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Valorant has grown in popularity to become one of the most popular tactical shooter games out there. Each playable character, known as an Agent, has their own set of abilities that they can use to their advantage each round.
Valorant is loaded with incredible agents, and some of the most popular choices among players are the Duelists. Duelist Agents are the kings and queens of the one-on-one duel, with kits that allow them to win any gunfight. Duelists should be the top fraggers on most teams as their role is to rack up kills. These are all the Duelist Agents in Valorant, ranked from least to most picked by Radiant-ranked players.
Updated February 28, 2023 by Priscylla Snow: Valorant is constantly adding new Agents, maps, and balance changes to the game. Neon has zipped into the roster, shocking players with her speed and unique kit. Riot has also given Yoru a lot of love, reworking his abilities, while Raze mains were left crying over her recent nerfs. With the addition of Neon, Valorant currently has six Duelists to choose from, letting giving players a versatile roster of Duelists to choose from. Whether you like to head-tap enemies from a distance with a Vandal or get in close with a Judge, Riot has made sure to give everyone an agent that fits their play style.
6 Yoru
Yoru joined the Valorant roster as the 14th agent in Act 1 of Episode 2. The Japanese agent is known for his ability to move between dimensions, tricking his opponents and teleporting around the map.
Basic Abilities: Fakeout and Blindside
Fakeout creates a mirror image of Yoru when activated that walks forward in a straight line. It can be activated immediately or placed as an echo that can be activated from a distance. When shot, the mirror image explodes and flashes an area. Blindside is a blinding ability that allows Yoru to throw a dimensional fragment that bounces off of a surface before flashing nearby players for 1.75 seconds.
Signature Ability: Gatecrash
This ability creates a rift tether on the floor that moves forward allowing Yoru to teleport to its location. Enemies that are close to the rift can see and destroy it. Alternate firing keeps the rift stationary. When activated, it takes 1.2 seconds to teleport and makes a loud sound that can be heard up to 42.5 meters away.
Ultimate Ability: Dimensional Drift
It allows you to enter Yoru’s dimension where you will not be visible to the opposing team. When you re-enter the physical realm, an audio cue will play, and it will take 0.8 seconds before you can fire your weapon.
Yoru's abilities are great for confusing your opponents and getting the jump on them, but after a few rounds, they can become predictable. His ultimate ability allows him to shine, giving you the opportunity to recon an area or use Blindside to help your team take a site. Overall, Yoru's kit feels more gimmicky when compared to other Duelists, which is why Yoru is the least-picked Duelist in Valorant.
5 Neon
An electrifying Filipino agent, Neon is all about dashing around the battlefield. While Jett's Tail Wind gives her a quick burst of speed, Neon can run across an entire map and not even break a sweat.
Passive: Energy
Energy is a straightforward passive that just refers to Neon's energy bar that she uses for her abilities. It is required to use High Gear and Overdrive and slowly regenerates over time, though killing an enemy will instantly refill the bar.
Basic Abilities: Fast Lane and Relay Bolt
Fast Lane creates two smoke walls that travel forward on each side of Neon. The walls last six seconds and can travel up to 45 meters forward. Relay Bolt is a stun ability that fires an energy bolt forward that ricochets off of the first surface it hits before creating a concussive blast. Both of these abilities fire immediately after activation.
Signature Ability: High Gear
High Gear is an amazing ability that lets Neon sprint across the map. When activated, you can alt-fire to perform a slide that allows her to continue moving forward for seven meters and drops her to crouching height.
Ultimate Ability: Overdrive
Neon's ultimate ability instantly refills her Energy and allows her to constantly move in High Gear while charging a lighting beam at her fingertips. The beam has high movement accuracy and does roughly 20 damage every second it is on the enemy.
Overall, Neon is a fun agent to play for aggressive players, but her abilities are lackluster. Overdrive is a great way to get from point A to point B, but you can't fire while using it and there is a delay when pulling out your weapon when it is deactivated unless you have your slide. Her biggest problem is that she lacks sustainability and high damage output, which is why she has such a low pick rate among the Duelist agents.
4 Phoenix
Phoenix has been a playable agent in Valorant since the game’s release. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Phoenix is the pure definition of a duelist and is blessed with the ability to use fire.
Passive: Heating Up
Phoenix's Blaze and Hot Hands heal him up to 50 health over their durations.
Basic Abilities: Blaze and Curveball
Blaze is a vision-blocking ability that creates a long wall of fire for eight seconds. It damages players passing through it but heals Phoenix. Curveball is a blind ability where Phoenix curves a fireball around a corner that flashes players for 1.5 seconds.
Signature Ability: Hot Hands
Hot Hands is a molly ability that allows Phoenix to throw a fireball that explodes after 1.5 seconds or when it hits the floor. The fireball sets the floor on fire for four seconds, damaging players that walk over it and healing Phoenix while he stands in it.
Ultimate Ability: Run It Back
A sustain ability that creates a flaming respawn marker on the ground for ten seconds. During this time, use weapons and abilities as usual, and if you are killed or the timer runs out, you'll respawn at the marker you previously placed.
Phoenix has such a great overall kit. He can create cover with Blaze to enter a site and heal himself by standing in his fire abilities. Hot Hands could be used both offensively and defensively. Run It Back is great for pushing areas but is dangerous to use since it is easy to camp your respawn marker.
3 Raze
Raze has been a member of the Valorant roster since launch. The Brazilian agent is all about destruction and has a versatile kit that’s ideal for any situation.
Basic Abilities: Boom Bot and Blast Pack
Raze's Boom Bot is an intel-gaining ability that drops a robot on the floor that moves in straight lines for five seconds. Once it detects an enemy within three meters of its vision cone, it explodes, dealing up to 100 damage to surrounding players. Blast Pack is a mobility ability where Raze throws a satchel that can be detonated to propel her through the air or do some damage to your opponents.
Signature Ability: Paint Shells
It’s a deterrent ability where Raze throws a cluster grenade that explodes and then releases four more grenades over a six-meter area. Enemies caught in the explosion will take between 15-55 damage depending on how close they are to the center of the explosion.
Ultimate Ability: Showstopper
Raze takes out a rocket launcher for 10 seconds and fires a missile, dealing 30-150 damage to all enemies within its massive seven-meter radius. Upon firing, Raze is slightly knocked back by the recoil which can be used in the air for extra mobility.
Boom Bot is pretty underwhelming but useful to check if there are enemies nearby. Blast Packs are great for quick movements and can get you easy kills if used creatively, but they're difficult to master. Fortunately, Raze’s signature and ultimate abilities are solid and very easy to use, and with her high damage output, it's easy to see why she is one of the top-picked Duelists.
2 Reyna
Reyna is the empress of Mexico and one of the most deadly agents in Valorant. She was released at launch and quickly established herself as one of the best duelists with her devour ability.
Passive: Soul Harvest
This passive causes any enemy that dies up to three seconds after receiving damage from Reyna to drop a Soul Orb that Reyna can use for her Devour and Dismiss abilities.
Basic Ability: Leer
Leer creates an ethereal destructible eye that can be thrown ten meters forward and goes through walls. Opponents looking in the eye direction of the eye will be nearsighted for 1.6 seconds, or until they destroy it.
Signature Abilities: are Devour and Dismiss
Devour is arguably the strongest ability in Valorant, and makes Reyna one of the hardest agents to kill. Enemies that you kill leave a soul orb for three seconds that you can Devour to heal yourself for 100 health over three seconds. The ability also allows you to overheal up to 50 health that decays over 30 seconds. Dismiss allows you to become intangible for two seconds when consuming a soul orb, making you immune to incoming damage but unable to use any weapons or abilities.
Ultimate Ability: Empress
Reyna enters a frenzy for 30 seconds, increasing firing speed by 15 percent, as well as equip and reload speeds by 25 percent. It highlights enemies in her line of sight in red. When Devour is used in this form it automatically activates Dismiss, which will make now make you completely invisible for its duration. Additionally, Empress’ duration is renewed by killing an opponent.
Reyna is a duelist that relies completely on your ability to get kills. With her Soul Harvest passive being the core of her abilities, missing shots can be devastating, and with no mobility abilities, you can find yourself completely vulnerable. If you can land those head taps, though, Reyna is a terrifying Duelist that can easily carry a team.
1 Jett
Hailing from South Korea, Jett is all about mobility and speed. She’s been around since the launch of Valorant and is the most mobile agent in the game due to her wind powers.
Passive Ability: Drift
Drift is a mobility passive that lets you negate fall damage by holding the jump key when falling. While doing this, Jett's movement is severely slowed, but she can drift forward and makes no sound when landing.
Basic Abilities: Cloudburst and Updraft
Cloudburst is a smoke ability where Jett throws a projectile that expands into a ball of wind for 4.5 seconds after contact with any surface or being in the air for 2 seconds; whichever happens first. Updraft is a mobility ability that launches Jett into the air.
Signature Ability: Tailwind
When activated, Jett is enveloped in a gust of wind that will propel Jett in any direction she is moving when activated again. If standing still, the ability will propel her forward.
Ultimate Ability: Blade Storm
This ability equips Jett with five throwing knives that have perfect accuracy and recharge after killing an opponent. Alt firing throws all the knives at once in a burst, but is less accurate and kills will not recharge your knives.
Jett is the top duelist in the game because she has the best mobility out of any agent. Tailwind lets Jett dash to cover immediately after firing a shot, which makes her an absolute beast with the Operator sniper rifle. Whether it’s popping into cover with Tailwind or getting surprising enemies in Heaven with Updraft, Jett is a hard agent to play against. Add her perfect aim head-tapping knives, and it's no wonder Jett has consistently been the most-picked Duelist in Valorant.