All VALORANT Roles | Agent Roles and what they mean

VALORANT Roles are categories for each Agent that generally dictate how they play. Learn about all of the roles and common comps here.

All Valorant Roles

There are only 4 official roles as far as the game is concerned. There are some other “roles” that exist in the pro scene that are more player roles rather than the agent roles that are assigned in-game.

• Controller: Generally “Smokes” based agents that are focused on helping your teammates take control of sites or choke points by denying vision or space with your abilities.
• Duelist: Aggressive agent that are good at taking 1 on 1 fights or making space by taking entry and getting a numbers advantage with a pick. Generally these agents end up as the first name on a kill feed, on one side or the other. These are the agents that tend to have movement options that allow them to take fights on their own tempo.
• Initiator: These agents tend to play pretty close to your Duelists, providing the utility for your Duelists to engage with. Similar to controllers, they aim to help take space on sites for the attacking team using offensive utility that deals damage, stuns or flashes to put the defence on the back foot.
• Sentinel: Are the defensive roster of agents that are the other side of the coin to Duelists. With abilities dedicated to slowing down the pace of the game and locking down a site. Sentinels are perfectly capable of “Site Anchoring” on their own and allowing your teammates to handle the other sites.

VALORANT Player Roles

Unofficial role-like terms you might hear when talking about players and their roles on teams can coincide with actual VALORANT roles. For example, a player known to play “Smokes” may play Controllers, but they also may opt for Agents like Jett, who has smokes for her primary utility, depending on the map and executes.

The “Carry” role is usually the role of your superstar Duelists, however we have seen incredible moments coming from Sentinels like Killjoy and of course, Chamber for their ability to fend off a push singlehandedly with the right setups and hot aim on the day.

The In-Game Leader (IGL) role tends to have players on Controlller. As players that tend to be calling the executes, their ability to get Smokes and site denial down from a line-up while counting in their team for the execute meshes well. And should they die early in the round, you’re not missing as many proactive abilities when it comes to a fight. That said, Initiators have also been seen to be in the hands of your IGLs.

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