We'll hit you with some sage advice.
Sage is Valorant’s resident medic who heals allies and slows enemies so her teammates can escape danger safely. In this guide we’ll explain how to play her effectively.
If you’re someone who likes playing a more supportive role in hero-based shooters, then Sage is likely the one for you. She’s an orb-slinging battle medic who can create slowing fields, and frosty walls which will block enemy attacks or escapes. They’ll also work very well as little elevations to help you allies get the drop on opponents with unexpected angles.
Below we’ll break down how all of her abilities work and provide some tips to help you get the most out of them.
How to play Sage
Barrier Orb [C] (100 Credits)
It’s closest counterpart is Mei’s ice wall from Overwatch. Activate this ability – and, you guessed it – you’ll conjure up an icey wall which is made up of three large segments. Enemies can destroy these segments by shooting them, but they take double damage from knife hits too. If one segment is destroyed, the other two will remain standing.
First off, you’ll need to communicate with your team if you’re planning on raising a barrier as it’ll cut your allies off too. And it’s incredibly awkward if you do so.
We’ve found this wall has a multitude of uses, and one of our favourites is simply to block off chokepoints if you sense a push is coming. Flip this scenario around, and it’s also a great way to delay attackers looking to defuse your newly planted bomb.
Most agents will have to power their way through the wall via guns and knives, which should make their location pretty clear. However, some agents like Jett, Omen, and even another Sage can boost on top of your walls for a quick peek, so don’t divert your attention entirely.
Sage’s wall can also be used to boost you and your allies up to sneaky spots, or just to peek a particularly strong angle and take your enemies by surprise. Communicate with your team, aim the wall at your feet, left click, and you will all rise up together.
Slow Orb [Q] (100 Credits)
One of her strongest abilities in our books, this is a tossable orb that bounces off surfaces before landing, exploding, and spreading a frosty coating all over the floor which’ll drastically slow any enemies that attempt to move through it.
Much like her barrier, be wary of your allies when using this as you don’t want to slow them down by accident.
It’s a great ability for completely halting a push, or if you know an enemy is in a certain room and you’ve got someone on the flank ready to pounce them, you can chuck this orb in to ensure they stay put and have nowhere to run.
Don’t forget that you can bounce this orb off surfaces, so if you need to curl it round a corner, try bouncing it off the opposite wall or door frame.
Finally, think of it as a zoning tool which’ll buy your team more time and cause the opposing side headaches.
Heal Orb [E] (35s Cooldown)
This one’s pretty simple. Left click on a nearby damage allied to heal them up over time, or right click to heal yourself over time. There’s a fair amount of range on this ability too, so you don’t need to be stood right next to an ally to heal them up successfully.
There’s not much else to say about this ability, apart from – make sure to use it!
More essential Valorant guides:
- 1. Ranked Mode – Valorant: Competitive ranks explained
- 2. Best Agents – Valorant: Best Agents
- 3. Best Guns – Valorant: Best Guns
- 4. Best mouse settings – Best mouse DPI and sensitivity settings
- 5. Improve your aim – Valorant: How to improve your aim
- 6. Tips and Tricks – Valorant: Tips and Tricks
Resurrection [X] (7 Orbs)
If you’re close to an ally’s corpse, you can press [X] to bring them back into the fight. It’ll take a couple of seconds for them to reanimate and they’ll default to their pistol, but retain all of the equipment they bought.
Be aware that once you’ve used this ability, the enemy will know via their killfeed who has been raised from the dead. With this in mind, make sure you protect them as they’re resurrecting so they don’t get instantly put in the ground again.
This is an incredibly valuable ultimate which can totally swing a round – or match – in your favour if timed correctly. When resurrecting take into account where your ally is positioned and what weapons they owned, as you don’t want to bring someone back to life in a vulnerable spot and then find out they’ve only got a pistol to hand.
Try and time your resurrect to get your team back into a round by undoing an early death, or bringing back someone later in the round to grant you a player advantage.
