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Play smarter, With Harbor: A VALORANT Agent Guide
Make a splash and rise to the top with Harbor’s new skills and strategies!
Harbor joins Valorant as a controller with an interesting set of abilities that sets him apart from characters in the same role. Like Viper, and Omen, Harbor’s main role is to obfuscate sight lines and enemy vision, while creating choke points and warding off areas for both offense and defense. However, unlike the other controllers, Harbor’s abilities are distinctive enough on their own in both function and fashion.
Harbor has the ability to conjure waves and walls of water. While Harbor’s waters already block vision they can also slow enemies who are hit by them or decide to rush through them. His Cascade (C ability) and High Tide (E ability) excel at punishing his enemies who try to go against the tide and push through his waves. Harbor’s Cove (Q ability) is not only a vision blocker but also a damage shield that can mitigate enemy fire for a certain amount of duration.
Harbor is peerless in that he is the only controller that can block vision and damage. Finally, his ultimate ability Reckoning, allows Harbor to spawn a large geyser that spews geyser strikes and concusses enemies unlucky enough to be caught in the splash zone. With these tools in hand, Harbor will be able to stem the tide and prevent his enemies from not only seeing him and his allies but moving against them, hurting them, and being to fight them on an even playing field. Let’s take a closer look at harbor’s abilities and find the right flow to victory.
High-Tide (E Ability)
From his bracer, Harbor sends out a water ball that goes through walls and terrain. You can control the direction and height of the ball by holding your primary fire. The ball will leave a small trail behind as it moves along your aiming direction and, once it reaches its full distance, a wave of water rises from wherever you activated the ability.
The wave acts as a vision blocker and no enemy can see through Harbor’s waters. Many walls that players are familiar with are known to give debuffs such as burn damage like Phoenix’s or decay like Viper’s, however, should players get hit by or attempt to pass through Harbor’s walls they will be slowed for a short duration. Harbor’s walls go beyond those other controller structures, though.
High-Tide is more flexible due to the fact that you can control it and it isn’t as static or predictable. This allows for unique positions for the wall to cover along with blocking multiple entry points/areas. Since Harbor can block multiple areas, or fluidly change the dimensions of the wall to fit the moment, it enables his teammates to be able to save some of their abilities, better pigeonhole the enemies, or create chokepoints to flush out or flank opponents.
Cascade (C Ability)
Rising from the earth, Harbor sends out a wave of water in the direction he is facing. The wave can go through, rise, and drop as it floods forward. Once the wave reaches its maximum distance it stops moving and remains still for the remainder of its duration. Just like High-Tide, any opponent that gets hit by the wave receives a slowed debuff.
This ability can be used twice and costs 150 credits per use and is the first of its kind: A moving vision blocker or smoke. This ability allows for aggressive plays to push into the enemy line as well as clearing out corners, areas, high ground, and angles. It puts the enemy team at a disadvantage, forcing them to either leave or clear the area unless they want to push through the wall, get slowed and fight an unknown number of teammates. That’s totally fine if they don’t want to know their enemy’s positions, and potentially get flanked.
This ability can be used against Harbor as enemies can still send their abilities through the wall of water, preventing him and his team from advancing directly behind. The wall could be used as bait from Harbor or can be used from a range to identify how aggressively the enemy will play, what abilities/tools they may have, or what positions they could potentially be standing in.
Cove (Q Ability)
Harbor’s Cove ability gives him the power to conjure a shield of water that functions as a vision blocker or smoke and barrier that prevents gunfire from passing through it. Use your primary fire to throw the shield at a farther distance and your alternate fire for a shorter, closer distance. While the shield can obscure vision from outside, you can still safely see inside of it, unlike some of the smokes other agents have. Remember that, while the shield can stop a certain threshold of gunfire damage, enemy abilities can still pass through or be placed within the shield. Also, if the shield receives enough gunfire damage it will shatter and leave behind a smoke for a very short duration.
This ability comes with many advantages and drawbacks. It can be used to protect allies in sticky or unfavorable situations, it can be used as protection to plant or defuse the spike, and Harbor himself can use it as a brief escape option in case a certain area gets too dangerous. The drawback is that this ability allows the enemy to focus their tools on a singular location. If they see Harbor’s shield,, it’s easy to assume that the enemy or Harbor themself is inside of it and they could send Fade’s Prowlers, Skye’s Seekers, or Raze’s Boom Bot to flush out anyone inside.
As counterplay with a little team chemistry, Harbor can combine his Cove ability with Sage’s or Killjoy’s abilities to further fortify a position. Ultimately, Harbor’s Cove ability can flexibly be used in both Attack and Defence to block vision and enemy gunfire spam, as well as act as a reliable tool for his teammates to use their abilities safely.
Reckoning (Ultimate Ability)
Harbor’s Ultimate ability, Reckoning, summons a large pool of water at the feet of the enemies in front of him. As Harbor moves forward or backward, he can determine the speed of the pool, but it drifts ahead nonetheless. If an enemy finds themselves inside the pool of water, a golden, radiant trail spawns above their location as well as a circle beneath their feet. After a few moments, a geyser spews out from that location granting the enemy the concussed debuff, stunning them and revealing their position to harbor and his team.
The geyser will erupt once every 3 seconds while the ultimate is up, enabling Harbor and his team to track their enemies as the pool moves forward and as they try to escape.If the enemy is successfully stunned by the concussion effect from the geysers, they won’t be able to properly navigate their way away from a fight/position or be able to return fire effectively. This ability can work in tandem with Harbor’s own kit or provide chemistry for his teammates so that they can further trap the enemy or use other abilities to pinpoint and track the enemy down more extensively.
