Earlier today just before the grand finals of VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo, the 22nd Valorant agent was revealed and played during a showmatch while Riot developer Ryan Cousart explains in detail the capabilities of the agent. Below is everything we know so far about Gekko, sixth Valorant initiator. So, who is Gekko?
Contents
Gekko Agent Trailer
Gekko Valorant release date
We expect Gekko to be released in Valorant March 7, 2023, alongside with VALORANT Episode 6 Act 2. This date looks most likely to be true.
But if not, then Gekko release should be two months later, May 9, 2023, with the beginning of VALORANT Episode 6 Act 3.
Anyway, we are expecting Gekko to be in the game sometime this spring.
Gekko abilities and analysis
Dizzy (E)
First thing’s first, Gekko’s E ability ‘Dizzy’ is a recoverable flash ability that deploys as a thrown creature that deploys on similar mechanics to throwing Fade’s Haunt ability.
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‘¢ Dizzy Gekko’s ability: Benefits
- Dizzy can proc its flash effect the entirety of its time in the air and along the entire trajectory of the flash until it hits the ground, with a hypothetical recovery and reuse of 7 times in a given round per Ryan Cousart.
- Flash condition is line-of-sight like any other flash in the game, combining with the first point to provide a very good ease-of-use component to ranked play.
- When flash effect is triggered, a visible blue ground splatter visual accompanies the usual blind icon, which can give away positions in tight corners as you clear the site.
- Dizzy can bounce off surfaces while in the air for interesting angles or lineups.
‘¢ Dizzy Gekko’s ability: Drawbacks
- Flash does not cover the entirety of the player’s HUD. This allows people to still see minimap, full utility, ammo, and health. This takes away from the removal of information every other flash in the game provides, and allows for rotations and spacing to be maintained in ways not possible with every other blind in the game except Skye seekers.
- Dizzy has to be physically recovered to be used again in the round, having to be picked up on the same time as orb recovery, two seconds. Players are entirely vulnerable during this time just like any orb recovery, and it’s unclear if there’s a sound cue to the recovery that enemies can hear.
- Dizzy has only 20 HP so almost any gun engagement can remove it from play with one shot, which means it likely won’t be enough of a flash to be the only flash you run, and it’s informational use isn’t revealing enough to replace either Sova or Fade.
Affected Point of View, DizzyImage Credit: VALORANT Lock//In Showmatch
Mosh Pit (C)
The second piece of Gekko’s kit to highlight is his area damaging Mosh Pit ability, which deploys similarly to KillJoy’s Nanoswarm ability by allowing a far-reaching primary throw or underhanded short range alternative throw.
‘¢ Mosh Pit Gekko’s ability: Benefits
- Mosh Pit provides a very large area coverage, though not made completely transparent what the exact radius is, it’s easily the largest molly in the game.
- Unlike other molotov-function abilities in the game, Mosh Pit ends with an explosion to prevent players from testing the last few moments of post-plant utility like KillJoy nanoswarms or Viper Snakebites to start defusing sooner for a low health or “vulnerable” status cost and instead deals an increased spike of damage.
‘¢ Mosh Pit Gekko’s ability: Drawbacks
- Ability up-time is extremely low, being only 4 seconds.
- Mosh Pit must be thrown line-of-site and can not be placed and deployed by trigger like KillJoy’s nanoswarm, meaning post plant utility requires a viper-style lineup with no accompanying orb, and much up-time than either unit.
Wingman (Q)
The center of Gekko’s utility is the Wingman ability, a living puppet or spirit-helper type creature that deploys on the ground, and will do a few things simultaneously:
- Wingman will concuss enemies it sees in a (roughly) 30-degree window that extends a few feet in front of it and lasts a similar amount of time as the pre-nerf Raze boom bot.
- Wingman can take the spike from Gekko if it’s on the ground or with the agent and plant or defuse the spike on its own even if Gekko dies.
Note: It is unknown the range at which Wingman will pick up the spike or if this 30-degree window is also the visible pickup range for the spike or if it’s just the range to trigger the concuss condition.
Gekko‘¢ Wingman Gekko’s ability: Benefits
- Wingman’s spike-interaction capacity is a passive function of the ability meaning no extra mechanics from Gekko are needed to proc this effect, and Gekko can actively do other things or be dead without causing interruption to Wingman’s ability.
- Wingman can bounce off terrain and will likely use the same lineups that Raze boom bot used prior to nerf. Although the distance is speculative the terrain interactions are visually identical at first glance.
- Wingman can be retrieved once expired like any ability orb, with only a 10 second cooldown. Riot developer Ryan Cousart stated during the VALORANT Lock//In showmatch that this creates a hypothetical max use case of 7 for this ability in a round.
‘¢ Wingman Gekko’s ability: Drawbacks
- Wingman has 20 health, almost any form of gun engagement will destroy this ability.
Note: It is unclear if abilities will damage wingman at this time. - Wingman recovery time is 2 seconds, similar to Dizzy it can only be recovered by Gekko at risk to the player.
Thrasher (X)
Gekko’s ultimate ability creates a puppet entity that can be controlled by the player to move at a rapid place to clear space for your team, with the ability ending in a lunge that detains any enemies in proximity to detonation. This ability operates mechanically similar to Skye’s trailblazer ability, with the lunge creating the ‘Detained’ state in enemy players that was introduced with Kill Joy’s Lockdown ability.
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‘¢ Thrasher Gekko’s ability: Benefits
- Unlike most ultimate abilities in the game, Thrasher can be recovered in the exact fashion that Dizzy and Wingman can be recovered, creating the first 2nd-proc ultimate ability in the game.
‘¢ Thrasher Gekko’s ability: Drawbacks
- The player is completely vulnerable during this ultimate.
Conclusion
Gekko is a high-risk high-reward initiator agent that could see viability in default-heavy teams that thrive on drilled site splits where the agent can freely clear the site with an extra gun out, making splits a lot stronger than they otherwise would be if spacing and team pathing is correct. A lot of Gekko’s initial community response for Wingman seems to point toward the ability’s lack of pro viability, but this could be a non-issue if Gekko deploys this ability to plant on the same spacing that Fade would deploy Haunt, after initial space has been made on the site with entries and smokes are down.
Ultimately many questions have yet to be answered, but we hope this initial analysis and information helps VALORANT players get a better understanding of the Agent’s abilities.
