VALORANT Sage Guide – Ice walls, Ice walls everywhere

Want to give Valorant’s Ice queen a try, or do you simply want to climb the ladder by taking matters into your own hands? Then the Chinese sentinel Sage is the right choice for you.

Sage Valorant

This Valorant Sage guide is going to give you the necessary information on how to use Sage in Valorant and get you going.

Many people refer to Sage as “the healer” but she is much more than that. Her kit is quite easy to use for the average player but very complex when it comes down to squeezing out its full potential. Due to the vast variety of utility she provides, she’s a great asset to any team comp.

Sage VALORANT Skills explained and explored in depth

Sage is not one for selfish and aggressive players since she specialises in providing support for her team. From securing down certain parts of the map, to raising her teammates from the dead, Sage is the ultimate support Agent.

(C) Barrier Orb

  • Cost: 400
  • Duration: 30s
  • Health: 800 per segment

Sage equips a barrier orb which allows her to place down a solid wall of ice. Once you equip the orb, you can rotate it any way you please. Sage’s Barrier in itself has 4 separate segments (aka squares) that can be broken individually. With that in mind, blocking off pathways in certain angles can require the enemy to destroy 2 or more squares to get through. This is one of the Valorant Sage tricks that you’ll need to learn to become a master.

Most commonly, Sage’s barrier is used to block off certain pathways, delaying or even completely discouraging the enemy from passing through. And more often than not, it does a great job doing so. No matter if you’re defending and want to protect a site entrance or if you’re blocking off a flank when attacking, her Barrier is one of the strongest pieces of utility in the game.

Sage Haven Wall

The most difficult but also arguably most important way of using your Barrier is to raise yourself and teammates onto better positions. You’ll be able to surprise enemies from angles they would never expect. Even though it takes a lot of practice to master using your Barrier this way, it’s more than rewarding once you do. As previously mentioned, her Barrier is quite pricey, so if you’re not sure on where to cast, it’s better to save it for defensive purposes.

Here’s a few God Tier wall placements for you to make use of.

  • Whenever you’re playing on Ascent, don’t miss out on the chance to exploit this powerful wall placement when attacking B site. Simply jumping on the big box in B Main and lifting yourself up to the windows will provide you with clutch worthy angles!
  • When playing on the map Haven, the greatest way to prevent enemies from entering Garage is by placing your Barrier as shown in the picture above. If you rotate your wall like this, the enemies are forced to destroy not one, but two segments to be able to get in. In most cases, the enemy won’t be bothered to go through that trouble, but even if they do, they will be wasting quite a lot of time.

Sage Ascent

One of the best ways to utilise your wall is for a good post-plant spike protection. Planting the spike at the edge of a site and then blocking it off with your Barrier will give your enemies a headache when trying to retake. This type of wall allows you to back away and watch the spike from a safe distance. In addition, you can use your Slow Orb to slow your enemies coming from other sides.

Sage massively synergizes with the likes of Killjoy and Omen. On defense, Killjoy and Sage blend a mix of utility, boosted players and turrets to completely nullify any entry attempt. With Omen, Sage can create god boosts for Omen to get on top of and absolutely out-angle the competition.

(Q) Slow Orb

  • Cost: 200
  • Duration: 7s
  • Movement slow: 50%
  • Jump height reduction: 30%

You equip an Orb which you can throw in any direction. The orb, upon hitting the ground, shatters and creates a lingering field that slows all players in its area of effect. While looking at the entirety of her kit, Sage’s Slow Orb is her most underestimated ability. And while it is true that her ultimate and wall are the crucial part to every good Valorant Sage gameplay, her Slow Orb can also have a detrimental effect if put to good use.

Slow Orb is perhaps one of the best tools for delaying attacks, especially in combination with her Barrier. Enemies can walk through it, but if they choose to do so, it will take them a long time, all whilst making them easy targets for you to put down. You can even stack one Slow Orb on top of another for a longer-lasting effect. Casting destructive abilities (such as Brimstone’s Orbital Strike or Raze’s Showstopper) on top of your enemies caught in its effect will certainly bring tears to your enemies eyes.

Her Slow Orb can bounce off walls and doesn’t activate until it comes into contact with the ground. This allows you to both throw it from great distances with line ups and slow the enemy without having to expose yourself to them. It’s great after blocking off the spike post-plant and slowing enemies reaching to it.

Sage Post Plant

(E) Heal Orb

  • Duration: 5s for allies, 10s on self
  • Heal speed: 12HP/s for allies, 6HP/s for self
  • Heal pause on hit: 2s
  • Amount healed: 60HP
  • Cooldown: 45s

Sage equips a healing orb. You can use your orb to heal a teammate by pressing Primary Fire or to heal yourself by pressing Secondary Fire. Healing a teammate requires you to have a direct line of sight, and it heals them for a total amount of 60HP over some time. Once under the effect of Sage’s Heal Orb, taking damage will briefly stop its effect. Sage is the only agent that’s able to heal both herself and teammates, making it so that you don’t have to rely on others to provide aid if you’re in need.

When it comes to healing others, don’t act without thinking. For example, if you see a fellow Phoenix down to half HP, don’t instantly rush to his aid since he’s able to heal himself. Always prioritise allies that aren’t capable of restoring their HP on their own.

As with any healing ability, it’s a great addition and provides a lot of support for any team. One of the most helpful Valorant Sage tips is to heal with caution. If you’re ever in a 1v1 fight with the enemy and take a few bullets, healing yourself right away might not always be such a good idea. The time it takes for you to equip and cast your Heal Orb is enough time for your enemy to take you down while you’re weaponless. So unless you’re able to take cover and safely heal, take your chances!

Key note: Heals wont keep ticking if you are in combat, always use your heal after your duel is over.

(X) Resurrection

  • Cost: 8 ultimate points
  • Total animation duration: 3.3s
  • Invulnerability duration: 2s
  • Vulnerability duration: 1.3s

When equipping Sage’s Resurrection ability, you can walk to a dead teammate’s body and resurrect them. After a brief channel animation, your ally will be brought back to life with full HP, ready to fight again!

Sage’s Resurrection is the strongest Ultimate in the game. This ability alone, can shape the outcome of any round and is the reason why Sage is a must-have in almost every game. Sage, to this day, is considered to be one of the strongest Agents solely due to her ability to bring the dead back to life. One could argue that even if you take out all of her other abilities, she’d still be one of the strongest Agents due to her ultimate being so strong.

Keep in mind to be careful when wanting to use your ultimate. Considering that Sage is a vulnerable target while casting her ultimate, and your teammate is vulnerable for a brief moment after being resurrected, ulting out in the open is a one way ticket to a double kill for the enemy.

Once you’re certain that no enemies are close before you begin to resurrect, always make sure to either block off enemies by using your Barrier or resurrect enemies whose corpses are away from the enemies line of sight. Alternatively, you can use your resurrect to bait enemies into revealing their position and peek to win the duel.

Stand tall, you are VALORANT

To become a god-like Sage player, you’ll need to invest a lot of time learning how to maximise her utility. But for the average player who wants to safely climb up the ladder, Sage is the ultimate pick. While she seems quite straight-forward at first glance, the radiant monk Sage is more intriguing than she looks.

In her own words; Sage is both a shield and a sword in any team comp. This Valorant Sage guide provides sufficient tips and tricks, but it’s up to you to pick up both and take matters into your own hands !