Valorant team comps guide: how to create the best possible team
Maximise your chances of victory before the match has even begun
It might be a bit reductive to say that many Valorant matches are won or lost before the first round even begins, but it's a nice, pithy way of saying "pay attention to your team composition, people", so I'm gonna use it. If your thought process for picking your agent at the start of the match boils down to always picking your favourite or most familiar character, then you're putting your team at a disadvantage. But fear not - our Valorant team comps guide will walk you through how to create an absolute powerhouse of a team for every single match.
Valorant team comps guide
- Best agents for any Valorant team
- Creating a balanced team in Valorant
- How to build around your teammates
Best agents for any Valorant team
We'll talk about how to balance out your team with a diverse selection of roles and abilities shortly. But first, let's talk about the elephant in the room - the fact that, as Valorant currently stands in its closed beta state, some characters simply give your team a better chance of winning than others.
So let's have a brief chat about the four top-tier agents in Valorant, and what makes them such a fantastic pick in almost any situation.
Sage
If you want to give your team the highest chances of victory, you really do need a Sage. She's in a league of her own at the moment. A good Sage can make an enormous contribution towards the longevity and survival of your team as a whole, with her healing and her Resurrection ultimate. But she's also capable of single-handedly grinding enemy pushes to a halt with her extremely potent combination of Slow Orbs and her Barrier. She is without a doubt the strongest agent in Valorant, and you're putting yourself at a disadvantage by not having her on your team.
Take a look at our Sage guide for 32 practical tips covering each of her abilities and more.
Cypher
By Cypher's nature, it's taken longer for the playerbase to realise just how powerful and instrumental he can be in securing victory for his team. With the exception of Sage's Resurrection, Neural Theft has got to be the most pivotal ultimate ability in Valorant when it comes to securing rounds; and the sheer power of Cypher's Spycam and Trapwires to lock down a site even when no one is there to defend it is just bonkers. Information is your strongest weapon in Valorant, and Cypher is the undisputed master of that weapon.
Our Cypher guide is packed with practical tips and tricks that every Cypher main should know, including the most powerful camera placements across all three maps!
Breach
Breach is a tricky agent to get to grips with, but once it clicks, it really clicks. The king of initiation (sorry Phoenix), Breach's skillset revolves around poking enemies out of position without ever having to expose yourself. If you're pushing as a team towards a site, your strategy needs to revolve around Breach. No other agent can ruin an entire enemy team in the space of half a second like Breach can.
If you need some help on making best use of Breach's abilities, check out our in-depth Breach guide.
Brimstone
Brimstone is another extremely solid pick for any team. With his Sky Smokes and his Orbital Strike ultimate, he is better at any other Valorant agent at securing global map control. Pushes may revolve around Breach, but your team's strategy for the round as a whole should revolve around Brimstone and his Sky Smoke placements. Good luck trying to push a site held by a Brimstone and a Sage working in tandem.
For all the best tips and strategies as the master of map control, check out our in-depth Brimstone guide.
Creating a balanced team in Valorant
Obviously we're not saying that any team which doesn't contain the above four agents is doomed to fail. Striking a good balance of abilities and roles is just as important as the contributions of any one character. But what roles?
A solid approach is to make sure you have the following capabilities in your team. For each one, I've added in parentheses the best agents for each capability.
- Smokes and line-of-sight blockers (Brimstone, Viper, Omen)
- Initiation (Breach, Phoenix, Brimstone, Raze)
- Reconnaissance (Cypher, Sova)
- Solo defence (Sage, Viper, Cypher)
- Damage (Raze, Breach, Viper, Phoenix)
There's no harm in having multiple agents that excel at a particular one of these roles - not unless it precludes you from covering all other roles as well. You could, for example, very happily have a Breach and a Phoenix on the same team, as long as you made sure your other choices gave you decent smokes, at least one recon expert, a strong defender, and so on.
How to build around your teammates
Alright, let's now put your newfound team composition knowledge to the test by taking a look at some situations you might well find yourself in when solo-queuing in Valorant. Below you'll find several combinations of four characters that your teammates may have picked, followed by my choice of fifth character for each situation. How closely do your choices match mine?
Your team: | Brimstone | Raze | Viper | Phoenix |
Best choice: | Either Cypher or Sage. Probably Sage. You'll miss out on recon, but Sage is just too powerful to pass up. |
Your team: | Sage | Breach | Jett | Cypher |
Best choice: | Brimstone or Viper. Either one gives your team a lot of the global map control they'd otherwise be lacking. |
Your team: | Sage | Brimstone | Cypher | Omen |
Best choice: | Breach or Raze. Otherwise you've no one who can deal lots of direct damage and flush opponents out of hiding. |
Your team: | Sage | Breach | Sova | Viper |
Best choice: | Strong team, this one - but I'd be happier with some more smoke options. Brimstone or Omen. |
Your team: | Sage | Cypher | Breach | Brimstone |
Best choice: | Our top four! Who should join them? Either a Viper or a Raze. Both great at map control and dealing extra damage. |
Your team: | Sage | Sova | Brimstone | Phoenix |
Best choice: | I'd go for Breach. Even though you already have a Phoenix, you can never have too much initiation potential. |
Obviously this isn't an exact science, and you can most certainly win a match regardless of how your team composition matches up with the enemy's team composition. But once you reach the higher levels of Valorant play, your choice of agents and your overall team synergy becomes instrumental in the outcome of a match.
With that, we'll conclude this Valorant team comps guide. But we've got plenty more to offer for any Valorant player looking to increase their skill and knowledge! Click any of the links below to head over to a different Valorant guide.
Valorant basics (start here if you're new!) | ||||
Valorant weapons | Valorant crosshair | |||
Valorant characters | ||||
Valorant characters | Valorant team comps | |||
Breach | Brimstone | Cypher | Jett | Omen |
Phoenix | Raze | Sage | Sova | Viper |
Reyna | ||||
Valorant maps & callouts | ||||
Valorant Ascent map | Valorant Bind map | |||
Valorant Haven map | Valorant Split map | |||
Miscellanious Valorant guides | ||||
Valorant Store & Valorant Points | Valorant ranks | |||
Valorant error codes | How to report in Valorant |