With Challengers LCQ wrapped up and São Paulo right around the corner, professional Valorant is returning after an exciting offseason. For the less-professional Valorant player, Season 6 brings with it a new opportunity to climb the ranks and finally reach the rank of your dreams.
For my fellow Sentinel mains out there, Patch 5.12 brought a huge shakeup with Chamber’s rework and scaling up utility health while decreasing utility damage. Along with the removal of Breeze and Bind and the addition of Lotus into the competitive rotation, the Sentinel meta has drastically changed.
Luckily, I’ve ranked the best sentinels to play right now with the following tiers!
S - Near must pick, offers a clear advantage over the others
A - Very good pick that still offers a lot
B - Okay pick that can work in some situations
C - Less successful pick that will usually struggle
Yoru - C
Changes - Only Yoru’s gatecrash was altered, its health was reduced to 60 (in line with the other utility debuffs) while its cost was reduced to 150 credits.
Strengths - Perhaps no agent best utilizes the advantage of surprise as Yoru. The ability to teleport opens up the ability for tricky positioning plays and flanking opponents for easy kills. His decoy and flashes are good engagement tools for pushing into an area and his ultimate is great for scouting a site and locating the enemy or setting up flanks.
Weaknesses - Yoru lives on the element of surprise, meaning the more opponents learn to counterplay by not shooting the clone or tracking teleports, the harder it can be to find value. Furthermore, compared to the other agents on this list, Yoru’s kit requires more skill at an entry level, with his flashes having to bounce before activating and teleport placement being crucial, creating a steeper learning curve.
Overall - While Yoru can be a menace in the right hands, most players won’t be able to find the most value. His unique kit creates interesting opportunities for players that are willing to commit the time to learn him, but without a substantial buff from 5.12, he remains a niche pick with typically the lowest win rate across most ranks. You’re probably better off trying one of the agents ahead.
Reyna - B
Changes - Untouched by 5.12.
Strengths - Reyna is the best snowball duelist that rewards players who get kills. Her leer is a good blind that can pass through walls and her orbs allow her to easily play off of kills. She can buy aggressively since her heal will restore her to 150 health and her dismiss can get her out of sticky situations.
Weaknesses - Her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness. If she can’t get a kill, she can’t activate half of her kit. Leer’s range is limited and it is destructible, making it less reliable than a flash. Where the duelists above her have a utility that is still viable even if they aren’t getting kills, Reyna is so kill-focused that a struggling player will find little to no value.
Overall - Players that are good at getting kills will be most rewarded playing Reyna. She can snowball picks into more kills, but if she can’t get that initial pick she will struggle without utility to make up for it. While not a bad pick, the other duelists above her offer more utility even if they aren’t at the top of the scoreboard.
Phoenix - A
Changes - The cost of Phoenix’s flash was reduced from 200 credits to 150, making it easier to buy full utility.
Strengths - Phoenix is a good entry-level duelist that is great at taking space. He has a solid flash to clear corners and his wall excels at cutting off angles. His molotov can both clear areas or be used to heal him while his ultimate is cheap and a great way to take an area with the advantage of an extra life.
Weaknesses - While a solid pick, Phoenix doesn’t offer anything particularly unique. He lacks a great mobility option, making it harder to disengage from a losing fight. While his ultimate is strong, it can be waited out or potentially flanked by enemies, meaning it has to be used with care.
Overall - Phoenix is a solid pick for a new duelist player or to cover all the utility bases expected of a duelist. While he lacks mobility, he excels at taking space and is a good addition to most teams. Still, read on to see even better options.
Neon - A
Changes - Untouched by 5.12.
Strengths - Neon is the fastest agent available. Her passive makes it easy to quickly move across the map or move onto site. Her wall cuts off angles while her stun makes it easy to clear corners. Her ultimate is immensely powerful, allowing her to run and gun, a hard-to-hit target dishing out strong damage.
Weaknesses - Neon does best engaging which is her best strength, but also can lead her into sticky situations. Sprinting into the enemies will result in a quick death, as she lacks a great disengage other than running away. Her stun also affects allies and the double-bounce can be hard to master.
Overall - Neon uses speed to overwhelm the enemy. In the right hands, enemies won’t know what hit them, but being too brazen will quickly end any Neon player’s run. She is a great high-mobility duelist but read on to see which duelists top the list.
Raze - S
Changes - Raze’s boombot was reduced to 60 HP while her blast packs were increased to 20 HP in line with the other utility changes.
Strengths - Raze’s whole kit is about dealing damage. Her blast packs give her excellent mobility to enter a site while her boombot and grenade can clear out enemies hiding in corners. All her utility is easy to use for new players but still offers plenty of room for masters to show off their skills. No other agent can match her raw damage and it’s hard to beat a one-shot rocket launcher for an ultimate.
Weaknesses - The main downside of Raze is her lack of disengage once she commits to a fight, lacking a smoke, dismiss, or teleport if she gets in a rough position. Her blast packs can also take time to master as can adapting to her fast playstyle.
Overall - Raze is currently one of the two best duelists in the game. Her high mobility with blast packs opens up the opportunity to use low-cost, close-range weapons like the Stinger if needed, while the rest of her kit reliably deals out damage. Her damage-based kit is especially helpful with the resurgence of Killjoy and Cypher as sentinel picks. Any duelist player should try picking her up or try the other top duelist right now.
Jett - S
Changes - Untouched by 5.12.
Strengths - Jett is the wind embodied, offering the most mobility of any agent. Her dash gives her less risky peaks on contested angles while her updraft gives creative players the chance to make cool plays. Her smoke is a great way to enter onto site or to disengage from a losing fight, meaning she isn’t forced to commit to bad fights. Her ultimate gives her the chance to run and gun or an opportunity to save for a round to restore economic balance. She does everything a duelist needs to do well.
Weaknesses - Jett’s high mobility is a double-edged sword as inexperienced players can quickly find themselves mispositioned. She does lean towards a more aggressive playstyle with mobility making up most of her kit, meaning a passive player may not be able to get as much value out of her as other duelists.
Overall - Jett is the other best duelist in the meta right now. Her mobility gives her the ability to enter the site and follow up on initiator utility. Her dash makes the Operator especially dangerous in her hands and her smoke, unique for the role, helps her enter sites where Killjoy or Cypher may be set up. She is a well-rounded duelist who players should try out when she is strong right now.
Thoughts? Disagree? Want to hear our thoughts about the sentinel role (click here!)? Leave a comment down below and don’t forget to check back later for the rest of the roles.