Who should you choose?

Valorant Episode 4 has officially been released, bringing along with it a sweeping list of changes to the shooter. But none are bound to have as much of an impact on the game's meta as the addition of the new agent, Neon.

Neon is a speedster who uses the power of electricity to secure victory for her team. In the right hands, she's easily one of the best agents in the game. Here's what you need to know about Neon, as well as some tips and tricks for using her.

Neon Tips And Tricks

Living Life In The Fast Lane

Neon doesn't just live life in the fast lane, she also makes use of it for her first ability. Fast Lane is an ability very similar to Phoenix's Blaze flame wall, except twice as good. Upon use, Neon erects two electric blue walls on both sides of her that extend into the distance for about 20 meters, or until they hit a wall. The walls both block vision and damage enemies that pass through them. You can carry one charge at a time for a credit cost of 300.

While two walls are certainly better than one, you cannot curve Neon's Fast Lane walls like you can with Phoenix's. While walls do block Fast Lane walls, they only do so if your crosshair is directly pointing at a wall when using the ability. If you're looking right next to a wall but not directly at it, Fast Lane will extend past it on both sides, clipping through the wall. This allows you to place walls in certain situations without peaking out.

Given that you only get one Fast Lane per round however, it's best to save it for pushes onto sites. Fast Lane walls only last for a few seconds, but that's more than enough time to rush your team onto a site and take cover by the time they fall.

Relay Bolt: A Double Whammy

Neon's Q ability is called Relay Bolt. She's able to carry two at a time, with each one costing 200 credits. When used, Neon will throw out a bolt of electricity that can bounce off one surface before dissipating. The location it bounced as well as where it eventually lands are both electrified with a concussive blast. This blast does a bit of damage and briefly causes those within its range to have their vision and hearing blurred.

Relay Bolts function like other throwables in the game, but with a few twists. Firstly, Relay Bolt hardly has any vertical fall off. For nearly every situation in the game, it's best to treat the projectile as if it traveled in a straight line. It also doesn't lose any momentum when bouncing. These two factors can make it tricky to bounce her Relay Bolt around a corner to concuss enemies. In these situations, it's best to aim low to ensure the bolt lands on target, as opposed to flying off into the distance.

Kick It Into High Gear

High Gear is potentially one of Neon's most dangerous abilities, when used correctly. There are two pieces to this free ability. When you activate High Gear, Neon will begin running at a speed noticeably faster than knife running allows. This sprinting drains an energy bar at the bottom of your screen — she has enough juice to run for about 20 seconds. After she exits her sprint, Neon will begin slowly charging up her energy bar again. The second part of this ability is her slide, which can be triggered by using Alt Fire. This slide cancels her sprint, and can itself be recharged by getting two kills.

What makes High Gear such a great ability is that the time it takes for Neon to pull out and start firing her gun after sprinting is extremely fast. If you are sprinting around the map as Neon and run into someone knife running, you'll be able to get the first shot on them easily. There's barely any animation for Neon to start firing, as opposed to the lengthy knife to gun animation. This sprint also recharges at a relatively fast rate, and can be used multiple times per round. Altogether, High Gear is a high tier ability that will no doubt start impacting the pacing of rounds.

Neon's Ultimate: Overdrive

With her free ability focusing on movement, Neon seems to be Riot's attempt to make another Jett, and her ultimate lends some credence to that. Jett's ultimate gives her a handful of throwing knives that can instakill enemies — if you can land your shots. Neon's ultimate, Overdrive, works in similar yet completely broken fashion. When activating Overdrive, Neon also activates High Gear. She's able to sprint for her full 20 seconds, while also having access to a death laser.

That's not an exaggeration, she literally has a death laser. Neon shoots a completely accurate lightning stream from her fingers when the player fires. Unlike guns in the game, Neon's lightning stream is completely accurate while moving as well, and it lasts for a full 20 seconds. Overdrive does about 20 damage per hit, and can hit an enemy about 20 times in a second. You can easily eliminate multiple enemies in a matter of seconds with the right aim. In this case, having great aim isn't even that important, just trace your mouse along an enemy and you'll eventually get them. Given Overdrive's potential to just sweep through enemy teams, It's hard to imagine a world in which this ability isn't nerfed within the next few weeks.