What sets Valorant apart from other projects in the genre is the presence of various abilities and ultimates. Each of the 24 agents has 4 unique active skills that allow them to effectively eliminate enemies and turn the tide of the round in their favor. However, in addition to active skills, some characters also possess passive abilities, which usually do not require activation and either enhance other abilities or simply provide an advantage in certain situations. Most players seldom think about passive abilities; they only know about the effect they produce and the agent who possesses it. Therefore, today, Bo3's editorial team has prepared material for you about what passive effects in Valorant are, how many there are, and which agents have them.
What Are Passive Effects in Valorant
As described above, passive effects are effects that cannot be directly used. They are available only for a few agents and, in most cases, enhance their active abilities and change your gameplay. Learning about passive effects is quite tricky, as not every effect is described in the game. In the agent selection menu before the start of a match, information is only available about active abilities. Because of this, most players never pay attention to passive effects and take them for granted for certain characters without considering how many such effects there are in Valorant and for which agents they are available. Information about a passive effect can be read in the store, but there are exceptions. When you open the ability and weapon purchase menu, one of the options next to the abilities will correspond to your passive ability. In it, you can read the name and how your passive effect works. Note that this information is not available for every agent, and even if an agent has a passive effect, it may not be written about.
Drift
Now that you know what passive effects are in Valorant, it's time to discuss each of them. Our list opens with one of the most popular agents in Valorant – Jett. The Korean duelist is almost always present in both casual matches and the professional scene. Her passive effect, Drift, combined with the highest mobility in the game, makes Jett so popular. The passive effect Drift allows Jett not to immediately land on the ground after jumping but to hang in the air for a while and slowly descend. With this effect, you will not take damage from falling and can combine it with abilities. Updraft, along with the passive effect, helps you hang in the air, and using the ultimate Blade Storm from above, you can kill opponents. Drift is activated by holding the space bar while your agent descends to the ground. You will begin to slow down, and the effect of wind currents will periodically appear on the sides of your screen.
Soul Harvest
Another equally popular duelist is Reyna, who also has her own passive effect. Named Soul Harvest, it allows Reyna to heal after each kill and even become invulnerable. After an enemy Reyna has damaged dies, a dark purple orb appears at their location. The character can interact with it using the Devour ability to heal 50 HP, or through Dismiss, after which Reyna becomes invulnerable for 1.5 seconds but cannot use other abilities or weapons. Thanks to Soul Harvest, Reyna can easily fight the entire team, restoring her health after each kill.
READ MORE: What is the Ultimate Orb in Valorant
Heating Up
The next duelist with a passive effect is Phoenix. Unlike the previous agents, his passive effect does not allow him to effectively eliminate opponents but is aimed at his own survival. Heating Up allows Phoenix not only to freely stand in the fire from his own abilities Blaze and Hot Hands but also to restore his health. When the agent uses one of his abilities, enemies and allies who get caught in them will receive periodic damage. Meanwhile, Phoenix can specifically step into the fire to restore up to 50HP. Thanks to his passive ability, Phoenix can play effectively even without the support of allies because he does not need healing from support agents.
Energy
The passive effect used by the agent Neon differs from all the previous ones. If in the above-described agents, the passive effect was merely an addition to their main abilities, in the case of Neon, Energy is the basis of two skills without which they would not work. Energy is Neon's own resource, which gives the agent an energy scale. With it, the agent's main abilities work. High Gear uses Energy to increase Neon's movement speed and the distance of her jump. The ultimate ability Overdrive also provides all the above-mentioned bonuses from High Gear, but additionally, the agent can shoot lightning from her right hand, dealing damage ranging from 10 to 18 depending on the distance to the enemy. Thus, Neon's passive ability is key to her gameplay component, without which the agent simply cannot fully function.
Globules
The first non-duelist agent on our list is Gekko. The American initiator also has his own passive effect, directly influencing his abilities. Through Globules, the character can reduce the cooldown of his skills. This works as follows: after Gekko uses one of his three abilities—Wingman, Dizzy, or Thrash—and they end or are destroyed, multicolored spheres appear at the same place. The agent can then pick up a sphere within 20 seconds to reduce the cooldown of the ability from which the sphere was activated by 10 seconds. Thus, with the right gameplay, you can use your abilities almost without cooldown.
Terror Trail
The first passive effect that does not affect the agent using it but affects the enemies is used by the Turkish initiator Fade, who automatically uses Terror Trail along with his abilities. This passive effect marks enemies and shows their direction if they are affected by some of Fade's abilities. This works with the abilities Haunt and the ultimate Nightfall. If one or more enemies are hit by the ultimate or fall within the field of vision of Haunt, you will be able to see their silhouette through a wall or other obstacle for one second. Additionally, a dark energy line will follow each of the enemies affected by Terror Trail for 12 seconds, marking their location.
Viper
The last passive effects on our list concern only one agent, so we will discuss them together. The American controller Viper has two passive effects in her arsenal. The first is Fuel, which works similarly to Neon's Energy. Fuel provides Viper with a toxin scale, which most of her abilities use. The toxin is used to activate and maintain Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen, and the amount of its supply decreases with activity.
The second passive effect in Viper is named Toxin, and it affects enemies. When Viper applies one of her abilities, Poison Cloud, Toxic Screen, or the ultimate Viper's Pit, the effect from them automatically receives Toxin. After that, enemies who enter the effect of these abilities will receive the negative effect of decay. As a result, they will immediately lose 30 of their HP, and if they stay within the radius of their abilities, they will continue to lose 10HP per second.
Conclusion
After reading our material, you have learned what passive effects are in Valorant, what types they are, and a list of agents that have them. As it becomes clear, passive effects are quite a useful phenomenon that makes agents stronger, so it is not excluded that in the future Riot Games will add their own passive effects to other agents. Continue to follow our portal to learn more interesting information about all aspects of Valorant.
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