With Iso’s ability kit being actively discussed among the VALORANT community today, players are already trying to figure out what the new duelist’s place in the meta will be. While we don’t have the full answer to that question yet, we do have a solution to one of VALORANT‘s most frustrating abilities to go up against.
Iso’s ultimate ability Kill Contract, a column of energy that teleports him and the first enemy it touches to a one-vs-one arena, takes away the stress and importance of abilities, pitting two players against each other with only their weapons in VALORANT‘s version of Warzone’s Gulag. Importantly, it takes away active ultimates from the other player, such a Raze’s Showstopper, Sova’s Hunter’s Fury, or Jett’s Blade Storm.
This key factor to Iso’s ultimate makes it one of the best counters to one of the game’s most overpowered and annoying ultimates: Viper’s Pit. Even with all the nerfs this ability has received, Viper’s Pit is still one of the most powerful ultimate abilities, making executes or retakes onto a site where it’s active extremely challenging if not impossible. Finding where Viper is hiding takes time, which costs you more and more of your health.
A well-placed Iso ultimate that catches Viper gives the duelist the opportunity to swing a round right back into the favor of his team as winning the one-vs-one would take away both the Viper and the Viper’s Pit.
There’s always a bit of risk in popping the Iso ultimate as Iso could very well lose despite the slight advantage of having two barriers. There’s extra risk though in a situation against Viper in Viper’s Pit; the Kill Contract beam is wide but not wide enough to cover an entire site or an entire Viper’s Pit, meaning there’s a risk of missing. Additionally, in a situation where there are multiple enemies in Viper’s Pit, you could isolate someone who’s not Viper.
But in a situation where you’re facing an active Viper’s Pit anyway, what more is there to lose? VALORANT players will find out when Iso is added to the game with Episode Seven, Act Three on Oct. 31.
