Hello, Librarian Husky here! All right, so Patch 9.01 is bringing some new stuff into the mix. But the real question that players have today is after the changes at the beginning of the ACT, how is the meta shaping up? The Duelist role basically got completely overhauled, and with two new maps entering the mix, has anything changed? What agent should you be picking? What should you avoid? Are there any sleeper picks for specific maps? We’re going to break it all down for you today.

New Approach to Tier Lists

We are trying something a little bit new. As the game releases more and more agents, I’m sure you notice that our Tier lists have grown larger and larger. Rather than covering every single agent, we’re just going to be talking about the ones that are new in the meta to save you guys a little bit of time, as well as save us a bit of sanity.

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Introduction to the Duelist Role

So, with that said, let’s get into it. Starting out with the Duelist role, the two Duelists that have always remained on top have been Jett and Raze. You may have expected the changes in patch 8.11 to mix this up, but guess again.

Why Jett and Raze Remain on Top

You see, the problem is that these guys entry differently from any other Duelist, making them basically irreplaceable. Now, this doesn’t mean that we aren’t seeing anything new, but I want to emphasize that these guys are still on top. By on top, I mean being played in about 90% of pro comps. These guys have been on top for quite a while now, so if you’re really looking for a Duelist to master, they are a really safe pick.

Neon in the Current Meta

After the Neon changes, you’re actually seeing a few teams choose to rock Neon on select maps. Now, one of the maps that they’re opting to use Neon for is actually Split, which is not currently in our rotation, so who cares? But they also really seem to like Neon on Sunset when paired with some sort of flash initiator, mainly Breach and KAY/O. A good Neon could be really scary. Her slide changes are actually pretty nuts, and if you’re able to clear that choke point without getting traded instantly, you can do some crazy things.

Challenges for Neon Players

One of the issues that many Neon players may encounter, though, is that because she’s so fast, it’s really easy to outpace your team. So, if you plan on playing Neon, just try to stay close and play off of your team’s utility.

Yoru’s Role in the Meta

Another Duelist that has been dipping their toes into the meta is actually Yoru.

New Map Rotation

A couple of teams have been trying out Yoru on Haven, which, as a Yoru player myself, makes a ton of sense. There’s a lot of things that really favor him on this map. For starters, there’s a bunch of great locations for him to TP onto site, providing him cover, and his flashes work really well, almost putting an initiator hat on in many situations.

Yoru’s Strengths on Haven

Along with that, he’s also one of the best op agents in the game, and there’s a lot of great sight lines for the operator on Haven. I won’t dwell on it too much, but I do like seeing Yoru, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing more of him as time goes on.

ISO in the Current Meta

Finally, though, the Duelist that you’re all wondering about, ISO, isn’t seeing a crazy amount of pro play, but he is seeing a little bit. Don’t take this as gospel for your ranked games; this guy is still absolutely running people over in ranked. But in pro play, it’s not super drastic. There are ways to deal with ISO’s shield: mollies work well against it, shock darts and paint shells are great, and even just spamming through the corner of walls for chip damage can work well.

ISO’s Impact in Ranked and Pro Play

In ranked, people aren’t nearly as thorough, so his shields can really snowball. But in pro play so far, he has been pretty tame. We will see if that changes over time, and I’ll keep you posted. But for now, Jett and Raze are still king.

Controllers in the Current Meta

As for Controllers, with the addition of Clove, many of you may think that they are on top, but the reality is that Omen and Viper are still the dynamic duo that they always have been. They both have a particularly solid place in the meta for their own reasons. Even with the removal of Breeze, Viper is still very prominent due to her lurk potential and high-level play.

Challenges for Controllers

A major hurdle to overcome is actually the concept of vision denial.

Defensive Strategies on Lotus

So, for example, you’re playing defense on Lotus. What happens when your teammates fight rubble and they don’t see anyone, and then your C player peaks out mound and doesn’t see anyone either? That’s right, you know the attackers essentially have to be in one spot. As an attacker, this kind of sucks.

Viper’s Wall and Information Gathering

Viper‘s wall is so powerful for this reason, though, because now it’s much harder to actually gather this information. The defenders can fight rubble, but is it actually clear, or are the attackers just waiting? Also, it just makes these angles a nightmare to fight in general. These Viper walls are present on pretty much every single map in the game and can really add some spice to your offense, which is a bit of a necessity in high ELO where players will gather information so effectively.

Omen’s Versatility

Omen is a completely different story, though. For Omen, he’s actually great because he’s basically just a duelist-initiator-controller hybrid, quite literally a jack of all trades. He can blind for his teammates, he can smoke for his team, and he can entry with a shrouded step. This agent is literally just insane and basically gives your team the extra dive that they need to get onto site.

Omen’s Role in Team Composition

Although we have both Raze and Jett in the S tier, you’ll rarely run both of them together because Omen will oftentimes pick up that second duelist slot for your team. Once again, these two Controllers are going to be picked around 90% of the time.

Other Controllers in the Meta

Our other Controllers are not played as much, though Harbor is actually going to be placed slightly higher than the others on the list due to his unique use case. While Brimstone, Astra, and Clove could essentially be interchangeable, there’s not really a replacement for what Harbor does. We’re not saying he’s great or that he will be run on every single map, but if you’re looking to secure plants or protect defusers, he’s really good at that, especially when paired with a Gecko or a second controller. Harbor is very powerful.

Initiators’ Role in the Game

Moving into Initiators, this is probably the most healthy role in the game. If we were to place any of the Initiators above the others, we would place Gecko as an S-tier agent for the role. Take that with a grain of salt; all the Initiators are great, but Gecko just brings that extra something to the role that the others don’t.

Gecko’s Unique Strengths

With Wingman being able to plant and defuse the spike safely, it is an absolute game-changer, especially in ranked. Along with this, he has the ability to constantly cycle his utility. Keep in mind, though, although Gecko’s utility is incredible, that doesn’t actually mean alone it’s stronger than the other Initiators in the role.

Comparing Initiators’ Utilities

For example, since Gecko’s flash is destructible, it’s not always going to actually be better than a KAY/O flash, or Wingman might not always be as good as a Fade Prowler. Thrash might not always be as good as… okay, Thrash is pretty freaking good. Aside from Gecko, all of the other Initiators have crafted their own place into the meta.

Map-Specific Initiator Picks

It really depends on what map you’re playing and what you want to go for. Sova is great on maps like Ascent, Fade is great on Sunset and Lotus, and Skye is really good on Bind. It’s genuinely a really healthy role.

Flash Initiators: KAY/O and Breach

The only agents who maybe aren’t as common as the others would be KAY/O and Breach, and that’s saying something because these two still see a lot of play. However, they don’t really see too much play as solo Initiators. They’re more known as flash Initiators because they don’t have any hard info.

Challenges and Pairings

It can be easy to abuse one-and-done corners against these guys since your team has limited ways of clearing them. So oftentimes, you’ll see these guys run with one of the other Initiators that provides slightly better information. As mentioned earlier, these guys also pair really well with dive Duelists such as Raze, Neon, and Jett.

Sentinels: Cypher’s Dominance

Finally, for the Sentinel role, there is one that has reigned supreme for a few acts now, and that’s going to be Cypher. He’s all around one of the best Sentinels in the game. Contrary to what many might believe, he’s mostly about information rather than stalling.

Cypher’s Information Advantage

Sure, in ranked, you may get a bunch of kills off of your tripwires, but the higher that you climb, the better teams get at dealing with them. The really great thing about Cypher is that he has two tripwires and his camera that are both able to provide global information across the map. Considering Killjoy’s range lock, this really gives Cypher an edge that no other Sentinel has, making him the premier choice for your Sentinel.