The smokes and flashbangs that the two provide are invaluable tools in VALORANT and are a cut above similar abilities in the game from Phoenix, Viper, Omen and Jett. While teams at the ESPN Invitational were still figuring things out, the shift to Breach priority and continued focus on the Breach-Brimstone combination has made for a meta staple. With all of the data from these four tournaments combined, Breach (89% pick rate) was selected more often than Brimstone (69% pick rate), although the two are both popular, especially together. In my data from the T1 Invitational and Mandatory Cup, Breach was 100% picked, alongside Cypher and Sage.ĮSPN Daily newsletter: Sign up now! ESPN Stats & Information In the ESPN Invitational, Brimstone (84% pick rate) was chosen more than Breach (50% pick rate), but as tournaments and teams have evolved, Breach has become a far more popular pick. A large percentage of those picks came from the T1 Invitational matches between Gen.G and Team Brax, both of which selected Sova and Cypher in their grand finals matches. Sova was picked 39% of the time in the games I collected data from, and due to Cypher's 100% pick rate, this 39% pick rate also applies to the Cypher-Sova combination. Vision is another key component in the game, and while Cypher is the primary vision agent, it's also interesting to take a look at how many teams opted for both Cypher and Sova for extra scouting abilities. During the semifinals and finals, Sage was, and remains, a must have. I'm certain that if I had catalogued every single match from each of these four tournaments there would be a few outlier games where one team chose not to pick up Sage, but these would be few and far between. In the first tournament I analyzed, the ESPN Esports Invitational, Sage was picked 94% of the time (all but two times), and both were losses for the Sage-less team. Additionally, she provides utility that no other agent comes close to having for their team with her abilities, including the wall, slows and resurrection ultimate. Cypher is VALORANT's most versatile vision-giving agent, and Sage is (thus far, pending subsequent agent releases like Reyna) the game's only healer. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Sage and Cypher were picked 100% of the time by all teams regardless of map. VALORANT agent pick-rate dataĭespite the small sample size, most of the agent selection data across all tournaments was consistent, with small deviations depending on players, teams and maps. The data collected is but a small sample of what was available from these four tournaments, yet I do think it is a microcosm for agent selection and team composition building in VALORANT. Data is from the T1 Invitational semifinals and grand finals, the Fnatic Proving Grounds open semifinal and grand finals, the Mandatory Cup third-place match and grand finals, and the Solary Cup grand finals. Read more: What we thought of VALORANT's beta | Who pioneered each VALORANT agent A note about data collectionĭue to the unavailability of entire VOD libraries and a lack of API scraping - the former will hopefully come with time and the latter should begin upon the game's release - the data collected from each tournament is only a small slice of the games played during those tournaments. Here is a cursory look at agent selection in subsequent tournaments, how it has evolved since the ESPN invitational and some lingering thoughts on what VALORANT's future will hold regarding agents and abilities. It's a rare look at an esport in its infancy prior to its official launch.Ī month ago, I took a look at how the agent selection meta evolved over ESPN Esports' own VALORANT invitational. With the expectation that VALORANT is aiming to have a large esports footprint, there have already been numerous tournaments throughout the closed beta from which we can draw rudimentary analysis. While these defections are arguably premature, it's difficult to ignore the impact that VALORANT has already had on the esports landscape. Players have been defecting to VALORANT before it officially has an esports scene. The VALORANT closed beta has come and gone, leaving with it no small amount of hype and anticipation over its upcoming June 2 release.
0 kommentar(er)
