Riot’s upcoming hybrid shooter Valorant which is a wild mix of CS:GO and Overwatch is steadily releasing teasers and more gameplay footage every week. We already saw the fire-based Phoenix and the poison-themed Viper. This time it’s Sova, a Russian elite who’s all about getting the job done.
We gotta say that the "Defy the limits" part but this time in Russian was a nice touch by Riot Games. Sova means “owl” in Russian and the character seems to be focused on taking out foes from long-range. The agent also possesses a bionic right eye which allows him to control a drone, giving him a good idea of what’s ahead. Fans were already quick to compare him to Overwatch’s Hanzo, calling him Russian Hanzo. To be fair, this is as close to the truth as it gets, as both characters utilize a bow and a sonar arrow, which detects enemies.
Abilities
We didn’t get to see all Sova’s abilities in the trailer above, but we have a pretty good idea what they are. As usual, Sova has two basic abilities, a signature one and an ultimate:
- Shock Bolt:Fires an explosive bolt that emits a damaging pulse of static energy upon impact.
- Owl Drone: Deploys a controllable drone that provides vision. Additionally, it can fire a dart that will reveal enemies who are hit.
- Signature Ability – Recon Bolt: Fires a bolt that deploys a sonar emitter. The sonar pings and tags nearby enemies, causing them to be revealed. Can be destroyed by enemy fire.
- Ultimate Ability – Hunter’s Fury: Fire up to three deadly energy blasts that spear across the entire map. Enemies who take a hit from Hunter's Fury receive heavy damage and get marked.
Weirdly enough we didn’t get to see neither his ultimate, Hunter’s Fury, nor his signature ability – Shock Bolt. What we do see though is the drone which can be utilized to provide intel for the team, as well as make enemies reveal themselves by shooting it. We also see the Recon Bolt in action and it’s clear why people compare him to Hanzo. We can already tell just based on the two skills we saw that Sova will be a popular pick due to the advantage he can provide to his squadmates.
Five more characters are still to be revealed for Riot’s shooter. We’ll probably see each of them get an individual trailer over the course of the next few months. Around 10 agents will be available from the start with 5 of them being free to play. So far Valorant is rumored to release in the summer of 2020, but the information hasn’t been confirmed yet, as Riot Games remain silent. Hey, at least they keep the audience interested with regular character updates and more details about the game.
