How to play KAY/O in Valorant
A guide on tips and tricks to improve your gameplay for Valorant’s latest robot initiator Agent, KAY/O. KAY/O is Valorant's 16th Agent and is looking to crush the current meta!
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As part of the release and introduction of Valorant’s third official season, Episode 3 has brought with it the gift of a brand new Agent.
As Valorant’s 16th Agent, KAY/O has been introduced as an aggressive initiator who can sort of do everything you would need an Agent to do in Valorant. He has a frag grenade/molotov, a flash grenade, a dagger dart that reveals and suppresses all enemies in a certain radius and he has the sports the power to be revived from his ultimate.
KAY/O will no doubt send shockwaves into the meta of the game and will force players and teams to adapt the ways in which they play particular maps, allowing for brand new strategies to be innovated.
He is similar to the terminator in the way that he ruthlessly braves on to a site with the information of exactly who is lurking around the corners. Couple this with some flashbangs and your team already has a site locked down, forcing the enemies to come and fight you.
We will go more in depth into tips and tricks on how to play KAY/O further down the article, but for now, here is a full list of his abilities, in case you have not already seen them.
KAY/O Abilities
- C – 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.
- Q – 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.
- E/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: INSTANTLY overloaded 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.
The most interesting ability in KAY/O’s kit is his E or signature ability without doubt as this is a brand new tool as far as Valorant Agent’s go. No Agent before KAY/O has had a suppression in their kit and this is one of the reasons why KAY/O will be a must pick Agent right now.
For those of you that do not know, a suppression in Valorant is the result of an ability which temporarily disables the capacity to use abilities, so any enemy who is within the radius of KAY/O’s suppression blade will not be able to use their abilities for a short amount of time.
This is by far the most absurd interaction in the game, even more so than getting one shotted by a Raze rocket, as not only can you not use your abilities if you are caught within the radius, but you have to remember that this is KAY/O’s signature ability so he gets one free with the start of every round.
Now you’re up to speed with his abilities, here are a few tips and tricks on how you can utilize KAY/O the most in your unrated and competitive games.
Utilize his suppression blade to the max
As far as the current initiators in the game go, with the exception of Breach, you would not typically consider them to be entry fraggers, but more so as Agents who pave the way for the team to breach a particular site on the map.
Skye can do this with her flashes, Sova with his vision dart etc., but with KAY/O, you can do both. This is where the robotic menace exceeds in gameplay and is no doubt the best at doing so in the game.
A general tip to play KAY/O should be to use his suppression blade to clear a radius at a site which you intend to hold down and then use your grenades to get onto the site once you have established who and how many enemies are nearby.
Remember, KAY/O’s suppression blade not only reveals how many enemies are nearby but also exactly who the enemies are by displaying the Agent icons on your screen once they are spotted – crazy right!
This ability can also be used defensively to locate how many enemies are pushing your site too and is equally as strong at doing so. Overall, it is simply an excellent tool to have in a game and KAY/O is already worth picking up from this ability alone.
Learn flash grenade angles
His flash grenades are pretty much identical to those that may be found in CS:GO or your average shooter game, so they are the easiest flashes to use in Valorant and can also be the most effective as you can use his flashes to peak aggressively on attack and on defence.
These “pop flashes” last longer depending on which angle they flash in front of an enemy and will flash for shorter amounts of time if they explode behind enemies, for example. To ensure you know good lineups for flash grenades, it is worth heading into a custom match and learning good spots and angles to bounce your grenades off.
If you can hear an enemy about to turn a corner where you are, you can use your flash grenade on the floor by right clicking which will allow your flash to travel a shorter distance and denote quicker, enabling you to peak the angle safely and guarantee the kill (as long as your aim is on point).
KAY/O’s flash is very simple yet effective and may be paired or synergized with other Agent’s/teammates’ abilities to rush or defend a site.
Know lineups
KAY/O is an Agent that benefits massively from lineups as three out of his four abilities are all tools that he throws and so it is essential to know your lineups for different angles on maps.
His suppression blade will be the easiest to land and will not need designated lineups for all maps, but if you have practised them enough, it may be worthwhile to memorize them as landing the blade in the correct spot each time could give you and your team vital information for a given round.
Other than this, we have already mentioned his flash grenade and how you can learn the lineups in a custom match and the same applies to his frag grenade/molotov. KAY/O’s Q is an interesting ability in that it acts as a frag grenade but detonates as a molotov.
Learning the lineups for this tool can win you crucial rounds to defend post-plants in the dying embers of a round and enemies will take more damage the more central they are to the detonation, but it is worth noting that an enemy with full HP and armour will not die and can outlive a complete detonation of KAY/O’s frag grenade.
His Ultimate is a get out of jail free card
If you thought one suppression was overpowered, how about two? KAY/O’s ultimate may be used in a similar way to Phoenix’s as he can push a site with all guns blazing and has a second chance at living in the same round.
Not only can he be revived, but as he is in his ultimate, all nearby enemies in a certain radius will be suppressed as KAY/O emits waves of radianite energy and they must flee from the radius in order to prevent suppression.
This can be an excellent way to breach a site in an aggressive manner and the best way to utilize this is to have enough of your allies behind you in support. Remember, a suppression only stops enemies from using their abilities and they may shoot as normal, so if you get gunned down in your ultimate, you will want an ally nearby to revive you.
When you are in your downed state, you have 850 health as you wait to be revived and can gain up to 100 health after revival. With his ultimate, KAY/O is the perfect buffer for your team and shows even more why he is the best aggressive initiator in the game.
