VALORANT: How Do the Pros Play Skye?

In this series, I aim to break down how the top-level players are using every agent and today we’ll be looking at everyone’s favourite Australian zookeeper, Skye. If you’re newer to the game you can check out our beginners guide for her which will tell you everything you need to get started.

Let’s start by looking at her stats from the most recent major tournament, Champions.

We can clearly see that she sees consistent picks across the board (except Icebox, but that’s Icebox), she’s very involved in the current meta so let’s explain this in more detail

What is the Meta? And How Does She Fit?

Right now we see that the meta is dominated by double initiators. Across most of the maps we see that teams love to adopt this. We consistently see, two of Skye, KAY/O and Sova being picked.

The reason for this is that all of these agents can actively gather information and Skye is obviously a part of this.

3 of the 4 of her abilities are built around directly finding information and we see a general focus on this by pro players. Typically we see her tools used offensively to gather this info, which fits generally with the rest of her playstyle

Abilities

REGROWTH: This is easily Skye’s most underrated ability. It’s easily the strongest heal in the game, light years ahead of Sage’s healing orb. You can take all 4 teammates from 1hp to 100. If you do play Skye, please don’t neglect this ability as it really is game-changing. We see pro players use this as often as possible. It’s almost always better to heal up 50hp for one or two people than try and hold it for the perfect moment because it might never come.

TRAILBLAZER: At 250 credits this ability really is a bargain. It functions as an entry-by-proxy tool much like Sova’s drone. The key to using this ability well is using it to take space and not just waste it. When we see pros use this ability it is never on its own. It’s almost always worthwhile having someone follow it. If you see someone you can stun them creating a huge advantage for your teammate. Make sure to not just check an irrelevant space with this as your flashes can do this just as well

GUIDING LIGHT: Guiding light is Skye’s signature ability, you get one charge for free that will recharge 40 seconds after use. This is a very very strong signature ability but not for the reason a lot of people seem to think. Sure the flash is good but she loses out to KAY/O for me on flash power. Instead, the information gained by this is what people should focus on. We routinely see pro players throw a deep flash at the start of the round to get information on their opponents and to clear less accessible spaces. Obviously don’t completely neglect the flash side of this it’s still very good for flashing out of smokes and through Viper walls etc

SEEKERS: Finally we get to Skye’s ultimate. It takes 7 pips to become available after being nerfed down from 6. On the attacker side, we typically see Skye use this at the start of the execute, whenever this might be in a round. This is because it gives you instant info on where players might be on-site, giving your players a big advantage in the gunfight. One good thing about Ske’s ult is that the floor of impact is still very high. Whenever it’s used you get good information even if you didn’t wait for the perfect time. On defence we typically see them used to counter an execute, creating the exact same advantage as mentioned before. We also regularly see defenders use this at around the 50-second mark. Typically this is when a lot of teams like to group for their execute so it allows for early rotations. Overall it’s a very powerful ultimate.

Now let’s have a look at the pros and cons that she brings to team compositions on the top level

Playing Skye

There are a few generic points about playing Skye that are worth going over. Firstly you have to understand your place in your teams’ order. You should almost always be the second person in. Whilst it’s useful to flash for your duelist, you don’t want to be too far away as it makes the flashes easy to hear and turn from.

Try and focus on generating pace and being proactive. This is particularly true on the defender half. If you sit at the back of a site and wait for the attackers to come to you you’re definitely playing it wrong. You should be constantly trying to fight for space and help enable your team to get the kills. Aggression aggression aggression.

Players to Watch

If you’re looking to understand more about Skye at the pro level there are several really good players to study. My go-to recommendation for this for Skye is soulcas. Whilst he’s swapped away more recently towards KAY/O, his old Skye VODs will still provide a lot of insight. If you want something more recent I would recommend watching the champions VODs from Sheydos or leaf. Both had real standout moments on this agent and you can certainly learn a lot about how she fits into a team

Conclusion

To conclude, Skye is a top tier agent right now and there’s no doubt about that. While I do think she’s on a slight decline because of the rise of KAY/O, she still very much has a place in the meta still. Typically Bind is her home turf so expect plenty more use there. The pros show us that a good Skye player has to be able to have excellent communication and teamwork to enable their duelists, as well as be comfortable playing on their own and pushing their own advantages

TIER: A

DIFFICULTY: ★★★☆☆

RATING IN PRO PLAY: ★★★★☆