Tips and tricks to best use your abilities in Valorant's closed beta

Olivia Richman Published 24/04/2020

For many Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, having abilities is a brand new concept in a first-person shooter. Pros and streamers alike have already mastered Valorant’s mechanics. Now, former CSGO players, along with Apex Legends and Overwatch players, are diving into each agent’s abilities and finding some crazy techniques and hidden tricks.

There are also a lot of glitches and exploits in Valorant since it’s still just a closed beta. Most of those will ultimately be patched out of the game once it’s released come summer 2020. For now, we’re going to take a closer look at the cool tricks that you can utilize in your own gameplay once the game is officially released.

Finding the angles with Omen’s Paranoia

As mentioned earlier, CSGO players are already becoming quite familiar with Valorant’s mechanics. That includes good insight into enemy positioning patterns. But one Valorant closed beta player found a way to appear in unexpected places with Omen, catching opponents by surprise.

Omen’s Paranoia ability lifts the agent into the air, slightly higher than you’d go with a normal jump. This allows him to reach positions on the map that you wouldn’t be able to with a regular jump, allowing you to peek from unexpected angles. One Reddit user showed other players how it’s done: Just position yourself a step away from where you’ll be jumping and then jump forward when he starts to glide. While gliding, you aren’t able to fire your weapon, so always make sure it’s clear before you position yourself.

Even spicier, Omen can use Paranoia to position themselves at the top of Sage’s wall instead of wasting time destroying it. The enemy sage might also be taken off guard, giving you time to fire from the high ground.

Omen’s teleporting ability can also be used to glitch off of the map, but this will most likely be fixed before the summer.

Sova’s Recon Bolt combines with Raze’s Drone

While playing the Valorant beta, one player launched Sova’s Recon Dart in order to gather intel on the enemy team. They were surprised when it ended up getting attached to a Drone the Raze on their team sent out. The Recon Dart continued to work, basically becoming a moving sonar that not only revealed opponents’ positioning, but would deal massive damage if detected. In the video posted on Reddit, it appeared that they could gain a lot of knowledge if they followed the moving Recon Dart.

Other players were so impressed with the concept of combining the two abilities that they begged Riot to not patch it out of the game.

But that’s not the only trick players have discovered using Sova’s Recon Bolt. On Bind, the arrow can bounce two times and land in the chokepoint between the center of the map and Hookah, the B site, when shot from a certain angle in the A bombsite. This is a trick that can be coordinated with teammates to easily detect the enemy, even from afar.

In the northeast corner of Bind, enable both bounces of the Recon Bolt with the right-click and then shoot at the corner with the arrow at max range. It’s helpful to have a teammate when you do this trick, since you’ll have to be in a pretty open location to land the shot, unable to protect yourself or fire back at enemies while lining up the shot.

Sova’s Shock Dart lets players defend bombs without seeing them

One Reddit user also discovered the perfect angle for Sova’s Shock Dart at every default plant. Sova’s Shock Dart fires an explosive bolt that releases a damaging pulse of static energy upon impact, making it perfect for defending a planted bomb. Even better, you can do it from the safety of cover. Strong utility abilities like this one are most likely why former CSGO pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has called Sova one of the best agents in the game. Check out the game-changing angles here.

Sage’s Slow Orb is a game changer in Bind

Sova isn’t the only agent who can utilize Bind’s features to make her ability even stronger. A Team Envy content creator discovered two spots on the map that work perfectly with Sage’s Slow Orb.

You know me – in every game I love finding preset ways of using my abilities, so check out these 2 #Valorant Sage slowing orb spots on Bind. pic.twitter.com/0XbDFTbZW7
— mL7 (@mL7support) April 9, 2020

In the video, ML7 pointed out the first such spot. As your team is apporaching point A, stand behind a drain that’s on the floor and look up at the ceiling’s opening above. Fire the orb at a specific angle and it will land on the platform the defending team uses to look over point A, filling it with debilitating ice. ML7 also discovered a similar trick at point B. Stand in front of the crates next to the teleporter and look upward, ensuring that your cursor is placed between the two poles sticking out from the building’s roof. Sage’s Slow Orb will fill the defending team’s corridor with ice, allowing your team to push forward quite aggressively.

The opening in point A is the spot of another cool trick, this time made use of with agent Phoenix. Using his Hot Hands ability, find the right angle and then shoot the firey projectile into the opening. In the video of the discovery, the Phoenix player shoots out their projectile and then turns the corner to see where it fell. This is a great way to shock some opponents. If you know they are trailing you, but are still around the corner outside the building, this is a way to hit them with Hot Hands without giving them time to react.

Viper easily takes point A on Bind with utility angles

Cloud9’s Tyson “TenZ” Ngo recently showed off a pretty great way your team can take over point A on Bind with Viper by using all of her abilities. First, use Poison Orb by perfectly lining it up onto the heaven position, a popular spot for players to hold while defending point A. This way, enemies are forced to retreat since the area surrounding that spot will be obscured. Then use Viper’s Snake Bites ability to place a chemical zone at two angles that basically block the area off from the defenders.

Now the defenders are forced to either use a lot of their abilities in response, ensuring your team that they won’t have abilities at their disposal after that, or they’ll just have to give up the site.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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