Abilities

are tools that are available to be used by agents in addition to the weapons that they carry. Each ability in VALORANT is unique, though some share similarities. All agents have three types of abilities to give them more tactical opportunities and assist their gunplay; basic, signature, and ultimate.
==Summary==
Many abilities have to be equipped to be used, causing the agent to go through an equip animation for a short amount of time before they can cast the ability, though some can be cast instantly. Abilities are only audible to enemies after they are cast; nearby enemies cannot hear when you are equipping abilities.
Players are prevented from using abilities if they are suppressed. Some abilities can affect both enemies and allies. Such abilities that damage allies deal 1/3 damage, while abilities that has debuff effects affect allies fully.
Ability usage differs per game mode.
*In most Plant/Defuse modes (Unrated, Competitive and Swiftplay), most abilities have a cost to obtain and use (through credits or ult points), though some are given for free. 
*In Spike Rush and Replication, all basic and signature abilities are refreshed every round. 
*In Team Deathmatch, all basic and signature abilities are set on a cooldown, while ultimate abilties use a percentage bar depending on kills and ultimate orbs. 
*In Deathmatch, Escalation and Snowball Fight, individual agents' ability usage are disabled.
Several abilities cannot be used during Buy Phase in Plant/Defuse modes as they do not achieve anything if they were to be cast at this time, however others can be as they specifically help agents to set up utility or positioning before the Round Phase begins. All abilities in Team Deathmatch cannot be used in spawn.
The following abilities usable for Plant/Defuse modes during Buy Phase are:
* Astra's 
* All Chamber abilities
* Cypher's , (placement only), and 
* Deadlock's (placement only)
*Jett's 
*Killjoy's (placement only), , and 
*Neon's (Energy and Slide charge not consumed)
*Omen's 
*Raze's 
*Sage's (if any agent received fall damage during buy phase; cooldown timer will not start during buy phase)
*Viper's (placement only) and (placement only)
* Yoru's (stationary placement only) and (placement only)
==Types==
There are four types of abilities in VALORANT:
===Passive===
:Main article: Passive Effects
Agent passives are additional effects that some specific agents have. Whilst most of these interact with agents' standard abilities, these effects are often utilized by multiple of an agent's abilities instead of being a passive effect that is only part of an individual ability. Many passives do not require any active interaction from the player to be activated or applied, but there are some passive effects that do require the player to activate them with a specific hotkey.
Passives can be effects that are:
#Constantly available to be used without any cost:
#*Astra's Astral Form
#*Jett's Drift
#*Passive resource generation
#**Neon's Energy
#**Viper's Fuel
#Activated or applied as an additional effect on top of the primary function of an action (abilities or kills):
#*Fade's Terror Trail
#*Gekko's Globules
#*Phoenix's Heating Up
#*Reyna's Soul Harvest
#*Viper's Toxin
=== Basic===
Basic abilities are abilities that most agents have to purchase using credits to be able to use. All agents have two basic abilities, with the exception of Reyna having only one and Astra having three basic abilities.
List of Basic Abilities
Agent	Ability	Cost ();per use 	Max.charges	Functions
 	 	Free(used from )	1 	VulnerableDisplacement
 	 	Free(used from )	1 	Concuss
 	 	Free(used from )	2 	Smoke
 	 	200 	1 	Deterrent
 	 	250 	2 	Flash
 	 	200 	1 	Empowerment
 	 	250 	1 	Molotov
 	 	200 	1 	Autonomous DeployableSlow
 	 	100 	8 	Weapon Equip
 	 	200 	1 	EmpowermentHeal
 	 	250 	1 	Decay
 	 	200 	2 	Autonomous DeployableConcussTether
 	 	100 	2 	Vision Blocker
 	 	200 	1 	Slow
 	 	200 	2 	Autonomous DeployableConcuss
 	 	250 	2 	Autonomous DeployableNearsight
 	 	200 	1 	DecayTether
 	 	250 	1 	Deterrent
 	 	300 	1 	Autonomous DeployableConcuss
 	 	150 	2 	SlowWall
 	 	350 	1 	Smoke
 	 	200 	1 	Wall
 	 	200 	2 	Vulnerable
 	 	200 	2 	Smoke
 	 	150 	1 	Dash
 	 	200 	1 	Deterrent
 	 	250 	2 	Flash
 	 	200 	2 	Molotov
 	 	200 	1 	Autonomous DeployableVulnerable
 	 	300 	1 	Wall
 	 	200 	1 	Concuss
 	 	100 	2 	Teleport
 	 	250 	1 	Nearsight
 	 	150 	1 	Wall
 	 	250 	2 	Flash
 	 	300 	1 	Autonomous Deployable
 	 	200 	2 	DashDisplacement
 	 	250 	2 	Nearsight
 	 	400 	1 	BarrierWall
 	 	200 	2 	Slow
 	 	150 	1 	Heal
 	 	300 	1 	ConcussControlled Deployable
 	 	400 	1 	Controlled Deployable
 	 	150 	2 	Deterrent
 	 	300 	1 	VulnerableMolotov
 	 	200 	1 	DecaySmoke
 	 	100 	1 	DecoyFlash
 	 	250 	2 	Flash
===Signature=== 
Signature abilities are abilities that agents are guaranteed to be able to use every round. All agents have one signature ability that will give them one free charge for them to use, with the exception of Reyna having two abilities, albeit having shared charges between them. 
Some agents may be able to increase the amount of charges they have of their signature ability by buying more with credits, but any regenerated charges from cooldowns will not be kept for the next round and they will restart with their one free charge. Charges that do not get used and did not get regenerated will be carried over to the next round, however a new charge will not be added. Signature abilities that don't offer the option to buy more charges have other ways to allow the player to use that ability more than once in a round (except for 's ), such as cooldowns or enemy kill targets.
List of Signature Abilities
Agent 	Ability	Cost ();per use	Max.charges 	Rechargable withcooldown/kills 	Functions
 	 	150 	4 	Stars cooldown only when Dissipate is used. 	Setup
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Concuss
 	 	100 	3 	 	Smoke
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Teleport
 	 	150 	2 	 	Smoke
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Controlled Deployable
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Barrier
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Intel
 	 	Free 	1 	Dizzy only rechargeable via Globules passive. 	Autonomous DeployableBlind
 	 	Free 	1 	 	SlowWall
 	 	Free 	1 	Double Tap duration refreshes upon every energy orb hit of a fallen enemy. 	EmpowermentInvulnerability
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Dash
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Intel
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Autonomous Deployable
 	 	150 	2 	 	Dash
 	 	150 	2 	 	Smoke
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Molotov
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Deterrent
 	 	200 	2(shared charges)	 	Heal
 	 	200 	2(shared charges)	 	Intangibility
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Heal
 	 	250 	2 	 	Controlled DeployableFlash
 	 	Free 	1 	 	Intel
 	 	Free 	1 	Toxic Screen's emitters remain indefinitely during the round. Its cooldown depends on Fuel and Toxin passives.	DecayWall
 	 	150 	2 	 	DecoyTeleport
Notes:	Notes: 	Notes: 	Notes: 	Notes: 	Notes:
===Ultimate===
Ultimate abilities are the strongest in the game. To use an ultimate, players must acquire ultimate points. These are earned by killing enemies, dying, capturing ultimate orbs, and completing a spike plant or defuse. 
Once a player has earned enough points, they can use them up to cast their ultimate. Upon doing so, all players will hear a global voice line alerting them to that specific agent using their ultimate. Gekko is the only agent with three additional voice lines due to his ability to recast his ultimate in the same round.
List of Ultimate Abilities
Agent	Ability	Cost(points)	Functions
 	 	7 	Wall
 	 	9 	ConcussDisplacement
 	 	8 	Deterrent
 	 	8 	SlowWeapon Equip
 	 	8 	IntangibilityRevive
 	 	6 	Intel
 	 	7 	DetainDisplacement
 	 	8 	DecayIntel
 	 	7 	Controlled DeployableDetain
 	 	7 	ConcussIntel
 	 	7 	Banish
 	 	8 	Weapon Equip
 	 	8 	EmpowermentRevive
 	 	9 	Detain
 	 	7 	Weapon Equip
 	 	7 	Teleport
 	 	6 	Revive
 	 	8 	Weapon Equip
 	 	6 	Empowerment
 	 	8 	Revive
 	 	8 	Autonomous DeployableNearsightSlow
 	 	8 	Weapon Equip
 	 	9 	DecayVision Blocker
 	 	7 	Intangibility
Ultimate voice lines
Agent	As anally 	As anally 	As anenemy 	As anenemy
 	 	"World divided!" 	 	"You are divided!"
 	 	"Let's go!" 	 	"Off your feet!"
 	 	"Open up the sky!" 	 	"Prepare for hellfire!"
 	 	"They are so dead!" 	 	"You want to play? Let's play."
 	 	"Back like I never left!" 	 	"You had your fun, my turn!"
 	 	"Where is everyone hiding?"	 	"I know exactly where you are!"
 	 	"Pull them to their grave!"	 	"My territory, my rules!"
 	 	"Nightmare, take them!" 	 	"Face your fear!"
 	Initial cast:	Initial cast: 	Initial cast:	Initial cast:
 	 	"It's all you, lil' homie!"	 	"Oye! Monster on the loose!"
 	Recast: 	Recast: 	Recast: 	Recast:
 	 	"Thrash is going again!" 	 	"Thrash isn't done with you!"
 	 	"We're going again!" 	 	"She's still gunning for ya!"
 	 	"She's going again!" 	 	"You want more? Here's more!"
 	 	"Let's turn the tide!" 	 	"I suggest you move!"
 	 	"No distractions!" 	 	"It's you and me!"
 	 	"Watch this!" 	 	"Get out of my way!"
 	 	"No one walks away!" 	 	"You... are... powerless!"
 	 	"Initiated!" 	 	"You should run."
 	 	"Here we go!" 	 	"Hoy! I'm pissed!"
 	 	"Watch them run." 	 	"Scatter!"
 	 	"Come on, let's go!" 	 	"Joke's over, you're dead!"
 	 	"Here comes the party!" 	 	"Fire in the hole!"
 	 	"They will cower!" 	 	"The hunt begins!"
 	 	"Your duty is not over!" 	 	"You will not kill my allies!"
 	 	"Seek them out!" 	 	"I've got your trail."
 	 	"I, am the hunter!" 	 	"Nowhere to run!"
 	 	"Don't get in my way!" 	 	"Welcome to my world!"
 	 	"I'll handle this!" 	 	"Who's next?"
==Functions ==
While each ability in VALORANT is unique, some share similar functions. These allow them to be sorted into the following classes and sub-classes:
*Barrier: Barriers prevents agents from being able to move through them.
*Blind: Blinds are used to limit an agent's vision.
**Flash: Flashes completely remove all vision.
**Nearsight: Nearsights afflict enemies with a short, maximum vision radius as well as deafening them.
*Cripple: Cripples apply temporary debuffs to an agent's health, bringing them closer to death or increasing incoming damage taken by them.
*Crowd Control: Crowd Control tools affect an enemy's capability to move on the map.
**Banish: Banish abilities remove the affected agents from the map.
**Concuss: Concuss abilities reduce movement speed and fire rate, decrease bullet accuracy, prevent use of scopes or ADS, and affect a player's vision.
**Detain: Detains severely reduce movement speed, massively decreases jump height and force the enemy to unequip all their weapons and abilities.
**Displacement: Displacements physically move enemies out of position by force and against their will.
**Slow: Slows reduce an enemy's movement speed.
**Tether: Tethers prevent an enemy from moving beyond a specific location.
*Decoy: Decoys are used to distract an enemy and draw their attention away from where the real threat is.
*Deterrent: Deterrents are used to flush enemies out of certain positions by threatening to kill them if they attempt to stay in that location.
**Molotov: Molotovs deal damage over time in a small area-of-effect on the ground of the location they detonate in.
*Empowerment: These increase an agent's power by buffing them in some way.
**Weapon Equip: Grants the agent a new weapon for them to use.
*Intel: Intel tools give information on the whereabouts of enemies. 
**Autonomous deployable: Autonomous deployables operate on their own without any further input from the player.
**Controlled deployable: Controlled deployables must be controlled by the player to operate.
*Limiter: Limiters apply debuffs that disable specific parts of an agent's loadout.
*Mobility: Mobility tools abilities give agents a way to traverse the map beyond just running and walking.
**Dash: Dashes allow the user to move in a certain direction at greatly increased speed.
**Intangibility: These allow the user to be immune to damage. They can also grant invisibility in some circumstances, hiding them from enemy sight.
**Teleport: Teleports allow the user to blink to a location without having to walk or run between their start and end position.
*Resource Bar: Abilities that use resource bars require enough of their resource to be available in order to be cast.
*Setup: These abilities provide setup that the agent will use for casting some of their other abilities.
*Sustain: Sustain tools allow agents to withstand and counteract damage being dealt to them while remaining active on the battlefield.
**Heal: Heals restore health to the target.
**Invulnerability: These make the affected agent immune to all sources of damage.
**Revive: Revives allow an agent to continue fighting even after taking lethal damage.
*Vision Blocker: Vision blockers block line of sight, allowing allies to carry out actions behind or inside the blocking object without giving visual info to the enemy.
**Smoke: Smokes are spherical vision blockers.
**Wall: Walls are linear/rectangular vision blockers.
Some abilities may be completely unique and therefore do not fit into any of these functions. Such abilities are classed as Niche, however all abilities in the game currently fit under at least one of the above classes instead.
==Lore==
The abilities used by agents in-game also make appearances within the lore of VALORANT. However, whilst gameplay must take balancing into account, the lore is not tied down by these restrictions and so more "realistic" depictions (in the context of the VALORANT universe) can be shown within the lore, meaning there can be some differences between how abilities operate in-game and in-universe. Gameplay does not have to be accurate to how abilities would realistically work within the lore, and lore does not have to be accurate to how abilities are required to work in-game.
For example, in the case of in-universe depictions not needing to accurately reflect gameplay functionality, Killjoy's Turret must remain in one place when it is deployed in-game with just basic 'detect and engage' programming. Away from the restrictions of gameplay balancing in the lore however, the turret can be seen running alongside Killjoy and understanding and reacting to directive hand gestures. Not being restricted to the exact functionality of abilities in-game allows the lore to show these depictions that make much more sense from a narrative perspective.
For the reverse case of gameplay not needing to adhere to how abilities would realistically work within the lore meanwhile, Brimstone's Sky Smokes and Orbital Strike are deployed from an orbital satellite, so from a narrative perspective targeting areas inside buildings would only cause his utility to be blocked by the roofs of these buildings instead (temporarily however in assumedly most cases for Orbital Strike until the laser cuts through, or if the roof material is weak enough for a Sky Smoke to break through on impact). In-game however, it is necessary for these abilities to immediately affect these target areas without any disruption by any terrain above, even if from a narrative perspective this would either be unrealistic or completely impossible. The needs of gameplay balancing will always come first over lore accuracy when designing in-game abilities, even if within the lore such functionality or decision making would make no sense at all.
Agents also aren't restricted to just having the abilities that they have in-game within the lore, such as with Neon who has been seen to also have the ability to release a large electrical pulse from her body when in Overdrive.
===Appearances in lore===
List of Ability appearances in lore
Agent	Ability 	Preview
 	 	
City of Flowers Astral Form.png
 	 	
*Audio onlyIstanbul Mission Log
 	 	
Incursions Rolling Thunder.png|Seismic charge
Incursions Omega Cypher Omega Skye.png
 	 	
Sunset Incendiary.png
Sunset Incendiary Launcher.png|Equipped
 	 	
Incursions Rendezvous.png
Incursions Rendezvous Anchor.png|Anchor + Arrival
 	 	
2 Worlds Protocol Team.png
 	 	
2 Worlds Meddle.png
 	 	
2 Worlds Ruse.png
 	 	
2 Worlds Not Dead Yet.png
 	 	
Reckoning Trapwire.png
 	 	
Reckoning Spycam Display.png
 	 	
Reckoning Neural Theft.png
Reckoning Neural Theft Reveal.png|Reveal
 	 	
Unmade GravNet Grenade.png|Grenade cast
Unmade GravNet.png
 	 	
Unmade Sonic Sensor.png
 	 	
Unmade Annihilation Accelerator.png|Nanowire accelerator
Sunset Annihilation.png|Pulse
Incursions Annihilation.png|Cocoon
 	 	
Incursions Fade.png
 	 	
Revelation Seize.png
Revelation Seize Tethers.png|Tethers
Revelation Seize Infestation.png|Tethers overwhelming a victim
 	Other 	
Revelation Nightmare Infestation.png|Fade's Nightmare tendrils, summoned from her own hands, overwhelming a victim
*Ability to see nightmare-visions (Mentioned onlyFrom the Archives: The Sting Audio Logs)
 	Globules 	
Greater Than One Thrash Globule.png
Greater Than One Carrier.png|Thrash as a Globule enters Gekko's carrier
 	 	
Greater Than One Mosh.png
 	 	
Greater Than One Wingman.png
 	 	
Greater Than One Dizzy.png
Greater Than One Dizzy Blind.png|Blinding plasma blasts
 	 	
Incursions Gekko.png
Incursions Thrash Explosion.png|Explosion
Incursions Omega Fade.png|A victim detained by Thrash
 	 	
Turn The Tides Cascade.png
 	 	
Turn The Tides Cove.png
 	 	
Turn The Tides High Tide Setup.png|Setting up wall
Turn The Tides High Tide.png
 	 	
Turn The Tides Reckoning.png
 	Other 	
Turn The Tides Protective Wall.png|Water walls being also able to block gunfire
 	 	
Retake Drift.png
 	 	
All Paths End Here Arc Rose.png
 	 	
Duelists Updraft.gif
 	 	
Duelists Tailwind.png
 	 	
Incursions Blade Storm.png
 	 	
KAYO Trailer FRAG-ment.png
 	 	
Warm Up ZEROpoint.png
 	 	
Incursions KAYO.png
Warm Up NULLcmd.png|Used by Max Bot
 	 	
Warm Up Turret Boom Bot.png
 	 	
Shattered Lockdown.png
 	Other 	
Shattered Rúben Pontes.png|A bot created by Killjoy, used to access computer systems through keyboard inputs hands-free
Killjoy Torch Bot.png|A bot created by Killjoy, used to cut through surfaces
Killjoy Downloader Bot.png|Bots created by Killjoy, the one on the right being used to download information from terminals
 	 	
Shattered Slide.png
 	 	
Shattered Overdrive.png
 	Other 	
Shattered Overload.png|Neon's body releasing a large electricity pulse
 	 	
Reckoning Shrouded Step.png|Channeling
Revelation Shrouded Step.gif
 	 	
Reckoning Paranoia.png
Reckoning Paranoia Effect.png|Victim being nearsighted
 	 	
Revelation Dark Cover Transit.png|Cast - in transit
Revelation Dark Cover.png
 	 	
Reckoning From the Shadows Shade.png|Shade Form
Reckoning From the Shadows.png
 	Other 	
United Together Omen Teleport.png|An additional form of teleportation used by Omen
 	Heating Up	
Warm Up Heating Up.png
 	 	
Retake Blaze.png
 	 	
Retake Curveball.png
 	 	
Warm Up Hot Hands.png
 	 	
Retake Run it Back Disintegrate.png|Disintegration on death
Retake Run it Back Revival.png|Revival
Retake Run it Back.png
 	Other 	
Duality Super Heat.png|Phoenix using his powers to super heat a Radi-Core
 	 	
Warm Up Turret Boom Bot.png
 	 	
Warm Up Blast Pack.png
 	 	
United Together Paint Shells Grenade.png|Cast
United Together Paint Shells Explosion.png
 	 	
United Together Showstopper.png
United Together Showstopper Rocket.png|Cast
 	 	
Shattered Leer.png
 	 	
Shattered Devour.png
 	 	
Shattered Dismiss.png
 	 	
United Together Barrier Orb.png|Equip
Warm Up Barrier Orb.png
United Together Omega Raze.png|Damaged wall
 	 	
United Together Slow Orb.png|Equip
United Together Slow Field.png|Slow field
 	 	
United Together Healing Orb.png
 	 	
* Audio only5.12 Audio Log
 	 	
Incursions Trailblazer.png|Summon
United Together Trailblazer.png
 	 	
Skye Trailer Hawk Trinket.png|Trinket
Skye Trailer Guiding Light.png
 	 	
*Audio only
 	 	
Reckoning Owl Drone.png
 	 	
Warm Up Shock Bolt.png
 	 	
Reckoning Recon Bolt.png
Reckoning Recon Bolt Reveal.png|Reveal
 	 	
Reckoning Hunter's Fury.png
Reckoning Hunter's Fury Windup.png|Windup
Reckoning Hunter's Fury Blast.png|Blast
 	 	
United Together Snake Bite Canister.png|Canister and launcher
United Together Snake Bite.png
 	 	
Retake Poison Cloud.png
 	 	
Shattered Toxic Screen.png
 	 	
All Paths End Here Razorvine.png
 	 	
All Paths End Here Shear.png
 	 	
All Paths End Here Arc Rose.png
 	 	
All Paths End Here Steel Garden.png
 	 	
Retake Gatecrash.gif
Retake Gatecrash Tether.png|Tether
 	 	
Retake Dimensional Drift.png|Footsteps
Retake Dimensional Drift Return.png
==References==
*
Category:Valorant
Category:Lore