Riot Games have been hard at work, teasing fans with new gameplay footage from their upcoming tactical shooter. This time it’s Sage, a Chinese Valorant agent which will fill the support role.
Valorant revealed yet another character, which we can only hope will be unlocked from the start. Sage is an agent of Chinese origin that appears to possess both offensive and defensive options despite being labeled as support. This is the first agent with a clearly defined support role and it’s not clear if one of the other upcoming characters will also fit the same description.
Riot released a short gameplay clip on Twitter where we saw some a part of Sage’s kit with two of her abilities being used to take out opponents.
First look at SAGE in #VALORANT."Let them try to get through me" pic.twitter.com/wou8Bjf576
— Valorant News (@ValorantUpdates) March 26, 2020
Sage appears to be centered around using orbs, with each of them having a different function – from healing and crowd control to resurrection.
Slow Orb: Equip a slowing orb.Fire to throw a slowing orb forward that detonates upon landing, creating a lingering field that slows and grounds players caught inside of it.
This seems like a total block for any entry point, as anyone trying to get through would either be stuck crossing or alert the entire enemy team of their location.
Barrier Orb: Equip a barrier orb. Fire places a solid wall. Alternate fire rotates the targeter.
This will be the third agent with a wall-like ability at their disposal – Phoenix has a burning one, while Viper has a toxic wall. Sage’s skill appears to be the only one which people can climb though, so it’d provide more of a tactical advantage since you can use it to block enemy vision or give allies the high ground.
Signature Ability – Healing Orb: Equip a healing orb. Fire with your crosshairs over a damaged ally to activate a heal-over-time on them. Alternate fire while Sage is damaged to activate a self heal-over-time.
We didn’t get to see Healing Orb in the trailer, but it sounds like a full heal might be a bit too good if used properly.
Ultimate Ability – Resurrection: 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.
Resurrection is the one ability that stands out from the rest. While it could be situational, in most cases bringing an ally back to life could be the turning point of the round. It outclasses every other skill we’ve seen in Valorant so far.
As you can probably tell, Sage is not the typical support most players imagine. Her kit will allow her to also play aggressively and resurrection can make her a game-changer. She does remind us of Mei from Overwatch as both characters are of Chinese origin and have a thing for walls and ice, but that’s where the similarities end.
The shooter will have an initial roster of 10 agents with 5 of them being available to everyone, while the rest will be unlocked with in-game progress. Valorant is expected to come out this summer and so far Riot haven’t announced any delays, which is certainly good news.
