Valorant Episode 9 Act II has just released the next act, introducing the new agent Vyse, a weapon skin pack, and a battle pass.

Valorant The latest act has dropped 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, which combines a furry mix of spooky looks with elegant adornment. As with new acts of the past, this means the Battle Pass is getting a refresh – with new weapon skins, weapon buddies, sprays, and a brand new melee weapon design for players to work hard for.

The most exciting news was that a new agent came by Brave Episode 9, Act II. Vyse is the 26th agent to be added to the pool (the last was Iso), and the 6th agent in the role of Sentinel to be added to the game. My first impression when they announced Vyse and showed off her abilities was that another broken agent was coming. I’m just kidding, but maybe I wasn’t completely wrong. What makes her interesting is that her E-ability, Arc Rose, is a lightning bolt, which redefines the compositions players come up with, as she is the first Sentinel to come with a lightning bolt.

Here is an overview of Vyse’s abilities, as revealed by Riot Games on their Brave Page:

Arc Rose
● Equip an Arc Rose. Aim at a surface and FIRE to place a cloaked Arc Rose, or ALT
Fire to place the Arc Rose through. REUSE to blind all players who look at it. This ability
can be picked up for reuse.
Scissors
● Equip liquid metal filaments. FIRE to place a hidden wall trap. When an enemy
an indestructible wall breaks out of the ground behind them. The wall holds a
short time before it dissolves.
Bladevine
● Equip a nest made of liquid metal. FIRE to take off. When landing, the nest becomes invisible.
When ACTIVATED, it spreads into a large nest of razor vines that slows and damages
all players who move through.
(ULT) Steel Garden
● Equip a liquid metal spike. FIRE to make the metal shoot out of you in a torrent
made of metal spikes that block the opponent’s primary weapons after a short warm-up phase.

Here is a list of Vyse’s agent equipment:

● Level 1: Spray – blocked
● Tier 2: Player Card – VALORANT Vyse
● Level 3: Title – Hardened
● Level 4: Spray – Arts and Crafts
● Level 5: Kingdom Credits – 2,000
● Level 6: Gun Buddy – Metal Petals
● Level 7: Spray – Vyse Spray
● Level 8: Title – Metal Weaver
● Level 9: Player Card – A Deleted History
● Level 10: Weapon Skin – Steel Resolve (Classic)

Vyse is a metal-based agent who uses her liquid metal to “isolate, capture, and disarm her enemies.” I’ve learned that her kit is really strong defensively at site entry points. Shear is very powerful at isolating the first one or two entrances for the team, even with the trap trigger delay. The Arc Rose blitz, if placed well before the round starts, is also great for a first blood kill or useful for delaying early advances. While not as great a blitz for the attacker side as Initiators and Duelists have, it is a great defensive tool. The Steel Garden ultimate has massive range and is deadly if teams are caught advancing too quickly from a site. It’s great for allowing teammates to rotate.

Offensively, Vyse is very good at keeping a location under control. Once the team has taken a location, she can use Razorvine to delay advances on the ground and can easily get a few kills when enemies are trapped inside. Another case where her ult doesn’t work is when an enemy taps the bomb. Her ult blocks the opponent’s weapon and she can peak to get an easy kill. Ultimately, Vyse gives up some aspects of gathering intel or healing to focus more on delaying and disarming enemies.

As for the nightmarish looking new Nocturnum weapon skinline (cost: 8,700 VP), it’s a pretty featherweight skin with a grim aesthetic. The skins are for Classic, Marshal, Bulldog, and Phantom. The weapons look OK and are nothing special – they looked owlish and reminded 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 looks like shadow bullets are being loaded into the weapon – which is more noticeable when the Marshal reloads.

The highlight was the melee skin. Its first tier is a dagger but turns into a scythe in the final skin upgrade. This was about as cool as seeing Ruby’s scythe turn into a weapon in the animated series RWBY. The three variants (black, blue and yellow) were also well received and the upgrade/variant also introduces a new finisher as the base skin. As usual, the bundle also includes a buddy, a map and a spray.

Rounding things out is the new Battle Pass, which still costs 1,000 VP and introduces three new skinlines exclusive to the Battle Pass: Overlay, Frequency, and Yoonseul. The Yoonseul line looked particularly cool because of the cherry blossom patterns on the dark navy blue color. It also looks cleaner with the soft gold trim.

Brave Episode 9, Act II is now available!