Valorant, the free-to-play first-person shooter by Riot Games has added another member to it’s cast.
Valorant has established itself well in the Esports community ever since it’s initial 2020 launch. Having initially released with 13 playable characters, the addition of Gekko brings the number of agents to 22. Similar to Sova and Breach, Gekko is an initiator-type agent, meaning he’s good at initiating attacks on enemies. Gekko himself is an interesting new hero, being the owner of four bizarre creatures which all appear in his various abilities.
Like all other Valorant agents Gekko has two special abilities, a signature ability, and an ultimate possibility. These four abilities include Gekko’s four pets Dizzy, Mosh, Thrash, and Wingman. As a passive ability after Dizzy, Mosh, and Thrash expire they will fall to the ground as “globules”. Gekko is able to pick up these Globules as his passive ability, if he fails to do so the animal ability will disappear from the map. This is great as to not have to re-purchase abilities throughout multiple rounds as long as you keep picking up your globules. This isn’t the first time Valorant has had an agent with animal companions beforehand, Skye and her hawk being a prominent example. However, this is the first agent to have their entire kit based off of summoning creatures.
Gekko’s Abilities.
As far as Gekko goes, a lot of his kit is fairly similar to what we’ve seen in other Valorant agents. However with the concept of all of his abilities being alive, Gekko’s kit operates in unique ways. For his basic ability Mosh Pit, Gekko throws Mosh forwards. After Mosh lands they multiply rapidly before exploding, being a fairly useful ability for deterring enemies away. For his other basic ability, Wingman will waddle forwards and give the player information on any enemy agents they see. While on the attacking team Gekko can actually give the spike to Wingman, allowing them to plant it as the player still has access to their weapon.
Gekko’s signature ability is Dizzy, a small squishy armadillo-like creature. After casting Dizzy, Dizzy will spend a short moment charging up before firing an energy blast at any enemies within their line of sight. Dizzy’s attacks aren’t to damage the player, but to instead cover their screens in a blue plasma, obscuring the enemy’s vision. This Valorant mechanic operates similarly to a blooper from Mario Kart. For Gekko’s ultimate ability he summons Thrash, who operates similarly to Junkrat’s ultimate in Overwatch. After summoning Thrash, Gekko will link minds with Thrash, allowing the player to control them. Thrash will dash forwards and the player can control Thrash, being able to lunge at enemies and explode. Thrash can only have their globule re-used once in a round.
In conclusion Gekko is a fun new addition to Valorant with a conceptually interesting kit. Personally I love the fun designs of Gekko’s creatures, and look forward to seeing him in my upcoming matches. To play Valorant on a clean top-of-the-line system, or potentially join a tournament, check out The Esports Cave today!
