Gekko Preview and Initial Thoughts
Agent 22, the next VALORANT agent, had a sneak peak before the finals of Lock In.
The new agent is Gekko, an initiator who brings a lot of new mechanics to the table.
We’re going to go over each of Gekko’s abilities and initial thoughts on his kit and where he might fit into the meta.
Check back soon for our full guide soon after his release!
Dizzy – E
The signature ability is a new form of a blind that also doubles as an info gathering tool. Dizzy is tossed out as a slow moving projectile and along its path shoots out plasma at enemies that it sees.
An enemy hit by plasma has their screen covered by the blue plasma Dizzy shoots out for a short duration. The plasma Dizzy shoots out will give information of where an enemy is.
Once landed, Dizzy can be picked up by Gekko to be put on cooldown for 10 seconds. Dizzy can be shot by opposing players.
Wingman – Q
This ability has a lot of uses. It gets information, it concusses, and it can even plant and defuse the spike. Wingman runs out similar to a Boombot, and if he sees enemies, runs at them and delivers a concussive blast.
When carrying the spike, Gekko can use the alt fire mode of Wingman to have it run out with the spike to be planted. The also works on defense where Wingman can diffuse the spike if he is sent out towards a planted spike.
Wingman can be destroyed, but it also can be picked up for another use after a 10 second cooldown.
Mosh Pit – C
A space denying molotov, Mosh covers a large area, but takes a few seconds before the damaging blast is unleashed.
After the wind up time, the blast of damage is immediate.
Thrash – X
The ultimate, Trash combines aspects of Killjoy’s Lockdown and Skye’s Trailblazer.
This ult takes 7 charges to acquire and can be reused once. Thrash is controlled and steered similar to Skye’s Trailblazer, and then if it leaps at enemies it will detain them for a short duration.
The detain works the same as Killjoy’s Lockdown, and a detained player cannot shoot nor use abilities, and moves very slowly.
First Impressions
This kit looks really strong. It has a nice mix of gathering information and tools to take space. Each of these abilities have a wide array of uses, allowing this agent to bring so much to a team. Most of the abilities being able to be picked up again offers an interesting gameplay loop of the abilities being used to take space, and then picking up the ability once that ground is gained. The overall impact of the kit will be dependent on some unknown aspects of it, but upon first glance Gekko looks like he will be a good pick on most maps.
Dizzy having a new form of a blind with plasma on the screen can be quite strong if the ability is not able to be turned like a standard flash. If there is no way to avoid the ability it will be strong for getting the upper hand in fights.
Wingman offers so many uses. It gets information, it can concuss enemies, and its spike interactions add a lot of interesting uses. Without considering the spike, the ability is very similar to a Boombot for taking space and getting information. Its spike use cases more or less gives you an extra player temporarily. As a defender, using Wingman which has a small hit box to tap and defuse the spike will be so strong in those scenarios where attackers are spamming through smokes to kill the diffuser. This is because Wingman will be hard to hit, and the entire team can push the attackers spamming. On attack this will be great for maps such as Icebox where the spike holder essentially volunteers as tribute to plant the spike. This will allow the Sage player to put down a wall and let Wingman do the hard work of planting the spike.
Mosh Pit allows for area denial too. The downside of this ability is the windup time, but it covers a big area and will most likely be utilized like a Breach Aftershock. This ability’s utility will be quite dependent on its damage output. If it can kill an enemy it will be extremely strong for clearing out corners and for post plant. Gekko players will definitely have post plant line ups if it is able to kill the diffuser. Even if it deals 75 damage, it will pair well with a Viper Snakebite, Fade Seize, or Astra Gravity Well due to those making enemies take double damage or decay them.
Thrash will be fairly dependent on if it can be destroyed and the amount of health it has. If the piece of utility takes just a couple shots to be killed, this ult will be prioritized much lower than other agents’. If the ult is tanky or even invincible it will be great in a lot of situations, and essentially will be a good tool to pressure defenders. Even if it is easily destroyable, it will be great for post plant in forcing a player off the spike to shoot Thrash, because they’d otherwise be detained.
Gekko in the Meta
With how much utility Gekko has he’ll definitely be a good pick on most, if not all maps. Gekko seems very reminiscent of Fade’s release in which she was very strong due to how diverse her kit was, and how each component was good at its role. The maps Gekko will be best on will most likely be the ones in which Wingman gets a lot of use for clearing corners, being able to plant spikes in contested areas, and defuse the spike on sites where smoke spamming is common. These types of maps also tend to be post plant heavy, meaning Mosh Pit can get some added value for denying defuses.
Icebox is a map that comes to mind that fits these aspects. Planting and defusing the spike on this map is brutal because most teams are unable to fully take site, leaving the player with the spike on an island. Wingman can take that tough job. On top of that, Mosh Pit is good for this post plant heavy map, and Dizzy can essentially clear over 410 box on A site, and Yellow Box near B site.
The C Sites of Lotus and Haven are two spots where spamming through smokes is a common occurrence in post plants. Dizzy will certainly get a lot of value on Haven with its open sites that have only one box for coverage. Throwing Dizzy over the main site box can clear entire sites. Ascent also has rather few spots for defenders to be playing where Dizzy can clear out most of the area by throwing it through the grates of B main or over the top arch of A main.
In terms of agent synergies with Gekko, Fade seems to be a good pair. Mosh Pit and Seize will most likely be able to combine for a kill, Fade deafening enemies will allow Dizzy to be unnoticed floating over the top of a site or Wingman planting/diffusing a spike. Gekko and Sage will go well together on Icebox for the spike planting reasons mentioned earlier, but also to combine Sage’s Slow Orb with Mosh Pit so enemies won’t have enough time to get out of the blast after the charge time. Harbor’s Cove and Wingman will also be an interesting combination for being able to plant and defuse the spike in a safer manner.
Gekko is missing a true flash, a highlight reveal, and a longer range scouting tool in his kit that will be available every round such as an Owl Drone or Trailblazer. This makes pairing him with Skye or Sova to round out initiator utility makes sense as well.
Hasta Luego
Gekko will be released on March 7th with Act 6 Episode 2, so he will be seen in action very soon.
Check back in for updates on a full Gekko guide, where he fits in best, and how pros are using his unique utility.
