Valorant Agent Concept

Targeting players who want to initiate for their team, but stay directly in the action, and get self benefit for initiating properly.

Create an Initiator agent that has gunplay-focused abilities that has a more team-wide effect than an agent like Reyna

Create a new roster spot by making an initiator more ready to get into the action than Breach/Gekko, but less selfish than Reyna.

Design Goal: An ability that lets you turn teammate failure into personal momentum and possibly help you clutch.

Implementation: Small overheal and haste effect given if the ability is activated and a teammate dies within a close enough range.

Early Problems: By rewarding teammate death, players can easily fall into a negative "I want my team to die" mindset.

Design Goal: A way to buff a teammate, and then have a buff return back to yourself depending on the buffed teammate's performance.

Implementation: Give one teammate a stim boost, and if they get a kill or die during the stim, you get the stim boost transferred to you.

Early Problems: By relying on a teammate's performance to get any benefit, this ability loses all purpose during clutches, or spread out plays.

Design Goal: A flash ability that can reliably get value so that this agent can reliably give value to the team without relying on their core gimmick.

Implementation: A fast moving, overhand thrown flash, that can be activated to flash once by re-using the ability. Once the grenade settles on the ground, it can be shot and destroyed by enemy players.

Early Problems: No lifetime limit promotes set-ups instead of active use, making this ability lean more towards a Sentinel playstyle instead of Initiator.

Design Goal: A teammate revive ability that allows this agent to get value with their other teammate-based abilities, but also requiring both players to play strongly to get good value.

Implementation: Use on a dead ally to revive them after a short time. After revival, this agent and the revived player become linked, sharing their health stats with each other, with both players dying if one linked player drops to zero health.

Early Problems: By putting each players life completely in the other players hands, each could feel too out of control of their own life.

Identified Issues: Ability shouldn't promote "I want my teammates to die" mentality, as well as should require a little more mechanical input.

Possible Solution 1: Positive effects could be linked to teammates getting kills that you assist, promoting team play instead of team death, but reducing usability in clutch situations.

Possible Solution 2: Buffs could be linked to absorbing a "Data Packet" that teammates leave behind under certain circumstances, similar to Reyna's Soul Orbs, to require input instead of being automatic.

Outcome: Utilized both changes by making buffs linked to absorbing nearby Data Packets, that spawn both by nearby deaths and teammates get a kill that you assisted. 

Identified Issues: This ability has no value in solo situations, as well as requiring no mechanic skill, making it dependent on strategic depth.

Possible Solution 1: An alt fire use, which would inject the user with a  weaker combat stim effect to give value if no teammates are around.

Possible Solution 2: A short wind-up before stim activation could encourage a focus on timing, and lean into the strategic depth focus that this ability lends itself to.

Outcome: Adopted both changes to ensure this ability has a place in solo situations, and preserve the primary strategic loop while promoting planning-ahead instead of snap usage. 

Identified Issues: This iteration has no pressure to use the flash actively, as well as having a low range possibility to set up for allies.

Possible Solution 1: Adding a maximum lifetime, and long travel distance similar to Skye's Guiding Light would promote quicker usage and allow for more team-focused play.

Possible Solution 2: Removing the ability for the flash to sit on the ground, but instead having re-use activate the flash early would give more control over the timing of the flash while removing the components that promoted long-term setup.

Outcome: Adopted part of both changes, removing the set-up aspects of the flash, and instead making it a predictable long distance flash, with the opportunity for early activation by re-pressing the ability button.

Identified Issues: By linking two player's lives, it can very quickly lead to frustration for both players if just one makes a mistake.

Possible Solution 1: Healing the user to 100 health during the revive animation would help to ensure this ultimate, and sharing your hp, is useful even in late-round low-hp situations.

Possible Solution 2: By adjusting the ratio of damage transfer between two linked agents, we can reduce the frustration of taking damage because of someone else's mistake, but keep the importance of the link.

Outcome: Implemented both changes in order to reduce possible player frustration, and ensure that this ultimate is able to get high value in more situations.

Final Ability Description: Teammates who die within 12 meters of you or get a kill that you assisted leave behind visible Data Packets that lasts 8 seconds. INSTANTLY consume a nearby Data Packet within line of sight to gain 4 seconds of +10% movement speed haste and regenerate up to 40 health over 1.5 seconds.

Charge Cost & Max: 2 Charges Max, 150 Credits Each

Example Tuning Levers: 

• 1. Duration before Data Packets disappear .

• 2. The length and strength of the haste effect.

• 3. The amount of regenerated health, the regeneration rate, and whether overheal is possible.

Counterplay: Similar counterplay to denying a Reyna from utilizing Devour. Visible Data Packets and audio cues when Plan B is used will help enemies decide how to react in different situations.

Final Ability Description: EQUIP a dart launcher. FIRE at a teammate to inject them, initiating a 1 second wind-up, then giving them a Combat Stim effect for 8 seconds. During the Stim duration, if that player is killed or gets a kill, they instantly lose the effect and you are granted a Combat Stim effect for 6 seconds. This transfer effect does not chain further. ALT FIRE to inject yourself, instantly applying a weaker Combat Stim effect for 5 seconds.

Charge Cost & Max: 1 Charge Max, 60 Second Rechargeable Cooldown

Example Tuning Levers: 

• 1. The duration of combat stim can be tuned differently for all cases.

• 2. The wind-up before the combat stim activated.

• 3. The difference in strength between self-injected and teammate-transferred combat stim.

Counterplay: An audio cue would help enemies know when a stim dart is used, and prepare before hand. Combined with the short wind-up, enemies will have time to react before the stim effect begins.

Final Ability Description: EQUIP a pulse grenade. FIRE to overhand throw. The grenade will activate after settling on the ground, or after its 2.5 second lifetime runs out, blinding anyone in line of sight for 2.25 seconds max. RE-USE to activate the flash early with lower potency, blinding anyone in line of sight for 1.5 seconds max.

Charge Cost & Max: 2 Charges Max, 200 Credits Each

Example Tuning Levers: 

• 1. Whether or not the grenade activates after settling on the ground.

• 2. The maximum lifetime of the flash before activating.

• 3. The maximum blind duration under normal circumstances vs when activated early.

Counterplay: Early activation would have a separate and distinct audio cue to help enemies react, with the longer blind activation having much more predictable timing.

Final Ability Description: EQUIP a custom-made defibrillator. FIRE while aiming at a dead teammate to begin resurrecting them and begin regenerating up to 100 health. After 3.5 seconds, the teammate will be brought back to life with your health value, and becomes neurally linked to you. Any damage taken by either player will be transferred to the other linked player at a 50% ratio. Any status effect each teammate gains is also shared between the two (Vulnerable, Decay, Combat Stim, Empress, Evolution, etc).

Ult Point Cost: 7 Points

Example Tuning Levers: 

• 1. The length of the revival animation and amount of health regenerated while reviving.

• 2. The ratio of damage transfer between linked agents, and whether or not one linked agent dying instantly kills the other.

• 3. Whether or not negative, positive, or ultimate-ability-based status effects are shared between linked players.

Counterplay: Length revival time gives interrupt potential, as well as damage being transferred between linked agents punishing individual play after revival.

Learned the workflow, design goals, the approach that the Valorant team uses for agent design.

Tuning levers must be robust and be adjustable without ruining the personality of the character to ensure balance in the future.

Designing from the start with clarity in mind helps prevent the development of overly complex mechanics.

 Thematic cohesion is a very important and powerful design tool that must both be simple to understand and give personality.