VALORANT players confused by odd interaction between Omen and KAY/O abilities

A viral VALORANT clip has shown a KAY/O flash failing against Omen, and players are confused by what actually happened.

In a July 10 Reddit thread, one VALORANT player shared an interesting clip in Haven’s C Short (also known as Garage) with Omen using his smoke just as the enemy KAY/O threw a flash to lead his team into the narrow area. You’d expect Omen to be blinded and killed by the enemy team, but the opposite actually happened. Omen miraculously avoided being blinded by KAY/O’s FLASH/drive and proceeded to snag two kills with a Bucky.

Usually, you can try to dodge flashes by turning away or hiding from them behind a wall, but that wasn’t the case here. KAY/O’s flash was thrown right in front of Omen’s face and yet he wasn’t blinded at all. After reviewing the clip, players have different theories on why the flash failed.

The original poster initially believed it was Omen’s smoking screen that saved him from the flash. While using Dark Cover, Omen goes into a dark purply world to aim where he wants his smokes to go. So it’s possible this alternate screen blocked the flash just before the controller returned to the normal view of his surroundings. 

Others believe the smoke blocked it in a different way. After aiming his smoke, Omen sends it out and he can briefly see it travel toward its destination. If KAY/O’s flash happened to pop just as Omen’s smoke blocked the view in front of him, this could be how the flash was completely avoided. It would have to be really unfortunate timing for KAY/O and his team since Omen’s smoke travels quickly, but this wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened to the robot. He’s previously had his ZERO/point knife sliced in half and his flash deflected off an enemy’s body, so this is just another day in the office.

Many players in the thread, however, believe Omen’s smokes had nothing to do with the failed flash. Rather, they pointed out how it looked like KAY/O’s flash somehow popped behind the barrel on the wall of the map. Because Omen had just gotten out of his smoking screen, we couldn’t see if the flash grenade actually flew behind the barrel, but the flash does seem to be blocked by it when you look closely.

Regardless of how it happened, this was a lucky moment for Omen and a devastating one for KAY/O and friends. But that’s just how VALORANT goes sometimes.