If VALORANT ever gets agent bans, there’s one you’d never see again

While VALORANT does not currently have a ban system outside of the map bans seen in pro play, players have been spitballing what the game would look like if they could ban specific agents—and it’s not looking good for one in particular.

When asked which agent would be banned the most with a hypothetical ban system in place in VALORANT matchmaking, most players agreed it would be Reyna—the Oct. 21 thread was overrun with her as a suggestion. That’s not surprising at all, considering the love-hate relationship we have with the soul-sucking duelist.

“Could I ban an agent on my own team (Reyna)?” one player asked. This comment perfectly captures how teammates often feel with an unpleasant instalock Reyna on the team, and why so many players believe she’s unhealthy for the game.

Love or hate her, Reyna is one of VALORANT’s most annoying agents unless you’re the one playing her. Players are constantly trying to instalock her in agent select, and they’ll occasionally complain if someone else grabs her up first. In other words, Reyna’s mere existence can cause problems even before round one begins.

Her ability kit doesn’t make her a team player, either. Aside from her Leer blind, Reyna’s abilities are extremely selfish and not beneficial for the team as a whole—a huge red flag in a game relying so heavily on teamwork. She can heal herself, for example, but she can’t heal others the way Sage and Skye can. Not to mention, her Devour and Dismiss abilities only work if she’s getting kills. If your Reyna isn’t at least getting kills, she has little to offer to the team.

That’s why she’s rarely seen in VALORANT pro play these days and why a lot of players would want to ban her from their own team.

Then, there’s the simmering issue with smurfing on Reyna in low VALORANT ranks. Reyna is one of the stronger agents for smurfs to abuse since they’re bound to rack up more kills against lower-ranked players. Smurfing is already a huge issue on its own, but having the option to ban Reyna from the agent pool would help a little bit in that area.

Outside of Reyna, some VALORANT players also chimed in with ideas for agent bans on specific maps like Viper on Breeze, Killjoy on Ascent, and Cypher on Bind.

Still, these bans were more about respectfully removing strong agents on each map rather than banishing an agent with a bad reputation.