Valorant Agent Astra revealed: Abilities, release date, inspiration

Riot Games have been teasing the latest Valorant Agent for weeks, and she’s finally here in the form of Astra, the galactic Controller ready to cause some chaos. 

Riot Games love to tease the Valorant fanbase. Yoru was one of the game’s most hyped Agents to date thanks to all the little snippets that players caught glimpses of online.

With little packets of information regarding Agent 15 dropping all throughout January, the newest addition to the roster has finally been revealed.

Meet Astra, the space-themed Agent who hails from Ghana. She “harnesses the energies of the cosmos to reshape battlefields to her whim. With full command of her astral form and a talent for deep strategic foresight, she’s always eons ahead of her enemy’s next move.”

Who is Astra in Valorant?

Astra is a Controller through and through, but she has a very unique play style and skill set. As leaks have suggested, she has the ability to drop ‘Stars’ (the glowing lights we’ve seen floating around Future Earth) and then manipulate these to her whim.

With her Gravity Well she pulls her victims into the heart of her nearby Star, which promptly explode and apply fragile to enemies. Alternatively, she can use the twinkling lights as land mines which land concuss with her Nova Pulse.

It’s her Ultimate that’s completely different to anything we’ve ever seen on Future Earth, though. Giving her the ability to connect two of her stars and form a bullet-blocking shield, it’s safe to say the ability is out of this world.

Astra Abilities

• Ability 1 – Gravity Well: Place Stars in Astral Form (X). ACTIVATE a Star to form a Gravity Well. Players in the area are pulled toward the center before it explodes, making all players still trapped inside fragile.
• Ability 2 – Nova Pulse: Place Stars in Astral Form (X). ACTIVATE a Star to detonate a Nova Pulse. The Nova Pulse charges briefly then strikes, concussing all players in its area.
• Signature Ability – Nebula: Place Stars in Astral Form (X). ACTIVATE a Star to transform it into a Nebula (smoke).
• Ability 4 – Dissipate: Use (F) on a Star to Dissipate it, returning the star to be placed in a new location after a delay. Dissipate briefly forms a fake Nebula at the Star’s location before returning.
• Ultimate Ability – Astral Form/Cosmic Divide – ACTIVATE to enter Astral Form where you can place Stars with PRIMARY FIRE. Stars can be reactivated later, transforming them into a Nova Pulse, Nebula, or Gravity Well.
  When Cosmic Divide is charged, use SECONDARY FIRE in Astral Form to begin aiming it, then PRIMARY FIRE to select two locations. An infinite Cosmic Divide connects the two points you select. Cosmic Divide blocks bullets and heavily dampens audio.

Astra’s inspiration

Looking to create a character based upon notions of “African Futurism,” Character Producer John ‘Riot MEMEMEMEME’ Goscicki writes that “to make sure those grounded elements were represented properly we worked with a consultant from Ghana on the details.”

As for the designing Astra herself, Senior Game Designer Jordan ‘Riot Wrekz’ Anton recalls that “with Astra we wanted to make a controller that was thinking about the whole map. Her global presence was there right from the beginning. From there the fine tuning was in finding the right abilities to balance predicting enemies’ actions and reacting to changing game circumstances.”

“We wanted her skill expression to be about gathering information and turning that into a plan, where the execution phase is less about precisely targeting a grenade throw and more about seeing if your read on the enemy came together how you hoped.”

On a more humorous note, Goscicki writes that “on an odd note while working on Astra’s Character Select animation there was a day where her eyelids corrupted, and were stretching/flying across the screen during the whole animation. This was both amazing, and disturbing at the same time.”

Astra release date

Astra will be released with Episode 2, Act 2 on March 2. She’s accompanied by the new battle pass and all of its cosmetic goodies. Ensure to check back with Dexerto for all the latest news on the latest addition to the Future Earth fray.

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