How to build VALORANT’s most annoying stall team composition

Over the last few years, Riot Games has introduced a whole barracks of new agents for VALORANT enjoyers around the world. The roster of playable characters is diverse and each agent has strengths and abilities that only they can provide to a team composition, whether its superior combat skills or useful utility for them and their team.

Deadlock, the latest agent to join VALORANT‘s agent list, has become one of the most popular picks in the game since her release and has been a perfect sentinel to keep attackers at bay with her collection of nanowire-based abilities. I have personally enjoyed how strong she can be when laying down her Barrier Mesh since she can shut down rush plays from the enemy team while the rest of her team rotates.

Now, the Norwegian is already a great choice for defenders who need an agent that can hold her own against oncoming rushes, but when she pairs up with other agents with similar skillsets, they can lay down a near-impregnable wall attackers will have trouble breaking.

If you’re trying to force your enemies into a bullet shortage, here is the best way to build the perfect stall composition in VALORANT.

Why the stall composition works

This ultimate stall team composition was also made possible due to the recent nerfs Riot applied to both the Vandal and Phantom, reducing their ammo reserves by one magazine. This change was brought forth due to the prevalence of bullet spam, and how players would fire indiscriminately through smoke in the hopes of finding a lucky kill.

Although this ammo nerf did reduce the amount of spamming, it also inadvertently buffed obstacle-based agents since they must be very careful with how much ammo they expend before actually getting into a firefight.

Related: Best maps for Deadlock in VALORANT

By using a squad of agents with abilities that halt bullets, vision, and movement, players can force the opposing team to use a ton of their reserve ammo before they even get a clear shot of you. You’ll still need some firepower in the lineup, but there are three agents that you have to pick for the true stall composition.

The main agent trio: Deadlock, Sage, Harbor

The main trio of agents that make up this VALORANT composition are Deadlock, Sage, and Harbor since they all feature some sort of breakable wall that impedes bullets, vision, and movement. Deadlock and Sage will hold their own sites, while Harbor roams and flexes his positioning as the situation requires it.

As the enemies begin their attack on a specific site, Deadlock or Sage can use their powerful barrier abilities and various crowd control to stall out the incoming rush, while the rest of the team can rotate over to support. As they arrive to back up the site under attack, the other agent can supplement the stall by throwing out their own barrier if the enemy team chooses to push through anyway.

If the opposing squad falls back to regroup and re-strategize, this shouldn’t be a problem for the stall composition. They simply have to retake their positions on their respective sites, with Harbor pairing up with the agent that used their utility for the initial rush.

Harbor’s High Tide and Cascade abilities are great for dissuading an enemy team from pushing up since they’re forced to dry peek through a wall into hostile territory. Meanwhile, his Cove can block bullets for a short time, which can be great for stalling out a firefight, or protecting a player as they defuse or plant the spike.

Compositional flexibility

The final two agent picks should be ones that bring a bit more firepower and attack-sided utility to this composition since Sage and Deadlock are both very strong on defense, but relatively weaker when it comes to executing onto a site.

I would slot a duelist like Jett into the team, because not only is she a great agent in the hands of mechanically-talented players, but she also has smokes that can help execute attacks on-site and aid with defensive setups.

Skye is also a great choice for an Initiator since she can heal her teammates, flash the opposing team, use her Trailblazer to clear corners, and send out her Seekers to check for any enemies that might be flanking the initial setup from Sage and Deadlock.

Another hilarious combination you can pair with Sage and Deadlock’s crowd control is either Raze or Brimstone since they can take advantage of the area-of-effect CC the two sentinels provide by blasting away the competition.

Best maps for the stall composition

You’ll want to use this stall composition on maps with plenty of tight spaces and tough chokepoints, like Ascent, Split, and Bind. Other maps with wider angles and multiple flanking positions might not work the best for the stall composition, since they thrive on shutting down rushes by throwing a ton of utility in front to slow them down to a halt.