Valorant’s Episode 2, Act 2 begins next week, introducing Astra as its newest Controller Agent. Hailing from Ghana, she wields the power of the cosmos to manipulate the battlefield and surprise her opponents.
A new Battle Pass is also on the way with a slate of new cosmetic items that players can pursue throughout the entirety of Valorant’s Episode 2, Act 2.
“With Astra we wanted to make a controller that was thinking about the whole map. Her global presence was there right from the beginning. From there the fine tuning was in finding the right abilities to balance predicting enemies’ actions and reacting to changing game circumstances,” said Designer Jordan “Riot Wrekz” Anton.
Using her X ability, Astra enters Astral Form, which allows players to place down stars across the map using the primary fire button. These stars can be reactivated later using her other abilities, their effects fitting different situations.
When Gravity Well (C) is used to activate a star, it creates an area on the ground that pulls players towards its center, making those still trapped inside when it explodes fragile. Using Nova Pulse (Q) instead, concusses all players in its area of effect after a brief charging period.
Nebula (E) transforms a placed star into smoke, while Dissipate (F) returns a star so that it can be placed in a different location after a short delay. The latter also briefly forming a decoy Nebula at its location.
Astra’s Ultimate ability also has another component called Cosmic Divide. When it’s charged, you can use the secondary fire button while in Astral Form to begin aiming it, then choose two locations using your primary fire button. An “infinite Cosmic Divide” then connects the two locations, blocking bullets and heavily dampening audio.
Her playstyle is all about “gathering information and turning that into a plan,” according to the developer and you can see that for yourself on March 2, when Astra joins the Valorant roster as part of Act 2, Episode 2.
The new Battle Pass, features the Prism III Classic pistol with variants, the Dumpster Fire spray, and more on its free track. If you’ve saved 1,000 VP, you get a shot at unlocking items like the Cavalier Vandal, Cavalier Operator, and Prism III Axe melee (which also comes with different variants).
“With Prism III, we wanted to give players who don’t usually buy skins a chance to get their hands on the clean crispness of the Prism set. Adding color variants to Prism was also a fun way to give players more color options. I bet the bubblegum pink one will be popular, especially the Axe melee,” said Producer Preeti Khanolkar.
Valorant: Act 2, Episode 2, Astra, and the new Battle Pass go live on March 2.
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