Fade – The New Valorant Agent
Published: Apr 20, 2022
Riot is well-known for leaving little clues for the community to analyse prior to the release of their Valorant agents. This was the case with Neon and all prior agents, but also with Fade, the newest Valorant agent that’s scheduled to be released soon.
In the usual Riot fashion, they’ve released six Fade teasers showcasing six different agents being influenced by Fade in some way. The central theme around all these teasers seems to be Fade’s ability to prey on the fear of others, which hints towards this being the main power of the new agent.
The new agent’s trailer will be revealed on April 24th, after the Masters Reykjavík Grand Final, where we’ll finally see Fade in action.
Everything We Know So Far
Fade is the new agent from Turkey that’s coming to Valorant. She excels at exploiting her enemies’ fears in order to take them down while they’re disoriented. And when you think about it, what could be more scary than someone knowing your deepest, darkest fears and leveraging them against you.
As such, we deduce that her toolkit will revolve around using some kind of shadow energy that’s capable of infiltrating the minds of the enemy, but also taking physical form.
In Riot’s own words, Fade is the last person you want to find in the dark, which could also suggest that her ultimate ability could be capable of causing utter darkness on the battlefield. In that case, the enemy would be left severely weakened and exposed, giving her teammates ample opportunity to take them down. It’s also possible the ability will allow Fade to track her opponents through solid objects, which definitely sounds strong.
We still don’t know her agent role, but an Initiator sounds like the most likely pick. It’s also possible she’ll end up being a Controller that uses darkness as her weapon.
The Fade Teasers
We also want to shed some light on the six Fade teasers. In those teasers we see Cypher, Breach, Neon, KAY/O, Chamber, and Sova.
In all of those teasers, the agents are chained down by Fade’s shadowy tendrils.
Cypher is tied down to a chair and surrounded by cameras, which indicates his worst fear is being watched. This makes sense as Cypher is the agent in charge of keeping tabs on others, and is obviously terrified of the same being done to him.
Breach seems to be stuck in an imaginary prison, which could be related to his criminal past and his fear of being locked up. In Neon’s teaser we see her being enveloped in the shadowy tendrils, struggling to control her lighting abilities.
KAY/O’s teaser shows him holding a dead Brimstone, which could indicate that his worst fear is losing a close comrade. Sova’s teaser shows him crying from his mechanical eye while the darkness seems to be seeping into it. Sova’s greatest fear could be the loss of his eye, or the loss of sight entirely.
Finally, there’s Chamber, who is seen sitting while other agents tower above him and look down on him, which also relates to some fear of his own.
These teasers are incredible because they leave so much for interpretation. They clearly show Fade’s ability to invade the minds of other agents, but also give some subtle insight into the minds of the agents in question as well. These are some little things that Valorant fans truly appreciate, but also what makes Riot’s stories so compelling.
Will Fade Be Meta?
We believe that any Valorant agent can be a meta pick, it simply depends on how well you play it. Of course, since Fade will be a new agent, she’ll skyrocket in popularity and will certainly make her way into at least some popular meta compositions in Valorant Champions Tour.
While we still don’t know her full kit, there’s a good chance her abilities will tie in well with pretty much any other agent. She sounds like an agent with a heavy focus on crowd control. Also, she’ll most likely be able to provide vision for the team and initiate fights, which will make her highly desirable.
It just remains to be seen how she’ll compare to other existing agents that do the same job, but we refuse to believe Riot would release an underwhelming agent, so she’ll probably do great.
If you’re interested in Fade as we are, make sure to watch the Masters Reykjavík Grand Final on April 24th, where Riot will finally reveal all the details about this brand-new agent.
