How to play KAY/O in Valorant: Abilities, tips & tricks

Tips

Bringing the Terminator to Valorant, Initiator Agent KAY/O tears through foes with ease and helps set the stage for your team’s Duelist to swoop in and take down enemies. Here’s how to master this mechanical menace.

As the Valorant saga continues to expand chapter by chapter, Episode 3 introduced KAY/O into the Future Earth fray. Hungry for blood in true terminator style, the robotic Initiator Agent has cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with.

Looking to make KAY/O your main in Valorant? We’ve got a whole bunch of tips and tricks right here to make sure you’re the one saying “hasta la vista, baby” to your opponents.

Contents

KAY/O has joined the Valorant fray full guns blazing.

Valorant KAY/O: Abilities

Riot designed KAY/O to be somewhat familiar, but with a fresh coat of Valorant paint. Therefore, when you see his abilities a lot of them will look pretty similar to other FPS titles. With flashbangs, frag grenades, and more, he’s deadly in the right hands.

  • Ability 1 – FRAG/ment (200 Creds): EQUIP an explosive fragment. FIRE to throw. The fragment sticks to the floor and explodes multiple times, dealing near-lethal damage at the center with each explosion.
  • Ability 2 – FLASH/drive (250 Creds): EQUIP a flash grenade. FIRE to throw. The flash grenade explodes after a short fuse, blinding anyone in the line of sight.
    • Right Clicking the flashbang, throws a charged flash, causing it to only have to cook for 1 second, as opposed to left-click throwing a flash that cooks in 1.6 seconds.
  • Signature Ability – ZERO/point (1 free): EQUIP a suppression blade. FIRE to throw. The blade sticks to the first surface it hits winds up and suppresses anyone in the radius of the explosion.
  • Ultimate Ability – NULL/cmd (Seven points): INSTANTLY overload with polarized radianite energy that empowers KAY/O and causes large energy pulses to emit from his location. Enemies hit with these pulses are suppressed for a short duration.
    • While Overloaded, KAY/O gains Combat Stim
    • If KAY/O is killed while overloaded, he is downed and enters a destabilized state, allowing allies to stabilize his core and revive him. In his downed state, he has 850 HP.

Easily the most dangerous part of KAY/O’s kit is his ZERO/point suppression blade. With the ability to block Agents from casting abilities, even if they’re through a wall, it’s perfect for both flanking and disrupting oncoming onslaughts.

Additionally, his Ultimate allows him to be revived if he’s killed during it. Downed with an 850HP buffer, allies can stabilize his core and get him back on his feet. For any future KAY/O mains, these are the two strongest tools in your arsenal.

How to play as KAY/O in Valorant

While KAY/O’s abilities might not seem like the most revolutionary, he’s got the power to change the game in the right hands. As we can see above, his FRAG/ment grenade deals three pulses worth of damage, as well as being near-lethal if a player is caught in the middle. Drop this at choke points to deter enemy advances, or if they’re all grouped up, to cause some utter chaos.

However, all eyes are on that ZERO/point suppression blade. With dual functionality, it can be both the perfect tool for scouting as well as interrupting. Any enemies caught in the suppression will be highlighted to your teammates, therefore you’re letting them know exactly which Agents are easy prey. Again, firing into a chokepoint or popular site route is the way to go.

Additionally, if you know a large group is about to rush you, firing the blade will suppress them all, meaning they’ll need to rely on their gun skills to get out alive.

Finally, his Ult can make or break a fight. In addition to its suppression, KAY/O has the ability to be ‘downed’ with 850 health while he waits to be revived. If he’s picked up by a teammate, he can get back into the action with up to 100 health. Acting as the perfect buffer, you don’t need to worry about resing him only to give the enemy team another kill.

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So that’s how to play as KAY/O in Valorant and master his extensive arsenal of abilities. Looking to brush up on your Valorant skills? Be sure to check out our dedicated Agent guides:

Astra | Breach | Brimstone | Chamber | Cypher | Jett | KAY/O | Killjoy | Neon | Omen | Phoenix | Raze | Reyna | Sage | Skye | Sova | Viper | Yoru

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