Together with Act 2, Agent Killjoy appeared in Valorant. The German engineer brings new skills and some fresh mechanics to the game that have not existed before. MeinMMO shows you what Killjoy can do and how to master her.
Who is Killjoy? The now twelfth agent Killjoy is an engineer from Germany – and thus also the first German hero. Killjoy relies on technology and gadgets to make life difficult for her opponents.
She is classified as a “Sentinel”, meaning she falls into the same category as the healer Sage or the spy Cypher. Her playstyle is therefore more defensive and suitable for defense, but with the right team composition and play style, she can also be effective in attack.
Killjoy is especially suitable for players who want to work more with their skills, as these are somewhat more significant for her than for other agents – at least that’s the impression so far. Riot itself believes that skills are generally not that important.
Killjoy – Overview and Skill
What can the German agent do? Killjoy’s abilities revolve around building and using technical devices and tools:
- Alarmbot (Q – 200 Credits): Equip to throw a disguised Alarmbot. It watches over a small area and hunts enemies that come too close, exploding and dealing damage while increasing their suffered damage.
- Turret (E – free): Equip to deploy a turret. The turret guards a 180° area in front of it and fires at enemies.
- Nanoswarm (C – 200 Credits, up to 2 charges): Equip to throw a Nanoswarm grenade. Reactivating summons a Nanoswarm around the grenade that deals damage to enemies.
- Lockdown (X – 7 points/bullets, Ultimate): Equip to set up a lockdown field. After a long charge time, all enemies in the target area are slowed and disarmed.
You can recall the Alarmbot and Turret by holding the equip button. If you don’t like the position of the device, you can simply relocate it.
Tricks with Killjoy’s abilities: With Killjoy’s abilities, it all depends on how you use them in combination and how you play around them.
The Nanoswarm grenade alone is not necessarily strong. However, if you combine it with an Alarmbot in a hard-to-see spot, you can easily defeat enemies from a distance. The explosion of the bot reveals that an enemy is near your grenade, which you can then activate to eliminate the enemy.
With the Turret, positioning is key. Look for spots where enemies do not notice the turret or notice it too late while it is already firing. The reddit user ChillySnorlax shows in his video a strong position on the map Bind, where he helps his team to a “Flawless” victory with the turret:
Your ultimate “Lockdown” is one of the strongest in the game, but the device can be destroyed before it activates. Place the ult device so that enemies cannot easily reach it, protect it, or use it to force enemies out of cover.
Strengths and Weaknesses
How difficult is she to play? Killjoy’s abilities require quite a bit of practice and map knowledge. It’s important that you do not rely solely on your devices, but rather play around them. Her skills are strong, but they cannot do all the work for you.
The agent is rather suited for a defensive playstyle and can effectively stop enemy advances. Just be especially careful not to get shot through walls when trying to lure enemies into a trap.
In attack, however, she has her deficiencies, as she can hardly support the team’s own advances with her skills and is rather suitable for securing a captured area. However, once you have to defend the bomb site, Killjoy can play to her advantages again.
Strengths:
- strong gadgets that particularly punish careless enemies
- the ability to secure a large area alone
- Alarmbot and turret serve as both a warning and aggressive defense
- intel and the ability to act in multiple areas of the map simultaneously
- the ultimate has one of the potentially strongest effects in the game
Weaknesses:
- each ability can be avoided or destroyed
- rather mediocre performance in attack: no smoke or other initiating abilities
- heavily dependent on the positioning of devices before a fight
- ultimate can be easily destroyed
Team Compositions – The Best Agents with Killjoy
If you want to play Killjoy efficiently, you should ensure that the composition of agents in your team fits. In the list of Valorant agents, there are some that are stronger with Killjoy and some that you should avoid playing with.
The following list consists of recommendations. If you play with a coordinated team, any combination can work. However, if you have to manage without communication, it’s important that you and your team do not get in each other’s way.
Agents with Good Synergy:
- Brimstone
- Viper
- Raze
- Omen
- Sova
Brimstone, Viper and Sova help Killjoy set traps or intercept enemies by revealing or cloaking areas. Raze and Omen are useful for taking down enemies trying to circumvent Killjoy’s traps.
Agents with Poor Synergy:
- Reyna
- Cypher
- Jett
- Breach
Reyna and Jett are offensive agents who are hard to reconcile with Killjoy’s strategic and slow playstyle. If you coordinate well, you may be able to pinch the enemy team, but this comes with high risks.
Cypher, on the other hand, is too similar to Killjoy for collaboration. In principle, you can choose Killjoy in any combination where Cypher is also useful, as they share most properties within the team. It can also work to play them together, but that requires a lot of coordination.
Is it worth playing Killjoy?
Act 2 has only been playable since August 4 and an evaluation of Killjoy’s abilities is therefore somewhat difficult at this time. However, she offers a unique playstyle that somewhat resembles the engineer from Team Fortress 2 or Torbjörn from Overwatch.
If you enjoy surrounding yourself with cool gadgets, protecting an area with your mechanical companions, or relying more on your abilities, you should check out Killjoy. Where exactly she will end up on the tier list of all Valorant agents remains to be seen.
