Riot Games has been teasing the latest Valorant Agent for weeks, and she’s finally here in the form of Astra, the galactic controller ready to wreak havoc.
Riot Games likes to tease the Valorant fan. Yoru was one of the game’s most sensitive agents to date, thanks to all the little snippets players could see online.
As there were few packets of information regarding Agent 15 dropped throughout January, the latest addition to the list was finally announced.
Meet Astra, the space-themed agent from Ghana. She ” harnesses the energy of the cosmos to reform battlefields according to her whim. With the full mastery of her astral form and a talent for deep strategic foresight, she is always a lead on the next step of her enemy. ‘
Who is Astra in Valorant?
Astra is a controller all the time, but she has a very unique playing style and skill. As leaks suggested, she has the ability to drop ‘Stars’ (the glowing lights we saw floating around the Future Earth) and manipulate them to her liking.
With her Gravity Well, she pulls her victims into the heart of her nearby Star, which immediately explodes and fragile applies to enemies. Alternatively, she can use the flashing lights as landmines that land with her Nova Pulse.
However, this is her Ultimate which is completely different from what we have ever seen on Future Earth. To give her the ability to connect two of her stars together and form a bullet-blocking shield, it is safe to say that the ability is not this world.
Astra capabilities
- Ability 1 – Gravity Well: Place stars in astral form (X). ACTIVATE a star to form a gravity pit. Players in the area are drawn to the center before it explodes, making all players still trapped fragile.
- Ability 2 – Nova Pols: Place stars in astral form (X). ACTIVATE a star to explode a Nova Pulse. The Nova Pulse loads up shortly afterwards and strikes all players in its vicinity.
- Signature Ability – nebula: Place stars in astral form (X). ACTIVATE a star to turn it into a nebula (smoke).
- Ability 4 – Disappear: Use (F) on a star to make it disappear and return the star to a delay in a new location. Disciples briefly form a false nebula at the Star’s place before returning.
- Ultimate ability – astral form / cosmic separation – ACTIVE to enter Astral Form where you can place Stars with PRIMARY FIRE. Stars can be reactivated later and turn it into a Nova Pulse, Nebula, or Gravity Well.
When Cosmic Divide is charged, use SECONDARY FIRE in Astral Form to start targeting it, then PRIMARY FIRE to select two locations. An infinite cosmic division connects the two points you choose. Cosmic separation blocks bullets and muffles sound heavily.
The stars have never been more deadly.
Astra’s inspiration
Looking for a character based on the concepts “African Futurism”, Character Producer John ‘Riot MEMEMEMEME’ Goscicki writes that ‘to ensure that the grounded elements are properly represented, we worked with a Ghanaian consultant on the details.’
As for the designing Astra itself, Senior Game Designer Jordan ‘Riot Wrekz’ Anton remember that together with Astra we wanted to make a controller that thinks of the whole map. Her worldwide presence has been there from the beginning. From there, the fine-tuning was to find the right abilities to balance the prediction of enemies’ actions and respond to changing game conditions.
‘We wanted her expression of skill to be about gathering information and turning it into a plan, where the execution phase is less about the exact focus of a grenade launcher and more about seeing if you summarized reading about the enemy like you hoped. ‘
On a more humorous note, Goscicki writes that ‘on a strange note while working on Astra’s Character Select animation, there was a day when her eyelids were corrupt and stretched / flew across the screen throughout the animation. It was incredible and disturbing at the same time. ”
Astra’s Cosmic Divide means she’s not afraid of a 1v5.
Astra release date
Astra is released with Episode 2, Act 2 on March 2. She is accompanied by the new battle pass and all the cosmetics. Feel free to contact Dexerto for all the latest news on the latest addition to the Future Earth battle.