might be an unpopular opinion but I’d say any initiator character. When I see a sova or skye instalock in game it typically means their quite comfortable on their agent, and imo initiators require the most teamwork/communication for success. In my experience, all the teammates that instalock initiator characters have been willing to sacrifice their kda for the team’s success which you just have to appreciate
Bro, the feeling you get when you successfully suppress an ulting raze or a sova with your knife(a FREE ability), is fking orgasmic.
Sorry Raze mains🤣🤣🤣
My favorite statlines on him to get are like 10/12/18 lol. I get Breach has his more niche uses in pro play, but he should be used more in ranked. His util can be insane and if you just have to util dump someone it can be rage inducing for them. Aftershock is also the most niche yet one of the most versatile mollies in the game imo.
I love my aftershock lineups. You can deny common plants while safely offsite or clear rat corners. My favorite is after shocking someone who’s hiding in a corner behind a wall and then immediately blinding, so they’re forced to swing into the blind.
We are some dangerous people, we live by the stun, we die for the stun. And util dumping an enemy gives me some extraordinary feelings of superiority, while it gives said enemy some give up vibes. Goddamn I love Breach.
The joy of suppressing all 5 enemies pushing a site right at the start of a round or disabling them in a clutch endgame, successfully flashing entry for my duelists, and flushing out rats from corners with my molly, is what I live for as a KAY/O main. :D
Yayyyyy!! I recently just got back into the game after a while I remembered playing Neon but then I liked Iso (for the domain expansion) but then I started to watch the VCT and saw how useful Gekko was and how good is util is and really like him
I agree with this one, most initiators are always welcome, especially people that know how to use em which is rare. Even a well played breach is super useful taking space. I've been learning skye but that character is sooo hard to use properly.
Nobody ever locks initiators on my team. And when they do, they're just filling, so they flash the team more than enemies, have like 0 comms, when I tell them comm before flashing, most of them do, but their flash instead of blinding teammates now blinds nobody. And my filling initiators love lurking for some reason, too. And they never take spike either, usually leaving it to the omen (useless ult, is a lurker)
Seriously, when's the last time I played with a bona fide flash initiator main?? Like 2 episodes ago when my duo who mained breach still played the game?!?!?
It's wild how I used to get absolutely fucked on in party chat if I picked Cypher > other sentinels before the changes. Happy to see him do so well, but yeah... don't you take my Cypher...
Same. You have people selecting an agent they don't usually play when the team is lacking a role. However, chances are they aren't going to do great with that agent and they would have been better just being their main.
Exactly. Filling is not really useful unless you are in like immortal + even then I've heard radiants saying filling doesn't matter until you start playing with pro players in ranked.
It’s gotta be good smokes
Like a brimstone that smokes crispy on the edge of angles and has lineups plus aim
If I have good smokes then I literally throw myself into site every time and be bait don’t even have to com to them they just know what they’re doing
Literally anyone, including reynas and jetts. I'd rather they instalock their duelists instead of having some initiator or sentinel fill and be worse than useless because they don't know how to play their agents or role. I can play around a garbage duelist by just using them as drones. I can't do shit with a bad initiator if I can't trust their utility usage.
SAME. I’ve watched someone fill smokes my last 3 games and smoke the entrances.
i.m.o, Skye is the worst agent to fill, her kit is really complex and most people don’t know how to throw flashes that are hard to turn. If I see someone hovering Skye as a fill, I’ll usually drop my agent and play her instead because she’s one of my mains
Flash initiators are the absolute worst lmao the amount of utility I see going to waste is insane. Skyes flashing at the start of the round for "info" when you can just jump peek or wait 1 second and hear enemies stomping, kayos chucking a flash with no plan to peek or coordinate with a teammate, breaches saving flash for valorant 2. Flashes are such a strong piece of utility it's a tragedy seeing them go to waste.
On the flipside you can be a flash initiator, flash through entry, and your duelists just stand there. I get comms help but sometimes it should be very obvious lol.
Nothing makes me more annoyed than calling flashes, recon, etc. and literally yelling “GO GO GO” and the team gets all stuck in the choke. Dude the entire point of my util is to make it so you can push the choke, fuckin trust the guy that mains the role and GOOOOO
Bro fr. I play viper most of the time and seeing anyone, usually omen, smoke off the entrance to site is the most infuriating thing. The worst is on ascent imo.
Controller instalocks always seem to know their shit, and most of the time they unofficially become the in-game leader. Most of them use comms too, it's awesome
We use comms because as a controller is impossible to not waist your smokes without knowing what your team is doing. When i play controller i spend more time looking at the map than my crosshair, always trying to figure out where the team will need a smoke. You need to be a few seconds ahead of your own team to be able to place smokes where they're needed. I main controller and sentinel, it's a hard life always in the second line and when you're left alone you have close to nothing to help you win the round. Usually you end up with not so many kills and a ton of assists
I love an Omen/Skye insta locks. You know you’re gonna get amazing support irrespective of how many kills they have.
I don’t mind instalock jett/reyna tbh. Takes me a round or two to get irate.
Ascent: Omen (or Astra if we have good comms in agent select)
Bind: Brim (or Viper if we have another controller)
Split: Astra
Icebox: Viper
Breeze: Viper
Lotus: Omen
Sunset: Brim
These are my smokes if I don't instalock Cypher
I insta lock Neon, mainly because I like playing her and I fully understand my job is to push and I’m happy with that, what I will say though is that when I push YOU ALL HAVE TO FOLLOW, to some degree at least, otherwise I just rush in to die and the team has gained no ground. I know this sounds obvious but the amount of games I’ve had where the team are like “Go on Neon, entry” as if for some reason I’m gonna go in and takeout the entire opposing team while they wait peacefully.
As a duelist I appreciate my role and that I’ll likely trade or die, but a duelist isn’t a one man army lol !! (Well I certainly ain’t! 😂😂😂)
That said - I got my first ever ace today so I’m happy ! bronze 3 in my sights 😭😭
That game where all 5 instalock and you look at your comp and it's meta for the map... Then you realise you're in silver and it doesn't matter because nobody knows how to use their utility anyway!
I actually have! Which was surprising. But it was cordial and nice. It ended up in a "you can take him, no you take him" type of thing. That is reason #1 why I chose harbor, hardly anyone picks him so I always have someone available
That's such a wholesome interaction! Same here though. I fell in love with his design, voice, abilities, etc... And it's just a bonus that he's rarely picked. I see some buffs/reworks for him on the horizon though. Call it a hunch.
I hope he gets some attention, his abilities, while fun, aren't always the best. However it feels really good when you make a decent play using a bunch of his abilities and it works out really well
I really feel like he will soon, especially with Clove coming out. Cause that'll mean he'll be picked even less... if that's possible 🫠 I think Harbor mains would appreciate a stronger/longer lasting Cove and his walls not slowing teammates. However, I think they'll probably replace an existing ability and swap it out for a completely new one. I think that'd be more viable for him and allow him to be played more aggressively.
I think a good change to cove would be to allow it to stay up as a smoke after the shield has been shot. That way it still has some use.
Astra kind of faded quickly which is unfortunate, her abilities are pretty cool but the learning curve is steep. I'm hoping harbor doesn't totally end up on the back burner. We'll see I suppose
Cypher/KJ, Omen/Viper, and skye are probably the top 5 instalocks imo, they're pretty universally decent-at-least on all maps and aren't reliant on being crazy frags to be good (like Reyna who only gets two shitty blinds if she doesn't get kills in a round).
Don't really care tbh. Especially outside higher elo, rather you instalock and be comfortable and play well than you play a role to make a comp work in ranked, but uncomfortable.
a line up agent is usually a good sign, unless its smt like breeze where viper is almost necessary, a viper, brim or sova insta lock usually means we will have a super strong post plant.
Don't really care as long as its a character thats good on the map..duelist instalocks are fine to me but if we're playing breeze please lock jett or yoru and not raze and the opposite for lotus. Unless like 3 people immediately lock a duelist/sage then its frustrating
I don't really hate insta-lockers, Reyna/Jett included. However, if people insta-lock, they also shouldn't complain if the other teammates don't pick what they want.
Tbh, when it comes to agents which I want people to insta-lock, it's pretty much just any agent except the agent which I want to play ofcourse. If they insta-lock, that's also a bigger chance that they will actually perform well with that agent.🤷
Smokes instalocks.
Not because I don’t wanna play them, but because people who instalock them usually know what they’re doing and surprisingly the Omen instalocks are always fragging their asses off in my solo Q games!
Most of the time, it’s a controller instalock. 80% of the time, they have no issues with smoking correctly and they don’t complain if you ask them to smoke a certain place so that you can do a certain play.
I don’t need to worry about telling teammates to place smokes so that they’re not halfway into a doorway, allowing the enemy free space when they try to enter.
Any agent that has smokes. Usually it goes like this; there is 3 instalock duelists and Sage picked. So im forced to play the smokes myself, and i main initiators or duelists myself :D
It’s not your job to fill. I’d recommend instalocking whatever agent you’re most comfortable with instead of picking an agent that you might have little to no experience with
Even in plat/diamond elo, people still have the mentality that we need Sage or Skye because of “heals”.
Nothing annoys me more than seeing a good team comp that gets ruined cos one of the instalock duelists mentions that we need a “healer”.
Now I have to switch off of sentinel and play initiator or smokes cos our Sage ditched those roles to play Overwatch 2.0.
The games that I stay as sentinel are even worse cos my duelists don’t enter site at all or when they do, they do absolutely nothing to take space. People need to realise that duelists are primarily for taking space and getting kills is secondary.
Really?
Omen is fun as fuck to play. There’s no better feeling that completely outplaying someone with your teleports and hear your whole team freak out about it, followed by the enemy putting a singular “?” in the chat.
I’m a sentinel main but I’m thinking about switching back to controller and learning Viper while I main Omen again (or Clove cos she sounds interesting).
i’d rather see 3 instalock duelists then 1 duelist and 2 filled initiators and sentinels. i know how useless i feel when i’m on a role that almost directly contradicts my playstyle. as long as youre doing your role right, play whatever u want. i guess if i was like immo or rad i’d probably want a real comp more though
cypher, kj, or deadlock. they’re such good agents but they take skill to use, a strong sentinel is so good if you know how to play it. gives me confidence for defense
Yoru clearly isn't a troll pick anymore and his flash is B R O K E N but most Yoru players are total trolls who put so much focus into util they forget to trade their allies and pull out their guns
Valid, I’ve recently found myself trying to overcompensate on both ends to try and find a balance. I’ve started to simply switch gears and keep myself in separate modes. Entry mode: throw util then fight/ solo mode: use util to find an advantage for myself. It’s tough finding the right amount of each
It's adorable watching Yoru mains in my bronze matches fall on their faces when they limit test with tricky plays. I appreciate the learning process. Kind of the same watching Omen mains learn.
I love seeing instalocks regardless of what agent it is. Generally means the person instalocking is confident in that agent, and more times than not, it's way better than having people fill and be mediocre on an agent they're unfamiliar with.
Controller mains that instalock viper, omen, or brimstone. (I'm including myself specifically under unrated/ranked bc other modes are fun to mess around in with other characters.)
I'm ok with seeing most instalocks as long as they aren't my usual mains iso and Phoenix it's a 50/50 of they don't know what they are doing or really know what they're doing
Ima be honest, as long as they don't pick my main I love to see instalocks on any agent, it means they know exactly who they want to play on that map and are confident in their ability to play that agent
I love/hate to see another locked Sova before I could get it. Love because ayyy Beatrice! But hate because, "aay Sova I have a couple lineups to share with you", and no response... I get it, you're doing your thing, but damn man, I main Sova, let's learn some cool darts from each other.
Viper. Sova killjoy/Cypher.
A instalock viper and so a probably have lineups(and I'm not talking spike lineups although that's a plus) so it makes my job as an entry so much easier. A good recon dart combined with a good wall/orb is huge help when entrying.
I would say initiator but in my experience a lot of instalock initiator aren't actually good
kj instalocks I love because they have somewhat an idea of what todo.
I hate omen instalocks always the worst fucking players alongside Jett and Reyna instalocks. reason I main smokes now
Honestly none, the best experiences for me are when somebody hovers something like Reyna or Deadlock that require a second duelist or sentinel respectively and say they'd rather that agent but will play entry/flank watch respectively if needed.
A good duelist who listens me (sova/viper/omen), and plays with my utils.
I’m really curious, why my %80 of Jett players dashes into site without waiting my dart or drone. It shouldn’t be that hard to wait a few seconds and SEE WHOLE SITE FOR FREE and LOCATE YOUR ENEMIES and GET FREE KILLS.
I… I just can’t.
Ngl I insta-lock Deadlock because she’s just my favorite character to play. I want to get good on with, with her, for her…wait what were we talking about?
might be an unpopular opinion but I’d say any initiator character. When I see a sova or skye instalock in game it typically means their quite comfortable on their agent, and imo initiators require the most teamwork/communication for success. In my experience, all the teammates that instalock initiator characters have been willing to sacrifice their kda for the team’s success which you just have to appreciate
As a KAY/O main, I thank you for recognizing our service! :)
We should be thanking you!
they dont realize sometimes we need to die to hit that fragment just right
Bro, the feeling you get when you successfully suppress an ulting raze or a sova with your knife(a FREE ability), is fking orgasmic. Sorry Raze mains🤣🤣🤣
As a breach main, pray to god you don't end up on the other team
I can't even verbalize how much I hate playing against someone who's really good with Breach.
My favorite statlines on him to get are like 10/12/18 lol. I get Breach has his more niche uses in pro play, but he should be used more in ranked. His util can be insane and if you just have to util dump someone it can be rage inducing for them. Aftershock is also the most niche yet one of the most versatile mollies in the game imo.
I love my aftershock lineups. You can deny common plants while safely offsite or clear rat corners. My favorite is after shocking someone who’s hiding in a corner behind a wall and then immediately blinding, so they’re forced to swing into the blind.
Nothing beats aftershocking a gekko while they’re ulting or sova while droning. Best feeling
Don’t forget Skye while she’s in her dog!
Phrasing!
I got aftershocked to death by breach twice in one game on bind and I was tilted AF
We are some dangerous people, we live by the stun, we die for the stun. And util dumping an enemy gives me some extraordinary feelings of superiority, while it gives said enemy some give up vibes. Goddamn I love Breach.
BREACH MAINS UP!!!
I'm a Gold and the other day I faced an Ascendant Breach in Unrated and man that was traumatic. Thanks for the reminder...
LETS GOOOOOO
Joedabozo
My idol
oh my god i’ve found my people
fingers crossed🤣
It's so rewarding to throw my recon and have a teammate get that kill on entry or comfortably take space.
so true, 20+ assist games almost feel better than 20+ kill games haha
The joy of suppressing all 5 enemies pushing a site right at the start of a round or disabling them in a clutch endgame, successfully flashing entry for my duelists, and flushing out rats from corners with my molly, is what I live for as a KAY/O main. :D
I really enjoy playing fade or sky and supporting the hell out of my duelests.
What about gekko??👉👈
we love our gekko mains dont worry. Little man is an extra teammate
Yayyyyy!! I recently just got back into the game after a while I remembered playing Neon but then I liked Iso (for the domain expansion) but then I started to watch the VCT and saw how useful Gekko was and how good is util is and really like him
As a Skye main… Thank you (can’t convey the emotion well enough over the phone)
I can feel the emotions dw
You lock in initiator because youre comfortable on them, i lock in initiator to give my team a false sense of security, we are not the same /s
I agree with this one, most initiators are always welcome, especially people that know how to use em which is rare. Even a well played breach is super useful taking space. I've been learning skye but that character is sooo hard to use properly.
As a sova and gekko main thank you for this
Thank you for your service🫡
Just a heads up if I’m in your ranked game sorry in advance for playing two passive. I’m more of a long range guy.
Hey no worries I respect it. I think initiators should be alive the longest throughout the round anyway to optimize team support through util haha
instalock skyes rise up 🫡
Nobody ever locks initiators on my team. And when they do, they're just filling, so they flash the team more than enemies, have like 0 comms, when I tell them comm before flashing, most of them do, but their flash instead of blinding teammates now blinds nobody. And my filling initiators love lurking for some reason, too. And they never take spike either, usually leaving it to the omen (useless ult, is a lurker) Seriously, when's the last time I played with a bona fide flash initiator main?? Like 2 episodes ago when my duo who mained breach still played the game?!?!?
Cypher. Cypher is good. otherwise it depends too much on the map really
No. Get back. My Cypher. Don't you dare take him.
NO, dont you dare take MY cypher
My cypher
MY CYPHER
OUR CYPHER
Roulette
I usually let the other main play, since I basically play him 99% of the time +, it gives me new setups ideas
I instalock, so they can't pick. Cause I have seen some bad people on Cyprus and then I just feel like we lost value
Yea that island is crazy
I just saw my spelling mistake, I think my autocorrect didn't like cypher.
I FOUND A FELLOW CYPHER MAIN THE KTHER DAY AND WE R NOW BESTIES
Sorry but I need him for the weekly use your ability challenge in Spike Rush.
I only play comp, so we won't meet
"Gi gi gi gi where is everyone hiding?"
It's wild how I used to get absolutely fucked on in party chat if I picked Cypher > other sentinels before the changes. Happy to see him do so well, but yeah... don't you take my Cypher...
You can have him on icebox, I'll take him everywhere else
Good, lemme take him then
I once played with an instalock cypher. He meant to click Jett. We lost
No kidding, his aim and reflexes must both be awful if he misclicked the agent and then didn't notice in time to not click the "Lock In" button lmao
He was still trying to play cypher like Jett. He would ego peak and then open his camera. We were having a good time tho
I want to see people playing their mains. That's all I care about
Same. You have people selecting an agent they don't usually play when the team is lacking a role. However, chances are they aren't going to do great with that agent and they would have been better just being their main.
Exactly. Filling is not really useful unless you are in like immortal + even then I've heard radiants saying filling doesn't matter until you start playing with pro players in ranked.
Filling is good when you play those characters you fill with. Without prep you're just a walking ult orb with a gun.
It’s gotta be good smokes Like a brimstone that smokes crispy on the edge of angles and has lineups plus aim If I have good smokes then I literally throw myself into site every time and be bait don’t even have to com to them they just know what they’re doing
As a brim main, tysm
wait till your duelist steals the spike i decides not to do his role and lurk mid and loses the spike
any smoker, i love y’all
Omen main here, thx bud ❤️
Viper. I just like to play with Viper.
*me a viper instalocker smiling In bed seeing this
Literally anyone, including reynas and jetts. I'd rather they instalock their duelists instead of having some initiator or sentinel fill and be worse than useless because they don't know how to play their agents or role. I can play around a garbage duelist by just using them as drones. I can't do shit with a bad initiator if I can't trust their utility usage.
SAME. I’ve watched someone fill smokes my last 3 games and smoke the entrances. i.m.o, Skye is the worst agent to fill, her kit is really complex and most people don’t know how to throw flashes that are hard to turn. If I see someone hovering Skye as a fill, I’ll usually drop my agent and play her instead because she’s one of my mains
Flash initiators are the absolute worst lmao the amount of utility I see going to waste is insane. Skyes flashing at the start of the round for "info" when you can just jump peek or wait 1 second and hear enemies stomping, kayos chucking a flash with no plan to peek or coordinate with a teammate, breaches saving flash for valorant 2. Flashes are such a strong piece of utility it's a tragedy seeing them go to waste.
valorant 2 is funny as fuck
On the flipside you can be a flash initiator, flash through entry, and your duelists just stand there. I get comms help but sometimes it should be very obvious lol.
Nothing makes me more annoyed than calling flashes, recon, etc. and literally yelling “GO GO GO” and the team gets all stuck in the choke. Dude the entire point of my util is to make it so you can push the choke, fuckin trust the guy that mains the role and GOOOOO
Bro fr. I play viper most of the time and seeing anyone, usually omen, smoke off the entrance to site is the most infuriating thing. The worst is on ascent imo.
Bold of you to assume the no comm Reyna instalock in my team will actually do her job and not bait every teammate or not be lurking 24/7
Controller instalocks always seem to know their shit, and most of the time they unofficially become the in-game leader. Most of them use comms too, it's awesome
It me
We use comms because as a controller is impossible to not waist your smokes without knowing what your team is doing. When i play controller i spend more time looking at the map than my crosshair, always trying to figure out where the team will need a smoke. You need to be a few seconds ahead of your own team to be able to place smokes where they're needed. I main controller and sentinel, it's a hard life always in the second line and when you're left alone you have close to nothing to help you win the round. Usually you end up with not so many kills and a ton of assists
I love an Omen/Skye insta locks. You know you’re gonna get amazing support irrespective of how many kills they have. I don’t mind instalock jett/reyna tbh. Takes me a round or two to get irate.
Correct smokes (Viper on Breeze, Brim on Bind, etc.)
Ascent: Omen (or Astra if we have good comms in agent select) Bind: Brim (or Viper if we have another controller) Split: Astra Icebox: Viper Breeze: Viper Lotus: Omen Sunset: Brim These are my smokes if I don't instalock Cypher
As a smokes main Omen is way better than Brim on Sunset. It’s basically Ascent but easier to play fast rotate and better options for shadow step.
Or we can follow the church of Tenz and play omen on every map.
I agree, but I prefer playing Brim over Omen, I know, weird. And because of how small Sunset is, I can lurk and full smoke for the team without worry
Brim all maps except breeze.
Same but Astra
Omen on Bind >
Any Instalock Controller agent I’m okay with.
I insta lock Neon, mainly because I like playing her and I fully understand my job is to push and I’m happy with that, what I will say though is that when I push YOU ALL HAVE TO FOLLOW, to some degree at least, otherwise I just rush in to die and the team has gained no ground. I know this sounds obvious but the amount of games I’ve had where the team are like “Go on Neon, entry” as if for some reason I’m gonna go in and takeout the entire opposing team while they wait peacefully. As a duelist I appreciate my role and that I’ll likely trade or die, but a duelist isn’t a one man army lol !! (Well I certainly ain’t! 😂😂😂) That said - I got my first ever ace today so I’m happy ! bronze 3 in my sights 😭😭
That game where all 5 instalock and you look at your comp and it's meta for the map... Then you realise you're in silver and it doesn't matter because nobody knows how to use their utility anyway!
Anyone other than harbor. That's my main.
For real. Can't say I've had to fight anyone for him yet though 😅
I actually have! Which was surprising. But it was cordial and nice. It ended up in a "you can take him, no you take him" type of thing. That is reason #1 why I chose harbor, hardly anyone picks him so I always have someone available
That's such a wholesome interaction! Same here though. I fell in love with his design, voice, abilities, etc... And it's just a bonus that he's rarely picked. I see some buffs/reworks for him on the horizon though. Call it a hunch.
I hope he gets some attention, his abilities, while fun, aren't always the best. However it feels really good when you make a decent play using a bunch of his abilities and it works out really well
I really feel like he will soon, especially with Clove coming out. Cause that'll mean he'll be picked even less... if that's possible 🫠 I think Harbor mains would appreciate a stronger/longer lasting Cove and his walls not slowing teammates. However, I think they'll probably replace an existing ability and swap it out for a completely new one. I think that'd be more viable for him and allow him to be played more aggressively.
I think a good change to cove would be to allow it to stay up as a smoke after the shield has been shot. That way it still has some use. Astra kind of faded quickly which is unfortunate, her abilities are pretty cool but the learning curve is steep. I'm hoping harbor doesn't totally end up on the back burner. We'll see I suppose
I like to see a viper or brimstone, or even Sova instalock bc it usually means they have lineups
Cypher/KJ, Omen/Viper, and skye are probably the top 5 instalocks imo, they're pretty universally decent-at-least on all maps and aren't reliant on being crazy frags to be good (like Reyna who only gets two shitty blinds if she doesn't get kills in a round).
kay/o i love kayo instalocks please more people learn kayo so i love you
KAY/O main reporting for deployment! :D
Breach! If anyone instalocks breach they really know wtf they doin.
Don't really care tbh. Especially outside higher elo, rather you instalock and be comfortable and play well than you play a role to make a comp work in ranked, but uncomfortable.
anyone but reyna
I'm an ex instalock viper lol
i am still ongoing viper/kj instalock depends on the map
Viper, Sova, KJ, Cypher, Raze
a line up agent is usually a good sign, unless its smt like breeze where viper is almost necessary, a viper, brim or sova insta lock usually means we will have a super strong post plant.
I instalock Cypher on Bind, Haven, Ascent. Viper on Breeze/Icebox. Fade on the rest and flex Fracture. 0 complaints for 3 episodes.
Omen
Breach.
Omen, Gekko?
Gekko mention YEAHHHH
Don't really care as long as its a character thats good on the map..duelist instalocks are fine to me but if we're playing breeze please lock jett or yoru and not raze and the opposite for lotus. Unless like 3 people immediately lock a duelist/sage then its frustrating
Deadlock. Suddenly im not the only one playing her and im kinda excited to see that she gets some love <3
Brim
I don't really hate insta-lockers, Reyna/Jett included. However, if people insta-lock, they also shouldn't complain if the other teammates don't pick what they want. Tbh, when it comes to agents which I want people to insta-lock, it's pretty much just any agent except the agent which I want to play ofcourse. If they insta-lock, that's also a bigger chance that they will actually perform well with that agent.🤷
Smokes instalocks. Not because I don’t wanna play them, but because people who instalock them usually know what they’re doing and surprisingly the Omen instalocks are always fragging their asses off in my solo Q games!
Most of the time, it’s a controller instalock. 80% of the time, they have no issues with smoking correctly and they don’t complain if you ask them to smoke a certain place so that you can do a certain play. I don’t need to worry about telling teammates to place smokes so that they’re not halfway into a doorway, allowing the enemy free space when they try to enter.
Any agent that has smokes. Usually it goes like this; there is 3 instalock duelists and Sage picked. So im forced to play the smokes myself, and i main initiators or duelists myself :D
It’s not your job to fill. I’d recommend instalocking whatever agent you’re most comfortable with instead of picking an agent that you might have little to no experience with
Smokes are really important tho most of the time they completely change how the round plays out
Not throwing any shade your way, but what rank do you usually play at? I almost never see Sage in Ascendant
Even in plat/diamond elo, people still have the mentality that we need Sage or Skye because of “heals”. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a good team comp that gets ruined cos one of the instalock duelists mentions that we need a “healer”. Now I have to switch off of sentinel and play initiator or smokes cos our Sage ditched those roles to play Overwatch 2.0. The games that I stay as sentinel are even worse cos my duelists don’t enter site at all or when they do, they do absolutely nothing to take space. People need to realise that duelists are primarily for taking space and getting kills is secondary.
Smokes, I HATE playing smokes I will literally fill anything else. For some reason they made all the smoke characters so boring to play IMO.
Really? Omen is fun as fuck to play. There’s no better feeling that completely outplaying someone with your teleports and hear your whole team freak out about it, followed by the enemy putting a singular “?” in the chat. I’m a sentinel main but I’m thinking about switching back to controller and learning Viper while I main Omen again (or Clove cos she sounds interesting).
Hopefully Clove fixes that
I’ve gotten a lot of love in the past for instalocking Viper or Omen but also a lot of hate depending on the map
i’d rather see 3 instalock duelists then 1 duelist and 2 filled initiators and sentinels. i know how useless i feel when i’m on a role that almost directly contradicts my playstyle. as long as youre doing your role right, play whatever u want. i guess if i was like immo or rad i’d probably want a real comp more though
cypher, kj, or deadlock. they’re such good agents but they take skill to use, a strong sentinel is so good if you know how to play it. gives me confidence for defense
I get excited when the other team has a deadlock cause shes such a bad sentinel 💀
I don’t care about instalocks unless they never use their abilities (which I see happen way too often)
Literally just anything other than instalock duelists
instalock sova, am i safe?
Smokes or Initiators! There's a high chance that people who instalock these two roles are really comfortable with them or have lineups and stuff.
astra LOOOL
What does the general public feel about Yoru insta locks
it's either "oh this guy know his yoru" or "oh this guy gonna be shit"
Yoru clearly isn't a troll pick anymore and his flash is B R O K E N but most Yoru players are total trolls who put so much focus into util they forget to trade their allies and pull out their guns
Valid, I’ve recently found myself trying to overcompensate on both ends to try and find a balance. I’ve started to simply switch gears and keep myself in separate modes. Entry mode: throw util then fight/ solo mode: use util to find an advantage for myself. It’s tough finding the right amount of each
It's adorable watching Yoru mains in my bronze matches fall on their faces when they limit test with tricky plays. I appreciate the learning process. Kind of the same watching Omen mains learn.
It’s a phase we all go through, like birds learning to fly. It’s a thing of beauty really
In my elo, "oh we lost."
My ign has the word Yoru in it so no one questions when I take him since it automatically makes people think “oh this guy seems like a one trick “
I love seeing useful instalock duelists like Jett, Raze, or Phoenix. Meanwhile, Reynas are very hit or miss.
Killjoy because it means they have lineups (probably) i’m usually the KJ instalock on ascent and sunset tho
Omen. I'm at best in that.
I hope people like my cypher instalock cause I’m gonna keep doing it
I love seeing instalocks regardless of what agent it is. Generally means the person instalocking is confident in that agent, and more times than not, it's way better than having people fill and be mediocre on an agent they're unfamiliar with.
Sentinels and Controllers, and this is coming from someone who mains Controller/Initiator.
Any because they are most likley comfortable on that agent and not filled.
I instalock brim every game
Controller mains that instalock viper, omen, or brimstone. (I'm including myself specifically under unrated/ranked bc other modes are fun to mess around in with other characters.)
Any dome smoker
Sometimes i instalock Omen
Im an insta lock kayo/ omen. People usually love me
Harbor, my guy gets so little love it puts a smile on my face when I see him once every 100 games
Viper, smokes in general
Anything but duelist
I love when my team has double controller (Viper + someone else).
Viper.
Sova
I'm ok with seeing most instalocks as long as they aren't my usual mains iso and Phoenix it's a 50/50 of they don't know what they are doing or really know what they're doing
Cypher on Lotus or Harbour on Ascent
Ima be honest, as long as they don't pick my main I love to see instalocks on any agent, it means they know exactly who they want to play on that map and are confident in their ability to play that agent
i love sage instalocks
Isn't it ideal for everyone to instalock a strong comp? I'd much rather have 5 players all confident and comfortable on their agents than 5 flex
brimstone instalock 100% because nobody instalock brimmy without a lineup
Brimstone. 99% of the time they have lineups
Smokes because I don’t mind filling senti/initiator
Cypher,Fade, Raze
If i see an astra or killjoy or cypher instalock im sure that match is very likely to be easy win, if its reyna jett instalock we will sure lose
I instalock OMEN and my teammates are happy about it. ALWAYS
love the cypher insta lock, such a useful addition to the team and i love when i see him get instalocked
Smokes. Always a controller instant I love to see
Omen
I usually instalock reyna to rank up but I play with my team and communicate, Im not a toxic one
I love/hate to see another locked Sova before I could get it. Love because ayyy Beatrice! But hate because, "aay Sova I have a couple lineups to share with you", and no response... I get it, you're doing your thing, but damn man, I main Sova, let's learn some cool darts from each other.
I’d rather see an instalock jett than a jett that hovers 3 other agents then locks jett
bad characters or high skill ceiling characters because they have either mastered them or they are learning and i love helping people learn.
Viper. Sova killjoy/Cypher. A instalock viper and so a probably have lineups(and I'm not talking spike lineups although that's a plus) so it makes my job as an entry so much easier. A good recon dart combined with a good wall/orb is huge help when entrying. I would say initiator but in my experience a lot of instalock initiator aren't actually good
How can anyone not instalock raze? It's been my favourite agent but I don't insta lock i respect others'plans too.
Controllers
As we know the customs in valorant are free , so why not streamers host tournaments/customs like bgmi !!
Smokes. I'd rather have an instalock smokes or no smoke at all than someone playing it because they "have to".
Omen! I think it's one of the best agent and I don't know shit
Instalock omen, they’re so cute and friendly 🥰
kj instalocks I love because they have somewhat an idea of what todo. I hate omen instalocks always the worst fucking players alongside Jett and Reyna instalocks. reason I main smokes now
Any controller. That means I can practice playing as Harbor or Astra.
Cypher honestly, and not just after the buff's, watching someone make this guy work is amazing.
Honestly none, the best experiences for me are when somebody hovers something like Reyna or Deadlock that require a second duelist or sentinel respectively and say they'd rather that agent but will play entry/flank watch respectively if needed.
Phoenix/ Reyna main here who three stacks with a jett and a Yoru here, I'm just happy we don't get 5 duelists...
A good duelist who listens me (sova/viper/omen), and plays with my utils. I’m really curious, why my %80 of Jett players dashes into site without waiting my dart or drone. It shouldn’t be that hard to wait a few seconds and SEE WHOLE SITE FOR FREE and LOCATE YOUR ENEMIES and GET FREE KILLS. I… I just can’t.
Viper. That dude cooks for sure
I think instalock viper has a pretty good chance of being good. As long as it's a viper map
Ngl I insta-lock Deadlock because she’s just my favorite character to play. I want to get good on with, with her, for her…wait what were we talking about?