A small mishap on Riot Games’ part has resulted in Valorant‘s next hero being revealed. They’re called Killjoy, and they’re set to immediately become the most annoying character in the game — not least in part because their ultimate is basically the Dome from The Simpsons.
Killjoy’s abilities popped up on the official Valorant website early Tuesday morning, complete with a series of ability videos that were later removed. Naturally, fans downloaded the videos before they could be removed, giving everyone a full look at the robot-wielding assassin.
The first ability, Alarmbot, is basically an alternative to Raze’s Boombot. The Alarmbot sits in place and when a nearby enemy gets in range, it runs up to them and stuns the target.
Killjoy’s second ability is basically a Torbjorn turret. It has a 180 degree cone of fire, can be recalled, and any enemy it hits will receive double damage from all sources. Sounds like an insta-buy for pistol rounds, and even though the turret doesn’t appear to do a ton of damage, it’ll still be an excellent form of recon.
Nanoswarm is the third basic ability, functioning a little like Cypher’s cages. It can be thrown like a grenade and after being manually triggered, it does AOE damage in a circular radius. In the video saved by PlayerIGN on Twitter below, it looks like a great option for defending bomb plants or tight chokepoints and areas, like Haven’s B bombsite, or on Split.
Last but not least is Lockdown. Lockdown activates eight seconds after it was placed, and immediately slows and stuns any enemies caught in its sizeable radius. It looks like a great ability for holding a bomb plant or initiating an attack — or even a fake — on a bombsite.
#VALORANT #Killjoy ability videos.
Was able to get them before they were removed/privated. pic.twitter.com/MVKFFsSA4t— PlayerIGN (@PlayerIgn) July 28, 2020
There’s no word on when Killjoy will be released, although it’s likely it’ll coincide with the release of Valorant Act 2. Acts in Valorant are basically the equivalent of seasons, although they work a little differently in that players will be ranked on two things: their 9 best ranked competitive wins, and total wins over the season.
Here’s how player ranks will work transitioning across seasons:
- Your matchmaking rank will still be a close reflection of your current rating
- We are now introducing “Act Ranks,” which track your ‘proven skill’ (this is new!), highest ranked win, and # of competitive wins in the Act
- At the end of the act, your Act Rank will be preserved as a badge on your player card in Competitive Games (and in your career history)
- Your ‘proven skill’ is your 9th best ranked win of the Act, to demonstrate you can consistently win at that level
- Your highest ranked win is self-explanatory: It’s the highest ranked win you’ve achieved in the act (right at the top of that triangle)
- Your Act Rank border is the surrounding border that evolves based on your number of competitive wins in the Act
- You’ll also be able to review past Act Rank info in your Career Tab
Players will be able to inspect other players’ match histories from the next season as well. Anyone who completed their ranked placements in Act 1 will only have to play three ranked placement games in Act 2, instead of the regular 5. “Typically, your Match Rank will land a couple of tiers below where you ended the prior Act, but we’ll be increasing how heavily we weigh performance in your early games so you can quickly improve your matchmaking rank if you play well and win,” Riot says.
It’ll be fun to see the community have a collective meltdown once Raze, Cypher, Viper and Killjoy all get into a team and start blanketing chokepoints with traps, AOE dots and all sorts of nightmares. There’s no release date on Killjoy just yet, but it shouldn’t be too far away.
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