The only Sova guide you'll ever need
Introduction
Born from the eternal winter of Russia’s tundra, Sova tracks, finds, and eliminates enemies with ruthless efficiency and precision. His custom bow and incredible scouting abilities ensure that even if you run, you cannot hide.
Sova is ranger style character who has him-self equipped with all of the cool agent/spy gadgets, these include, a Recon darts, shock darts and a controllable owl shaped drown which can also tag enemies to reveal their location. And his ultimate, Hunter’s Fury, wherein he equips a bow with three long-range, wall-piercing energy blasts which deals damage and reveals the location of enemies caught in the line is just the cherry on the cake.
Sova Abilities
- Owl Drone: Deploy a pilotable drone that can fire a dart that will reveal enemies who are hit.
- Signature ability – Recon Dart: Fire a dart that deploys signal waves. The waves pings and tags nearby enemies, causing them to be revealed. Can be destroyed.
- Shock Dart: Fire an explosive dart that emits a damaging pulse of static energy upon impact.
- Ultimate Ability: Fire up to three deadly energy blasts that spear across the map. Each hit enemy takes heavy damage and is revealed.
Who should master this champ?
Sova is a pure recon specialist and one of the most essential picks in any team composition. Sova’s potential to reveal enemies is no joke; and given the twisting corridors, it takes a lot of skill and practice to effectively bounce of arrows so that it reaches the location you want to reveal. Also, a Sova player needs to be very predictive and have good enough map knowledge to predict where his enemies might be lurking in order to reveal an area effectively. Thus if you are a player who is good at geometry and game physics and wants to improve his map knowledge, then Sova is the choice.
Pros
Given hours of practice and the knowledge of Recon/Shock Bolt lineups, you can gain incredible intel of how many enemies are stacked up on a certain site. Sova’s Shock Bolts are useful for clearing out cubby areas, bursting enemies with damage, and halting pushes, and his Owl Drone can be used as a follow-up to the Recon Bolt to gain intel on any areas the bolt couldn’t see. All of this makes Sova equally viable on attack and defence, and the best agent in the game for supporting a push onto site.
Also; his ultimate has the ability to shred through enemies stacked together, giving him a good overall damage potential over other agents.
Cons
Being honest, this agent ain’t easy. It requires a lot of skill to perfect the recon and shock placements and given the map knowledge, it takes a lot of time mastering this agent.
Sova’s recon darts make the enemies aware of which site your team is going to push, thus, don’t always rush in after Recon Dart.
Hunter’s Fury may be a monster of an ability, but Sova is the most vulnerable while using this, as he is void of mobility and rapid reflex shooting for that duration.
Purchase Priorities
Always invest in assault rifels or snipers while playing as Sova.
Given Sova’s kit, he is the most optimal when played from a long distance with good sight of his enemies. Thus playing long is always recommended.
Sova can also go aways very well with just a pistol(Ghost/Sheriff).
Tactics
As an initiator, your team depends upon the intel you provide them, and it gives them a ton of advantage while pushing in or rotating to a bomb site to defend it.
Always keep an eye on the mini map to see where the enemies are and guide your team when to push or not. As a Sova, you can stay out of the bomb site and still capture or retake a site very easily just by his ability to reveal and shock dart/ult the enemy.
Pro Tips
Tip #1: Learn the lineups.
Sova has an incredible kit ready to be abused. But you can only do so if you have enough map knowledge and know the lineups. Having these will not only just help you initiate a rush, but you may also never have to peek your enemies and still destroy them.
Note: One trick which you may not be aware of is that, you can tag an enemy with your recon bolt. The bolt will attach to the enemy and then you have a moving recon UAV.
Tip #2: Owl Drone Body block.
Did you know that you drone is not only good at gliding and revealing, but can also block shots and players? A lot of good players use their drone between fights to help body block an teammate while planting/defusing the spike; and also it can body block the enemy thus interrupting their movement. This body block works great when the enemy is stuck in a molly or trying to get into cover.
Tip #3: Don’t waste your ultimate with blind fire.
Sova’s Ultimate ability, Hunter’s Fury, is one of the most fun to use in Valorant. Killing enemies with it is incredibly satisfying. But don’t just fire it into the ether and hope to hit something. Always use a Recon Bolt or Owl Drone to discover the location of your enemies first.
Conclusion
Having intel on the battle field makes Sova the hunter he is. Hiding is not an option for your enemies, especially when theres a hunter on the loose.
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