Valorant’s twelfth agent is Killjoy, a German robotics genius
Riot is adding another heroic ‘agent’ to Valorant, its currently PC-exclusive first-person shooter. Today, the developer — best known for League of Legends, a popular MOBA that has spawned its own card game and auto chess spin-off — has unveiled Killjoy, a fictional genius from Germany who loves building robots. She’ll be added to the game as part of Act II — Riot’s term for in-game seasons — on August 4th, bringing the agent lineup to 12.
Killjoy’s basic abilities include Alarmbot, a sneaky assassin type that waits for an enemy to move within range and then tracks them down, detonating upon impact to leave them in a ‘vulnerable’ state. (Fellow agent Viper can debuff opponents in a similar fashion.) If you change your mind, it’s also possible to recall a deployed Alarmbot by holding the Equip shortcut. If you want to control the map or pressure opponents to move into a particular choke point, there’s also a Turret ability that will fire in a 180-degree arc. Killjoy comes with a special Nanoswarm grenade, too, that you can throw and subsequently activate to unleash a deadly group of robots.
Finally, Killjoy’s Ultimate is a tactical Lockdown that, after a certain period, ‘detains’ enemies caught in its area of effect. Riot confirmed that the Lockdown device can be destroyed by the opposing team, though.
Killjoy’s addition to Valorant could be divisive. Riot has always insisted that the game is built around gunplay, rather than match-altering powers similar to Overwatch. Every agent has head-turning abilities, however the ones offered at launch were mostly tactical, reducing the opposition’s visibility or pressuring them to move into your weapon’s sight lines. Killjoy’s feature set, meanwhile, feels like a slight deviation from this promise. The fanbase’s reaction will undoubtedly decide if Riot continues down this route or veers back toward a straight-shooter experience like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
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