Pick the best Agents for every rank and get yourself out of that rut.
The VALORANT Roster consists of 21 Agents as of March 2023, with the most recent addition to the roster being Gekko.
New Agents will continue to fill up the roster as the year progresses, which means players will soon have a ton of new Agents to learn and play in the coming months.
With all the new Agents coming to VALORANT, newer players will have difficulty picking an Agent they can use to carry themselves out of every rank in VALORANT.
Knowing the best Agents to play for every rank will help give players the best chance of winning and ranking up in VALORANT.
We have listed the best Agents for every rank in VALORANT in this quick guide.
Iron – Sage
When starting out in VALORANT, players will want an Agent to allow them to play and learn the game without worrying too much about utility use.
Sage can be a great first pick for Iron players thanks to her simple gameplay and ability to support other players. Her Healing Orb can restore her allies’ health back to a healthy level, and her Ultimate can give allies a second chance at life.
Wall Orb is very easy to use as well, and beginners can get a ton of value out of Wall Orb by simply using it to block off entryways into bomb sites.
On the other hand, Slow Orb is both easy to aim and use, and beginners can take advantage of its slow-to-land shots more consistently.
Bronze – Sova
Bronze players will have a better understanding of how abilities work in VALORANT and what it takes to win games on a basic level. They made it through Iron anyway, remember?
Now players can start using more involving Agents such as Sova, whose Recon Bolt and Shock Bolt abilities will require some practice but can come in handy to any team composition in Bronze.
Through Sova’s Recon Bolt and Owl Drone, players can get early information on enemy positions and coordinate site rotations much more easily.
While Sova does not have a solo-carry component built into his kit, his ability to deal extra damage through Shock Bolt and his Ultimate Ability will be very valuable.
Silver – Omen
Omen is a great pick at Silver thanks to his ability to solo-carry games and assist teammates through his smokes.
At Silver, players can take advantage of Omen’s powerful flash ability to score a few quick kills around common lanes leading to bomb sites.
His smoke ability is also very easy to use. When placed decently around entryways leading to bombsites, will be enough to deter the enemy team from rushing into his bombsite.
Omen’s Shrouded Step can also give Silver players access to angles not commonly cleared by Silver players, allowing players to get a few easy kills every now and then.
Gold – Raze
Gold players will be better than Iron, Bronze, and Silver players by quite a bit. At Gold, players will have above-average crosshair placement and an even deeper understanding of Agent abilities.
Gold players can get a ton of value out of Raze, thanks to a slew of high-damage abilities that allow the Agent to clear common lanes leading to bomb sites on the map.
Her Satchel boosts, while challenging to time correctly, gives Raze the ability to set up her powerful Ultimate Ability that is guaranteed to get her at least one kill every time it is off cooldown.
Platinum – Reyna
The jump from Gold to Platinum won’t be that big, considering most current Platinum-ranked players were previously Gold players that were bumped up after Ascendant was added to the game a few updates back.
With that said, Platinum is where players will have to work extra hard to carry themselves out of games. While players in Platinum have better coordination and communication compared to lower ranks, players here will mostly be playing for themselves as they test out the limits of their mechanical aim in unnecessary duels.
Reyna is a great pick in Platinum. She allows players to use their aiming ability to score multiple kills within a round, easily putting the enemy team at an early numbers disadvantage.
Reyna does not rely on teammates to sustain herself as well since she can heal up by simply winning duels.
Reyna can also set up teammates when necessary with her flash ability, making her a fairly versatile Agent that can wreak havoc in solo-queue games in Platinum.
Diamond – Viper
At Diamond, games will be much more organized, and players will play their Agents’ roles strictly throughout matches.
In this rank, players will not have to fend for themselves anymore, as most players’ aim ability in this rank is better than any other rank before it, anyway.
Playing Viper will allow players to set up spots around maps for their teammates and allow them to play their individual roles without worrying about using their own utility too much.
Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are great abilities that can give teammates the confidence to enter bombsites and set up their utilities for post-plant on Attack.
On Defense, Viper can defend most bombsites in VALORANT solo, allowing her team to play freely around other spots around the map.
Playing with teammates will become more important as players climb the ranks in VALORANT. Viper’s kit will make rounds easier to play for her teammates, allowing them to essentially carry her to victory.
Ascendant – KAY/O
One thing that sets the higher ranks apart from, the lower ranks is utility. Knowing where and when to use utility can differentiate between winning and losing rounds in VALORANT, especially in higher ranks such as Ascendant.
KAY/O ability-suppressing EMP Knife is very valuable in higher elo. The ability to stop enemies from using their utility for a few seconds will do wonders for KAY/O’s team. It allows them to set up for Attacking or Defending on any map without too much resistance.
KAY/O also possesses the best flash ability in the game. Still, its tweaked mechanics mean players will require players to coordinate and play off one another to make full use of the utility – something that is commonplace in higher ranks.
Immortal – Fade
Fade’s abilities are simple enough to use that even Bronze players can get some decent value out of them in lower-ranked games, but do not let its ease of use fool you – Fade’s skill ceiling is very high. Players from higher ranks, such as Immortal, can take full advantage of Fade’s powerful kit.
In the hyper-coordinated team play found in Immortal, her teammates can take advantage of Fade’s abilities, such as Seize. At the same time, the easy site information given by Haunt can give higher-ranked players all the information they need to control bomb sites.
Fade’s Ultimate can also take away one of the most important elements of VALORANT gameplay – sound, making it a powerful ability to net Fade players a free round.
Radiant – Jett
Jett is arguably still the most popular Agent in VALORANT, especially in higher elo. She is the de facto duelist pick for many team compositions as she can easily turn the tides of battle to her favor through her ability to aggressively seek out and come out on top of most 1v1 engagements.
Tailwind, otherwise known as Jett’s Dash ability, gives her the ability to take increasingly aggressive peeks toward highly-contested areas around the map with little to no repercussions.
This same game mechanic has made Chamber such a powerful force in high-level play before he was ultimately nerfed to the ground.
Jett is not difficult to learn since anyone can throw smoke clouds, Updraft, Dash, and throw knives by clicking buttons on their keyboard.
What makes Jett difficult to master is the raw aim, game sense, and confidence required to pull off highlight-reel-worthy plays that ultimately put her team on the scoreboard.
In Radiant lobbies, players can take advantage of Jett’s gifts to singlehandedly dictate the course of a match.
An Agent For Every Occasion
The Agents we have listed in this guide are not the only Agents you must play in each respective rank. The Agents you play in your next match will come down to the Agents your other teammates plan on picking.
You will be better off playing an Agent that synergizes well with the rest of your team rather than forcing a pick because it’s ideal for a specific elo.
You can play just about any Agent in VALORANT and still do relatively well, regardless of the current rank you are playing at.
Learning the right time to take fights and when and how to use your Agent’s utility in a match are arguably more impactful factors to winning and ranking up in VALORANT.
