VALORANT welcomed Iso in Episode Seven, Act Three via Patch 7.09, stirring up the stale duelist meta for good. The newest Protocol member is, by far, the most unique agent. His kit can feel situational, so I’ve some crucial Iso tips to help you get started.
Assuming you have unlocked Iso already, let’s take a look at each of his abilities and how you can best use them to win your VALORANT games.
How to play Iso in VALORANT
Double Tap will test your aim
Iso’s signature ability is a focus timer, during which you can kill an enemy to generate an energy orb, destroying which will give you a shield that absorbs incoming damage.
But here’s where it gets interesting: while it’s fragile enough to be broken by a bullet from any of the pistols, it can also completely nullify a Raze’s Showstopper or an Operator shot sent toward you. Basically, it can absorb any amount of damage, but just one unit of it.
You can activate a Double Tap charge right before you’re about to expect a duel. Just remember that it’s extremely risky in one-vs-x fights; you can’t be destroying an energy orb when another enemy is shooting at you. When there’s a fight, focus on taking down the enemy. Shoot the orb when you’re not engaging in a fight or if you’re safe behind a cover.
It doesn’t give you a get-out-of-jail card like Reyna’s Dismiss does, but it lets you enjoy a high-absorbing shield for a while—provided you’re careful. Double Tap is all about how quick you are and how accurate you can be; the more precise you are, the more value you’re going to get out of it.
Contingency isn’t as strong as you think
I wasn’t expecting this when I first heard about Iso’s kit, but I’ve found his bullet-bending wall to be extremely situational.
The design is prismatic, meaning it’s angled towards you on both sides. It does block forthcoming bullets, but it seems way too thin for most chokepoints to be used as a vision blocker. To top it off, you can’t stop it, like you can for Harbor’s Cascade.
Not that Contingency is useless; it’s great on tightly spaced maps like Ascent, Bind, Split, and even Haven. You can use it to block a particular angle and focus on the other.
For example, when attacking Ascent’s B Site, I like to send it towards Mid Market and engage with enemies stationed behind the shed and towards Defender Spawn. As a defender retaking B Site, you can send it toward the entrance, and try taking fights against it. You can also send it to the site to block the angle from Boat House.
It’s important you send the wall in a way that blocks the angles you need it to. Contingency moves and dissolves quite fast, so you’d have to time your execution accordingly.
A profound advantage Contingency brings to the game is distraction. Like Harbor’s Cascade, it feels quite uneasy to behold an approaching wall of energy and keep focusing on the other side of it at the same time.
The enemy on the other side of the wall will have to guess your position. While it might be difficult for you as Iso to find value out of, agents like Reyna, Yoru, Chamber, and Jett can use it to quickly secure a kill and flee the scene.
Undercut is Iso’s best ability, hands down
None of Iso’s purchasable abilities provide as much team play as his wall-penetrating molecular bolt does. It applies the Vulnerable effect to anyone caught in its path for four seconds, reducing their health barrier drastically.
For those unaware, vulnerable players absorb twice as much damage from bullets and abilities than non-vulnerable players. You can use it for your solo needs, but combine it with abilities like Sova’s Hunter’s Fury and Shock Bolts, Brimstone’s Orbital Strike and Incendiary, Raze’s Paint Shells and Boom Bot, and your team should get a guaranteed kill. You can literally pair any health-damaging ability with the Undercut to find extra value.
Don’t miss out on the incredible team play opportunity Iso’s Undercut gives you. It’s easy to deploy and covers a long path, perfect for narrow lanes.
Iso’s interdimensional ultimate is a lot more than you think
And then there’s his Kill Contract that pulls the first enemy hit into an interdimensional arena for a one-on-one fight. While the rules are fairly easy to understand, there are a couple of misconceptions surrounding the ultimate that I don’t quite get.
Kill Contract isn’t just for increasing Iso’s kill count. For starters, when you pull an enemy into the arena, they are suppressed for the ultimate’s duration. So in the game’s world, their abilities will be suppressed too.
On attack, your team can use this to counter sentinel setups, or even get a free site. On defense, you can counter a lineup Larry for good. You can also use Kill Contract to delay a Spike plant or defuse, enough for the timer to run out. It’s a great post-plant and plant-denial ability for sure.
I’ve also witnessed players using it to escape unfavorable scenarios, where a full team is rushing on them. You can buy enough time for help to arrive, or you can simply help baffle the enemy team for a while and secure a kill as well if you’re good enough.
Don’t bother Iso for dying in his ultimate; he’s almost as vulnerable as the enemy in there. Instead, the team should use the opportunity—when Iso captures an enemy—to push in and take space. Even if Iso dies, his teammates can always camp at the enemy’s point of resurrection that appears on the ground: an easy knife kill.
Iso isn’t as good at taking space as Jett and Raze, but he has some pretty good strengths a sharpshooter can make use of. If played as he’s supposed to be, he can be a fresh and impactful addition to VALORANT’s duelist roster.
