Everyone wants to play the newest Controller. Image via Riot Games<\/p> <\/div><\/div>
Typically, players instalock popular duelists like Reyna and Jett in ranked play because they obviously have the ability kits to help them top frag. This often left the Controller role open for someone to fill, whether they wanted to or not. Everything has changed with Clove though. Suddenly, everyone is instalocking VALORANT<\/em>\u2019s newest Controller, but not because of their smokes. Rather, many players are picking Clove because they have duelist-like abilities, and are therefore running it down like a Reyna or Phoenix. This becomes an issue when your team needs smokes and your Clove player can\u2019t use them effectively.<\/p>
I\u2019ve played a fair amount of games with teammates who instalock Clove, and there are three big issues I\u2019ve seen so far. The first is they\u2019re not putting down enough smoke because they\u2019re too busy taking fights, leaving the rest of the team exposed to angles that could\u2019ve been smoked off beforehand. Yes, Clove is intended to be more aggressive, but if you die in a bad spot, your post-death smokes are useless\u2014which brings me to my next point.<\/p>
The non-Controller mains who play Clove might not be taking full advantage of their unique post-death smokes. Even if they die in a spot near the rest of their team, it might not be their first instinct to be thinking about where to put down their next smoke. To be fair, it\u2019s easy to forget since Clove is the first-ever agent that can use abilities after dying, but it\u2019s something Controller mains are more likely to be aware of than the duelist mains on Clove.<\/p>
