The top signature abilities in VALORANT: Mastering agent toolkits

Each agent in VALORANT suits a different playstyle and strategy, from being able to hold down sites with trip wires, to flying into your enemies and shooting them directly in the face. With 22 total agents, each one has a multiple-use ability known as their signature ability, and some are much stronger than others.

Here are some of the best signature abilities in VALORANT, why they’re so strong, and what they provide for both the player using the agent and the team as a whole.

Brimstone’s Sky Smokes: The most flexible smokes in VALORANT

To start, let’s look at utility that blocks enemies from seeing parts of the map: smokes. There are plenty of agents that have a form of smoke as their signature ability, but Brimstone remains one of the best thanks to its flexibility. Unlike Harbor’s High Tide or Viper’s Toxic Screen, you have the choice to place these smokes wherever you want. 

Related: How to unlock agents in VALORANT

Omen operates similarly with his Dark Cover, but Brimstone’s smoke kit is better since you can place up to three smokes instead of just the two that Omen can. They heavily rely on map knowledge of certain chokepoints, but Brim’s got the best of the signature smoke abilities.

KAY/O’s ZERO/POINT: Perfect detection

This one was tough, but ZERO/POINT is strong thanks to its ability to both detect enemies and prevent them from using abilities of their own. The suppression that ZERO/POINT provides to enemies within its zone is great on both sides of the map to find out where enemies are and adjust accordingly. Plus, with its throwing knife nature, it works well with both cross-map throws and panic moments.

The only two abilities close to this are Fade’s Haunt and Sova’s Recon Dart, but those are easily destroyed and require line-of-sight to detect enemies. ZERO/POINT detects enemies through walls, which doesn’t give your allies a target but does provide information much easier than others.

Skye’s Guiding Light demonstrates top-tier flexibility

When it comes to signature flashes, Skye’s fly above the rest. Thanks to its ability to move directly where a player aims it, it allows for both nasty pop-flashes and longer set plays. Plus, the flash can be used to gain information by the noise it makes when an opponent has been flashed. 

That’s when the true mind games come in, as you can send a flash down to scan areas to see if enemies are hiding similar to KAY/O’s knife. It won’t suppress them, but blinding them or forcing them to turn away from the flash allows for easy kills in tough scenarios. Worst-case scenario: you know where the enemies lie, at least temporarily.

Jett’s Tailwind makes mobility a breeze

Last but not least, we have VALORANT’s signature movement ability, Jett’s Tailwind. It gives her a short-range dash into the area she is walking towards, which on its own seems simple and not too strong. Combo that with her Updraft which allows her to get on high ground, Cloudburst to dash into your own smoke and make space, and ultimate Blade Storm to one-shot enemies, and the Tailwind is crucial.

Related: Jett and Skye hit with massive nerfs in VALORANT Patch 7.04, 9 other agents tweaked

What truly makes it so strong are the combos with her other abilities, but even outside of it, it can be used as a great engage and disengage too. Even with the nerfs to her overall kit from patch 7.04, the ability remains crucial to her play style.