5 Tips to Playing KAY/O In Valorant

KAY/O is Valorant's newest Agent as of the Episode 3 patch released on Tuesday, and here are a couple of tips to help understand how to play him to dominate in games.

5 Tips to Playing KAY/O In Valorant

KAY/O's inclusion to Valorant was to add to the promise of "precise gunplay" as most of his skills rely on the suppression of enemy Agent abilities. Knowing when to initiate when the suppression is out and fully utilizing his role as the initiator are the keys for success when playing the new Agent, KAY/O.

1. Know the Ranges

As the game shifts towards becoming more and more competitive, it is essential to know what lineups to use when playing several different Agents, especially with KAY/O. With that, knowing how deep abilities travel and understanding how that ability will act when activated in a certain area is crucial to spelling out a victory for a team using KAY/O. Lineups on his ZERO/POINT (E) and FRAG/MENT (C) abilities should be known for both effective initiation and post-plant scenarios.

2. Understand the Limits of Suppression

Knowing that enemies are suppressed will help teams carry out an effective game plan. However, other than just disabling the skills of the enemies, it does not provide with any other utility, which means enemies are free to shoot back even if suppressed. Understanding the limits of how suppression works will be essential, and instead of using the suppression to engage, it may be helpful to instead use it as a way to deter enemies away from the point that the team may be trying to invade.

3. Learn Pop Flashes

Pop flashes, are going to be the core of initiation when using FLASH/DRIVE (Q). Though it can be used to just through at longer distance, the real strength comes for how long the flash lasts for those looking directly at it, and if it is flashed behind the player it'll only be for a fraction compared to what the enemy would have to take. KAY/O definitely shines when providing these pop flashes for his teammates and if used effectively can help teams get completely ahead with little-to-no aggression back solely because they're just unable to shoot back at them.

4. Get Aggressive

KAY/O may be used as a scout and an Agent that can disable others, however, his kit allows for some of the best aggression with little counter-play at the moment. Using all of KAY/O's skills to execute a plan is vital to the success of the team, but needs to be acted upon quickly as to not let the enemies take advantage of the lack of utility after KAY/O uses them. Once KAY/O does use his abilities on a site, it's likely that the team has to commit to that site as KAY/O does not provide much else when all of his utility is down. Once the plan is set, stick to it and reap the benefits when playing him aggressively to lay out the kills for the team.

5. Gather Information and Coordinate

On the flip side to getting aggressive, it may be counterintuitive to say that playing slow and steady wins games. However, understanding where and when to strike is what opens up those opportunities for KAY/O to really show off his strengths in a team. Throwing the ZERO/POINT (E) knife is great to scout, even better than what Sova offers on his Recon Bolt (E). Use the knife to scout out where which enemy Agent is and utilize that knowledge to carry out a game plan with the team to execute effectively. When there needs to be a flash thrown, ensure that the rest of the team knows to at least look away or position themselves in a better place to either swing or storm the site. One other strategy may be to force a way inside with KAY/O's NULL/CMD (X) ultimate in which is a perfect scouting tool, arguably better than Phoenix's Run It Back (X) ultimate. As enemies will be distracted in killing the ongoing suppression, KAY/O will be able to be picked up even if going in brainlessly to the site. Utilizing when and what skills need to be used can be the difference for rounds, but communication is really the key to playing KAY/O.