Valorant Episode 9 Act II: New Agent Vyse, Skinline

Valorant Episode 9 Act II just dropped their next act, introducing the new agent Vyse, weapon skin bundle and battle pass.

Valorant’s newest act is out today (August 27, 2024). Valorant Episode 9 Act II introduces a game changer with the newest agent Vyse! This new act will also feature the new Nocturnum weapon skinline, blending a furry mix of scary looks with an elegant trim. As with new acts of the past, this will mean the battle pass will be refreshed—showing off new weapon skins, gun buddies, sprays and a brand new melee weapon design for players to grind hard for.

The most exciting news was that a new agent was dropping in Valorant Episode 9 Act II . Vyse is the 26th agent being added to the pool (the last being Iso ), and the 6th Sentinel role agent to be added to the game. My first impressions when they teased Vyse and showed off her abilities was that another broken agent is dropping. I am just kidding, but I may not have been too far off. What makes her interesting is that her E skill Arc Rose is a flash, redefining the compositions that players will come up with as she is the first Sentinel to come with a flash.

Here is a breakdown of Vyse’s abilities outlined from Riot Games on their Valorant page:

Arc Rose
● EQUIP an Arc Rose. Target a surface and FIRE to place a stealthed Arc Rose, or ALT
Fire to place the Arc Rose through it. REUSE to blind all players looking at it. This ability
can be picked up to be REDEPLOYED.
Shear
● EQUIP filaments of liquid metal. FIRE to place a hidden wall trap. When an enemy
crosses, an indestructible wall bursts from the ground behind them. The wall lasts for a
brief time before dissipating.
Razorvine
● EQUIP a nest of liquid metal. FIRE to launch. Upon landing, the nest becomes invisible.
When ACTIVATED, it sprawls out into a large razorvine nest which slows and damages
all players who move through it.
(ULT) Steel Garden
● EQUIP a bramble of liquid metal. FIRE to send the metal erupting from you as a torrent
of metal thorns, JAMMING enemy primary weapons after a brief windup.

Here is a list of Vyse’s Agent Gear:

● Tier 1: Spray – Jammed
● Tier 2: Player Card – VALORANT Vyse
● Tier 3: Title – Tempered
● Tier 4: Spray – Arts and Crafts
● Tier 5: Kingdom Credits – 2,000
● Tier 6: Gun Buddy – Metal Petals
● Tier 7: Spray – Vyse Spray
● Tier 8: Title – Metalweaver
● Tier 9: Player Card – A History Erased
● Tier 10: Gun Skin – Steel Resolve (Classic)

Vyse is a metallic-based agent who uses her liquid metal to “isolate, trap, and disarm her enemies.” I learned her kit is really strong defensively at site entry points. Shear is very powerful at isolating the first one or two entries for the team, even with the trap trigger delay. The Arc Rose flash, if well-placed before the round starts is also great for a first blood kill or useful for delaying early pushes. While it is not a great flash for attacker side like Initiators and Duelists have, it is a great defensive tool. The ult Steel Garden has so much range, and deadly if teams are caught pushing out a site too fast. It is great to allow teammates to rotate.

Offensively, Vyse can hold a site down very well. Once the team takes a site, she can setup Razorvine to delay pushes on-site, and can be an easy way to rack up some kills, if enemies get caught in it. Another instance where her ult is broken is if an enemy tap the bomb, her ult will jam their gun and she can peak to get an easy kill. Ultimately, Vyse gives up some info-collecting or healing aspects to lean more into delaying and disarming enemies.

As for the nightmarish-looking new Nocturnum weapon skinline (cost 8,700 VP), it is quite a feathery skin with a darkness aesthetic. The skins are for the Classic, Marshal, Bulldog and Phantom. For the guns, they look alright and nothing uniquely special—looked owl-esque reminding me of Zach Snyder ‘s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole . I like the reload animation the most because instead of bullets, it is like shadow orbs being loaded in the gun—more evident when reloading the Marshal.

The standout was the melee skin. Its first stage is a dagger, but transforms into a scythe in its final skin upgrade. This was about as cool as seeing Ruby’s scythe transform into a gun from the animated series RWBY . The three variants (black, blue and yellow) were also appealing, and the upgrade/variant also introduces a new finisher than the base skin. As per usual, the bundle will also include one buddy, card and spray too.

Rounding things off, the new battle pass still costs 1,000 VP and introduces three new skinlines exclusive to the battle pass: Overlay, Frequency and Yoonseul. The main one that particularly looked cool was the Yoonseul lineup because of the cherry blossom designs on the dark, navy blue paint. It looks cleaner with the soft gold trimming as well.

Valorant Episode 9 Act II is out now!