Valorant is a tactical FPS created by Riot Games, and the title has multiple unique characters in the Agent pool for players to choose from. Cypher is unquestionably one of the best Valorant Agents to master. He can become the best flanking Agent, with his abilities allowing players to trap and locate enemies easily, making it easier for the entire team to get kills and, ultimately, win.
Here's our comprehensive guide to playing as Cypher in Valorant.
Read More: Valorant: How Agent Contracts Work
Is Cypher Good in Valorant?
Cypher, the Moroccan information broker, is a one-man surveillance network who keeps tabs on the enemy's every move. He's classed as a Sentinel in-game, and has various abilities that revolve around trapping the enemies and controlling the map. He can halt incoming rushes and stop enemies at choke points, easily securing his team kills. Due to these strengths, Cypher has a high pick rate at all ranks in Valorant.
In terms of Valorant's background and story, Cypher is a part of the Protocol team, and he is the 'tech guy'. He has several voice lines in-game where he mentions other Agent's passwords and digital secrets. That being said, Cypher was not affected by the First Light incident. This means that he is not a Radiant, but he uses Radianite technology for his tools.
Is Cypher Good for Beginners?
Cypher isn't available for players at first and needs to be unlocked by players. After unlocking and a bit of practice, he is one of the strongest Sentinels to use in Valorant.
Cypher’s arsenal ensures that his squad always knows the opponent's location, so he is great to use as a support Agent when on the attack and entering sites. He then becomes most lethal during defensive rounds, with his traps being fundamental for closing off areas. On the other hand, his Cyber Cages can be triggered by the player, and act as a great tool to confuse the enemies. Finally, we have Cypher's Spycam, which allows him to check a Spike Site or the middle area of the map while stationed elsewhere; this is perhaps the best recon tool in Valorant.
Overall, Cypher is one of the tougher Agents to master, and he definitely requires a high skill ceiling. Given his trapping and recon abilities, it may be worth playing a slower-paced passive style with Cypher to begin with; try to dictate the tempo of the game rather than brawling it outright from the start.
How To Play As Cypher — Abilities & Skills
Here are Cypher's abilities:
Trapwire - Cypher equips a Trapwire. FIRE to place a destructible and covert tripwire at the targeted location creating a line that spans between the placed location and the wall opposite. Enemy players who cross a tripwire will be tethered, revealed, and dazed after a short period if they do not destroy the device in time. This ability can be picked up to be redeployed.
Cyber Cage - Instantly toss the cyber cage in front of Cypher. Activate to create a zone that blocks vision and slows enemies who pass through it.
Spycam - Cypher equips a spycam. FIRE to place the spycam at the targeted location. RE-USE this ability to take control of the camera’s view. While in control of the camera, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will reveal the location of any player struck by the dart.
Ultimate - Neural Theft: Instantly use Cypher's hat on a dead enemy player in your crosshairs to reveal the location of all living enemy players.
Cypher's Best Weapons
The best weapons to select for any Agent in Valorant will depend on their role and the player's play style.
So if you're aggressively pushing sites with Cypher for entry, then these weapons will be the best choice.
- Ghost
- Stinger
- Spectre
- Phantom
- Frenzy
- Sheriff
- Bulldog
In case you are hanging back and adopting a passive play style with Cypher, then work your way around with the following weapons:
- Marshall
- Guardian
- Vandal
- Odin
- Operator
Tips for Playing Cypher in Valorant
Players need to understand that Cypher's role in Valorant is not that of an entry fragger. He is a support Agent first and foremost. Cypher's abilities have a minor damage capacity, as they're mostly based on confusing and trapping enemies, yet, having a Cypher in your team will always give you an edge over the enemies.
Thus, it is best to adopt a passive play style if you're learning Cypher. Use him to create opportunities for teammates with precise Spycam positioning and Trap placement. Note that whenever Cypher uses his Spycam, he is vulnerable to opponents. So players need to incorporate situational decision-making, and communication, to use Cypher's abilities properly. The Spycam can ultimately be used to monitor a specific area on the map — this can be a Spike Site or an area that opponents may travel through — therefore, his abilities will always be discretionary depending on the situation.
Always make sure to have a calm mind while playing Cypher, as using too much time to check your camera may encourage enemies to push your location. Make sure to fortify a specific spike site before flanking in defensive rounds. Additionally, try to place Cypher's traps at unorthodox locations and use various line-ups for Spycam placement to confuse the enemy and prevent them from destroying the camera.
Finally, Cypher's ultimate ability allows him to see all the opponent's locations. This is his greatest strength in Valorant, but it only works if Cypher has an enemy corpse to use his ultimate ability on.
This ability will reveal enemy locations to all team-mates and is very important mid-game if the team want to take all opponents down.
Overall, playing Cypher will require a lot of persistence and foreknowledge. Players need to focus on the fact that their job is to trap and locate the enemies, primarily defending their team and assisting Duelists. Thus, engaging in duels and 1v1s isn't the best option with this Agent.
Cypher's Weaknesses
There are several weaknesses for a Sentinel Agent like Cypher, especially with abilities that can be destroyed by the opponent. Similarly, Cypher is an Agent who may need to view his Spycam quite often, which makes the Agent vulnerable to enemy attacks.
The fundamental problem with Cypher's Traps and Spycam is that the opponents will always destroy them as soon as they find them. Thus, having unique line-ups for Traps, Cages, and the Spycam will help players as Cypher. It's easy to counter a Cypher if you know where they will set up the traps. Avoiding the opponent Cypher's abilities, or playing around them, will always be advantageous.
Experts insist that Cypher's usefulness in the game can be countered easily if enemies can find and destroy his abilities easily. While still being a strong Sentinel, his pick rate has decreased due to his abilities being easy to counter and inflicting little damage.
That's all you need to know about trying to master Cypher and whether he is good for you or not as a Valorant player! To find who is best for you to play as in Valorant, check out our tier list of all agents here.
This article was updated on 17th November 2021 by Kelsey Raynor.