Danielle Partis
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Rise and shine. The Dawn of the Duelist is upon us with the arrival of Waylay—Valorant’s latest high-mobility Duelist hailing from Bangkok, Thailand. Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get in the game and get fragging.
Waylay is a new take on an iconic subclass of Duelist. She’s also the first new space-taking Duelist since Valorant’s launch with Jett and Raze.
“We saw an opportunity in this space since it’s been so long since we’ve created a Duelist like this,” explains Waylay’s Design Lead, June “Riot Junebird” Cuervo. “We wanted to add some more variety to this role since we see one on basically every team, especially in Pro play.”
Space-taking Duelists are designed to be highly mobile in order to break chokepoints and displace enemy crosshairs. They’re the tip of the spear for their team and create opportunities for others to follow-up and get on the plant site.
Abilities Rundown
Refract (Signature)
With Refract, Waylay instantly places a beacon of light on the floor. When she reactivates the ability, she travels back to that beacon’s location as a pure mote of light, invulnerable to all damage and abilities. It’s essentially a safety net for Waylay, but not necessarily one for her team.
“With Jett, once you’re on the site, you’re on the site. With Raze, once you’re there, you live or die. But Waylay has this backup plan. She can still break that angle, displace crosshairs, and draw attention, but also keep herself safe,” Riot Junebird says about Waylay’s Refract ability. “But once she uses that ability, nobody has to pay attention to you anymore. All eyes are back on her teammates and now they have to be the ones to continue taking that space and getting those kills.”
Light Speed
Light Speed allows Waylay to dash up to two times in the direction(s) of her choosing. However, only the first dash will allow you to move upwards at the same time, givingWaylay a lot of potential to take some creative spots on site.
“I wanted movement to be the focal point of Waylay’s kit,” Riot Junebird adds. “Raze is an example of an Agent with really expressive movement utility, but with that comes a really high mastery curve. With Waylay, I wanted to provide the same amount of skill expression but make it a little bit more accessible.”
Saturate
Beyond the movement, Waylay has a couple of other tools at her disposal with a throwable cluster of light called Saturate. Saturate acts as a light grenade that debuffs enemies hit in its area of effect. Enemies are affected with a new debuff called Hindering. Think of Hindering as a softer version of a Concuss that slows vertical movement and reload times as well, without the blurred vision.
“We felt like it was probably really out-of-line from a power budget perspective for a Duelist to have all this mobility and also a debuff as strong as a Concuss,” Riot Junebird explains. “But we thought there was an interesting gameplay space here where the character could have some kind of debuff that would help unlock their Duelist potential. We think that Hindering is like a softer, more appropriate debuff version of a Concuss for a Duelist.”
Convergent Paths
With Convergent Paths, Waylay focuses her prismatic power to create an afterimage of herself that projects a beam of light. After a brief delay, you gain a powerful boost of speed and the light expands, Hindering everyone in its path.
“Waylay is still a Duelist. The ult might make people think of initiator utility at first, but the way the ult is shaped, and the way there’s that delay up front—that’s the moment where the Duelist part of her still shines,” Riot Junebird reveals. “The delay from your afterimage casting the ultimate still gives you the window of opportunity to still be the first one out and on the site for your team.”
Waylay is out with the start of Valorant Season 2025 Act 2, coming March 5. You can get in game and start grinding during her recruitment event, or unlock her instantly with an active Xbox Game Pass subscription linked to your Riot Games account. GL HF GG.
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