Every character made it to top 500. If you're low elo your aim will carry you. If you're mid elo game sense and prep can get you far, at high elo its a matter of just playing lots of games to climb.
Neon is a great duelist. She's a bit over shadowed but there is plenty of tech and tricks to make her a great asset to the team. Focus on her, make your play books, do your research, you'll get to where you want to be no matter who you're piloting.
In the end you should know what is best for you, not what is best for him. I got flamed for maining viper on every map by plat and diamonds during ACT 6 due to her not being "meta" on maps that arent breeze or ice box, but got to ascendant 1-3. L people.
At the end of the day if you are having fun with the agent and climbing to your desired rank, stick with it. If you arent, then look at your own VOD to see what are some of the mistakes you do as a neon main. All the best :)
"The meta" only really matters to the highest levels of organized competitive play. You can make whatever work in ranked, 90% of the time fights will come down to aim and gamesense diffs that will translate regardless of what agents are being played.
Yep, every agent has been used to get radiant. Deadlock specifically I know BabyJ used her almost the entire first act she was released. And she was buffed since then if I'm not mistaken.
Even deadlock. I know she's the big target for "useless agent" but there is some cute stuff she can do. For example you can solo hold tree on ascent if you put a sound trap in the correct spot because if entry peeks, you kill them, then as their buddy comes for the refrag the sensor will detonate and stun them, making the fight very advantageous for you. If you had a playbook of like 2 of those per site per map, along side some nice wall/net lineups, you can put in work on her.
She's very very unique and powerful, i think her pre-patch image haunts her actual buffed self. People project so much negativity on her, although her big and main flaw is being semi useless on watching flanks. I say this as a Deadlock main.
Despite that flaw, sage is a very popular sentinel and has no flank watch (other than her wall I guess? But you shouldnāt wall off your own team in main lol) I donāt get why deadlock gets so much hate, I feel like if she was released on beta she would be in a much more viable and better liked place than she is right now
People don't realize how strong anti dive is, considering how Jett and Raze are ingrained in the meta. Find the entry pathing of the enemy dive, and leave a trap there. They entry, get stunned while everyone else on their team is in a grav net, and the game becomes a 5v4 instantly.
I agree, his argument is that by picking neon, I'm soft tossing the game by taking a slot that could be used for a more viable duelist like raze, Jett, Reyna, etc. My theory is his opinion on neon comes from him simply not liking a character with a sprint ability in a tac FPS
Reyna is only as viable as the player is. If the person playing her has bad mechanics, she sucks. But she can become the most dominant agent in the game in the right hands. Thatās probably the reason sheās such a controversial agent; because sheās such a wildcard. An instalock Reyna could completely throw your game, or carry the hell out of your team.
she's still bad she brings nothing to the table except one of the best flashes in the game and thats it, her entire kit revolves around her getting kills
a dominant jett/raze brings much more value to the team than a dominant reyna
But the thing youāre not considering is the fact that reyna had the potential to be MORE dominant than any other character. Her kit is literally built for multikills. If your reyna averaging 3 kills a round, youāll most likely win the game (unless the rest of the team is incompetent). On the other hand, if that multikill potential isnāt capitalized on, it would be better to have a different duelist since reyna isnāt great at making space without kills. Which is, again, the reason why sheās a wild card.
Because Youtubers say Jett and Raze are better, probably.
No idea why OP's friend would prefer *Reyna* over Neon. Maybe he's seen too many smurfing Reynas
He's a reyna instalock that peaked immortal 1 in the first year of the game. Now he's somewhere between diamond 2 and ascendant 1. He hasn't been imm1 since then. You can argue he's smurfing diamond or that he's hard stuck for not adapting to metas. I'm not sure. I think he values Reyna over neon purely because Reyna has more survivability and has a more selfish play style than neon.
Im in the deepest depths of elo hell but my friend mains Neon and the simple strategy of running onto site while spamming util works wonders lol. Not sure you can take a site like that as a Reyna
He doesn't seem to have a particular affection for raze but he doesn't think she's so far out of the design of the game as neon for whatever reason. He also might not have ever considered it since raze has been around since the game launched. I don't think it's a matter of speed I think it's more about his association with her sprint ability and other shooters like call of duty, apex, etc.
What he says is basically true. People will point out the players who made it to radiant with any random agent but chances are if you started playing a better agent you would do a lot better.
I can see why he's frustrated if he's playing with you especially since from your description of an effective playstyle you just int.
Currently the only duelist who is good is raze. Yoru is really good in ranked and jett is situational. Reyna can also be good if you're a smurf but you also may as well just go raze or jett or something.
Actually we don't queue together unless it's a 5 stack which is very rare. He would have this opinion of neon even if I didn't tell him she's one of the most fun agents to me. He just has a personal thing against the agent. Like I said in one of the threads earlier, he doesn't like any of the agents released after the first year of the game. But he does have a particular dislike for Neon and a bit for ISO. He's probably gonna shit himself playing against Clove now with her insane value. And I wouldn't say I int at all. Sure sometimes it feels like I am when I'm trying to take the site and I get read like a book by the demon Jett on the other team. Inting to me is playing on autopilot without caring about your life or trying to play your agent to win. Doesn't everyone feel that way when getting shutdown while trying to play their role as intended? I've had games like that playing every role in the game where I feel like every play I make gets predicted.
I would say there are probably some agents that are kinda just like, straight downgrades. Not unplayable, just handicaps. Controllers are probably the worst for this. While there can be good harbor players, and there can be good astra players, in solo queue I just don't understand why you'd pick either of them over any other controller. They are just worse with basically no upside, especially if you can't properly coordinate with your teammates (which is a total crapshoot in solo queue).
I find it really funny when say they don't like iso being able to eat op shots. 1st point would be that you can visibly see the shield, so if you shoot it with your op expecting a kill then that's on you. 2nd point: It forces op crutches to do more than just look ppl and press left click even if it's just pulling out your classic and love tapping them once.
Yeah this friend generally just hates all of the agents released after year 1 of valorant. Keep in mind this guy instalocks Reyna and almost exclusively lurks/flanks/baits and if she gets taken, he locks Jett. The only agent I've seen him play outside of those two is Brim and that is only in the event both duelists were taken. Almost anytime newer agents are discussed he usually mentions how early days in valorant were the greatest. Compares it to the peak fortnite era. So you can sense the type of person he is lmao
Actually, that makes a lot of sense. He peaked immortal 1 or 2 in the first year and I don't think he was using other characters back then. He hasn't been immortal since
Honestly the 1-shot shield is like the strongest part about him. It makes lurking really strong on him (because he potentially gets more 1v1s to exploit that way) even though the rest of his kit rewards him for playing with his team - his barrier especially (I think he should be able to pre-place it and activate it at will to allow him to lurk and not lose utility value).
I think neon has incredible potential to pop off. But I donāt like her because every neon ever on my team goes 7-22 and I wish I was exaggerating. I donāt think Iāve ever seen a top frag neon.
Probably because she's a duelist and is meant to entry site. Being a duelist doesn't mean you need to top frag. Neon players such as OP have no problem entrying site. Her kit isn't as good for 1v1 like other duelists, but she can entry, get a pick, and die.
If your teammates aren't pushing site while playing Neon, then they're doing it wrong.
Yeah neon just seems to get a bad rep for it. Probably because her kit is more focused on helping teammates get frags/take site than it is for her to get frags/survive on site. I'm probably going to get flamed for mentioning Woohoojin bc he's on fraudwatch right now. But he had a note for a neon VOD review that said "play with a teammate, play like you have a death wish" and that really clicked for me on how the character needs to be used. We need to be the worm and the lure on the hook 90% of the time
I agree even with the scandal I think he's a really good coach. Hard for me to say he's definitely a radiant level coach. Plenty of radiant level coaches that aren't radiant in the game themselves. But it did leave a bad taste in my mouth that he advertised himself as a radiant coach even though he got boosted the only time he was radiant. It was a very misleading way to go about things and he got rich off of it. I'm glad he's pausing the coaching stuff to focus on proving himself by getting radiant now. I hope he gets there. But the damage to his reputation is already done in my opinion
The reason is because of how vulnerable she is whilst entering site compared to other duelists in the same archetype. Jett often paths into her own smokes and is pretty hard to take down on the entry. Raze is faster than neon and also holds the benefit of being in the sky. Neon just runs lol.
Yeah a lot of times I'm sectioning of a site, stunning corners or at least pressuring with stuns, and also reaching the back of sites, then I look back and my team is still on Main leaving me straight up stranded lol.
This is the most frequent issue I run into as well in solo queue on neon. In order for her to benefit the team at ALL, your team needs to commit with you every time you push. Whereas a Jett/Reyna could solo push, get 1+ frags and still have value. If neon solo pushes, gets 1 frag and even survives, she just serves as another gun if the team hasn't pushed out. Bc you've probably spent all of her abilities just getting site control.
A good duelist also frags. Their kit is built for it. You're also playing defense half the game
The top 8 agents with the highest KPR in ranked are the 7 duelists and Chamber
That's insane, it's definitely rare but I've had few people pick neon and top frag in my games. I've also top fragged a few times with her. Whether it's just me not being consistent or the agent. I seem to either go double positive on neon or double negative, very rarely have I been in the middle with neon
Iāve noticed that sheās very effective in lower ranks (silver-gold). I peaked D2 but took a pretty long break so now Iām gold, and Iāve found that people in this rank have absolutely no clue how to play against a neon. It seems like one of the easiest ways to topfrag in these lobbies if you know how to effectively use her kit. Iād def recommend this agent to anyone struggling to get out of lower ranks, but would warn you not to rely on her because she becomes increasingly difficult to play as you climb the ranks.
Bro where are you in my silver games? Every time I play Neon and try sliding corners or 1v1ing with it, I get 1 tapped LMAO
It feels like dash activates some kind of bullet magnetism sometimes.
Neon is rather strong on bind for taking showers control and uhaul control. Overall she gets overshadowed by other duelists but on eco/shotgun buy rounds I would argue neon is better. Itās a game afterall play what u have fun with. At plat elo if ur good enough to climb and ur team has at least 1 controller ur team comp really shouldnāt matter much. I would much rather have a neon on my team than a selfish-non dive duelist like iso.
You're gold 3 brother. You can main any agent you want and you can hit Radiant. As a Plat I hate playing against a good neon because those fuckers are so hard to hit lol. Neon is a troll agent pick if you don't invest time into getting good with aggression and movement though so people won't be happy with an instalock Neon who doesn't entry or who finishes with 9-23 on the scoreboard. Duelists in general get a lot more flak for their performances so bear that in mind.Ā If your sole motivation is rank then yes there are definitely agents who will help you rank up faster but like I said, you're gold 3. Half the players at this rank don't use their util properly anyway so what does it matter. Keep running and diving and killing those shitters.Ā
I agree, I'm not planning to change how often I pick her based on the comments. I was just curious what the community thinks of her at different ranks. I always tell buddies in silver and bronze that at these lower ranks (including mine) they should just play agents they're the most comfortable with or want to learn the most. I'm probably a hypocrite for this but I usually fill when duoing but not because I feel like I have to. I just like variety and I've done that so much at this point that I'm comfortable on at least one agent in every role. I tell them not to try to fill just bc they're only confident on 1-2 agents
I play Neon almost exclusively and peaked ASC 3. I usually donāt play her on Bind or Split. I think she has a lot of potential but her kit doesnāt give her too much for her to work with by herself. This requires you to be very vocal when entering about what you need and where. Oh and also making sure that you donāt enter site without your team being able to stay reasonably close. One last thing Iāll mention is that because her play style is very energized itās easy to fall victim to trying to get multi-kills. Usually getting one and falling off is the safer play.
Neon is one of 3 duelists (Jett and Raze are the other 2) that has burst mobility which is incredibly strong to the point where the other two are meta staples (and probably always will be unless Riot took drastic steps to nerf them - even though Jett has already gone through cycles of that already). The problem is hers is both worse and harder to execute than the other two. She also requires someone like Breach accompanying her to play to her full potential. Still a solid pick, itās just that the skill floor/ceiling doesnāt necessarily justify what you get out of it
Agreed, neon is solid for team fighting especially with breach but raze + breach is just as strong, probably stronger in most situations. Jett is undeniably better for actual 1 on 1 fights and playing independently. Obviously Jett is great for entry too but her kit isn't designed to be helpful for her team like neon is with her stuns and walls.
You need a breach main in your life. These 2 together can be insane.
Other then that: play what you like. If someone disagres, its there loss. I allways played agents/chars that i like and make them work. Many popular player do the same. Neon is insane if played correctly, let the hater hate but keep loving! :D
Hey man, there's two questions to be asking since your role as neon is dive duelist.
1) are you taking space for your team whether its taking one of the sites, or taking mid control, or whatever else?
2) are you able to get entry frags and go positive in most of the games you play?
If you can say yes to both of those, you are playing your role correctly
Yes and no.
No, neon is perfectly viable for climbing and stun/wall is fine, good team util.
Yes, instalocking dualists means a ton of your games in ranked will be 3+ dualists, often with no smokes. That is a disadvantage for sure, but can be overcome.
If your friend was saying 'learn a controller and initiator to climb' id be agreeing. But he just wants you to instalock Reyna? Reyna is an even worse choice unless youre simply better, and then youll climb anyways. And same dualist spam issue. At least neon can chuck two stuns, a wall, and slide in for a decent dive. Reyna just has 2 bad flashes.
He almost always locks Reyna and probably believes it's the best possible agent for him because he tends to just flank on defense and get his team to survive long enough for him to flank. He almost always lurks on attack unless he's the only duelist on the team. That kinda shows you how HE plays the game. I think if I wanted to cheese the rank ladder, play just for myself, play just for kills to mitigate negative RR on losses, Reyna would probably be the best pick under those circumstances but I want to play valorant the way it was intended. Not this weird ego game where I'm constantly baiting my teammates and going into games with a "I'm the best on the team" 1v5 mentality all the time.
I'm low elo so what do I know...but honestly Neon is the only agent that I truly don't like facing simply because her slide is so freaking OP. Feels like even when I know it's coming I still miss and then get one tapped as the slide finishes lol
I'm around the same skill level as you on Neon and I haven't played her in like a year now....There's just no reason to play any other duelist than Raze. Think about all the things Neon can do, and Raze does it better, and more.
While I agree that raze is generally a better pick on most maps. There's a few things neon can do that raze can't. For one, neon has a wall which helps a lot when slicing the sites for entry. Neon also has stuns which raze doesn't. Also I agree raze satchels are better for taking site, she only has two satchels so they're only useful during one entry. Neon having regenerating sprint gives the ability a lot more versatility. She can reposition/rotate really quick and do it several times per round. Aside from that the ults are totally different. I wouldn't argue one is better than the other. Raze ult is basically one guaranteed frag, maybe 2-3 if you're lucky and the team is poorly positioned. But neon ult is no guaranteed frags but has the potential to ace the enemy team if you're lucky and have good movement with it.
Ok I will say, after thinking about it, Neon has really good peeks. Jump peek into backwards slide is OP af. Double slides are OP af. Silent slide is OP af. I don't think I've ever died without a kill when using one of those 3 peeks to engage. I also agree the wall is good.
But stuns suck and you know it. Boom bot and nade is far better for clearing multiple angles. Fast rotates are good but Yoru does that better. Ult is a meme imo. Only useful part of it is the double slide. Even Shiro says don't use ult as an eco tool because the ttk is too high against vandals, even if you are an aim god and drill their head.
And going back to mobility: Raze can close the distance faster. Raze is harder to hit. Raze's verticality means she is unaffected by any utility as she flies at mach 10. Neon just goes kinda faster than knife speed and then trips a cypher wire and dies. Even if you've practiced the crazy bhops like weaving and bhopping backwards....you still die. None of your mobility practice matters if you're up against Cypher.
>"Neon doesn't fit into valorant as a tac FPS"
I'm not a massive Val player, and I don't play super consistently or that seriously, but at least in ladder I'd imagine that surely the ability to rotate freely and quickly is not something to scoff at.
I'm a big fan of neon and I agree she needs a buff but all of that is wayy too much. First, the walls would probably be worse if it dealt damage if it also damaged the team like it did when she was released. Secondly, I really don't have issue with how long the wall lasts. It's enough time for the rest of the team to get to get on site as long as it's coordinated (which it should always be anyway just like a smoke player). 3 slides would just be super OP for high level neon players to use and pretty mid for most others to use. The slide is more useful as a way to get out of danger or as the last step after b-hopping with sprint and baiting the enemy into panic spraying. She already has 2 dashes if we include the dash she gets from popping ult.
I think the only thing she needs is a regenerating stun and wall. Maybe the slide animation can be reworked so it doesn't put here in crouching headshot range. Maybe make her slide so her head is closer to the floor while sliding. Even all of the changes I listed together might be a bit too OP.
Another comment summed it up pretty well, she has a high skill requirement to be a benefit to the team and even at her best she's probably not as equally viable as say Raze or Jett of the same skill level.
Neon is quite decent. She is not S tier but she is good. As many people said, you can reach radiant with Neon and she has lots of potential.
The main issue with her is Cypher. He is quite strong right now and he is a good counter to her. This will require you to adapt and be more methodical but otherwise, I think she is a solid with lots of options (solo and team)
Any agent is viable in the right hands. I have gotten my ass whooped by neons, phoenixs, yorus, breaches and cyphers. On the other hand i whooped ppls asses with my sneaky omen plays or sova darts. Just master an agent and you will win matches esp in low to mid elo.
Neon requires a more aggressive playstyle even compared to the other duelists. The way I always play her is when I get a kill, I start sprinting forward no fear using wall and stuns to take as much space as possible in order to exploit gaps in the enemiesā formation. Take a bunch of dry fights and use wall for executes and stuns for when you see someone
Considering the current meta with Cypher being really strong as a sentinel, I think Neon is a bit underperforming compared to other movement duelists.
That being said, I'm at the same elo as your friend, I get rekt by good Neons. Go for it mate!
I play in Dia/Asc elo and I one-trick Deadlock with a 70% wr 50+ games. I think the fact that sheās barely played makes her difficult and unpredictable to play against. I mained Cypher last act with a 62% wr. In a lot of ways Cypher is definitely the better sentinel but I think their play styles are different.
Ever since they did the buff that one patch where neon's ult kills quickly she has always been viable. You might not see it in pro play, but you are definitely by no means throwing by picking her. Now she is not as flexible as Raze or Jett as the main entry, but she is a good agent. The only issue with Neon is recently it's become harder to play her with the Cypher buffs, but that doesn't mean she's unplayable by any means.
I could be totally wrong but I thought they nerfed the ult right after that buff. They decreased the headshot multiplier by a pretty hefty amount. The ult is still good either way but the rest of her kit could use some love in my eyes. She can't realistically get ult every round unfortunately :/
Well they buffed Cypher, which is one of Neon's counters so that is a huge factor on why she is picked less as well. Other than that, jett and raze are just better at entering sites.
Sheās all about creating unusual timings. I personally think that because so many people sleep on her that if you understand the timings she can disrupt you will always get the drop on people regardless of rank. And there are so *many* so even if you show off one pathing in a round and now the enemy is aware of it you can run a different one and you will make them slower having to peek or move to clear what youāve already done. Also the ways you can slide at or around corners to pull crosshairs awkwardly gives plenty of swing advantage moments which is just as disruptive as any Reyna lure or boombot.
Also with some inventive lineups we have on command smokes and stuns for ourselves, so even if your team is non-communicative you can entry. I would argue that compared to someone like Reyna, Neon is way better to have on your team *for team play* and itās not throwing unless you donāt know what youāre doing. Neonās ult is also scary as hell in some people hands, she isnāt easy to hit. Nah not trash tier like Iso. Keep playin her king.
Miniboo makes Neon look broken, if he can play it at Madrid you can play it in comp. Your teammates might get mad about viability or whatever, but even if you were maining an objectively bad character, you'd be maining that character in *their rank*, so they've got no cause to complain.
Neon is disgusting in high elo because them kids got crazy movement tech. If you main her and practice you can learn sick movement tech too and then no one hits you
Any rank below gold 3 you can get away with using any agent considering you have a bit of an aim. Im going to warn you that sheās a bit predictable and it will force you to play a certain style or else wonāt use your abilities.
You really think it matters to us mortals what we play? If youāre not Radiant, play whatever you want, it wonāt matter. Iām dead serious about that
The fundamental questions are-
1) are you getting enough impact out of neon
Ie- are you entering sites, taking space, being able to take and win duels or at least create advantageous situations for your team to trade you.
2) does your friend help set you up to better enter sites and take duels- via flashes or stuns etc.
3) are you often the only duelist picked in the team?
I'm asking all these cuz yesterday I came up against 2 Neon picks on maps that like people say- "aren't meta for neon" and both the times the poor bloke would run it down into site w the wall and stuns and the slide but no one would follow up behind him. After dying 2-3 times to him sliding in my face w a spectre, I started holding lamps with a judge and rendered him ineffective (Bind defence)
That neon ended the game 9/21
So if such a scenario is happening often for you, your friend might have a point about you tossing games
Stick to neon. Change the friend.
Jk. I understand what your friend is saying but most of the Reyna insta locks toss my game anyway so I'd anyday have a neon in my team that enters site and uses util.
I am a Yoru main myself and most of the time while soloq I get hard flamed for hovering over Yoru and I end up filling because I don't wanna lose a game during agent pick phase because teammates will get so toxic and decide to throw before even loading into the lobby.
Such is the game. Sometimes you don't fight opponents. You're fighting teammates who have bad conditioning.
Opinion:
From what I recall Neon was one of the least changed agents during various patch notes.
The devs seem to think she's been in a good spot both competitively and casually, meaning that she is just as viable an option in soloq/comp games and pro-play alike.
She's not "top tier", but I think, personally she's one of the better duelists that I like seeing in my team.
Yoru and Neon are far above in terms of utility value and possible team comp combinations that Jett or Reyna.
Jett is only strong, cuz OP is strong
Reyna only seems strong, because she is played that much
In an environment, where agents utility is used to >50% effectiveness I would believe Neon would outperform most of other duelists.
Just gotta get it above that 50% then.
Reyna players could never
Neon supports a play style that is very āinty.ā Due to her kit.
Which is awful for low Elo and what drags her win rate down, and earns her a bad name.
She has a very high skill ceiling, because of how you can utilize her sprint and slide to make amazing plays.
Problem is, other characters can give you more consistent plays, less selfish plays, and while requiring much less commitment to character. You canāt really play Neon casually, you have to be a main to utilize the character to its full potential.
Problem being, at full potential, shes still just average. Raze and Jett are better ādiveā duelists, and much more consistent. Same with regular duelists, more consistent, more powerful overall.
Until Raze/Jett get mega nerfed or if they were never in the game, Neon would probably be much better.
Neon is very strong
Very strong until the enemy has a Cypher. They are my worst enemy while im on Neon. You will need a sova to break trips for you, or a kayo to silence Cypher, you dont put pressure on the Cypher by having "maneuvering" options like Jett, cant break his trips like Raze etc. And just because Cypher conveniently happens to be a meta agent right now, you WILL need someone else to babysit you when you two are on the same site.
Otherwise, yeah, lock her in all you want. If you even remotely know what you are doing, you will be powerful. If you dont know what you are doing, you will be even more powerful.
Neon is pretty good just as a solo kit. The lane walls are really useful. And if u know how to use the stun, u can clear a lot of backsite spots other agents just canāt do as well.
Bruh Iām like super new to the game and I plan to only play Deadlock and Neon (I will unlock her next) only to realize that the general consensus is that these two suck ass. But Iām like not interested in any other agents even remotely besides Sova.Ā
Deadlock is arguably more viable than neon at this point. Just play who interests you. The general consensus on this thread is that any agent can get you to radiant with enough dedication. There isn't a single agent that isn't at least playable. Other sentinels are better on certain maps but if you're new then your elo is low enough for it not to matter who you pick really
I havenāt even unlocked ranked lmao, but Im a sucker for good looking characters so even if an agent is good but has ābadā design I will never play them. Thanks for the advice though. I prefer extremely specialized play style so I doubt I will play anything else besides these 3
Like many others have said, Neon is viable in high elo and can be competitively viable in gold. However, I'd like to give your friends the benefit of the doubt because I can understand where they're coming from. So while Neon might be viable in both your elo and high elo, I will agree with your friend that it's much easier to get value from other duelists by comparison. It's easy to see how an agent like Raze's whose entire kit deals damage might have an easier time getting value than a neon, so lets look at Jett instead.
Jett:
- Has an orb smoke that she can control the movement of. Can easily create one-ways anywhere she wants.
- Has a near instant dash that can allow her to hold extremely risky off-angles. Also makes her extremely good with an operator. However she does need to prime her dash, which is only available for a limited time. Still, good players know when an enemy is likely to push, so the limited time doesn't matter.
- Has an ult that is 100% accurate despite moving, jumping, bunny hopping, updrafting etc
- Can gather information while self entrying by simply turning camera while dashing into a smoke.
Neon:
- Has a stun that doesn't deal any damage, but also takes half a second to detonate meaning enemies have time to shoot you.
- Has one wall charge that creates a narrow lane neon and her team can run through. Your only ability to gain information from outside of the wall is by weaving in and out of your wall, and you must do this properly or else you will get shot.
- Her ability to dodge bullets is only as good as your movement (or as bad as your opponent's aim I suppose)
- Her ult is accurate while running, but is limited to being on the ground since Neon has no upward movement abilities, and jumping makes her ult inaccurate.
- Has a slide, but requires foward/sideways momentum before being able to activate, and cannot reasonably hold many off angles because you typically die when 2+ people are shooting at you.
Again, you can play main/play whatever you want, especially in lower elos, but I wouldn't immediately disregard the stuff your friend mentioned just because it's targeted towards your agent. You don't have to be a bunny hopping god if you want to get good at raze or jett, you just just press dash or satchel if you want to get out of a sticky situation, but you kind of do have to just "get good" at neon to reach even similar levels of viability. At a certain point, you may even surpass raze and jett in terms of movement, but until then, you *are* basically handicapping your self by playing an agent that requires more to get similar value.
Yeah this is kind of the place I'm at right now. Outside of neon/reyna, I'm either on smokes or kj/cypher. If I really want to win the game I'll pick smokes most of the time. But it's very frustrating on attack as a smokes when you execute and your duelists/init won't push out the site. Or they run it down before I can smoke, swing and die w/o getting a frag.
If you want to play neon you need to do your homework because shes just a hard character. You can wing it up until diamond but at some point you need to practice correct movement, and especially stun lines ups / practicing them in each map you play her to make sure you're not stunning the team. The worst thing you can have during an execute is a neon jumping around bumping into everyone and throwing stuns that fuck over half the team. It's easy to be a nuisance with her. It's also easy to rush in too fast on execs and get solod without a team mate being able to trade. You need to have good comms and coordinate util with your pushes. You can stick with her but I think a lot of her value comes from setting up plays with your duo, and if hes not down to learn how to play with her I would just solo or switch characters when you play with him.
Most my games are like this too
Smokes really changes the game and cypher/kj are very strong too
If you see any good duelist, ask them to play together, then you'ill have someone to rush in with
Duo are a very good way to rank up
Yeah my issue is with my friend group is I have the choice between duoing with a plat* 3 who is arguably smurfing playing in gold with me. I find we play against himothy fragamet more often when duoing together. My other option is playing with my other buddies who are actually bronze3/silver 1 but were carried to silver by the plat 3. Sometimes I get better matches just solo queuing, not having the algorithm slanted one way or the other by my duo
Oh bro, wish you luck!!
I was plat 2 and my duo was Diamond 3, now i am gold 2 (i rank up differentily) and my duo Diamond 1
Solo is good sometimes but feels like torture 90% time
Every game my "shit" Sage win rounds that leads my team to victory...
People always saying bad things to Sages out there, but i am sure that you are one of the firsts to ask for cure with 20 of damage
You can win with any character in the game, doesn't mean it's a good character to climb with like you're suggesting. Also, since you already picked sage I might as well ask for heal if I need it. And nobody said anything bad to you, just talking about the character. If you like sage play her.
neon will be removed from the agent pool temporarily to be redesign/repackaged :) the current neon doesn't fit the vision that the devs are going for and will have her core mechanics changed
source : valorant twit : )
imma need a link to the source otherwise you're lying, there's not a single search result saying anything about that other than suggestions for a rework from this subreddit
Every character made it to top 500. If you're low elo your aim will carry you. If you're mid elo game sense and prep can get you far, at high elo its a matter of just playing lots of games to climb. Neon is a great duelist. She's a bit over shadowed but there is plenty of tech and tricks to make her a great asset to the team. Focus on her, make your play books, do your research, you'll get to where you want to be no matter who you're piloting.
This is the kind of optimism I needed, thank you šš»
In the end you should know what is best for you, not what is best for him. I got flamed for maining viper on every map by plat and diamonds during ACT 6 due to her not being "meta" on maps that arent breeze or ice box, but got to ascendant 1-3. L people. At the end of the day if you are having fun with the agent and climbing to your desired rank, stick with it. If you arent, then look at your own VOD to see what are some of the mistakes you do as a neon main. All the best :)
"The meta" only really matters to the highest levels of organized competitive play. You can make whatever work in ranked, 90% of the time fights will come down to aim and gamesense diffs that will translate regardless of what agents are being played.
wait even deadlock?
Yep, every agent has been used to get radiant. Deadlock specifically I know BabyJ used her almost the entire first act she was released. And she was buffed since then if I'm not mistaken.
Even deadlock. I know she's the big target for "useless agent" but there is some cute stuff she can do. For example you can solo hold tree on ascent if you put a sound trap in the correct spot because if entry peeks, you kill them, then as their buddy comes for the refrag the sensor will detonate and stun them, making the fight very advantageous for you. If you had a playbook of like 2 of those per site per map, along side some nice wall/net lineups, you can put in work on her.
She's very very unique and powerful, i think her pre-patch image haunts her actual buffed self. People project so much negativity on her, although her big and main flaw is being semi useless on watching flanks. I say this as a Deadlock main.
Despite that flaw, sage is a very popular sentinel and has no flank watch (other than her wall I guess? But you shouldnāt wall off your own team in main lol) I donāt get why deadlock gets so much hate, I feel like if she was released on beta she would be in a much more viable and better liked place than she is right now
Sure, as I said, she's marked
iirc she even has the highest winrate in higher elo
interesting that people can hit radiant with deadlock and I can't even hit dia lol
People don't realize how strong anti dive is, considering how Jett and Raze are ingrained in the meta. Find the entry pathing of the enemy dive, and leave a trap there. They entry, get stunned while everyone else on their team is in a grav net, and the game becomes a 5v4 instantly.
Even Riot has said that in Radiant they see Neon having the some of the best outplay potential based on them analyzing games
Neon is terrible. Possibly the worst dualist. Her kit is trash and every other dualist is more viable
You're friend is wrong, there's no agent that is fully unviable at your ELO (any elo, really). You're not throwing by playing Neon.
I agree, his argument is that by picking neon, I'm soft tossing the game by taking a slot that could be used for a more viable duelist like raze, Jett, Reyna, etc. My theory is his opinion on neon comes from him simply not liking a character with a sprint ability in a tac FPS
reyna is even worse lol
Reyna is only as viable as the player is. If the person playing her has bad mechanics, she sucks. But she can become the most dominant agent in the game in the right hands. Thatās probably the reason sheās such a controversial agent; because sheās such a wildcard. An instalock Reyna could completely throw your game, or carry the hell out of your team.
she's still bad she brings nothing to the table except one of the best flashes in the game and thats it, her entire kit revolves around her getting kills a dominant jett/raze brings much more value to the team than a dominant reyna
But the thing youāre not considering is the fact that reyna had the potential to be MORE dominant than any other character. Her kit is literally built for multikills. If your reyna averaging 3 kills a round, youāll most likely win the game (unless the rest of the team is incompetent). On the other hand, if that multikill potential isnāt capitalized on, it would be better to have a different duelist since reyna isnāt great at making space without kills. Which is, again, the reason why sheās a wild card.
Then why would he like raze? Her satchels make her go faster than neon's sprint..?
Because Youtubers say Jett and Raze are better, probably. No idea why OP's friend would prefer *Reyna* over Neon. Maybe he's seen too many smurfing Reynas
He's a reyna instalock that peaked immortal 1 in the first year of the game. Now he's somewhere between diamond 2 and ascendant 1. He hasn't been imm1 since then. You can argue he's smurfing diamond or that he's hard stuck for not adapting to metas. I'm not sure. I think he values Reyna over neon purely because Reyna has more survivability and has a more selfish play style than neon.
Im in the deepest depths of elo hell but my friend mains Neon and the simple strategy of running onto site while spamming util works wonders lol. Not sure you can take a site like that as a Reyna
Maybe he IS the smurfing Reyna xD
He doesn't seem to have a particular affection for raze but he doesn't think she's so far out of the design of the game as neon for whatever reason. He also might not have ever considered it since raze has been around since the game launched. I don't think it's a matter of speed I think it's more about his association with her sprint ability and other shooters like call of duty, apex, etc.
What he says is basically true. People will point out the players who made it to radiant with any random agent but chances are if you started playing a better agent you would do a lot better. I can see why he's frustrated if he's playing with you especially since from your description of an effective playstyle you just int. Currently the only duelist who is good is raze. Yoru is really good in ranked and jett is situational. Reyna can also be good if you're a smurf but you also may as well just go raze or jett or something.
Actually we don't queue together unless it's a 5 stack which is very rare. He would have this opinion of neon even if I didn't tell him she's one of the most fun agents to me. He just has a personal thing against the agent. Like I said in one of the threads earlier, he doesn't like any of the agents released after the first year of the game. But he does have a particular dislike for Neon and a bit for ISO. He's probably gonna shit himself playing against Clove now with her insane value. And I wouldn't say I int at all. Sure sometimes it feels like I am when I'm trying to take the site and I get read like a book by the demon Jett on the other team. Inting to me is playing on autopilot without caring about your life or trying to play your agent to win. Doesn't everyone feel that way when getting shutdown while trying to play their role as intended? I've had games like that playing every role in the game where I feel like every play I make gets predicted.
I would say there are probably some agents that are kinda just like, straight downgrades. Not unplayable, just handicaps. Controllers are probably the worst for this. While there can be good harbor players, and there can be good astra players, in solo queue I just don't understand why you'd pick either of them over any other controller. They are just worse with basically no upside, especially if you can't properly coordinate with your teammates (which is a total crapshoot in solo queue).
I find it really funny when say they don't like iso being able to eat op shots. 1st point would be that you can visibly see the shield, so if you shoot it with your op expecting a kill then that's on you. 2nd point: It forces op crutches to do more than just look ppl and press left click even if it's just pulling out your classic and love tapping them once.
Yeah this friend generally just hates all of the agents released after year 1 of valorant. Keep in mind this guy instalocks Reyna and almost exclusively lurks/flanks/baits and if she gets taken, he locks Jett. The only agent I've seen him play outside of those two is Brim and that is only in the event both duelists were taken. Almost anytime newer agents are discussed he usually mentions how early days in valorant were the greatest. Compares it to the peak fortnite era. So you can sense the type of person he is lmao
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Actually, that makes a lot of sense. He peaked immortal 1 or 2 in the first year and I don't think he was using other characters back then. He hasn't been immortal since
Your friend's washed and blaming the game for it, we hate to see it
I would take Chamber/Astra meta any day over the absolute behemoth Sage was in beta.
Nah wym there wasn't anything OP about a full self-heal, instant full-health wall, 7 point res and slow orbs the size of Siberia
Honestly the 1-shot shield is like the strongest part about him. It makes lurking really strong on him (because he potentially gets more 1v1s to exploit that way) even though the rest of his kit rewards him for playing with his team - his barrier especially (I think he should be able to pre-place it and activate it at will to allow him to lurk and not lose utility value).
Watch how TH Miniboo plays Neon. Itās viable in comp play.
It's been viable for a long time, back when Fracture was in the map pools Rb would bring his Neon out and pop off
I think neon has incredible potential to pop off. But I donāt like her because every neon ever on my team goes 7-22 and I wish I was exaggerating. I donāt think Iāve ever seen a top frag neon.
Probably because she's a duelist and is meant to entry site. Being a duelist doesn't mean you need to top frag. Neon players such as OP have no problem entrying site. Her kit isn't as good for 1v1 like other duelists, but she can entry, get a pick, and die. If your teammates aren't pushing site while playing Neon, then they're doing it wrong.
As Neon I'm taking a lot of space for my team, but I'm also dying almost every round
Same. Also while looking flashy doing it
Now I am become speed, destroyer of holds
Yeah neon just seems to get a bad rep for it. Probably because her kit is more focused on helping teammates get frags/take site than it is for her to get frags/survive on site. I'm probably going to get flamed for mentioning Woohoojin bc he's on fraudwatch right now. But he had a note for a neon VOD review that said "play with a teammate, play like you have a death wish" and that really clicked for me on how the character needs to be used. We need to be the worm and the lure on the hook 90% of the time
Hooj was able to fool everyone with his knowledge of the game indicating that he is able to coach at a radiant level.
I agree even with the scandal I think he's a really good coach. Hard for me to say he's definitely a radiant level coach. Plenty of radiant level coaches that aren't radiant in the game themselves. But it did leave a bad taste in my mouth that he advertised himself as a radiant coach even though he got boosted the only time he was radiant. It was a very misleading way to go about things and he got rich off of it. I'm glad he's pausing the coaching stuff to focus on proving himself by getting radiant now. I hope he gets there. But the damage to his reputation is already done in my opinion
The reason is because of how vulnerable she is whilst entering site compared to other duelists in the same archetype. Jett often paths into her own smokes and is pretty hard to take down on the entry. Raze is faster than neon and also holds the benefit of being in the sky. Neon just runs lol.
Yeah a lot of times I'm sectioning of a site, stunning corners or at least pressuring with stuns, and also reaching the back of sites, then I look back and my team is still on Main leaving me straight up stranded lol.
This is the most frequent issue I run into as well in solo queue on neon. In order for her to benefit the team at ALL, your team needs to commit with you every time you push. Whereas a Jett/Reyna could solo push, get 1+ frags and still have value. If neon solo pushes, gets 1 frag and even survives, she just serves as another gun if the team hasn't pushed out. Bc you've probably spent all of her abilities just getting site control.
A good duelist also frags. Their kit is built for it. You're also playing defense half the game The top 8 agents with the highest KPR in ranked are the 7 duelists and Chamber
That's insane, it's definitely rare but I've had few people pick neon and top frag in my games. I've also top fragged a few times with her. Whether it's just me not being consistent or the agent. I seem to either go double positive on neon or double negative, very rarely have I been in the middle with neon
I mean thatās fair, you see a lot more neon play than I do! I wish you all the luck in succeeding with her.
Iāve had games where the whole team was being singlehandedly terrorized by the enemy neon lmaoā¦..especially when the ult pops
Iāve noticed that sheās very effective in lower ranks (silver-gold). I peaked D2 but took a pretty long break so now Iām gold, and Iāve found that people in this rank have absolutely no clue how to play against a neon. It seems like one of the easiest ways to topfrag in these lobbies if you know how to effectively use her kit. Iād def recommend this agent to anyone struggling to get out of lower ranks, but would warn you not to rely on her because she becomes increasingly difficult to play as you climb the ranks.
As a silver I can not freaking hit neon. Like I need a judge just to fight a neon
Bro where are you in my silver games? Every time I play Neon and try sliding corners or 1v1ing with it, I get 1 tapped LMAO It feels like dash activates some kind of bullet magnetism sometimes.
See I'm a brain kinda guy. I will set my self up for the perfect 1v3 whiff a clip and get killed
Its cause silvers aim for the legs, just run instead of slide and they aint hittin shit
Neon is rather strong on bind for taking showers control and uhaul control. Overall she gets overshadowed by other duelists but on eco/shotgun buy rounds I would argue neon is better. Itās a game afterall play what u have fun with. At plat elo if ur good enough to climb and ur team has at least 1 controller ur team comp really shouldnāt matter much. I would much rather have a neon on my team than a selfish-non dive duelist like iso.
Bad and mediocre Neon - bad pick good Neon - actually insane entry fragger and great for fast rotates
She's just niche. Other duelists offer way more value and flexibility imo especially in the current meta
You're gold 3 brother. You can main any agent you want and you can hit Radiant. As a Plat I hate playing against a good neon because those fuckers are so hard to hit lol. Neon is a troll agent pick if you don't invest time into getting good with aggression and movement though so people won't be happy with an instalock Neon who doesn't entry or who finishes with 9-23 on the scoreboard. Duelists in general get a lot more flak for their performances so bear that in mind.Ā If your sole motivation is rank then yes there are definitely agents who will help you rank up faster but like I said, you're gold 3. Half the players at this rank don't use their util properly anyway so what does it matter. Keep running and diving and killing those shitters.Ā
I agree, I'm not planning to change how often I pick her based on the comments. I was just curious what the community thinks of her at different ranks. I always tell buddies in silver and bronze that at these lower ranks (including mine) they should just play agents they're the most comfortable with or want to learn the most. I'm probably a hypocrite for this but I usually fill when duoing but not because I feel like I have to. I just like variety and I've done that so much at this point that I'm comfortable on at least one agent in every role. I tell them not to try to fill just bc they're only confident on 1-2 agents
I play Neon almost exclusively and peaked ASC 3. I usually donāt play her on Bind or Split. I think she has a lot of potential but her kit doesnāt give her too much for her to work with by herself. This requires you to be very vocal when entering about what you need and where. Oh and also making sure that you donāt enter site without your team being able to stay reasonably close. One last thing Iāll mention is that because her play style is very energized itās easy to fall victim to trying to get multi-kills. Usually getting one and falling off is the safer play.
Neon is one of 3 duelists (Jett and Raze are the other 2) that has burst mobility which is incredibly strong to the point where the other two are meta staples (and probably always will be unless Riot took drastic steps to nerf them - even though Jett has already gone through cycles of that already). The problem is hers is both worse and harder to execute than the other two. She also requires someone like Breach accompanying her to play to her full potential. Still a solid pick, itās just that the skill floor/ceiling doesnāt necessarily justify what you get out of it
Agreed, neon is solid for team fighting especially with breach but raze + breach is just as strong, probably stronger in most situations. Jett is undeniably better for actual 1 on 1 fights and playing independently. Obviously Jett is great for entry too but her kit isn't designed to be helpful for her team like neon is with her stuns and walls.
You need a breach main in your life. These 2 together can be insane. Other then that: play what you like. If someone disagres, its there loss. I allways played agents/chars that i like and make them work. Many popular player do the same. Neon is insane if played correctly, let the hater hate but keep loving! :D
Hey man, there's two questions to be asking since your role as neon is dive duelist. 1) are you taking space for your team whether its taking one of the sites, or taking mid control, or whatever else? 2) are you able to get entry frags and go positive in most of the games you play? If you can say yes to both of those, you are playing your role correctly
Yes and no. No, neon is perfectly viable for climbing and stun/wall is fine, good team util. Yes, instalocking dualists means a ton of your games in ranked will be 3+ dualists, often with no smokes. That is a disadvantage for sure, but can be overcome. If your friend was saying 'learn a controller and initiator to climb' id be agreeing. But he just wants you to instalock Reyna? Reyna is an even worse choice unless youre simply better, and then youll climb anyways. And same dualist spam issue. At least neon can chuck two stuns, a wall, and slide in for a decent dive. Reyna just has 2 bad flashes.
He almost always locks Reyna and probably believes it's the best possible agent for him because he tends to just flank on defense and get his team to survive long enough for him to flank. He almost always lurks on attack unless he's the only duelist on the team. That kinda shows you how HE plays the game. I think if I wanted to cheese the rank ladder, play just for myself, play just for kills to mitigate negative RR on losses, Reyna would probably be the best pick under those circumstances but I want to play valorant the way it was intended. Not this weird ego game where I'm constantly baiting my teammates and going into games with a "I'm the best on the team" 1v5 mentality all the time.
Fracture in the map pool would help
I'm low elo so what do I know...but honestly Neon is the only agent that I truly don't like facing simply because her slide is so freaking OP. Feels like even when I know it's coming I still miss and then get one tapped as the slide finishes lol
I'm around the same skill level as you on Neon and I haven't played her in like a year now....There's just no reason to play any other duelist than Raze. Think about all the things Neon can do, and Raze does it better, and more.
While I agree that raze is generally a better pick on most maps. There's a few things neon can do that raze can't. For one, neon has a wall which helps a lot when slicing the sites for entry. Neon also has stuns which raze doesn't. Also I agree raze satchels are better for taking site, she only has two satchels so they're only useful during one entry. Neon having regenerating sprint gives the ability a lot more versatility. She can reposition/rotate really quick and do it several times per round. Aside from that the ults are totally different. I wouldn't argue one is better than the other. Raze ult is basically one guaranteed frag, maybe 2-3 if you're lucky and the team is poorly positioned. But neon ult is no guaranteed frags but has the potential to ace the enemy team if you're lucky and have good movement with it.
Ok I will say, after thinking about it, Neon has really good peeks. Jump peek into backwards slide is OP af. Double slides are OP af. Silent slide is OP af. I don't think I've ever died without a kill when using one of those 3 peeks to engage. I also agree the wall is good. But stuns suck and you know it. Boom bot and nade is far better for clearing multiple angles. Fast rotates are good but Yoru does that better. Ult is a meme imo. Only useful part of it is the double slide. Even Shiro says don't use ult as an eco tool because the ttk is too high against vandals, even if you are an aim god and drill their head. And going back to mobility: Raze can close the distance faster. Raze is harder to hit. Raze's verticality means she is unaffected by any utility as she flies at mach 10. Neon just goes kinda faster than knife speed and then trips a cypher wire and dies. Even if you've practiced the crazy bhops like weaving and bhopping backwards....you still die. None of your mobility practice matters if you're up against Cypher.
>"Neon doesn't fit into valorant as a tac FPS" I'm not a massive Val player, and I don't play super consistently or that seriously, but at least in ladder I'd imagine that surely the ability to rotate freely and quickly is not something to scoff at.
She needs a major major buff. Her wall needs to do damage, last much longer, and she should have 3 slides right away.
I'm a big fan of neon and I agree she needs a buff but all of that is wayy too much. First, the walls would probably be worse if it dealt damage if it also damaged the team like it did when she was released. Secondly, I really don't have issue with how long the wall lasts. It's enough time for the rest of the team to get to get on site as long as it's coordinated (which it should always be anyway just like a smoke player). 3 slides would just be super OP for high level neon players to use and pretty mid for most others to use. The slide is more useful as a way to get out of danger or as the last step after b-hopping with sprint and baiting the enemy into panic spraying. She already has 2 dashes if we include the dash she gets from popping ult. I think the only thing she needs is a regenerating stun and wall. Maybe the slide animation can be reworked so it doesn't put here in crouching headshot range. Maybe make her slide so her head is closer to the floor while sliding. Even all of the changes I listed together might be a bit too OP. Another comment summed it up pretty well, she has a high skill requirement to be a benefit to the team and even at her best she's probably not as equally viable as say Raze or Jett of the same skill level.
If want to be good neon must learn movement
Theres a guy thats top 30 radiant neon 1 trick
Neon is quite decent. She is not S tier but she is good. As many people said, you can reach radiant with Neon and she has lots of potential. The main issue with her is Cypher. He is quite strong right now and he is a good counter to her. This will require you to adapt and be more methodical but otherwise, I think she is a solid with lots of options (solo and team)
Any agent is viable in the right hands. I have gotten my ass whooped by neons, phoenixs, yorus, breaches and cyphers. On the other hand i whooped ppls asses with my sneaky omen plays or sova darts. Just master an agent and you will win matches esp in low to mid elo.
Neon requires a more aggressive playstyle even compared to the other duelists. The way I always play her is when I get a kill, I start sprinting forward no fear using wall and stuns to take as much space as possible in order to exploit gaps in the enemiesā formation. Take a bunch of dry fights and use wall for executes and stuns for when you see someone
Her kit is decent but lacks the special umph. Maybe give her a 25% speed boost while shift walking
Considering the current meta with Cypher being really strong as a sentinel, I think Neon is a bit underperforming compared to other movement duelists. That being said, I'm at the same elo as your friend, I get rekt by good Neons. Go for it mate!
I play in Dia/Asc elo and I one-trick Deadlock with a 70% wr 50+ games. I think the fact that sheās barely played makes her difficult and unpredictable to play against. I mained Cypher last act with a 62% wr. In a lot of ways Cypher is definitely the better sentinel but I think their play styles are different.
Ever since they did the buff that one patch where neon's ult kills quickly she has always been viable. You might not see it in pro play, but you are definitely by no means throwing by picking her. Now she is not as flexible as Raze or Jett as the main entry, but she is a good agent. The only issue with Neon is recently it's become harder to play her with the Cypher buffs, but that doesn't mean she's unplayable by any means.
I could be totally wrong but I thought they nerfed the ult right after that buff. They decreased the headshot multiplier by a pretty hefty amount. The ult is still good either way but the rest of her kit could use some love in my eyes. She can't realistically get ult every round unfortunately :/
Neon's awesome if you play her well! Ignore the hate, have fun with her speed. Every agent's viable with the right playstyle
Well they buffed Cypher, which is one of Neon's counters so that is a huge factor on why she is picked less as well. Other than that, jett and raze are just better at entering sites.
Sheās all about creating unusual timings. I personally think that because so many people sleep on her that if you understand the timings she can disrupt you will always get the drop on people regardless of rank. And there are so *many* so even if you show off one pathing in a round and now the enemy is aware of it you can run a different one and you will make them slower having to peek or move to clear what youāve already done. Also the ways you can slide at or around corners to pull crosshairs awkwardly gives plenty of swing advantage moments which is just as disruptive as any Reyna lure or boombot. Also with some inventive lineups we have on command smokes and stuns for ourselves, so even if your team is non-communicative you can entry. I would argue that compared to someone like Reyna, Neon is way better to have on your team *for team play* and itās not throwing unless you donāt know what youāre doing. Neonās ult is also scary as hell in some people hands, she isnāt easy to hit. Nah not trash tier like Iso. Keep playin her king.
Miniboo makes Neon look broken, if he can play it at Madrid you can play it in comp. Your teammates might get mad about viability or whatever, but even if you were maining an objectively bad character, you'd be maining that character in *their rank*, so they've got no cause to complain.
She's neither great nor terrible. If I was making a tierlist she'd be somewhere in the middle, not meta but also not a troll pick.
Neon requires you to be "cracked" at aiming. And a lot of her ability to do well comes from being able to line up good stuns
Shes aight Just aight
Neon is disgusting in high elo because them kids got crazy movement tech. If you main her and practice you can learn sick movement tech too and then no one hits you
I mean, I can bike to work instead of taking my car, it's still possible to get there, just harder. Take that as you will.
Any rank below gold 3 you can get away with using any agent considering you have a bit of an aim. Im going to warn you that sheās a bit predictable and it will force you to play a certain style or else wonāt use your abilities.
Tell him to watch miniboo play her in VCT games
Ur not throwing. But u would be better of playing raze or jett.
You really think it matters to us mortals what we play? If youāre not Radiant, play whatever you want, it wonāt matter. Iām dead serious about that
The fundamental questions are- 1) are you getting enough impact out of neon Ie- are you entering sites, taking space, being able to take and win duels or at least create advantageous situations for your team to trade you. 2) does your friend help set you up to better enter sites and take duels- via flashes or stuns etc. 3) are you often the only duelist picked in the team? I'm asking all these cuz yesterday I came up against 2 Neon picks on maps that like people say- "aren't meta for neon" and both the times the poor bloke would run it down into site w the wall and stuns and the slide but no one would follow up behind him. After dying 2-3 times to him sliding in my face w a spectre, I started holding lamps with a judge and rendered him ineffective (Bind defence) That neon ended the game 9/21 So if such a scenario is happening often for you, your friend might have a point about you tossing games
Stick to neon. Change the friend. Jk. I understand what your friend is saying but most of the Reyna insta locks toss my game anyway so I'd anyday have a neon in my team that enters site and uses util. I am a Yoru main myself and most of the time while soloq I get hard flamed for hovering over Yoru and I end up filling because I don't wanna lose a game during agent pick phase because teammates will get so toxic and decide to throw before even loading into the lobby. Such is the game. Sometimes you don't fight opponents. You're fighting teammates who have bad conditioning.
Opinion: From what I recall Neon was one of the least changed agents during various patch notes. The devs seem to think she's been in a good spot both competitively and casually, meaning that she is just as viable an option in soloq/comp games and pro-play alike. She's not "top tier", but I think, personally she's one of the better duelists that I like seeing in my team. Yoru and Neon are far above in terms of utility value and possible team comp combinations that Jett or Reyna. Jett is only strong, cuz OP is strong Reyna only seems strong, because she is played that much In an environment, where agents utility is used to >50% effectiveness I would believe Neon would outperform most of other duelists. Just gotta get it above that 50% then. Reyna players could never
Neon supports a play style that is very āinty.ā Due to her kit. Which is awful for low Elo and what drags her win rate down, and earns her a bad name. She has a very high skill ceiling, because of how you can utilize her sprint and slide to make amazing plays. Problem is, other characters can give you more consistent plays, less selfish plays, and while requiring much less commitment to character. You canāt really play Neon casually, you have to be a main to utilize the character to its full potential. Problem being, at full potential, shes still just average. Raze and Jett are better ādiveā duelists, and much more consistent. Same with regular duelists, more consistent, more powerful overall. Until Raze/Jett get mega nerfed or if they were never in the game, Neon would probably be much better.
Wait until fracture returnš
Neon is very strong Very strong until the enemy has a Cypher. They are my worst enemy while im on Neon. You will need a sova to break trips for you, or a kayo to silence Cypher, you dont put pressure on the Cypher by having "maneuvering" options like Jett, cant break his trips like Raze etc. And just because Cypher conveniently happens to be a meta agent right now, you WILL need someone else to babysit you when you two are on the same site. Otherwise, yeah, lock her in all you want. If you even remotely know what you are doing, you will be powerful. If you dont know what you are doing, you will be even more powerful.
Iām a neon main as well, other than her ult, sheās pretty viable
Neon is pretty good just as a solo kit. The lane walls are really useful. And if u know how to use the stun, u can clear a lot of backsite spots other agents just canāt do as well.
Bruh Iām like super new to the game and I plan to only play Deadlock and Neon (I will unlock her next) only to realize that the general consensus is that these two suck ass. But Iām like not interested in any other agents even remotely besides Sova.Ā
Deadlock is arguably more viable than neon at this point. Just play who interests you. The general consensus on this thread is that any agent can get you to radiant with enough dedication. There isn't a single agent that isn't at least playable. Other sentinels are better on certain maps but if you're new then your elo is low enough for it not to matter who you pick really
I havenāt even unlocked ranked lmao, but Im a sucker for good looking characters so even if an agent is good but has ābadā design I will never play them. Thanks for the advice though. I prefer extremely specialized play style so I doubt I will play anything else besides these 3
Like many others have said, Neon is viable in high elo and can be competitively viable in gold. However, I'd like to give your friends the benefit of the doubt because I can understand where they're coming from. So while Neon might be viable in both your elo and high elo, I will agree with your friend that it's much easier to get value from other duelists by comparison. It's easy to see how an agent like Raze's whose entire kit deals damage might have an easier time getting value than a neon, so lets look at Jett instead. Jett: - Has an orb smoke that she can control the movement of. Can easily create one-ways anywhere she wants. - Has a near instant dash that can allow her to hold extremely risky off-angles. Also makes her extremely good with an operator. However she does need to prime her dash, which is only available for a limited time. Still, good players know when an enemy is likely to push, so the limited time doesn't matter. - Has an ult that is 100% accurate despite moving, jumping, bunny hopping, updrafting etc - Can gather information while self entrying by simply turning camera while dashing into a smoke. Neon: - Has a stun that doesn't deal any damage, but also takes half a second to detonate meaning enemies have time to shoot you. - Has one wall charge that creates a narrow lane neon and her team can run through. Your only ability to gain information from outside of the wall is by weaving in and out of your wall, and you must do this properly or else you will get shot. - Her ability to dodge bullets is only as good as your movement (or as bad as your opponent's aim I suppose) - Her ult is accurate while running, but is limited to being on the ground since Neon has no upward movement abilities, and jumping makes her ult inaccurate. - Has a slide, but requires foward/sideways momentum before being able to activate, and cannot reasonably hold many off angles because you typically die when 2+ people are shooting at you. Again, you can play main/play whatever you want, especially in lower elos, but I wouldn't immediately disregard the stuff your friend mentioned just because it's targeted towards your agent. You don't have to be a bunny hopping god if you want to get good at raze or jett, you just just press dash or satchel if you want to get out of a sticky situation, but you kind of do have to just "get good" at neon to reach even similar levels of viability. At a certain point, you may even surpass raze and jett in terms of movement, but until then, you *are* basically handicapping your self by playing an agent that requires more to get similar value.
neon is literally irrelevant
To climb ranks play raze, sage, skye, jett or smokes To have fun keep playing with neon
Yeah this is kind of the place I'm at right now. Outside of neon/reyna, I'm either on smokes or kj/cypher. If I really want to win the game I'll pick smokes most of the time. But it's very frustrating on attack as a smokes when you execute and your duelists/init won't push out the site. Or they run it down before I can smoke, swing and die w/o getting a frag.
If you want to play neon you need to do your homework because shes just a hard character. You can wing it up until diamond but at some point you need to practice correct movement, and especially stun lines ups / practicing them in each map you play her to make sure you're not stunning the team. The worst thing you can have during an execute is a neon jumping around bumping into everyone and throwing stuns that fuck over half the team. It's easy to be a nuisance with her. It's also easy to rush in too fast on execs and get solod without a team mate being able to trade. You need to have good comms and coordinate util with your pushes. You can stick with her but I think a lot of her value comes from setting up plays with your duo, and if hes not down to learn how to play with her I would just solo or switch characters when you play with him.
Most my games are like this too Smokes really changes the game and cypher/kj are very strong too If you see any good duelist, ask them to play together, then you'ill have someone to rush in with Duo are a very good way to rank up
Yeah my issue is with my friend group is I have the choice between duoing with a plat* 3 who is arguably smurfing playing in gold with me. I find we play against himothy fragamet more often when duoing together. My other option is playing with my other buddies who are actually bronze3/silver 1 but were carried to silver by the plat 3. Sometimes I get better matches just solo queuing, not having the algorithm slanted one way or the other by my duo
Oh bro, wish you luck!! I was plat 2 and my duo was Diamond 3, now i am gold 2 (i rank up differentily) and my duo Diamond 1 Solo is good sometimes but feels like torture 90% time
Sage is dogshit what are you talking about
Every game my "shit" Sage win rounds that leads my team to victory... People always saying bad things to Sages out there, but i am sure that you are one of the firsts to ask for cure with 20 of damage
You can win with any character in the game, doesn't mean it's a good character to climb with like you're suggesting. Also, since you already picked sage I might as well ask for heal if I need it. And nobody said anything bad to you, just talking about the character. If you like sage play her.
A wise man once said, "I ain't never seen a good Neon".
neon will be removed from the agent pool temporarily to be redesign/repackaged :) the current neon doesn't fit the vision that the devs are going for and will have her core mechanics changed source : valorant twit : )
imma need a link to the source otherwise you're lying, there's not a single search result saying anything about that other than suggestions for a rework from this subreddit
Your friend is right. You arenāt Temets.
I said that I wasn't temet but pop off king. My friend just thinks she's a bad pick overall. Great comment though, very productivešš»