Valorant guide: How to play as Omen

Omen is one of Valorant’s most difficult characters to learn. He’s part of the Controller category of Agents, which means he has several ways of setting his team up for fights. While some of these tactics, like his Dark Cover smoke ability or his Paranoia — which temporarily blinds enemies — can make any fight easier, his other abilities are more complicated. Both his Ultimate and his Shadow Walk let him teleport to new places, putting Omen right in the middle of the action.

Here are all of Omen’s high-risk high-reward abilities and how to get the most out of them.

Ability: Paranoia

Send out an Ethereal shadow in a straight line, Nearsighting (read: blinding) anyone it touches.

Tips:

• “Nearsighting” means that the player affected can’t see anything more than a few feet in front of themselves, making them functionally blind.
• If you hit enemies with this when they’re out in the open, they’ll become easy to deal with, making it a great support ability for your team, or a way to even the odds in a one versus two fight if you’re alone.

Ability: Shadow Walk

Image: Riot Games via Polygon

After a delay, dematerialize and teleport a short distance.

Tips:

• You can use this to get on top of boxes and other hard to reach areas where you might be able to surprise enemies.
• If you’re stuck behind a box or piece of cover with an enemy on the other side, try using this ability in place. The enemy will hear the sound cue and might think you’ve teleported somewhere else, giving you the element of surprise.

Ability: Dark Cover

Image: Riot Games via Polygon

Cast out a stealthed ethereal orb that bursts into an obscuring sphere of shadow at its final location. Can be charged to increase distance.

Tips:

• This is one of Valorant’s many smoke-like abilities, but it has the unique feature of being able to go through walls.
• This ability is especially helpful on the Attacking side when you might need to smoke an area that isn’t safe to aim at directly.

Ultimate Ability: From the Shadows

Image: Riot Games via Polygon

Select anywhere on the map to teleport and reform. When arriving, appear as a Shade, that will go back to your original location if killed. Once the teleport is complete, become Incorporeal for a short time.

Tips:

• You can use this to confidently go where you’re sure there are no enemies in order to get a perfect flank going, or to quickly take the bomb to a new site.
• You can also use From the Shadows to teleport behind enemy lines and push yourself into a quick fight. This method is incredibly high risk, but if it works you might be rewarded with a few free kills.

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