Sage Abilities
Every team needs Sage, and she has been in the meta since the beginning of this game. Why? All four of Sage’s abilities are focused on supporting your teammates. Your primary job is to heal the Duelists on your team and set them up for success.
C – Barrier Orb: 400 Credits, 1 Charge
Video Credit: Riot Games
- EQUIP a barrier orb. FIRE places a wall that fortifies after a few seconds. ALT FIRE rotates the targeter.
Barrier Orb is nothing other than an Ice Wall. This wall takes three seconds to fortify; it can be rotated in any desired direction and placed everywhere. The duration of this wall is 40 seconds; it has 400 HP while building, and 800 HP when fortified.
The usage of the wall is pretty straightforward. It is a wall that you simply place somewhere to slow down your opponents’ progression and completely block off any choke point. Not only does it block their vision, but it also prevents them from going through it. That’s why Sage is excellent in defending situations. She can combine this wall with her Slow Orb,which will slow down enemies even more, and give enough time for your teammates to rotate.
Another useful way to use this wall is for boosting. You can use it to cut off a portion of the map, and at the same time hide on the wall behind some cover. Just make sure to stand directly above it before creating it. Also, try to create it so you will have a wall or a box to provide you with a cover, instead of being out in the open. You can peek and try to get a kill; if you do not succeed, just jump back behind your wall. You will be long gone before your enemies are able to break through the wall.
Q – Slow Orb: 200 Credits, 2 Charges
Video Credit: Riot Games
- EQUIP a slowing orb. FIRE to throw a slowing orb forward that detonates upon landing, creating a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.
One of the most unique abilities in VALORANT is Sage’s Slow Orb. If we have to compare it with something, it would be like Astra’s Gravity Well. The ability itself does not deal damage, but it will significantly slow down enemies, reducing their movement speed by 50%. The duration of Slow Orb is seven seconds, which should give your teammates enough time to rotate, so you don’t have to get involved in the fight alone. Just make sure to throw it from a safe distance and always bounce it off a wall to make it travel further. Do not peek to throw this ability!
The best way to use this Orb is as a Defender, but it can also be used in post-plant scenarios to slow down enemies and give yourself a better chance to win the round. If you have two Slow Orbs and know from which direction the enemies are coming for a re-take, you can steal 14 precious seconds from them. If we count the time it takes to get to the site and calculate the seven seconds needed to defuse the spike, the Attackers will have roughly 10-15 seconds to re-take the site, which is a near-impossible challenge.
E – Healing Orb: Free
Video Credit: Riot Games
- EQUIP a healing orb. FIRE with your crosshairs over a damaged ally to activate a heal-over-time on them. ALT FIRE while Sage is damaged to activate a self heal-over-time.
The most useful ability Sage has in VALORANT is the Healing Orb. This ability allows her to heal her teammates for a maximum of 60 HP, and it takes only 5 seconds for them to heal. Self-healing is also possible, but it takes 10 seconds for the same effect. The ability itself is free of charge, and it recharges every 45 seconds. Therefore, it is possible to heal multiple teammates during the same round. Keep in mind that if you heal a Duelist and they get a kill, no matter if you didn’t deal any damage, you will still get an assist. That’s why Sage players usually end up with double-digit assists.
The Healing Orb will automatically target the lowest health player. So, if you are in the heat of the moment and there are a lot of teammates nearby, you don’t need to think about who to target; just use the ability.
If you are hiding, keep in mind that using the Healing Orb makes a sound. Sometimes it’s better not to use it, as it will give away the location of you and your teammates. The exact area from which your enemies can hear the sound is shown on the map.
X – Resurrection: 8 Ultimate Points
Video Credit: Riot Games
- EQUIP a resurrection ability. FIRE with your crosshairs placed over a dead ally to begin resurrecting them. After a brief channel, the ally will be brought back to life with full health.
Sage’s ultimate ability enables you to bring your teammates back to life. If a teammate is dead, all you have to do is come close to their corpse and activate the ability. The ability will automatically resurrect your teammate with full HP. However, they won’t have any armor. Be careful when doing so, and make sure to use the Barrier Orb; if you are not sure if there are any enemies nearby. It will provide you with enough cover to do it safely. Remember that it takes a few seconds for your teammate to be able to shoot again, so try to guard the body until they are ready.
Playstyle for Sage in VALORANT
There are two playstyles for this Agent: pocket Sage and battle Sage. Battle Sage is, as the name suggests, an aggressive wannabe Duelist. Battle Sage uses utility to take and reinforce control of the map, relying on her self-heal to stay in the fight. While Sage can be an excellent aggressor in the right hands, most people will likely find more success playing a pocket Sage. VALORANT rewards experience, so get familiar with her kit before trying to push her in a more offensive direction.
Sage becomes more and more valuable the longer she stays alive into a round. That does not mean you need to hide and not do anything; you should still play and try to support your teammates as much as possible. Just make sure not to peek and die first. It is the worst thing Sage can do in VALORANT.
The biggest mistakes players tend to make with Sage is that they spend their abilities too quickly. Don’t place the wall at the very start of the round; it will decay with time, and it will be wasted. First, make sure the enemies are there, and as soon as you hear footsteps, place it. The right timing and placement are everything. If not spent, the wall can later be used to assist you with re-takes, give you a cover to defuse the spike, or create new angles to attack from.
Playing Sage means that you constantly have to communicate with teammates. This is a good thing, but sometimes you will deal with annoying ones that will ask you to heal them every 10 seconds, even though you already told them the heal is on the cooldown. The best way to deal with this is to tell them to press left Alt, and it will show them if the ability is ready or not.
Here are a few tips for getting the most out of Sage:
- Use Healing Orb frequently, and try to heal injured players as quickly as possible. Having their health topped off allows them to get back to taking fights, and you can immediately start the cooldown on Sage’s heal. VALORANT has precious few healing abilities, so try to use it as efficiently as you can.
- When you are defending with Sage, you’ll want to use her abilities to stall enemies for as long as possible. Use timing and positioning to layer her Slow Orbs and keep enemies moving in slow motion for as long as possible.
- Barrier Orb deploys in sections, so portions of it can be destroyed independently. After using the wall to boost yourself up, you can destroy any exposed portions to conceal your position from enemies and get some unexpected angles.
In the early days of VALORANT, Sage was overpowered, resulting in her being on every team. Therefore, she received a significant nerf in patch 1.07. On top of that, Riot introduced another healer, Skye, to reduce the value of Sage even more. Be that as it may, she is still in 80% of teams, and you will hardly find any match without her. You can’t go wrong with Sage, as every team still needs her. This Agent has one of the highest win rates, and her contribution is vital in every matchup.
