Get up and shine. With the arrival of Waylay, Valorant’s newest high-mobility Duelist from Bangkok, Thailand, the Dawn of the Duelist has arrived. Everything you need to know to enter the game and start fragging will be covered here.
Waylay is a fresh interpretation of a well-known Duelist subclass. She is also the first new Duelist to take to space since Jett and Raze launched Valorant.
Waylay’s Design Lead June “Riot Junebird” Cuervo says, “We saw an opportunity in this arena as it is been so long since we have produced a Duelist like this.” Since we see this role on almost every team, particularly in professional competition, we decided to give it a little more variation.
Space-taking Duelists are made to move quickly in order to avoid adversary sights and break through chokepoints. They serve as their team’s spearheads and open doors for others to follow up and visit the plant.
Abilities Rundown
Refract (Signature)
Waylay instantaneously illuminates the floor with a blaze of light, thanks to Refract. She returns to that beacon’s location as a pure particle of light, immune to all abilities and damage, when she reactivates the ability. In essence, it serves as Waylay’s safety net, though her squad may not always benefit from it.
“With Jett, you are on the site once you are there. Once you are in Raze, it is either you or death. However, Waylay has this contingency plan. Regarding Waylay’s Refract ability, Riot Junebird states, “She can still break that angle, displace crosshairs, and draw attention, but also keep herself safe.” But after she makes use of that power, no one needs to listen to you anymore. Now that everyone is looking at her teammates, it is their responsibility to keep occupying that area and delivering those kills.
Light Speed
Waylay can run up to two times in the direction or directions she chooses thanks to Light Speed. Waylay has a lot of potential to take some innovative positions on site, but only the first dash will allow you to advance higher simultaneously.
Riot Junebird continues, “I wanted mobility to be the main feature of Waylay’s kit.” Although Raze has a very high mastery curve, he is an example of an agent with a very expressive movement usefulness. I wanted to make Waylay a little more approachable while yet allowing for the same level of talent display.
Saturate
In addition to movement, Waylay has a few other tools at her disposal, such as the throwable cluster of light called Saturate, which debuffs enemies hit in its area of effect. Another debuff that affects enemies is called Hindering, which slows down vertical movement and reload times without causing blurred vision.
Riot Junebird explains, “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, 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
In Convergent Paths, Waylay concentrates her prismatic abilities to produce a beam of light that projects an afterimage of herself. You get a strong speed boost after a short delay, and the light enlarges, obstructing everyone in its path.
Waylay continues to be a Duelist. At first glance, the ult may evoke thoughts of initiator usefulness, but Riot Junebird demonstrates that the Duelist aspect of her still shines because of the way the ult is structured and the upfront delay. “Your squad still has a window of opportunity to be the first person out and on the scene because of the delay from your afterimage casting the final still.”
Act 2 of Valorant Season 2025 will begin airing on March 5th. She can be unlocked instantly with a current Xbox Game Pass subscription connected to your Riot Games account, or you can join the game and begin grinding during her recruitment event. GL HF GG.
