How long do Valorant abilities last? Timing guide for Omen, Sage, more

Waiting for Brimstone’s Sky Smokes or Sage’s Barrier Orb to go down can be unnerving for players who aren’t familiar with ability timings in Valorant, making this detailed breakdown a handy tool to have.

Riot Games’ tactical shooter separates itself from other slow-paced FPS titles with the diverse set of abilities every Agent has in lieu of conventional utility seen in other games like CS:GO.

While this can make the gameplay feel fresh or unique depending on the character you pick, you’ll also have to contend with other Agent’s capabilities and learn to play around them.

Luckily, user ‘Jaotis’ created an extensive list that gives players a much better sense of how long different characters can influence the map with their abilities.

Some of the more valuable bits of information are definitely the cooldowns for Sage’s abilities like knowing that a Barrier ice wall lasts for half a minute while slow orbs last for seven seconds.

Meanwhile, Brimstone’s Sky Smokes, of which he can place up to three simultaneously, last 14 seconds and can further stall out pushes with his Incendiary for eight more ticks on the clock.

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Jett’s Cloudburst and Cypher’s Cyber Cage both only last for seven seconds, making them some of the shortest visual obstructions in the game. An interesting addition to this list are the durations of Ultimates, which can send a team scrambling once they hear an opponent’s voice line thundering across the map.

Phoenix’s Run It Back lasts for 10 seconds, giving players a clear timeframe for people who don’t want to engage the Agent or how long opponents have to find the marker that the Ultimate leaves behind.

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Jaotis said they calculated these durations using a standard stopwatch and by going into the Practice Range. While the accuracy might be a little off, players can still get a practical sense of how long they last.

When teams in Valorant start exchanging abilities to push, repel, or anything in between, these ability timings can be crucial to be aware of for split-second executes on a site or to catch an opponent in their most vulnerable state.