Valorant
When it comes to playing Valorant, you can choose between several agents- 20 of them to be precise. They’re further grouped into four major classes: Duelists, Initiators, Sentinels, and Controllers. Duelists tend to try and get ‘entry frags’ and open up sites for the team. Initiators have flashes and information-gathering utility to help their team push forward and clear angles. Sentinels have kits that help lock down a site and watch for enemy flanks. Controllers come with utility that helps block off key angles from enemy vision. So who was the most picked Valorant agent in 2022, and why? Let’s find out.
The most played Valorant agent in 2022
In 2022, the official Valorant Twitter announced that the most-played agent among the entire fan base was none other than Reyna.
The Mexican duelist, while not seeing much love in pro tournaments, remains a fan favorite in normal and ranked games. Her kit, which consists of two flashes (known in-game Leers) and two charges of either over-healing or an invulnerable dismiss, lets her do her job in style. With the ability to get a kill and create a soul orb, Reyna can either heal up, including some temporary armor that lasts for about 30 seconds or use the soul orb to gain invulnerability and move away from other enemies, possibly denying a trade and netting the team a free kill. Reyna can also get soul orbs off of enemies she has damaged, even if a teammate is the one who gets the final kill. Her ultimate ability, known as the Empress, has her automatically overhealing after every kill, and she turns invisible as opposed to invulnerable when she uses the soul orb Dismiss ability. All amidst her laughing maniacally as she gets kill after kill.
When players solo-queue and feel confident in their ability to get kills, she’s a great agent to choose, especially considering that as long as you can frag out, you’ll be able to heal yourself and continue looking for enemy picks. Reyna is arguably the most insta-locked agent when it comes to the global audience on the game.
Most picked Valorant agent in professional tournaments
Of course, there’s a great deal of difference between casual and ranked games and professional tournaments. When it comes to the latter, you would want an agent that fits in better amidst a team dynamic. Reyna, while incredibly powerful as a solo fragger, might not find the same consistent performance in a professional setting except for some maps. In fact, at the biggest Valorant tournament in 2022, Valorant Champions Istanbul, she was the least-picked agent, with a minuscule 1.16 percent pick rate.
So if not Reyna, who rules the roost? Before the recent patch hit, nerfing him into oblivion, it was none other than the French sentinel, Chamber. His extremely aggressive player kit consists of a tripwire (known as a Trademark), a pistol that comes with a scope to improve accuracy across range that one-shot headshots opponents (the Headhunter), and a set of teleporting anchors which let him get away after kills without being traded out (the Rendezvous.)
As for his ultimate, it’s another gun, similar to the Operator which costs a cool 4800 credits in-game, but with a faster fire and scope rate, combined with a slow-down radius if any enemies fall to the weapon. Known as the ‘Tour de Force,’ this piece of utility along with his teleports made him a menace to deal with since even on rounds where the team economy was down, Chamber was able to use either his Headhunter or his ultimate and win rounds almost singlehandedly.
Chamber was the most picked Agent at Valorant Champions Istanbul, with a huge 67.44% pick rate. He was chosen a total of 116 times out of the 172 games played. To point out how insanely high that is, the second most chosen agent, the Turkish Initiator Fade, was only picked 82 times out of 172 matches. This amounts to a 53 percent pick rate, significantly lower than the Frenchman.
With the recent nerfs, Chamber has fallen into disuse but in casual and ranked play at least, Reyna still seems to be a favorite, considering how many people complain about her being insta-locked by the time they load into the game.