Introduction

[lwptoc]

Riot Games Valorant is a 5X5 character-based tactical shooter game that can be played online and is popular in the esports world. If you are looking to do heavy damage to your opponent or just want to do some recon, keep reading on about Fade.

Fade is Valorant’s newest Agent. She’s a powerful Initiator that specializes in revealing enemy locations as well as debuffing to provide you and your team with the best possible advantage.

If you’ve been itching to give this shadow-based Agent a go, our beginner’s guide will help players hit the ground running by breaking down her abilities and diving into basic strategies.

Roles & Abilities

Fade was introduced as the fifth Initiator Agent in Valorant on April 27, 2022, with patch 4.08. If you’re going by the official description, the purpose of Initiators is to set up their team to storm contested areas with the best possible advantage. In other words, playing as Fade means your team will be counting on you to provide the opening they need to overrun your opponent’s defenses.

What makes Fade an excellent Initiator is Fade’s ability to give key information on enemy Agent positioning. She’s also able to weaken opponents through her debuffs.

Signature Ability [E]: Haunt

Cooldown: 40 sec

Haunt ability is a throwable projectile that reveals enemy positioning. After tossing it out, it deploys a shadow eye once it hits an obstacle or the ground. The eye will immediately reveal the location of any enemy Agent that it sees. On top of that, it will create a trail that’ll guide you and your teammates to the enemy’s whereabouts for 12 seconds. If you toss Fades Haunt higher in the air, you can make it drop down faster by reactivating the ability.

One thing to note is that the eye can be destroyed by shooting it. Therefore, it’s important to be less predictable when using Haunt as your opponents will be waiting for you to throw it around the corners they’re defending.

Basic Ability [C]: Prowler

Cost: 250 credits, can be bought up to 2 times

Upon activation, Fades Prowler shoots out a shadow minion in line with her crosshair. When it detects an enemy, it locks onto them. If the Prowler hits an enemy, it causes them to be near-sighted, greatly reducing their vision and placing them at a big disadvantage.

What’s more, the Prowler ability has a powerful synergy with Haunt. If an enemy is marked by the eye, your Prowler can detect the trail and follow it until it reaches them.

Although it’s a powerful ability, Prowler suffers from the same weakness as Haunt. Foes can gun it down easily as it has merely 100 HP. This means you won’t go far throwing out Prowler willy-nilly.

Basic Ability [Q]: Seize

Cost: 200 credits, can only be bought once

Fades Seize ability is another throwable projectile with similar behavior to Haunt. When it hits a surface, it generates a shockwave in an area. Any enemy caught in its effect will be tethered for 4.5 seconds. Additionally, they’ll be deafened and have their health decayed by 75 HP.

For as long as the effect is active, enemies can’t leave the area generated by Seize’s shockwave. The tether and its anchor point are also immune to damage so they can’t be destroyed like Fade’s other abilities.

The main downside comes when dealing with Agents that have teleports, such as Omen and Chamber. This doesn’t apply to dash abilities like Jett’s.

Ultimate Ability [X]: Nightfall

Points needed: 7

Fade’s piece du resistance is Fades Ultimate ability, Nightfall. Upon activation, Fade unleashes a wave of darkness that covers a big portion of the map in the direction she’s facing. It operates similar to Rolling Thunder, with the main difference being that it doesn’t affect your teammates.

Any enemies caught in Nightfall’s path will be disadvantaged in several ways. For starters, they’ll be marked with a trail like the one created by Haunt for 12 seconds. Furthermore, they’ll be deafened and have their health decayed by 75 HP. On top of all this, Fade will announce how many enemies have been affected by the ability.

Strategy

As mentioned earlier, Fade is an Initiator. When playing as her, your job is to provide intel for your team and debuff enemies to give them the best possible advantage.

As an attacker, you should be tossing Haunt around corners and walls where you know enemies might be lying in wait. When an enemy is identified, using Prowler and/or Seize to lock them down is key to giving your teammates the upper hand. Even if your Haunt’s eye gets shot down, you’ll still have a decent idea of where your foe is hiding so it’s a win overall.

When you’re on the defending side, your job is to delay and deter enemies from entering contested territory. Prowler and Seize as excellent for slowing foes down when they’re attempting to get the jump on you and your team. Seize in particular is great for stopping big pushes to buy you enough time until the rest of your crew can come to your aid.

In both situations, your Ultimate is best used when you know you can hit the maximum amount of enemies possible. Even if you end up being on your own, Nightfall can be worth using to delay your enemies from defusing the Spike or even buying you time to take a side route and flank them.

Agent Synergies

Fade synergizes best with Agents that have abilities that complement hers.

Raze

Fade and Raze can be the ultimate deterrent when they combine Seize and Paint Shells. While the former holds them in place, the latter does continuous damage and causes the enemy to panic, stopping their push in its tracks.

Raze’s Showstopper also pairs wonderfully with Fade’s Nightfall. Enemies who’re scrambling from being struck with many debuffs won’t know what hit them when Raze blows them all up.

Breach

Although Breach is another Initiator, the synergy he has with Fade’s abilities is immensely powerful, especially when attacking.

Breach’s Rolling Thunder combined with Fade’s Nightfall causes a barrage of debuffs that’ll bamboozle defenders, leaving them with very few ways to stay alive.

Seize and Aftershock are also incredibly deadly when catching enemies hiding behind obstacles, as the former keeps them locked down while the latter blows them up.

Should I Play Fade as a Beginner?

To put it shortly, if you think Fade is a cool new Agent, then absolutely pick her up. Her kit may not be as straightforward as other Agents’. However, her overall strategy and role are easy to grasp at the most basic level. If you enjoy gathering intel for your team and don’t mind relying on your gun for damage, then Fade is a solid pick even for a newcomer.

Like our guide?  You may also enjoy our guide to Melvor too.