Viper emerges as highest picked smoker at VCT Masters 2

Fariha Bhatti Published 31/05/2021

Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2: Masters Reykjavik has finally culminated. The agent picks reveal that the game meta at the professional level has changed significantly in the past few months.

The developer has made some major tweaks to the Valorant roster in the latest patches, and these changes have heavily impacted the meta at a higher level. Professional players at the Stage 2 Masters event heavily inclined on Smokers and preferred Jett as the duelist.

Earlier, we observed Sova and Omen be the most played agents, but Masters 2’s pick rate shows that roster has evolved. Jett shone through as the most picked agent overall with an 81% selection rate. The duelist replaced Sova as the dominant agent. Despite her lead, both Sova and Jett had the same play rate on Icebox as all teams that played the map dabbled with both agents.

While Jett ruled the upper edge of charts, other duelists lurked at the bottom. The top agents at VCT Masters 2 included sentinels, initiators, and smokers. European teams like to support a passive playstyle laden with heavy tactics, and it showed on pick ratio. Killjoy came third with a 58% pick rate across all maps, 69% being her highest on Icebox. The teams entirely skipped sentinels on Bind, as only Sage saw some playtime in her category.

Controllers like Viper ruled the maps at VCT Masters 2

Viper made a breakthrough in VCT Masters 2. The controller agent has spent about a year at the bottom of all charts but recent buffs showed the impact. Viper emerged as the fourth-best agent at Masters 2, with 49% of players picking her across all maps. Her kit shone the most on Icebox and Bind, both smaller maps where other controllers have less impact.

New agent Astra also saw tons of playtime, standing at fifth position. The controller was replaced by Viper on Icebox but remained a top pick on Haven.

Stage 2 Masters undoubtedly showcased how Valorant has changed over the past few months. Earlier, the charts were mostly dominated by agents Like Reyna, Omen, Raze, and Sova, but the current stats show that Riot’s shooter is eventually inclining more towards ability usage. While Raze still stole spotlights in some maps, Yoru’s buffs were futile as Team Vikings only picked him in a few maps. Reyna’s 5% pick rate also came as a surprise since she used to be the top pick of many Valorant professionals.

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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