Shroud explains why Valorant’s Omen isn’t as powerful as he seems

Connor Bennett

Streaming superstar Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek has explained why Valorant’s Omen Agent isn’t quite as powerful as some players might think – noting that it could be pretty “readable” in competitive play.

Ever since Valorant’s closed beta launched on April 7, players have been getting to grips with Riot Games’ take on the tactical shooter genre. The response has been pretty positive, with players who have tried the game praising what the League of Legends devs have done. 

Even though the closed beta has been live for a few weeks, fans are still learning characters – and with the added wrinkle of ranked play building to a competitive esports scene, some assessment of the Agents will no doubt change.

Omen has become a regular figure to see in Valorant matches.

For Shroud, his assessment of Omen – who he had ranked as a C tier Agent – has seemingly changed in relation to competitive play, as he suggested that the Shadow Hunter won’t be as powerful as you might think. 

“I mean, Omen is not bad, but there’s a reason why I think he’s B tier,” said the former Counter-Strike professional during his April 30 stream.

“Like, I think even though he’s really, really good, he is very readable – as in like, if you take two good teams and pit them up against each other, and one team knows that the other team has an Omen that is really, really skilled, pretty much they can review and go over how that guy plays Omen.”

Shroud noted that there are “different ways to play Omen,” be it as a disruptor, initiator, or lurker, but it wouldn’t take too long to figure out a playstyle for a specific player.

Obviously, that changes in normal matchmaking when you don’t have a video or scouting report on the opposing Omen player, but it is something that would affect esports competition. 

Teams could shake up their selection of Agents to try and throw opponents off but if you’ve got a pretty set playstyle, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to counter either.

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