely that the agent will officially be released with significant tweaks to her abilities and a satisfactory fix for what may be unintentional exploits. Astra will be released with Episode 2 Act 2 on March 3.

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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