The tactical shooter Valorant is getting its new, 12th agent in the roster. Killjoy is an engineer from Germany with unique abilities that will surely frustrate her opponents.
What can Killjoy do? Killjoy’s abilities are already known from a previous leak and have now all been confirmed. Her skills are now verified:
- Alarmbot (Q): Press the button to equip an Alarmbot and fire to deploy it. The bot waits for opponents. Once they are within range, it pounces on them, dealing damage and increasing the damage they take from all sources.
- Turret (E): Press the button to equip a turret and set it up with the fire button. The turret guards an area of 180° in front of it and automatically fires at opponents.
- Nanoswarm (C): Press the button to equip a Nanoswarm grenade and throw it with the fire button. The grenade camouflages itself at the point of impact, and the ability can be activated to deal damage to opponents in a radius.
- Lockdown (X; Ultimate): Equip a Lockdown device, which you can deploy with the fire button. After a charging time of 12 seconds, the device detains all enemies in a large radius, severely slows them down, and disarms them. The device can be destroyed while it is charging.
From previous rumors, we already know that Killjoy will be an engineer from Germany, the first German agent in Valorant. The colleagues at GameStar have already talked extensively with the developers about her.
How do I get Killjoy? Like all other agents, you can unlock Killjoy for free through her contract. The contract also includes:
- 3 sprays
- 2 titles
- one gun buddy
- one player card
When does Killjoy come out? The new agent will arrive with the upcoming Act 2 of Valorant. It is likely to launch on Tuesday, August 4th.
Control areas, frustrate opponents, secure points
How strong are the abilities: From her abilities, it can already be inferred that Killjoy will be a strong agent. On the tier list of Valorant , she could even land in the A or even S ranks.
With her abilities, Killjoy can easily hold areas, even alone if necessary. The bot allows her to guard entry points and combined with the Nanoswarm, it can instantly kill intruders. As a tactic against her, “Wallbangs” might help if you know where Killjoy is hiding.
The turret is a strong support when it comes to taking out opponents. Since Valorant is a tactical shooter, players already have relatively few health points, and the fire from Killjoy herself and her turret can quickly become fatal.
On the other hand, the ultimate is a bit trickier. If placed in the right spot, it can force opponents to move out of cover or avoid an area. However, if placed too openly, it can be easily destroyed.
Killjoy’s abilities characterize her as a more defensive agent, especially suited for defense, similar to the recently buffed Viper. For attacking, you will probably need strong support from other agents.
That’s why you will be cursing: Automatic turrets have caused trouble in shooters before, most recently with Torbjörn from Overwatch. There, the hero himself was considered too strong, at least on consoles.
The problem with turrets is that they “cheat” by always hitting. They effectively always use an aimbot. For a cheating player, this would lead to a permaban that is held right under their nose.
Even if it doesn’t hit, it reveals the position of the opponents through its shots. Depending on the range, a turret alone can thwart an attack just by being there. There may still be adjustments here, but perhaps Killjoy won’t turn out to be as problematic in Valorant as she initially sounds.
