How to play Breach, VALORANT’s crowd control extraordinaire

If you’ve been playing the VALORANT closed beta and you’re a fan of big, dramatic explosions, then we might just have the agent for you.

Breach is the game’s resident crowd control expert, bringing abilities that can blind, stun, and knock up enemies for easy disposal. He’s great on both sides, whether he’s bringing the fire on an enemy bombsite or snuffing out a potential push from attackers.

There is, however, a big margin for error if you aren’t careful with his abilities. Here’s how to play Breach in a smart, effective manner.

Abilities

• Aftershock: Equip a Fusion Charge. Fire the charge to set a slow-activing burst through a wall. The bust does heavy damage to anyone caught in the area.
• Flashpoint: Equip a blinding charge. Fire the charge to set a fast-acting burst through a wall. The charge detonates to blind all players looking at it.
• Signature Ability – Fault Lines: Equip a seismic blast. Hold fire to increase the distance. Release to set off the quake, dazing all players in its zone in a line up to the zone.
• Ultimate Ability – Rolling Thunder: Equip a seismic charge. Fire to send a cascading quake through all terrain in a large cone. The quake dazes and knocks up anyone caught in it.

A lot of Breach’s abilities—like his name suggests—help him and his team break into rooms, sites, and general areas. His Aftershock and Flashpoint both go through walls, for example, which makes him great for clearing small rooms and enclosures. His flash has a big range of effect, which could be great for certain bombsites.

Meanwhile, his signature and ultimate abilities are amazing at disrupting enemy teams and forcing them into bad positions. Fault Lines is practically the younger brother of Rolling Thunder since they both summon earthquakes that disorient enemies. The big difference is that Breach’s ultimate knocks up players instead of just dazing them.

Playstyle

Breach is a perfect initiator for bombsites since all of his abilities can travel through terrain and buildings. In combination with other agents’ abilities, he can lead the way into a site with some well-placed stuns and flashes. His ultimate and signature abilities are also great at forcing enemies to move into disadvantageous positions for you and your team to take advantage of.

But players need to constantly be communicating with their teammates to make sure they aren’t standing in the range of his abilities. This is because his allies are also affected by his crowd control, which could prove more harmful than helpful—especially if you’re looking to quickly push into a bombsite as a group.

Although they affect a large area, Breach’s crowd control abilities are also telegraphed both on the mini-map and on the ground with indicators. As a result, it can be easy to move out of the way before being caught in the blast. It also instantly reveals where the Breach player is.

Breach needs to combine his abilities with other agents like Brimstone, who can obscure the vision of his ultimate with Sky Smoke so it has a better chance of hitting targets. Ultimately, this explosive agent excels with a coordinated team. When he’s alone, he isn’t nearly as strong.