Ranked VALORANT games can get too annoying at times. On an unlucky day, we’ve all felt our blood boil, struggling to punish wildly aggressive opponents who don’t seem to miss their shots and break your carefully crafted setups every time. Luckily, Fnatic’s newest “blender” strategy can help turn that frown upside down for good.
While baffling Evil Geniuses in the first map—Lotus—of June 20’s upper-bracket semifinals series at VCT Masters Tokyo, Fnatic left an enticing strategy for us to adopt in our own VALORANT games.
When timed correctly, as Fnatic did in the 14th round of the series’ first map, you can mow down multiple enemies with this setup, and trust us when we say that it’s incredibly satisfying to grab kills in this blender.
To pull off the blender strategy, you’ll need to use Astra’s Gravity Well and Killjoy’s Nanoswarms in unison: Not only will enemies who walk into this trap take fatal damage, but they’ll also not be able to escape the area due to the gravitational force inflicted upon them, thus mashing up anyone caught in the area of effect.
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Starting off, place the Nanoswarms in a “microwave” setup. Place the mollies in a frequently accessed area (for example, the lane between Lotus’ C Main and C Bend) and in a way that leaves little to no room for enemies to escape.
The usual Killjoy microwave setup requires placing the Nanoswarms in a straight line (can be angled). There should be a gap between the grenade placements, as they have a substantial radius: putting them too close to each other will be a waste of the grenade’s potential. When activated, the Nanoswarms should overlap, like a Venn diagram, to get the most value.
Now, to set up the blender in VALORANT, place one of Astra’s stars on Killjoy’s microwave, preferably in the middle of her Nanoswarms.
When you sense enemies pushing through the setup, activate the Nanoswarms and Astra’s Gravity Well to catch them off-guard. Together, the abilities give the look and feel of a blending effect, thus the name.
Astra’s Gravity Well not only suffocates movement, but it also slaps a vulnerable status effect on enemies, weakening them further. As for Killjoy’s Alarm Bot, you can place it to catch an enemy who manages to push through the blender setup alive, posing a danger. Alternatively, you can place it within the microwave setup to make your enemies miserable.
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All ability-combo plays like this one require perfect timing to get the best output. You’ll also need a cooperating teammate to pull off the blender.
In the case of Fnatic, Alfajer and Boaster’s excellent synergy, coupled with excellent timing, helped Fnatic eliminate EG MVPs Demon1 and Boostio in the most brutal way possible. While EMEA’s top guns went on to lose the round despite pulling off the beautiful strategy due to inadequate time, the damage inflicted was massive.
So, the next time your conventional Killjoy setups fail to flabbergast your enemies, ping the Astra main in your friend list and queue up to defy your limits in VALORANT with the blender.
