Valorant's next Agent might be codenamed Cashew

An exciting new leak regarding Valorant Agent Gekko’s successor has come to light. Per a reliable source, the development team has assigned an interesting codename, "Cashew," to the upcoming Agent in the popular tactical shooter. If true, Cashew will be the game's 24th character and a Sentinel Agent.

Last month, Riot Games announced that the developers are working on adding three new Agents to Valorant’s character roster in 2023. While the details weren’t revealed, character producer John Goscicki mentioned the roles of the first two Agents: Initiator and Sentinel.

Fans welcomed the first of the promised Agents to the game's roster on March 7, 2023, via Episode 6 Act 2.

Not even a day after Gekko's release, players now have the next Agent’s reported codename, spurring major anticipation.

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Valorant’s Agent 24 gets a potential codename: What can fans expect?

As mentioned before, the upcoming Agent is expected to be a Sentinel, according to Riot Games' hints from earlier. The developers usually release a new Agent every other competitive Act or two, keeping Valorant's meta fresh by exposing players to new challenges and forcing them to adapt to changes.

Per Riot’s usual trend, Cashew may join the roster in Episode 7's first or second Act. However, the informant states that "Cashew" is a codename for one of the upcoming Valorant Agents and may or may not be the next Agent.

Currently, the game’s character roster has 23 Agents, four of which are Sentinels. After Chamber's massive nerf last year and successive Killjoy changes, the Sentinel meta has become slightly stale and requires some developmental addressal.

Luckily, Cashew is set to correct the imbalance and make it easier to hold down sites and evolve the defense meta. Unfortunately, the code name "Cashew" is ambiguous, leaving fans with only a vague title and an Agent role to fuel their speculations.

That said, gamers can expect Cashew to be able to place mollies like Killjoy or efficient traps like that of Cypher. He/she may also be able to heal teammates like Sage.

Valorant's Episodes 5 and 6 introduced two new maps back-to-back with just six months in between. In addition to dealing with the new map meta, players are also struggling to take control of the defensive side due to the lack of suitable options in the Sentinel role. As a result, both the latest maps, Pearl and Lotus, have turned out to be heavily attacker-sided so far.

With Cashew’s introduction, the map meta will definitely shift and may become slightly easier for defenders to control sites and stop backstabs.