Harbor in Valorant: How to play Indian Agent effectively on Pearl

Valorant's newest Agent, Harbor, has significantly influenced the game's Controller meta. Players now have a water-bending hero who can provide cover and support to his team with tides and waves. Harbor's abilities can also cover a large area, much like Viper, which makes him a versatile pick on maps like Pearl and Breeze.

Like all Agents, he features one signature ability, two basic ones, and an Ultimate move. His abilities have only two debuffs associated with them: concussed and slowed. Unlike other Controllers like Astra, Omen, Viper, and Brimstone, Harbor features a lower potential when it comes to discouraging an aggressive push. Hence, players must be calculative and aggressive with Harbor's kit.

Harbor is one of the strongest Controller Agents in Valorant for aggressive retakes. He is a great fit for Pearl, especially in a double-Controller setup. That said, he has an annoying limit on his abilities, and players can quickly exhaust his kit without any notable outcome. This article will be a guide for readers looking to play Harbor effectively on Pearl.

How to play Valorant's Harbor on Pearl in the most effective way

To start off, here are all of Harbor's abilities:

High Tide (signature ability, free)
Cove (basic ability, 350 credits)
Cascade (basic ability, 150 credits)
Reckoning (Ultimate, seven points)

Signature/free ability - High Tide (E)

Harbor's signature ability lets the player equip a wall of water. Deploy it to create a wall for cover, like Viper or Phoenix. Players can 'Hold Fire' to guide its shape in the way they want it to appear. Anyone hit by it will be slowed down by around 30%.

High Tide stays up for 12 seconds only, which isn't a very big window for a smoke utility in Valorant. However, it provides admirable cover from all possible angles. The best way to use High Tide as an attacker is to cover as many choke points as possible and also block areas that defenders can hold.

The ability to bend the wall at one's will is an extremely useful feature. For example, while pushing through B Long in Valorant's Pearl, employ High Tide to cover the B Link to B Site entrance, the Heaven and Hell openings, and the right opening of B Hall. Similarly, use the ability to cover A Link, A Flowers, and A Secret openings while pushing A Site.

If you find it difficult to bend the wall, use Harbor's Cove in conjunction with it to make the setup easier and more effective. That said, the Cove is a single-charge ability, so you might want to use that calculatedly.

While retaking with Harbor, use your wall similarly and cover as many angles and chokepoints as you can with it. Avoid using your wall to block a push, as it may often turn out to be futile. Instead, save it for retakes.

Basic ability 1 - Cove (Q)

Harbor's first basic ability is extremely useful, letting players employ a sphere of shielding water. One can underhand or overhand throw this smoke. Upon hitting the ground, it will spawn a bullet-blocking water shield, which lasts for 15 seconds but has 500 HP. Enemies can break it to neutralize the shielding effect.

Post-plant scenes can seem very easy with such an ability. However, the shield is quite vulnerable and acts similar to normal smoke in most scenarios. The only advantage is that enemies won't be able to spam through it immediately. Players can learn the lineups to place a Cove on chokepoints from afar. Some lineups can also be employed to pull off some useful one-ways to facilitate the easy acquisition of kills.

In Valorant's Pearl, use Cove in conjunction with High Tide while attacking a site. You can save it for post-plant situations. It's also worth keeping in mind that one-ways are best in such cases.

Cove encourages a lot of creativity, and saving it for the right situation could turn out to be rewarding. On defense, Cove is mainly used to defuse the spike. You can also use the shield to help your teammate get to safety or block a chokepoint to prevent an aggressive push.

Basic ability 2 - Cascade (C)

Cascade is great for clearing angles in Valorant and is a useful utility on the defense. With it, one will be able to use a wave of water and fire and send it rolling forward and through walls. You can stop the wall to make it act as a cover as well, but it will only last for five seconds after it halts. Players hit by the wave will be slowed.

Valorant's Pearl has a myriad of angles to hold and can quickly get very annoying to play on if not controlled properly. Harbor's Cascade can help distract enemies, clear chokepoints as well as stop a sudden push.

Use the ability to rush enemies on a site or to dodge an enemy who's wielding an Operator. In Valorant's Pearl, Cascade can be employed effectively as a moving cover when pushing sites, which have a Jett or Chamber holding with an Operator. On defense, use it to discourage a push or dumbfound enemies while retaking. You can also use it as a substitute cover when defusing the spike.

Ultimate ability - Reckoning (X)

Harbor's Ultimate is extremely powerful when you're on the attacking side, letting gamers clear sites and also pinpoint enemy locations. Reckoning is also very beneficial while retaking sites. Enemies caught in the area of Harbor's Ultimate will be hit by successive geyser strikes, and players caught by a strike will be concussed.

Thankfully, Reckoning doesn't require much brainstorming. Use it when pushing sites and while retaking occupied ones on Valorant's Pearl. It's a very useful tool to gain easy control over large areas and also get some free kills.

Edited by Soumyadyuti Ghosh