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Your definitive guide to playing Reyna in Valorant
Should you take the plunge and unlock Valorant’s vampiric duelist? With a kit that relies more on skill and weapon play, Reyna has a steep learning curve that will reward you for clicking on heads.
Reyna is Valorant’s 4th duelist and comes with some of the most powerful and unforgiving abilities in the game. With a powerful entry option and the ability to heal as she feasts on the other team, you may find her an enticing hero to unlock next. In this guide you’’ll get all the info you need on one of the most unique skill sets in the game, as well as a better idea of whether or not you should unlock her with your hard earned credits.
Skills
Leer -- C ability
Use leer as you push in on your engagements. Most often, leer will only last as long as it takes for the other team to shoot the purple floating eyeball. You can use this ability to set up 1v1’s or for team fights to set up your allies. Similarly, when holding down a sightline you know a team will have to push, you can send out your leer to give you initial protection as you look for a quick pick with the operator on A long of Bind.
You can also use leer to isolate enemies and prevent the enemy team from pushing in through chokes or long sightlines. The leer forces the enemy to focus it down before progressing and can open up plays for you and your team, as well as buy valuable time to reposition when the enemy commits all five players to the bomb site you are holding. Another trick with leer revolves around blocking single use or single shot abilities, like Raze’s rockets, or one of Jetts knives. Though this tip is not for the faint of heart and high of latency.
Leer is also Reyna’s only ability that doesn’t rely on you getting a kill first and, in the end, whether or not you find success with the hero will come down to how and when you use leer. Always put your leer in a spot where the enemy will have to choose between you and the eye.
A word of caution: Using leer against larger groups isn’t advised. Having so many people around to react and shoot the floating orb can lead to more than a few premature deaths
Dismiss -- E ability
Her signature ability, Dismiss, allows Reyna to take on an incorporeal form that keeps her safe from damage and increases her move speed at the same time. The ability comes with a catch: She can’t use any other abilities or draw her weapon while in the form that lasts for 2 seconds. Use this ability to disengage from dangerous situations or to reposition yourself and gain the advantage in a fight. You can cancel the ability early if needed, but be mindful of its wind down time. If you get caught out in the open while coming out of dismiss, there is a strong chance you won’t even have your weapon drawn before you get sent to the spectate screen.
You can also use dismiss to peek through a doorway without exposing yourself to harm, giving Reyna the chance to have some of the most aggressive gameplay possible, while exposing herself to as little risk as necessary. Leaving dismiss is better done behind cover but in the most dire situations… just serpentine. She may be a strong lurker but helping her team is just as important. This ability requires you to earn a kill to use it so remember to work on your aim!
Devour -- Q ability
The last of her purchasable abilities, Devour, is the real reason most players come to play Reyna. When Reyna kills a player, she is given the ability to claim the soul orb with her E or Q ability. If you happen to take some damage in the trade off, and have some breathing room, using devour will replenish your health pool along with a boost to your shields. Be careful to maximize the value you can get with devour as it will tether you to the soul orb with a long purple line that will lead right to you and breaking off line of sight with the soul orb will cause the healing to stop and the ability to be spent. Just like dismiss, you have to kill other players to use the ability so if you still struggle in 1v1’s you might want to hit the range first.
Devour or dismiss?
When in game, it will be tempting to use both abilities most times, Devour will be better long term, keeping yourself healed and buffing your shield is always a plus. Dismiss is more valuable in the short term, like caught in the open or in a 1v2. Remember, you won’t get an orb to decide on unless you secure the kill, so lurk or focus fire when it suits you.
Ultimate: Empress
Empress puts Reyna into a savage frenzy and gives her a huge buff to her skills, along with making her a more visible target for the enemy. In this state, Reyna has a quicker fire rate, reload speed, and swap speed, while her devour is automatically used and her charges and ult refresh on kills. Unlike some other duelists, that ability alone can secure kills, her ult requires aim and good decision making to try and maximize its damage. If you know you plan to ult with Reyna while in the buy phase, pick a weapon that will maximize your ultimate power up. The Judge, Phantom, Spectre and Odin are all beastly weapons that are taken to another level when you enter Empress.
Buy strategies
For the pistol rounds, you will want to buy a ghost and one charge of each of Reyna’s abilities. Don’t worry about shields on round 1, all you can afford at that point is a light shield and, as Reyna, you can use devour to overcharge her shield past what a light shield is capable of, or to replenish lost health after an exchange. The ghost has the headshot capability early on to give you the advantage on the other starting weapons, it just requires landing the first pick without trading your life to really maximize her. If you can land your shots, Reyna is strong in the early rounds of Valorant. You can follow whatever strategy your team is using thanks to her ability to heal off of kills. Holding narrow chokes with a shotgun can yield strong results with Reyna.
When you know you have your ultimate, buy accordingly to maximize its usage. Her fire rate during her ultimate is higher than what Brimstone’s stim field can do, so any weapon with an already high fire rate will shred through the enemy team and bail you out if you can’t reliably land headshots and have to go for the less glamorous leg and body shots.
