After months of speculation about the next agent to join VALORANT, players think they finally have an idea of where in the world the agent is from.
Riot has been teasing the new agent for months, with several leaks and other intentional hints about their abilities being dropped since the end of VCT Masters Tokyo earlier this year. On Friday, Riot officially teased the agent in the latest “State of the Agents” release, which shares updates not only on Agent 24 but also on Deadlock and Gekko, the latest agents in the game.
The biggest hint dropped in the post was an image teaser that pictures someone eating hot pot, with the title of the image being “duckblood.” From this image and other subtle hints, players seem confident that the agent is from China, Singapore, or another country with Chinese influence.
The first, most obvious clue to this theory is the cuisine in the image itself. The image pictures someone at a table picking up a piece of duck blood from a hot pot separated into nine smaller sections. Players could identify not just the obvious—that the person at the table is enjoying hot pot—but also the specific style being served.
The meal in the image is Sichuan or Chongqing hot pot, a dish with a spicy broth made with chili oil, which is evident from the color of the broth in the image and the chilis floating to the surface. This hot pot has a signature spicy, numbing flavor brought about by the layers of different spices infused into the broth.
Initially, this alone convinced many players that the agent was Chinese.
When we look a bit closer, there are several other factors that point to the agent being from China. First of all, part of Riot’s big push for VALORANT this year, both in casual and professional play, is expanding their market to China. Not only have Chinese teams been invited to major VCT events in 2023, but the region will now get its own league as well.
In addition, players worldwide received a bonus melee bundle purchasable in their shop after Riot officially brought VALORANT servers to China.
Despite the game already having a Chinese agent in Sage, when she was released with the game’s beta, it was not available in China. It’s highly possible that Riot wants to capitalize on the Chinese market by releasing an agent that represents the game’s newest region.
Yet, some players are being persuaded that the agent might not be from China at all but rather from another country that shares cultural ties—like Singapore.
The first hint that the agent may be from Singapore is actually blatantly in the “State of the Agents” post but might have been skimmed over by those unfamiliar with the VCT.
In the part of the news post teasing some of the new duelist’s playstyle and abilities, Riot actually name-drops a VCT player who recently played in the grand finals of Champions 2023 in Los Angeles. The key part of this namedrop is that he is the only player from his country who played at Champions this year.
The player? Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie, from Singapore.
“At its core VALORANT is a team-based Tac Shooter where gunplay shines,” the post read. “For some of you that means aspiring to plow through enemies like Jinggg, and putting hours in clicking those orbs with aim trainers for that clean 5K.”
Considering how meticulous Riot has been about agent reveals in the past, Jinggg’s name appearing in the official developer post seems like more than just a coincidence.
Finally, one Twitter user and longtime VALORANT lore fan, Uberchain, has decidedly placed her bet on the new agent being from Singapore after some handy detective work.
The specific image of Chongqing hot pot in the teaser bears an uncanny resemblance to one of Singapore’s top hot pot chain restaurants: Uncle Fong. Uberchain even suspected a photo from Uncle Fong may have been used as inspiration for the art, considering how similar the table looks.
Either way, we will still have to wait and see where exactly the next VALORANT agent hails from, though it looks like players may have already pointed the community in the right direction.
The new duelist, Agent 24, will be released by the end of 2023.
