Riot has revealed the first character from its competitive FPS Valorant. Phoenix is an agent from Britain who can use fire-based abilities to get the edge on enemy players.
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Valorant’s playable characters are known as Agents, and Phoenix is the first one to get a proper introduction. The short video Riot has put out shows him using a couple of abilities that involve controlling fire. The first is a fireball summoned with a click of his fingers that can be bounced around corners. While the video does not explicitly explain what each ability does, it appears to work akin to a flash bang, as the ability’s victim appears to have a stun-like visual before Phoenix scores an easy headshot on them. It appears that the ability can be used twice in a round, as it has two charges on the HUD.
The HUD also shows a further three abilities with a single charge each, one of which Phoenix uses to summon a wall of fire that’s impossible to see through. This allows him to cut a lane of the map off, use a fireball to help take on two enemies, and then eliminate someone approaching from the other angle as the firewall extinguishes.
The other two abilities are not used in the video, but the icons suggest one may be another form of the fireball ability (perhaps one that deals damage instead) and another ability that seems as if it could heal. With Phoenix borrowing his name from the legendary bird that rises from the ashes after death, could this be a resurrect skill?
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Abilities in Valorant work differently to other hero shooters, in that they are ‘bought’ at the start of each round with currency earned from kills and objective wins, rather than a permanent part of an Agent’s kit. If anything like Counter-Strike’s economy elements, certain abilities will be very expensive and require a certain amount of success in a match to afford.
For more on Valorant, check out our hands-on preview of Riot’s potentially huge FPS.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com First Valorant Playable Character Revealed