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How to master Valorant’s mobility based hero, Jett
We’ve all seen an opposing Jett rack up kills with the Operator and disappear, leaving our heads spinning. Here’s how you can start earning wins with one of Valorant’s most versatile heroes.
Jett is one of Valorant’s most versatile agents, and one of the most difficult to play. With dynamic movement options, a smoke ability, and an ult that turns her into a knife throwing terror, she’s got a myriad of set up options that give her sightlines no other agent can take advantage of. While more and more players are starting to notice her playmaking potential, she is still one of the toughest agents to learn in the game, but today we’ll try and help you with everything you need to know to start top fragging with Jett.
Cloud Burst -- C ability
Jett’s smoke ability is not on par with Omen or Brimstone, but don’t discount its utility. Instead of selecting where you want to smoke ahead of time, Jett can use her smokes in the moment far more effectively by throwing them out as she moves up on a point. Placement isn’t the only way they differ; holding C down and turning your mouse lets you curve the smoke to block lines of sight that you can’t even approach from your position. With cloudbursts quick cast time, it is also a great tool to avoid trades. Drop a smoke on yourself when in a sticky situation to immediately deny the enemy information on your whereabouts after a kill or plant.
Another way cloudburst differs from the other smoke abilities is in its playmaking potential. Instead of smoking an entry point, try aiming for the wall beside it. If you get the elevation right, you can smoke the other teams so they can’t see you from their head level while at the same time, having their legs exposed and giving you the first decision in the fight most times. That can work on both attack and defense, depending on how the round has played out, to either force a team into a narrow choke point or defend a bomb site after you plant, always look for creative spots to use your smoke.
On defense, you can use smoke like any other hero with a similar ability. Smoke entry points and make the enemy decide between waiting it out or pushing through, as there are fewer situations in the game less favorable to the enemy than that. Make pushing through smokes with Jett a habit (crazy, we know). With her dash, she can reliably get a pick off more often than other characters, besides Reyna with dismiss. Since players are not always expecting the push, you can use an ability out of smoke or quickly get away after appearing just long enough to start the round with a first blood.
Updraft -- Q Ability
Use updraft to get high ground as your team pushes in to give more angles of attack. Turn yourself into a sentry and spot players for your team or use your dash to safely fall back from the high ground if need be. Updraft is a great offensive ability to gain site advantage. Even though updrafting into a fight is risky, you split the enemy team's attention by making them choose to focus on your position atop the crates on A short, while the rest of your team pushes in underneath you. Don’t be afraid to die for the team, that's in the duelist’s job description.
On defense of points like Haven B, you can use updraft to give yourself a better angle on the attacking team, allow yourself to see over a Sage wall and get unexpected pick offs. You can use your updraft as a feint well. The ability has a very noticeable sound effect and, if you use it when you know the enemy team is close, there’s a good chance they will be looking for you on the high ground out of habit when you haven’t left your original spot. Remember to take advantage of Jett’s glide ability right after using updraft. Pressing spacebar in mid-air lets Jett hover, losing altitude slower than she normally would. She’s one of the only characters with a passive skill so, whether to gain intel and scout above smokes, or to open up a play for bladestorm, you will find all kinds of utility for this ability.
Dash Tailwind -- E Ability
Jett’s dash puts her in a very unique position in the meta, particularly as a strong counter to Cypher. Jett can use her dash to go through and destroy a Cypher’s tripwire. If the enemy has a cypher and you know where he likes to drop his wires, make sure you lead the charge. Split point B being the best example of where to do this, as it’s a point Cypher can lock down almost completely by himself.
While it’s useful, you don’t always have to face down a Cypher on the enemy team and instead can use her Tailwind to take aggressive sightlines and peaks similarly to Reyna, while avoiding getting traded. Lock down a long line of sight and set up your shot. If you get the kill and more enemies round the corner to try and trade the kill, or even if you can’t confirm the kill, use tailwind to get out of there. Even with giving away positional information, it will help you and more importantly, since you survived, you can reposition or adjust accordingly. Tailwind works better as an escape tool, since most people with semi decent aiming can track you and end you before you pull your weapon back up. Though, sometimes, an aggressive tailwind, combined with an updraft, can close the distance on the enemy team in a unique way.
Ultimate: Bladestorm
Always perfectly accurate so jump off cover, run and shift walk when it calls for it. And use your updraft to set your ultimate up. Everything in this moment is about making yourself harder to hit while giving yourself more time to line up your own shots.
Close corner clearing potential with knives is really strong, as is the dash updraft combo. Never feel like popping the ult in a 3v3 is a bad idea. Sometimes using the ult on a save round can open up plays your Ghost or Shorty can’t even dream of. Play with no fear on your eco round. If the enemy is in the same boat, they won’t have an easy time killing you and if you die, well… you were saving and probably did not have much worth losing.
Double Updraft and bladestorm can set up angles no other player can hit. If you want to fly over the walls of A on Bind and land a quick pick, double your updraft with bladestorm out and you can decide a round before your team has even begun their push. Haven is another very strong map for the double updraft bladestorm combo. There are so many low walls that can be vaulted over, like the wall between B site and A site. Not only will it potentially land you a pick, but it will give you a full aerial view of a good portion of the site and come valuable intel for you and your team.
Using glide in Jett’s ultimate comes down to decision making, if you’re not facing any pressure, maintain the glide and use it to your advantage. If there are multiple enemies on site, sometimes staying alive to finish using your ultimate is the better move. Try and use her glide while you hug corners so the enemy has less angles to kill you from.
Buy strategies
Shotguns! But, more importantly… the Judge. Jetts mobility makes shotguns an extremely viable weapon pick in the current game state. With her mobility, she can set up plays to fall on top of other players with the shotgun and, whether it's the Shorty or the Judge, from that close it won't matter. Great on half buy rounds and even on full buy rounds since only getting one kill gives you the chance to swap out for the phantom that poor Viper you just pounced on decided to treat herself to. On offense, dash in and use updraft around corners where people typically hide for a great entry option, particularly Split's Hookah and Haven’s garage where there are stacked boxes players like to wait behind.
The Operator is also a must. It’s one of, if not the best, weapons in the game right now. Taking advantage of Jett's mobility can allow her to take risks other heroes can’t imagine. With the ability to smoke off choke points to create favorable matchups and jer outplay potential, you will do yourself a disservice playing Jett and not repping the Operator.
