The original design of Killjoy, Valorant's newest agent, was completely different from what players know her as. She went from a robot with Brimstone's ultimate to a hipster German engineer. Open up ze sky?
Dot Esports recently interviewed Valorant character producer John Goscicki about the recently released character Killjoy. “Well, she used to be a robot,” Goscicki said. “We went through a ton of different iterations for her – different versions of the turret, different supportive bots, etc. She actually started with Brimstone’s ultimate way back in the day and was even more of a terror in post-plant situations than she is now.”
Killjoy’s strength as an agent comes from her ability to hold sites and slow the enemy down. Players are currently frustrated at her swarm grenades, extremely effective at preventing the enemy from defusing the spike. Now imagine Killjoy with Brimstone’s ultimate. Enemies could never even hope to retake a site post-plant.
“At first Killjoy started as the more typical engineer you have seen in other games/media, but as the roster evolved she was no longer fitting in,” according to Goscicki. “So we rebooted her aesthetic, taking cues from punky skateboard culture, and modern hipster engineers.”
Fans have grown attached to the agent’s hipster aesthetic. Cosplay and fanart flooded the internet once the agent was revealed. The Silicon Valley engineer look adds even more color and personality to an already colorful cast.
Killjoy has recently seen competitive play at the PopFlash Invitational. Cloud9’s Mitch, in particular, does a fantastic job of showcasing the agent’s strengths. He uses Killjoy’s utility to force enemies into specific areas so he can pick them off with the Operator. While the agent brings a lot of defensive power, teams have to decide what agents they are willing to replace in order to play Killjoy. Cloud9 decided to replace Sage or Jett, depending on the map. The teams prioritized Killjoy’s utility over Sage’s healing and Jett’s movement. As it stands, the German engineer is continuing to grow in the Valorant's competitive meta.
Sources: Dot Esports, Flashpoint