Sova

Artwork

## Quotes

— Character selection

**Sova** (codename Hunter) is an Agent in *VALORANT*.

A humble hunter that has taken down man and beast alike, Sova works carefully and with precision, scouting around and retrieving information before taking out the enemy. As he has told Phoenix, Sova believes in the value of patience and strategic thinking. Being the team player that he is, Sova always commends his allies and never hesitates to voice out his vote of confidence in them. He seems to value the team to the point of risking his own life, to which Brimstone reminds him that it is equally important that he looks out after himself.

Described as a man of principle, Sova values honesty and transparency, and he expects nothing less but the same from his teammates.

### Appearance

Sova has a fair skin tone and sports long blond hair that flows down to his shoulders. He has a bionic right eye with blue lenses. He is seen wearing a fur-lined coat suited for the cold weather of his home along with a dark blue cape with a white leaf-shaped symbol on the left shoulder and a X-shape on the back. He wears archery leather gloves and his owl drone rests against his left forearm. His bow is slung across his back in an easy-to-reach position. His boots take on the appearance of owls. His quiver of shock darts is located on the side of his right thigh and he has a hunting knife strapped against his left calf.

## Abilities

### Basic

C – Owl Drone
Berkas:Owl Drone.png
EQUIP an owl drone. FIRE to deploy and take control of movement of the drone. While in control of the drone, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will reveal the location of any player struck by the dart.

**Uses:** 1
**Cost:** 400
**Duration:**  10 s
**Health:** Health 120 HP

Q – Shock Bolt
Berkas:Shock Bolt.png
EQUIP a bow with shock bolt. FIRE to send the explosive bolt forward, detonating upon collision and damaging players nearby. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.

**Uses:** 2
**Cost:** 150
**Damage:** Damage 10-90 (Edge-Center)

### Signature

E – Recon Bolt
Berkas:Recon Bolt.png
EQUIP a bow with recon bolt. FIRE to send the recon bolt forward, activating upon collision and revealing the location of nearby enemies caught in the line of sight of the bolt. Enemies can destroy this bolt. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.

**Uses:** 1
**Cost:**Free
**Duration:**  3.2 s
**Cooldown:**  40 s

### Ultimate

X – Hunter's Fury
Berkas:Hunter's Fury.png
EQUIP a bow with three long-range, wall-piercing energy blasts. FIRE to release an energy blast in a line in front of Sova, dealing damage and revealing the location of enemies caught in the line. This ability can be RE-USED up to two more times while the ability timer is active.

**Cost:**♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 8 points
**Duration:**  6 s
**Damage:** Damage 80

## Update History

**v3.05**
* Berkas:Hunter's Fury.png Hunter's Fury
	+ Now deals damage to the following:
		- Killjoy's Berkas:Nanoswarm.png Nanoswarm
		- Cypher's Berkas:Trapwire.png Trapwire
		- Sage's Berkas:Barrier Orb.png Barrier Orb
		- Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
		- KAY/O's Berkas:ZERO-point.png ZERO/point

**v3.01**

* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ Fixed the projectile from looking deployed for enemies when flying through the air

**v3.0**

* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Cost increased 300 >>> 400
* Berkas:Shock Bolt.png Shock Bolt
	+ Cost increased 100 >>> 150
* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40
* Berkas:Hunter's Fury.png Hunter’s Fury
	+ Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8
	+ Fixed a bug where cancelling Hunter’s Fury while charging a shot allowed the player to skip the unequip animation by equipping a weapon, ability, or the Spike

**v2.05**

* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Fixed a rare bug that could leave players unable to move or process inputs until they died when entering or returning from Owl Drone
		- *"We previously addressed some causes of this bug last patch, this fix should address the remaining known causes"*

**v2.03**

* Fixed issue where Sova could sometimes get the voice over for Berkas:Hunter’s Fury.png Hunter's Fury to play, even though it isn’t used, by trying to equip Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone at the same time
* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Fixed issue where Owl Drone could clip through specific map geo and view the other side
	+ Fixed a couple input bugs around possessing and unpossessing Owl Drone in the same frame which lead to locking all inputs or locking view direction

**v1.09**

* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Fixed issue where Sova’s hitbox was incorrect while using Owl Drone

**v1.07**

* Sova Model
	+ Updated the physics on Sova’s cape so that it should wiggle outside his hitbox less frequently
	+ Polish work on Sova’s 1P hands to bring them up to the fidelity bar of the rest of the agents
* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ No longer reveals Killjoy's Berkas:Turret.png Turrets

**v1.05**

* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Fixed issue causing Owl Drone to rotate slower

**v1.04**

* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Fixed jittering when reaching the max flight height

**v1.03**

* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ Removed more locations where Recon Bolt was able to go through walls

**v1.01**

* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ Will now behave more consistently and only reveal the portion of enemies behind a wall
	+ The Area-of-Effect indicators now only show up on the enemy’s minimap if the player or their allies are close to the affected area

**v0.50**

* Reduced collision size on Berkas:Shock Bolt.png Berkas:Recon Bolt.png arrows so they don’t get stuck on corners when fired near them
* Berkas:Owl Drone.png Owl Drone
	+ Now includes a layer of sound for engine rotors.
		- Audio should better reflect thematics, while maintaining how noticeable the previous version of Owl Drone audio was for allies and enemies, as heard in 3rd-person
	+ Sova will no longer float in the air if the Sage Berkas:Barrier Orb.png Barrier Orb wall he is standing on is destroyed while using Owl Drone
	+ No longer rapid-fires darts if the prior one hits an enemy
* Berkas:Recon Bolt.png Recon Bolt
	+ Fixed multiple spots where Recon Bolt could over-penetrate map geometry
* Berkas:Hunter's Fury.png Hunter’s Fury
	+ Added foe coloring

## Gallery

Sova (Full).pngSova (Half).pngIn-game iconSova.pngConcept ArtSova Concept.jpgConcept ArtEarly sova.pngEarly ConceptVersus Sova + Cypher Card.pngPlayer card featuring Sova
## Trivia

* Sova means "owl" in most Slavic languages.

**Development**

* Sova's Owl Drone ability was originally the ability Drone Dart for the scrapped agent, Joules.
* Originally, Sova was supposed to be a female and was supposed to have a visor.

**Lore**

* Sova says that he has "gone through rifts before." This can be seen in his personal player card.
	+ Berkas:SovaMatchStart3.mp3*"Don't be afraid. I've gone through rifts before."*
* Sova lost his right eye during his time as a VALORANT agent, presumably while on a mission.
	+ Berkas:BrimstoneAllySovaMatchStart.mp3"*Sova, you look after yourself. You already lost an eye for us. One's enough."*

**Relations**

* There is friction between him and Cypher due to all the secrets Cypher keeps to himself, which conflicts with Sova's values of honesty and openness and makes Cypher difficult to trust.
	+ Berkas:SovaEnemyCypherLastKill.mp3 *"Goodbye Cypher. You will not be missed."*
	+ It is unknown whether Sova's opinion of him affects how Cypher feels about him.
* Sova may have met the mirror version of himself.
	+ Berkas:SovaEnemySovaMatchStart.mp3 *"Sova, I spared you when we first met. I can't let you go again."*
	+ Whilst many agents react to the fact that there is a mirror of themselves on the opposing team, Sova is one of two agents (the other being Chamber) who mentions anything about having met them before the battle.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/nrjner/valorant\_narrative\_team\_ama\_on\_lore\_11am\_pt12pm\_pt/h0gxl1x/?context=3