Valorant Episode 4: Neon Guide

Neon – The New Agent

Valorant’s Episode 4 is out and so is the game’s newest agent. Fans of the game have just got used to the most recent Sentinel to be added, but Riot has shown no signs of slowing down as they keep pumping out fresh content every episode. The newest addition to the Valorant roster is the sprinting Duelist known as Neon. Gamers will find that she provides an electrifying gameplay experience.

As Agent 18 is proving to be one of Valorant’s most successful and popular agent releases, Episode 4 caused problems for the developers. Servers almost became overloaded so they had to disable custom game and the practice range to ease the load. With so many players attempting to play Neon in-game, some gamers are electing to put off playing Neon until the hype dies down. Whatever the case, we’ll be providing an in-depth overview and guide here.

Who is Neon?

Agent 18 is a Radiant with electric-themed abilities which allows her to speed and slide through the map. Neon can run around her opponents confusing them with her speed and agility before finally delivering killing shots. The new agent is designed to counter Jett as the Operator meta has been dominating the game, even more so when Chamber was introduced.

Neon, codename Sprinter, is one of the first examples of Southeast Asian representation in a AAA gaming titles. The speedster agent is a Filipino hailing from the city of Manila. Riot has been lauded for taking the representation to the fullest as Neon was voiced by Filipina Vanille Velasquez, designed by Filipino Ryan Cousart, and quality assessed by Pinay Gabby Llanillo. Neon’s official trailer also featured the song “Entertain Me” by Ylona Garcia who is also a Filipina.

Valorant has been making sure that its agents represent various countries in the world. With the introduction of Neon, Riot has finally made a representative of the SEA community which is one of the game’s largest communities. As the game goes along, it is expected that Agent 18 will not be the last agent to come from Southeast Asia.  

What are Neon’s Skills?

The newest agent’s abilities have made the Valorant community excited as she features gameplay similar to fast-paced games like Apex. However, her kit had some of the pros divided as some think that her launch will ruin the FPS game’s traditional precise gunplay. Here are Neon’s abilities:

• Fast Lane – Neon raises both her hands to summon two lines of energy on both of her sides. The walls of energy will extend to a certain distance or until it is blocked by a surface. While the wall blocks everyone’s light of sight, enemies who pass through the lines will receive damage. The skill costs 300 credits in the shop.
• Relay Bolt – Neon throws a bolt of energy that bounces once before it hits another surface area. The initial bounce and the last area hit by the bolt will cause the ground below them to electrify which will concuss anyone under them. The skill costs 200 credits in the shop.
• High Gear – Neon can instantly channel her energy to boost her sprinting speed. Once charged, pressing ALT FIRE will make Neon trigger an electric slide. The slide can be used again after players get two kills. This ability is free and does not require any credits.
• Overdrive – Neon gains access to her full potential and gains increase speed for a short duration. At the same time, she will be able to fire bolts of high-damaging lightning from her fingertips with high movement accuracy. Though the lightning beam runs out fast, the duration resets upon getting kills.

Whether Neon will be broken or underwhelming is yet to be seen while the community starts to integrate her into the meta. However, pros have expected that the Judge shotgun will dominate the game once more due to Neon’s fast movement speed.

Tips on How to Play Neon

Since it may take some time before players can get used to Neon’s abilities, here are some tips that will help gamers get a deeper understanding of her kit:

• Neon’s High Gear makes her run 35% faster. Use this skill to enter sites and move into positions that are not usually aimed at.
• Using slide to wide peek an enemy will give players a higher chance of survival due to her hitbox being lower and how fast she moves during the slide.
• The Slide can only be replenished once every round.
• Use Relay Bolt to clear out multiple angles and peek corners.
• Relay Bolt’s concussive area can go through walls, so even if an enemy is behind a wall, as long as they are in the area of effect, they will still get concussed.
• Fast Lane functions similarly to Phoenix’s wall except that Neon’s walls don’t heal her.
• Fast Lane can damage several objects like Cypher’s cameras and traps, Skye’s dog, and Sova’s drone. However, the skill cannot damage or destroy Killjoy’s gadgets.
• Neon’s ultimate uses the same fuel as her High Gear. Using these two abilities at the same time will deplete the fuel faster.
• Kills will only replenish a quarter of the fuel, so players should avoid spamming Overdrive too much.
• Neon will do a small animation once her ammo reaches 0 while using Overdrive. This animation presents an open window for enemies to take down Neon. Avoid letting the ammo reach 0.
• Neon’s Overdrive will deal damage evenly no matter what body part is being hit. Take full advantage of this feature and hit large hitboxes.

As Agent 18 brings that fast-paced gunplay into Valorant, fans will have to wait and see how she will fit into the current meta. Unlock Neon now and run circles around enemies.