Brimstone is one of the most useful support characters in Valorant right now. At his core, Brimstone is about providing orbital bombardments and buffing teammates.
The strikes can provide both cover and damage. This makes him a good balancing act of defense and offense. Like all good agents in Valorant, Brimstone should be used in unison with your teammates. Conceal your friends, blind your foes, unleash devastating Orbital Strikes, buff your teammates, Brimstone has it all. Let’s review his abilities and see if he’s the character for you and how you can best utilize his strengths.
Basic Ability – Stim Beacon
This beacon is part of what makes Brimstone one of the most valuable picks for any team. When you put this mechanical doodad on the ground, every teammate within its area will receive a power-up. For the price of 100 credits, you, your teammates and even potential enemy players that get into the circle will receive the “RapidFire” buff. This will give you approximately 10% speed increase in just about every action related to shooting – rate of fire, reload speed, recoil recovery, weapon swapping. This can be extra helpful for snipers.
Anyone inside the AOE will receive a buff. Walls and barriers don’t block the effect of the beacon, so you can throw it on the ground behind cover and still get the effects. The buff continues to last up to 4 seconds after the player exits the circle. This makes it a useful ability for a rush as well as on defense.
Dropping the beacon in the path of your push, entering the circle and then exiting to rush your enemies is a great way to utilize this ability. Since the beacon buffs enemies as well, it’s possible to bait them into a rush, provided you’ve placed it in a tempting spot. It all depends on how greedy they are. The beacon lasts for about 13 seconds.
Basic Ability – Incendiary
Equipping Brimstone’s grenade launcher gives you the ability to launch incendiary bombs. The incendiary usually bounces on contact and detonates a bit later. This ability costs 200 credits. It creates a circle of flames that does damage to everyone that steps on it, including you and your teammates. It’s a good strategy to flush out enemies from behind cover. Bouncing the grenade can be a great way to hurt your enemies while not exposing yourself to their fire.
Just mind the drop-off when firing and don’t always rely on hitting the enemies exactly. This ability is best used strategically. Mind the AOE and make the enemies sweat by lighting the ground on fire. This can make them panic and run out, creating the perfect chance for an easy kill.
Another way to use the incendiary is to put it on a potential enemy path. It’s great for stopping a rush, and flushing them into it with other abilities is a great way to get your opponents off guard. Communicate with your team and make it happen. As with all other abilities, you need to watch your fire and not mind your teammates.
Signature ability – Sky Smoke
From the very start of the round, Brimstone has the ability to rain down smoke on the map within his area of effect. The first three smoke strikes are free. This is very useful for providing cover from the very outset. After the first three, each charge costs 100 credits. All you need to do is open up the tactical map, pick the locations and you’re set. A sort of ball of smoke/dust will appear, covering everyone that enters it. Your very own orb of cover.
It’s great both for offense and defense. When planting, you can use Brimstone’s Sky Smoke to provide cover and plant the bomb while the enemy can’t see you. When defending, Brimstone can make it harder for the attacking team to provide covering fire. You can stack smoke strikes one atop another, making chokepoints covered for a good while.
You can also create a small bubble of cover around an open area, making it easier for the defending team to defuse a bomb. All and all, a very useful ability, essential for every team in Valorant.
Ultimate ability – Orbital Strike
Orbital Strike is Brimstone’s most destructive ability by far. It works similarly to the Sky Smoke – you open up the map and pick a location to rain fire and fury. And all for the price of 6 Ultimate points. Orbital Strike has a wider range than Sky Smoke, meaning you can activate it from farther away. This huge space ray does serious damage to anyone caught in its area of effect. Agents closer to the center will receive more damage.
All Brimstone has to do is open the radar, pick a spot and wait three seconds. Players, both friendly and hostile, have about as much time to escape. A massive laser will burn the area. This is very useful in both planting and defusing the bomb. You can clear a good defensive position before an attack or prevent a plant by bombing the most likely attack path. The blast is devastating, raining down fire and brimstone on all unfortunate enough to get caught in it.
But as devastating as the attack is, it’s not long-lasting, so use it with precision. You can decimate entire teams. One of the best ways to use the Orbital Strike is to wait until the enemy starts defusing your bomb to unleash it. Your opponents will have to get out of the way or suffer the consequences. Either way, it gives you those precious seconds needed to win the game.
In short, Brimstone Abilities are great
Overall, Brimstone is a valuable addition to any Valorant team. Utilizing his combination of firepower and strategy is a sure way to tip the odds in your favor, no matter who you’re playing against.
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