Losing too many ranked VALORANT games? This agent might be the missing piece to your Elo puzzle

If you are a VALORANT player who’s still having trouble wrapping their head around Patch 7.09’s Cypher buffs, I’m not happy either. Not saying he didn’t deserve it, but how the hell am I supposed to enter Sunset’s B Site with a literally indestructible double trap setup guarding it?

I’m sure a lot of you relate to my frustration, even non-duelist players. Needless to say, I’ve lost too many VALORANT games because of Cypher’s ridiculous trap setups and, of course, bad teammates. Thankfully, while battling thoughts about uninstalling the game recently, I believe I had an epiphany—and his name is KAY/O.

A couple of weeks back, after a really bad game against Cypher on Sunset, I decided to instalock the Radianite-neutralising robot in my next match on Lotus. I just wanted to flash my enemies out of existence with his neurotic flashbangs, you know? Interestingly, not only did I win the game, I top fragged, while having a ton of fun blinding my enemies (and teammates). Well, then I had to ask myself, was I blind all this while?

Not that it’s unbalanced, but VALORANT’s current meta favors the defenders, and the best way to counter it is, well, a strong initiator-heavy composition and KAY/O. He’s not just an initiator; he wields a free, rechargeable knife that can power down every stubborn enemy holding the site like their lives are at stake while giving you valuable intel. So if Cypher is hellbent on holding a site with the motive to spam you and your teammates as soon as his traps are triggered, with a well-timed knife, you can neutralize his setup worth 600 credits with a free ability. 

Of course, you’d have to throw a well-timed ZERO/point to have that happen. You’d also have to maintain unpredictability with the knife because it can be destroyed. But I guarantee you, one or two of those knife hits will force that enemy Cypher to adjust his positioning, just so his craft doesn’t go in vain. If he remains stubborn, well, you’ve got the advantage to take him down anyway.

I might be talking too much about Cypher here, but this applies to every agent. Whether it’s a Killjoy placing a microwave setup, a Sage putting up an annoying wall at the entrance every round, a Jett holding micro angles with an activated dash, or a shotgun Raze, you can punish anything and everything. Also, it’s not just his knife; KAY/O’s flashes are deadly and very difficult to dodge when popped, and he has an ultimate that leaves every enemy in a considerable range powerless for up to 15 seconds. Not to forget, he can’t be killed when NULL/cmd is active; he can only be downed, leaving a chance for his teammates to revive him.

Honestly, I’m struggling to understand why players don’t pick KAY/O in their ranked games. Yes, he might be a hard agent to master in VALORANT, but if you can do so with Sova, Skye, or Breach, KAY/O shouldn’t be a difficult one either. 

Then again, if the opponents are good, they’d know how to dodge your FLASH/drive. You can’t throw the FRAG/ment randomly, as it’d do no good. The ZERO/point knife is breakable, so you’d have to be unpredictable with it. 

But here’s what you’re missing: if you manage to understand the mechanics of his flashbangs and spend some time learning a couple of lineups for his abilities, most VALORANT players across low to mid-Elo wouldn’t know how to counter you. For Ascendant and higher, you’d have to coordinate with your team before throwing your abilities, but you’ll still have an incredible edge if you know how to squeeze value out of KAY/O’s kit. The secret? Unpredictability.