New Valorant gameplay reveals in-depth look at Ultimate abilities

Exclusive Valorant gameplay from popular Overwatch YouTube channel HITSCAN has provided us with an in-depth look at Ultimate abilities in Riot’s upcoming FPS.

The hype is real for Valorant. The Agent-based, 5v5 tactical shooter takes place on a near-future Earth, where teams will take turns to attack and defend reactor sites in a best-of-24 round format.

Following on from Riot Games’ March 2 press release, plenty have been dissecting the footage of the game’s round preview. However, thanks to the guys over at HITSCAN, we have some extended footage to breakdown.

While it is already known that Agent abilities will rely on a player’s economic resources, little is known about a player’s ultimate (ULT) ability and how they’ll work in-game.

• Read more: How does Valorant’s economy compare to CSGO? Full analysis

However, an in-depth look at HITSCAN’s footage shows Agent Jett’s ‘Blade Storm’ ULT in full effect (and more importantly, how this is earned).

After earning a flurry of kills at one of the reactor sites, Jett’s Ultimate ability becomes available to deploy.

Segment starts at 10:34 for mobile users.

Per Riot’s character descriptions, the developers describe the Blade Storm ability as “several deadly throwing knives that deal moderate damage and kill on headshots. Scoring a kill restores all daggers.”

• Read more: 17 Valorant weapons revealed in gameplay preview trailer

While we don’t see Jett deploy her Blade Storm ability in HITSCAN’s extended gameplay video, we can deduce that kills count towards Jett’s Ultimate ability and cannot be purchased between rounds.

Moreover, this doesn’t appear to be exclusive to Jett. Other Agents, such as Brimstone, appear to be reliant on kills to charge their ULT.

On top of delving into the mechanics of Jett’s Ultimate ability, HITSCAN’s video also highlights how abilities work for Viper, Sage, Brimstone and Phoenix.

• Read more: Is Valorant coming to PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch?

Of course, Agent abilities are designed to add an additional tactical element to gameplay, and can dictate the outcome of a round.

This means that teams will have to manage their economy efficiently, to ensure that those Agents who are poised to earn their Ultimate ability have the best possible chance of earning it.