Riot Games has revealed the newest agent for Valorant: an American Initiator called Gekko, who joins the character roster of the popular tactical hero shooter in the next Act of the game. Accompanied by his crew of adorable creatures that also double as his in-game abilities, Gekko looks set to shake up the field of competitive play.
The 22nd agent’s announcement comes after a number of teasers were posted to the Valorant Twitter account in the leadup to a cinematic trailer introducing the agent. Based on this media, he appears to be close friends with the Duelist agent Reyna, and it looks like she was the one to introduce him to the Valorant Protocol, the covert operation at the centre of the game’s lore.
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Gekko is the first Initiator added to Valorant since the release of Fade in April 2022, and the newest character since the Controller, Habor, dropped in October 2022. Each of his four abilities utilises one of his creatures, with effects ranging from stunning to blinding enemies, similar to Skye’s creature-based abilities.
Gekko’s abilities are quite unique, due to the need to retrieve some of the dormant creatures once an ability has run its course, and then wait for an additional cooldown to reuse them, as opposed to a regular cooldown time for other Valorant agents.
Here’s a rundown of each of Gekko’s abilities, named after each of his creatures:
- Dizzy (E): Gekko fires Dizzy into the air after equipping her. Dizzy charges and then releases blinding plasma blasts at any enemies within her line of sight. Gekko can then retrieve the creature once the charge is complete to reuse after a short cooldown period.
- Wingman (Q): When Wingman is fired, he seeks out enemies – the first enemy seen is hit with a concussive blast. He can also defuse the Spike, or plant it if Gekko has the Spike in his inventory. After a brief cooldown, Wingman can also be retrieved by Gekko for reuse.
- Mosh Pit (C): Mosh Pit can be thrown (either underhand using the alternative fire button, or regularly), and on landing, explodes over a broad area after a short delay.
- Thrash (X): When equipped, Gekko’s ultimate ability Thrash can be steered towards enemies, lunging and exploding once activated. Enemies caught in the explosion are temporarily detained. Thrash can be retrieved and gain another charge, but unlike Gekko’s first two abilities, can only be reused once per round.
Gekko officially releases on 8 March 2023, sometime after Valorant Episode Six, Act One ends, and game maintenance is complete.
