Valorant is the first-person shooter game from the Creators of League of Legends — Riot. It took the world by storm when it was released in 2020 and has been one of the most-played FPS games since. What makes Valorant unique is their agents’ roster with their own set of skills.
Mastering the agents is one of the keys to fully mastering and enjoying the game. This will prove difficult because unlocking agents in Valorant isn’t easy — or cheap. The agents are divided into four types: Duelist, Sentinel, Initiator, and Controller. We have got you covered if you want to learn more about Controllers.
Controllers are agents who play defense and are often in the back lines to utilize their abilities fully. The description in the game reads :
“Controllers are experts in slicing up dangerous territory to set their team up for success.”
This is how Riot describes Controllers. They obscure enemy vision and make them hesitant to commit to an area. They can hold down defenses well when their skills are used efficiently, especially when partnered with good Sentinels. As with other agent classes, each Controller is unique, and their skills vary from function to effect.
Using Controller agents allows you to determine and dictate the flow of the fight. From halting an assault to preventing escapes, Controllers must have a deep understanding of the map and good game sense to be indispensable agents on the field. If you are considering using any controllers, read on, and we might tell you why you should start playing as a controller today.
Let’s check one of these Sentinels out and help you figure out if he will suit your playstyle.
Valorant Controller Agent – Omen
Omen is a controller agent in Valorant who is full of mystery, and his voice-over lines suggest he has not had the best life. He is an agent with vision-impairing expertise who can teleport anywhere on the map. It will require some time to master Omen and the map to execute his abilities well.
His playstyle offers some of the most unique and surprising gameplay in Valorant, making him a total unknown in the hands of a versatile player. This mysterious agent can block narrow passageways and deter entries with his blinding orb. He is great in team play and solo gaming, depending on how you want to use his skills.
Omen can teleport behind an unsuspecting enemy or even over ledges away from the line of sight of hiding agents. When partnered with other controllers like Brimstone, they can make any map relatively smaller as they fill it with blind spots and make an attacking enemy team stop in their tracks altogether.
Skills
Shrouded Step – 150 credits
When you press C, Omen can teleport to a near distance by pressing the Fire Button. There will be an indication of where you will teleport, so you can aim where you want to teleport with your crosshair. When you use this skill, an audio cue will be audible to agents relatively close to Omen.
There will also be a visual cue when Omen teleports like smoke coming up from the ground. You can use this skill twice per round, so teleport only when necessary.
Omen is briefly vulnerable while teleporting, so do this when you are in the clear. After engaging the enemy, you can teleport to another cover confusing your enemies when they finally turn the curb and shoot at an empty cover only to be shot from another side. This is a great skill to keep your enemies on their toes.
Additionally, Shrouded Step can teleport to high ledges and objects like boxes or bridges that only a handful of other agents can access, like Jett and Raze. This will keep enemies looking at their height level and above walls and boxes. Use this time to throw a wrench in your enemies’ plans and keep them jumpy each chance.
Paranoia – 300 credits
When you press Q, Omen equips a blinding orb to send in a straight line passing through walls and obstacles like Sova’s ultimate. Paranoia briefly nearsights and deafens enemies along the line, opening them to assault with little to no risk to you and your teammates.
Paranoia can also affect your teammates like other blinds, so use it strategically. This ability costs 300 credits, so using this skill to get results will make it worth your hard-earned credits.
Paranoia travels a little slow, so time your attacks properly. You would not want to peak too early after releasing the skill only to see your enemies’ moments before getting blinded and picking you off first. This is also a great skill to flush out enemies, enabling you and your teammates to remove fleeing enemies.
It works best when you know where your target’s general direction is to make sure Paranoia doesn’t go to waste. This skill’s limit and range can also be seen on the minimap for those more accurate skill placements.
Dark Cover – 100 credits
This is the signature skill of Omen. Pressing E equips Omen with a shadow orb that he can send practically anywhere on the map. Omen enters a phased world where he sees the blueprint of the map to send the Dark Cover accurately.
Pressing the Fire Button can send the orb marker forward while pressing the Alternate Fire Button will pull it back. Each orb lasts for 15 seconds with a cooldown of 45 seconds. This allows you to use a maximum of three orbs for every round when the matches drag on. Omen has one free at the start of every round and can purchase another one for 100 credits.
Dark Cover is similar to Brimstone’s orb as it covers passageways and corridors with a blind, enabling your team to flee, reposition, and set plays while behind the blind. Be aware of your surroundings when using Dark Cover, as Omen is vulnerable while phasing in the shadow world.
You will also move when you press the movement buttons while setting up the shadow orbs, and you can potentially leave your cover and come out into the open. It becomes tricky for new players when you need to send out shadow orbs quickly in the middle of battle, so it is best to use this skill before any clash and finish your enemies quickly.
Studying the map can disable enemies’ snipers and other tactical strategies. Depending on the enemy agents’ abilities and tendencies, placing your shadow orbs strategically can greatly reduce the enemy team’s offensive power.
From The Shadows – 7 Ultimate Orbs
This is the Ultimate Skill of the controller Omen in Valorant. Pressing X will enable Omen to teleport anywhere on the map. Omen opens up the whole map and chooses anywhere on the map to teleport to by pressing the Fire Button.
Read: How To Get Gekko in Valorant
It takes Omen 4 seconds to channel this ability and can cancel it before materializing in the target spot by pressing the skill button again. This is one of the most potent abilities in Valorant for giving new opportunities for attack, retreat, and even distraction.
Like all other agents’ ultimate abilities, from the Shadows has an audio cue. A shadow blurs all enemies ‘ maps during the four seconds it takes for Omen to fully materialize in a new location. Timing this ability depending on circumstances, can deter and even render enemy agents’ actions null like Sova’s ultimate.
There will be a shadow slowly materializing Omen to his chosen location. It can even be on high ledges like boxes. This shadow can be destroyed to cancel Omen’s ultimate, or they can wait for you to arrive and shoot you down, so carefully choose where you want to teleport.
Players commonly use this ability to plant at the other bomb site when pinned down on the other. The limitation of this ability is the entire map, so enemies will be desperate to try and find you, wary if you will pop up behind them to mow them down.
Some pros even use From The Shadows to position themselves in hard-to-reach areas, giving them a new vantage point and wider view for intel. Use this opportunity to set up your strategy to get that victory.
Valorant Controller Omen Bonus Tips
- Dark Cover is hollow. Unlike Brimstone’s smoke, you still have full vision inside the shadow ball. You can stay within the ball to see enemies walk through and shoot them down even before their vision gets inside the orb. Be careful, as cautious players often shoot at the ball, hoping to pick you off from the outside.
- Shrouded Step has a one-second windup before and after you teleport. This is a vulnerable time since you can not move or take out your weapon, so assess your situation before using this skill.
- Paranoia has a 30-meter range. It is not as far-reaching as other skills but can blind enemies or flush them out for a surprise attack. Use the minimap to see where your skill will reach.
- From The Shadows can be used in so many ways. One instance that this skill is indispensable is retrieving the spike. If your teammate drops the spike in a very high-risk area. Omen can teleport to the spike — even in the middle of the enemy’s crosshairs — and cancel the 4-second windup. Even when canceled, the spike would have been retrieved by this tactic.
Do you think Omen is for you? He is not the easiest agent to master, but when practiced and partnered with a good game sense, he is undoubtedly one of the most versatile and powerful agents in Valorant. He can be sneaky, he can move around effortlessly, and he can be very unpredictable.
Omen is a controller agent in Valorant that thrives, whether playing with a team or running solo. If you want to play a mysterious, tactical, and powerful agent, we highly recommend you pick him for your next match and be prepared to put the hours in.
