Valorant: Sova Agent Guide


Valorant Agent Sova.

Valorant is Riot Game's tactical, team-based FPS game, and it currently has multiple colourful characters to choose from. Divided into four specific classes — Duelists, Controllers, Sentinels, and Initiators — each Agent has a specific role in the game. Out of these characters, Sova is one of the best Agents to begin your journey in Valorant.

Here's our comprehensive guide to playing as Sova in Valorant.

Read More: Valorant: How Agent Contracts Work

Is Sova Good in Valorant?

Agent Sova in Valorant.
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Sova was the first Initiator Agent added in Valorant. He uses his bow to locate and eliminate his enemies from afar, which has made him quite a popular character in the VALORANT universe. Due t his ability to both control and attack across maps, he is seen as one of the S-Tier agents in the game.

In terms of the story behind Valorant, Sova hails from Russia and is Brimstone's favourite. There is a possibility that he is ex-military, too, with specific voice lines in-game giving fans a hint about the Initiators past.

Is Sova Good for Beginners?

Sova is tough for beginners, but with practice, it shouldn't take too long to learn how to control the Agent. His abilities revolve around recon and damaging the enemy from far distances; but, the Initiator has a prolonged animation time for each of his abilities, and this is usually where beginners make a mistake with the Agent.

Sova's arrows can become a difficult concept to grasp when you are new to Valorant. However, mastering this early on will help players in the long run, as most of Sova's abilities will be performed using his bow. Ultimately, Sova is not ideal for beginners, but for players who are at least a little used to maximising the abilities of Valorant's Agents.

How To Play As Sova — Abilities & Skills

Shock Bolt (Q) - Sova equips a bow with a shock bolt. FIRE to send the explosive forward, detonating upon collision and damaging players nearby. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.

Recon Bolt (C) - Sova equips a bow with a recon bolt. FIRE to send the recon bolt forward, activating upon collision and revealing the location of nearby enemies caught in the line of sight of the bolt. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.

Owl Drone (E) - Sova equips an owl drone. FIRE to deploy and take control of the movement of the drone. While in control of the drone, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will reveal the location of any player struck by the dart.

Ultimate - Hunter's Fury (X) - Sova equips a bow with three long-range wall-piercing energy blasts. FIRE to release an energy blast in a line in front of Sova, dealing damage and revealing the location of enemies caught in the line. This ability can be RE-USED up to two more times while the ability timer is active.

Sova's Best Weapons

The best weapons for any Agent will depend on their play style. So if you're aggressively pushing sites for entry, then these weapons will be the best choice.

  • Ghost
  • Stinger
  • Spectre
  • Phantom
  • Ares

In case you are hanging back and adopting a passive play style with Sova, then work your way around with the following weapons:

  • Bulldog
  • Guardian
  • Vandal
  • Odin
  • Operator

Tips for Playing as Sova in Valorant

Sova embodies the reconnaissance mechanics from FPS shooters, and that is where his strength lies. His abilities are based on gathering information across the map, and planning out a strong attack as a result. Thus, it's imperative that players understand Sova's role and abilities when playing Valorant.

Sova's job is to locate and reveal the opponents, and he can do this from any site. His recon bolt allows him to reveal enemies, but it can be shot down. Learning effective recon dart line-ups for all the maps will allow players to improve with Sova quickly. Additionally, Sova's recon regenerates after 40 seconds, so it can be used in a crucial situation during the latter half of a round.

Similar to his recon, Sova's shock darts are the perfect tools to take down an opponent from afar. When aimed properly, the shock dart can do high damage over and through walls to nearby targets. It's not possible to kill an opponent with full health with just one shock dart. However, players can do it using both darts if they take the time to practice and learn the line-ups for this.

AverageJonas of Team Liquid is one of the content creators players should follow if they wish to learn Sova line-ups. He uses carefully calculated angles to throw Sova arrows and shock darts and make the most of the Initiators abilities. This not only allows him to take control of the entire map, but to also get easy frags on uninitiated opponents. Players need to be more versatile and creative with Sova's arrows to always stay ahead of the enemy.

Sova's Owl Drone is perhaps his weakest ability, as it makes him standstill, placing him in a vulnerable position. His Owl Drone is capable of tagging enemies and revealing the location temporarily. However, players need to make sure that they have someone to cover for them while using the drone. The Owl Drone can help to clear angles before your teammates can get in. Essentially, it should be used when you are close to your teammates. You can also use it while your Duelist is entering a site.

Finally, we have the ultimate ability, which is Hunter's Fury. This is considered one of the strongest abilities in the game, as it can allow Sova to take down the entire opponent team alone. The ability destroys anything that it finds in its line of sight; through walls, too. This means that players have a small window to escape Sova's ultimate.

Try to use this ability when you are outnumbered, multiple enemies are stacked in one area, or when you know that opponents are camping at a specific angle. Players can also use Sova's ultimate to destroy Killjoy's Lockdown or to clear out Viper's pit.

Sova's Weaknesses

Sova might sound all-powerful on paper, but there are several ways to counter his abilities in Valorant. The easiest method to counter his shock darts would be to move away from the blast radius.

While this might be easier said than done, players with nimble feet can jiggle away from all of Sova's arrows. The same can be done to avoid his recon darts. Most Sova mains keep the same lineups for recon, so if you have a Sova as your opponent, make sure to take a note and destroy those when you're able to predict them.

Similarly, it is always wise to push a Sova who is droning or using his ultimate ability. Doing this with Agents like Yoru, Jett, Raze or Reyna will always catch the opponent Sova off guard. His main vulnerability lies in his animation delay for Hunter's Fury and Owl Drone, make sure to always use that against him.

To conclude, Sova is incredibly efficient as an initiator, and is useful for beginners who want to try out a strong character that is already unlocked. However, he can be overshadowed by characters like KAY/O.

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 16th November 2021 by Kelsey Raynor.

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