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VALORANT: Pro players, content creators think Fade will be a nightmare to deal with

Fade, VALORANT's newest agent, will be a nightmare to deal with in the battlefield. (Photo: Riot Games)
Fade, VALORANT's newest agent, will be a nightmare to deal with in the battlefield. (Photo: Riot Games)

Following the action-packed conclusion of the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 1 Masters tournament in Reykjavík, Iceland, developer Riot Games finally revealed the latest agent to join VALORANT’s cast: the shadowy recon specialist Fade.

With her ability to debuff enemy agents and strong recon capabilities, it's looking like Fade will be causing a huge change to the VALORANT metagame.

But don't just take our word for it, pro players and content creators alike have taken note of the new agent's terrifying potential.

Here's some of their first impressions on Fade:

Based on early feedback from playtests, it’s fair to say that the hype built around Fade’s cinematic trailer reveal is well-founded.

Thanks to her nightmarish abilities, Fade can be terrifying to play against, and players who went through early access have taken note.

For example, a recent play test by popular streamer and content creator Michael "shroud" Grzesiek shows that Fade’s ultimate, Nightfall, can blind enemies and make them very vulnerable to attacks.

In contrast, other players believe that Fade’s ult is more useful for retakes or pushing onto sites.

Beyond that, play testers have also stated that the Turkish agent works best when paired with other agent ults, such as a teleport that can lead into quick multi-kills on unsuspecting players.

Another clip from content creator Jonas "AverageJonas" Navarsete shows that Fade’s abilities are particularly effective in serving as a platform for other utilities to stand on.

In this particular example, Fade’s Seize ability managed to capture and decay a few enemies that Raze quickly followed up with a grenade. Best of all, her ability’s deafening effect meant that no one heard it coming.

Other common utility combinations also include the deafen from Fade’s Prowler ability removing the audio cues for Yoru’s Gatecrash and Dimensional Drift, as well as her Nightfall setting the stage for a flanking teleport from Omen.

This makes for some very spooky in-game moments, which is very fitting for the theme Riot went with for Fade.

In particular, her ability to deafen enemies when they teleport will be a fun experience for your team and a nightmare for your enemies.

Some of the pro players at Masters Reykjavík, who were also given an early preview of Fade's abilities, shared similar sentiments, with Paper Rex's Benedict "Benkai" Tan even saying that she reminded him of a Disney villain.

With her potential to cause chaos among enemy ranks and give her team new angles of attack, Fade is definitely an agent that commands attention.

While Riot has previously stated that Fade was developed as an agent that could compete with Sova, it’s interesting to see play testers utilizing her abilities as support instead.

Still, content creators have shown that Fade and her Prowler ability makes her useful during fast executes.

So, while players have noted that she can’t replace Sova, her core gameplay makes her excel with team comps where Sova might not be as powerful.

All in all, however, the general verdict is that Fade is strong and fun to use, and adds yet another dimension to the game’s ever-evolving roster of agents and playstyles.

Moving forward, it’s exciting to see how this will change the current VALORANT meta, given that her gameplay emphasizes the sandbox trait of the game.

Of course, we’re looking forward to seeing her become a mainstay of the game's esports scene, if only for the spooky moments.

Feb has been trying to speedrun Super Mario 64 ever since he started playing video games at 11 years old. He has never succeeded, but has completed other video games in the time since. When not playing, he's usually playing music or building Gunpla.

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