Valorant reveals the vampiric agent Reyna as its launch character

We always knew Riot Games would reveal a new Valorant agent when the tactical hero shooter launches on June 2. However, many expected we would only meet the new character on launch day, much like Riot only revealed Raze when the closed beta began. Instead, the Valorant team has treated us to a surprise introduction to the new, vampiric agent, Reyna.

Reyna hails from Mexico and doesn’t seem entirely human. During development, her codename was “Vampire”. Her abilities are like those people would associate with vampires. But she’s less bloodsucker and more soul stealer.

REYNA /// Mexico
"What hope do these criaturas have?"#VALORANT pic.twitter.com/inO8bR5cto

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) May 30, 2020

Reyna was teased by the Valorant team just after the announcement of the shooter’s launch date. In a post on Twitter, all the agents were displayed in a line, with a mysterious foot just at the edge of the frame.

Reyna’s abilities

This is usually where we would all speculate wildly about the new agent’s abilities. However, Valorant‘s Senior Brand Manager for Spain, Portugal, and Italy shared an article on Twitter describing how all of Reyna’s abilities work. It isn’t in English, but thanks to Google Translate, we can at least get a basic understanding.

Reyna’s passive ability causes enemies to leave a purple orb over their corpse when she kills them. You can then use her ‘Q’ ability to gather the orb to heal yourself over three seconds. Or you can use her ‘E’ ability to gather the orb and become invulnerable for a short time. The article also suggests that if you use Reyna’s ‘E’ in combination with her Ultimate, she will briefly become invisible. You can see her using this during the video, so it appears to be correct.

Reyna’s ‘C’ ability creates a shadowy purple eye in an area for a few seconds. The eye blinds enemies who have it within their field of vision. What’s interesting about the blind is that enemies get a shadowy effect on their face, instead of the white light effect when they are blinded by Phoenix or Breach.

As for her Ultimate ability, the text in the bottom corner of the video suggests it might be called Empress. She casts her Ultimate while proclaiming, “They will cower!” It gives her a combat stim, similar to Brimstone’s Stim Beacon, which increases her rate of fire, reduces recharge times, and allows you to use skills faster. While using Empress, Reyna can also overheal up to 50 health.

Reyna doesn’t offer much in the way of team synergy, but she looks like a solo powerhouse. What do you think of the latest Valorant agent?

Valorant launch

Valorant will launch in a couple of days on June 2. But a new agent isn’t the only thing players have to look forward to. There’s a new map on the way – and you’ve already seen it. It’s the location for Reyna’s introduction video.

The first season (or episode) of Valorant, appears to be called “Ignition” based on the newly updated header image on the game’s Twitter account. Finally, as part of the Summer Games Fest on Twitch, Riot will also host a global Twitch Rivals event with a prize pool of $200,000.