The title here may be a bit misleading, so we’re going to clarify; this isn’t the Ultimate VALORANT tier list, it’s the tier list of ults in VALORANT! We’re going to work down from the top to the bottom, starting with the best of the best and moving down until… well, the rest.

S Tier

Phoenix’s Run It Back

Starting off at the top of the tier list is the blazing Brit himself, Phoenix. Run It Back is an incredibly powerful ultimate, as the benefit of an extra life that can be abused without any repercussions in a round simply cannot be overstated. That 10-second window before earning a respawn with full health and the remaining armor you had when you started the ult, all for the price of 6 ult orbs, is just too good to overlook.

KAY/O’s NULL/cmd

The next best ultimate in VALORANT currently belongs with KAY/O. His Null/cmd ability is able to suppress any enemy abilities in an absolutely massive area, which effectively leaves them without any utility. It’s particularly useful against sentinels such as Killjoy or Cypher who’d be entrenched behind an elaborate setup, or even against a Chamber or Jett ult who would be left nearly weaponless. It’s even more impressive when you factor in that if he’s killed while the ult is active, he’s in a downed but not out state for 15 seconds, leaving the door open for a second chance.

Killjoy’s Lockdown

This ability takes the third spot in our S tier section, having recently been improved when Riot removed the ability to destroy the ult with Breach’s Aftershock. KJ has cemented her place as a strong and easy-to-use sentinel who can make a big impact in matches. With the threat of detaining anyone in a 32 meter-radius for 10 entire seconds, the Lockdown can often guarantee a completely cleared-out site, leaving it wide open for your teammates to take over. If the opponents don’t have specific counter-ults available, you’re going to be in good shape.

A Tier

Brimstone’s Orbital Strike

Kicking off the A tier with our favorite Sergeant at the top, Brim’s ult Orbital Strike deals out damage to any enemies within a 9-meter radius. It’s an extremely powerful way to clear out angles, punish defusers, or downright counter Phoenix, Sage, and Killjoy ults. It just missed out on moving up the tier list as it doesn’t quite have that extreme round-deciding capability that some of the S tier ults have, but even so, Brim is at the top of A tier for a good reason.

Breach’s Rolling Thunder

Moving down the list, we have Breach’s Rolling Thunder, which is a great space-clearing tool that stuns any enemies caught within its huge area of effect for 6 seconds. It’s best used for taking and retaking sites in conjunction with a fast-moving dive agent. This one would be higher on the list, but it doesn’t leave opponents as exposed as KJ’s ult, and that 6 seconds can fly by pretty quickly if your teammates aren’t ready to capitalize. Nevertheless, it’s locked in for the A tier because it still offers a great deal of playmaking potential.

Fade’s Nightfall

Coming in the third slot of the A tier is Fade’s Nightfall, which is similar to Breach’s ult, but with opponents affected by it leaving trails leading to them, them becoming deafened and decayed. It features a combination of info-denying ability for the opponents, with information gained for your teammates. Fade can then send out prowlers which automatically lock on to the trails to near sight the enemies as well, making it an all in all solid ult.

Viper’s Pit

This ult has the ability to completely shut down a section of the map, leaving anyone on the rival team who finds themselves in the cloud watching as their health ticks down slowly to 1hp, with severely reduced vision. You’re able to stop players from getting too comfortable entering a site whether it’s on offense or as a retaking defense. If it wasn’t so easy to chase Viper out of position, this one might have been higher on the tier list.

Jett’s Blade Storm

Jett’s ultimate is definitely one of the most powerful weapon substitutions in all of VALORANT. Blade Storm gives Jett 5 knives that replenish on each successful kill, with no penalty to movement at all. This means Jett can be flying, jumping, or running and remain deadly accurate, and when a single headshot with a blade deals a full 150 damage, this one can be so devastating. This one sits lower on the tier list as it’s not exactly a team-oriented ability, and it’s going to require a good deal of accuracy to use effectively.

Yoru’s Dimensional Drift

Rounding out the A tier is Dimensional Drift, an ult that has a lot of potential in both individual play and team play. It serves as an extremely powerful drone, as you’re able to run around for 12 seconds completely invulnerable while flashing enemies at will. Yoru can also pop out of the ult at any time, enabling him to reposition as he pleases, though it does come with a loud audio cue for enemies. You can help your teammates out with some recon to open up sites, or you can be a little selfish and use it to secure an unexpected opening pick without much risk.

B Tier

Sova’s Hunter’s Fury

As we move down to the B tier, we start off this section with Sova’s Hunter’s Fury. This is a great way to secure an opening pick off of Sova’s info or clear out corners where enemies can be lurking or setting up ambushes. However, it missed out on sitting higher on the tier list because it’s fairly easy to avoid if you’re a good enough player, and it doesn’t impact the round significantly outside of some post-plant scenarios. Don’t get us wrong, Hunter’s Fury is still solid, and it fits well here in the B tier.

Gekko’s Thrash

One of VALORANT’s recent additions, Gekko came in with his fast-moving, controllable fish Thrash which offers incredible recon utility. It can render enemies helpless, but it’s fairly easy to shoot down as it has just 200 health and it can be difficult to follow up on given that opponents will usually step up to cover the player you used it on. This one may have actually been lower on the tier list, had it not been usable twice in the round if you’re able to pick it back up.

Skye’s Seekers

Next up in B tier is Skye’s Seekers, which features three cabbage jellyfish… things… that lock onto the three closest enemies and travel directly to them. Upon reaching their targets, they stun and near sight your opponents, making them easy pickings. The Seekers do suffer a similar fate as Thrash, as they have low HP and are easy to break, and even then, they’re not terribly useful for taking sites. They really serve a better purpose being used midround to gather some intel.

Raze’s Showstopper

This one comes in the middle of the B tier for a few good reasons. While it can be a great way to fly in and grab that opening frag, the damage from it can be quite inconsistent and we’ve found ourselves wondering how we didn’t finish off that player that we seemed to hit dead on.

Cypher’s Neural Theft

Next on our B tier list is Cypher’s ult, which is functionally similar to Skye’s Seekers, except it grabs information on all opponents’ exact location regardless of where they’re at. This one joins Skye in the B tier since it has the same function of finding enemies mid-round, but it lacks the stunning, near-sighting effect which places it lower on the list. It’s useful in the right situations, but outside of those, it lacks impact.

Harbor’s Reckoning

Our final entry on the B tier is Harbor’s ultimate, which is one of those site-clearing ults on paper, but its lacks that punch that you see from Breach or Fade. The stuns are much easier to avoid, and the information is hard to process in the midst of a site take. It can still push opponents out of corners and into the open, but it’s not quite as menacing as it should be.

C Tier

Neon’s Overdrive

Neon sits at the top of the C tier with her Overdrive ult, which serves as another one of the weapon replacements in VALORANT, and it has no horizontal movement penalty. Neon is sprinting the entire time that it’s active, which means she’s moving faster than normal which makes her a harder target to get a lock on or hit. Despite that, high-ranked players will normally have little to no issue picking off Neon mid-ult and shutting this one down in her tracks. When you also consider that her ult has a high time to kill and significant damage drop-off, it’s a C tier lock for the rapid renegade.

Sage’s Resurrection

The location of this choice may come as a surprise to some of you, but Sage’s Resurrection is next up in our C tier list section. On paper, it’s a no-brainer really. You can bring a dead teammate back into the round, what can really be better than that? In practice, however, it doesn’t quite work out that way most of the time. Teammates that get revived are completely vulnerable for a few seconds, and the fact that they died in the first place often means that they’re in a dangerous position. With this one costing 8 ultimate orbs, it’s just not quite worth the price of admission.

Chamber’s Tour De Force

This ultimate is going to be pretty recognizable, it’s Chamber’s Tour De Force, which in practice is essentially just a free Operator that also slows the area where the victim lands. Beyond that, there isn’t a whole lot more to this ult. It’s dropped down from S all the way to C on the tier list since the fire rate nerf has really hit Chamber like a ton of bricks. This is a great ult to use to save some money, and it’s a good weapon to have, but other than that it doesn’t get enough value for the team to justify moving it up the list.

Astra’s Cosmic Divide

Our last entry in the C tier is Astra’s Cosmic Divide. This is the only real teammate ult this far down the tier list and that’s for a good reason. Cosmic Divide is a large wall that can’t be shot through, it muffles sound and extends indefinitely in both directions. On the right map, this can be an extremely powerful ult, but the niche use means it doesn’t warrant a higher placement despite its occasional round-winning potential.

D Tier

Omen’s From the Shadows

All the way down here in the D tier, we start off with Omen and his ult From the Shadows, which gives him the ability to teleport anywhere on the map. The problem, however, is the sound cue that gives away his position along with the long loading-in period, in which Omen can be shot to cancel the ult. This means that Omen’s are rarely able to teleport anywhere without the enemy having exact knowledge of Omen’s whereabouts. His only saving grace is the fact that he can pick up the bomb from anywhere on the map, but for an ult ability that can only be used every few rounds, that benefit just isn’t good enough to move upward.

Reyna’s Empress

Finally, our last entry and the bottom run of the tier list, Reyna’s Empress. This gives Reyna the ability to heal and dismiss after each kill, along with a faster firing rate. The ultimate really doesn’t aid Reyna mains in dropping opponents, so much as it supplements some already solid gameplay by adding another reward to kills. Even so, getting value out of this ult to the point where you can say it secured a round would really only occur in 1vsX situations, at best. Since this is the only ult where you can be justified in saying it can’t win you rounds or gunfights, Empress sits comfortably at the very bottom of this tier list.