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Valorant Episode 7 Act 2 was released on August 29, 2023, and with it came a flurry of changes. The most noteworthy among them are the addition of a brand new map, Sunset, and the major changes to Agent abilities. The nerfs in patch 7.04 completely changed the way the game was being played and will definitely shake up the meta in Valorant.
The new map Sunset features a basic map design with two distant bomb sites and a wide open Mid area. Keeping in mind the recent changes in Valorant, let us have a look at which of the Initiators will dominate the new map and who among them will fall behind.
Initiator tier list for the new map Sunset in Valorant
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S-tier
1) Skye
Although heavily nerfed in the recent update, Skye still looks to be the best Initiator on Valorant's new map, Sunset. The map features a lot of lanes and close corners where Skye's kit excels. Her Guiding Light and Trailblazer will be extremely helpful in taking control of A Main or B Main at the start of the round, giving your team a massive positional advantage.
Skye's ultimate, Seekers, is always a game changer. This can easily decide the round on a map like Sunset.
A-tier
1) Sova
Similar to Skye, Sova will dominate the close-quarter combats at the entrances of both bomb sites. His Owl Drone will be best used towards A-Main or A-Elbow to flush out hidden enemies who can then be killed by your team's entry fragger.
For all the Sova mains out there, it is time to learn new lineups for your recon and shock darts as it can often define how this Agent is played on the new map. A very important use of the recon would be to scout the Mid area and take early control over it. With the current status of Sova, we can easily put him at the top of the A-tier in this tier list.
2) Breach
Even though Breach has one of the lowest pick rates in the current meta, the layout of the new map, Sunset, favors this Agent a lot. The narrow lanes towards A-Main and B-Main can be covered completely by Fault Line, which can then be combined with a flash to gain easy control.
On top of the fact that Breach has a number of annoying abilities, like Flashpoint and Aftershock. His ultimate, Rolling Thunder, covers the entire area of both bomb sites, making it nearly impossible to hold onto them when it is used. Breach heavily depends on his team composition, and it will be a nice change to see him in the meta picks for the new map, Sunset.
B-tier
1) KAY/O
KAY/O's abilities, although dominant on paper, are not the most useful when it comes to larger maps in Valorant. Sunset is a relatively large map with a wide open Mid where this Agent will not have many uses. The only locations where KAY/O can shine are the entrances of the A Site.
The only use of KAY/O's FRAG/MENT grenade is either in A-Elbow or for post-plant situations. His flashes get outshined by Skye's Guiding Light pretty easily, and his ZERO/POINT can be avoided by players playing far back in the spike sites.
The only positive going for this Agent is his ultimate, NULL/CMD. It covers a large area and will be helpful, as usual, with site executes and retakes. His utility is greatly limited by the map layout of Sunset, but the disruptive capacity of his kit ranks him at the top of B-tier.
2) Fade
Fade is not, by any means, a bad Agent. However, the amount of utility provided by her kit is greatly outshined by Agents like Skye and Sova in Valorant. In a map like Sunset, Fade can be used in set team compositions for unique strategies and executes onto the relatively smaller bomb sites. However, her kit lacks the ability to force out enemies from tight angles. She has decent scouting capabilities with her Haunt and Prowlers but requires the usage of a secondary Initiator to unleash her full potential.
The only thing going for Fade on Sunset is her ultimate, Nightfall, which covers the entirety of both bomb sites. However, as mentioned before, she is not of much use without the proper team composition.
C-tier
1) Gekko
Gekko remains the least effective Initiator in Valorant since his release. His kit is very limited as to the value it provides and can easily be countered, and the new map, Sunset, is no exception. He offers next to nothing when it comes to taking map control and is hence the least picked out of all Initiators in the game.
Using Gekko's Wingman to plant and defuse the spike on Sunset is not enough to rank him higher because it is not as safe as it sounds. Moreover, his ultimate, which can potentially win you rounds on paper, is very easy to dodge and often useless.
It is safe to say that Gekko needs a few buffs to his entire kit to make him viable at the higher ranks and pro play in Valorant.
