Popular Twitch streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys was invited to go hands-on with Valorant during a recent playtest, and she’s already outlined how one agent in particular might be overpowered out of the gate.
Dozens of creators were invited to play Valorant during a closed testing period. From Nadeshot, to shroud, and more, early impressions have been fairly positive, but these big names weren’t allowed to go into much detail.
Pokimane took to Twitch on March 31 however, and spilled the beans on her time spent with the upcoming First Person Shooter. The streaming star highlighted Sage as potentially the most powerful character in the game.
Having put a good amount of time into Valorant already, Pokimane highlighted Sage as one of her favorites to play in testing. While the agent’s kit may be tailored to more of a traditional support role on the surface, she outlined how “in this sort of a game, a lot of the time you won’t even get to heal your team.”
“Either the people that are low aren’t near you, or you guys all run it at once,” she explained. “Or sometimes there’s just no time.”
She highlighted the “satisfying” ability to self-heal as one of the most powerful aspects of the character that may not have been abundantly clear through the March 27 teaser.
“It’s a full-health heal, so if you get lucky and kill someone, you heal yourself, you’re back to full and that way you can sometimes trade two for one which is really good.”
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“The thing that is actually really overpowered about her,” Pokimane said, “not the heal, not the slow orb thing, it’s her wall.”
Sage’s Barrier Orb ability allows her to throw out an orb and create a “solid wall” in its place. Players are able to right-click in order to rotate its placement before blocking off any line of sight.
“This sh** is so hard to break. Oh my God her wall is insane and it lasts a hot minute,” the Twitch star added.
While specific attributes such as the exact health of the wall, are yet to become public knowledge, it’s clear that the ability can sustain a good amount of damage before crumbling. Perhaps too much damage, according to Pokimane.
Coming away from the early testing period with nothing but praise for Valorant, she expressed how “it feels really good to play.”
Here’s how you can access Valorant’s beta in select regions on April 7.