Mastering the New Agent in Valorant
If you were playing Valorant near the beginning of 2022, you would remember Deadeye’s leak. Not too long ago, we saw something similar with our newest agent, who surprisingly has a strikingly similar name. As always, people are going to want to play with the new toy, and the best way to get ahead of the curve is to start early. Who is the new agent, and what can you do to achieve mastery? Let's take a look! Who Is Agent 23? With the Twitter release, various content creators in the Valorant space started to speculate on what the new agent would look like and the fact that a Sentinel was expected. Well, it looks like some of the predictions weren't too far off the mark! With that, we say meet Deadlock! The Norwegian is the fifth Sentinel, and she comes during an interesting episode since there are also interesting additions, such as the new Team Deathmatch mode, complete with three custom maps. Her style sees her use cutting-edge nanowires, providing security on the battlefield. Deadlock’s Abilities First, there's the GravNet grenade, that upon landing, detonates and forces any enemies caught within the blast radius to both move slowly and crouch. Her Sonic Sensor is next, and once deployed, it will monitor an area for any enemies making sounds. If there are footsteps, weapon fire, or any significant noise, the sensor will concuss the area. Barrier Mesh is next on the list, and once landed, it will generate barriers from the origin point, blocking the movement of any character caught within. Finally, there is Annihilation, which starts with the equipping of a Nanowire Accelerator. Once fired, a pulse of nanowires will be unleashed and will capture the first enemy contacted. That enemy will then be cocooned and reeled along a nanowire path. The cocoon is destructible, so an enemy’s team members can free them from It. They will definitely want to do that, considering that if the cocoon reaches the end of its path, whoever is contained within will immediately die. Playing a Sentinel If you're new to Valorant, then Deadlock may be the first agent you choose to unlock. If you've been around for the ride, you're still getting a new Sentinel option, and mastering playing her means understanding the role of a Sentinel and how her abilities put a spin on things. This is probably a good time for us to say that if playing passively is not your thing, Sentinels are not for you. These agents are meant to lockdown sites for their teammates. Attack While you might be tempted to pull out an aggressive play here and there, it's not something that should be at the top of your mind as a Sentinel player. You want to be defending flanks and being cognizant of backstabbers. Deadlock’s Sonic Sensor will be essential here, considering it's quite literally meant to respond to things your opponent almost always have to do just to move around or attack. Similarly, trapping your opponents will be key, whether you're slowing them down with your GravNet grenade, preventing their movement and making them vulnerable with your Barrier Mesh, or locking them down in a cocoon with Annihilation. Defense Most of what you would be doing on attack is for setup purposes, with your teammates being the ones cleaning house. As you can imagine, though, the defensive side of things is where a Sentinel shines. These agents can often overlook entire sites alone. Your job here is simple and what you would expect. You need to be placing traps and covering angles and openings. Not only do you want to know when your opponents are trying to push, but you want to catch them off guard and restrict them from doing so as much as possible, both things that Deadlock excels at. Doing this will allow your team to easily rotate for a fair fight, and you can even tip things in your favor this way. The Finishing Touches The introduction of Deadlock to the game makes for some exciting prospects, especially for those players who excel in supportive roles. Of course, to understand how to make the best use of her abilities on attack and defense, you're going to need to start practicing now!...
