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Controllers have always had a very niche utility in Valorant. While the Controller meta has been heavily dominated by Viper and Brimstone all this while, the arrival of Harbor has changed all of that.
Armed with abilities that are more or less driven by water, Harbor is one of the very few elemental agents in the game. Hailing from India, this agent, also known as Varun Batra, has a relic attached to his arm.
This relic allows him to control water, letting him bend the element to his will. Not only that, his abilities come with additional buffs as well. Some are bulletproof while others can concuss targets while blocking their views as well.
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That said, here's a quick rundown of how players can effectively use this Agent on Bind, a very popular map in Valorant.
How to use Harbor's abilities effectively on Bind in Valorant?
As mentioned above, Harbor's water-based abilities can add some unique status effects to enemies caught within their radius. Given that Bind is a very compact map, in the right hands, this Indian agent can be a dominating force.
Unlike Viper, Harbor's abilities don't damage enemies. However, they provide excellent cover that can be used to effectively push into sites, either while attacking or while retaking a site from the enemy.
Cove
What is a Controller without the ability to throw smoke? Well technically, the Cove ability behaves like a smoke charge in Valorant, but it's just a bubble of water. However, this bubble of water is bullet proof. While an agent's ability can easily pass through it, bullets can't.
Under normal circumstances, this ability lasts for 15 seconds. Under fire, however, this duration is heavily reduced. Either way, it can be used to create one-ways. Players can use it to block off the B-Window, the entry into the B-Site from the Garden or from the B-Hall. Alternatively, it could also be used to block off entry into A-Site from Baths.
High Tide
This is Harbor's signature ability in Valorant. Much similar to Viper's wall, High Tide can be cast in a straight line, making it a very simple barrier. However, players can also curve the wall by holding down the fire button and dragging it in any direction they wish to. This gives players the ability to cordon off more angles, making it difficult for enemies to push into sites.
This ability lasts for 15 seconds and has a cool down of 40 seconds before it can be used again. The ability to bend this wall in obnoxious directions makes it quite efficient and deadly since it can be used to set up some nice ambush spots.
Players can use this wall to block off both entries from B-Garden and B-Window. While this is a very basic usage of this ability, there's no stopping Harbor from getting creative while deploying this huge wall of water.
Cascade
Cascade is a weird combination between Sage's Wall and Slow Orb. Unlike the Wall, which is static, the water wall created through Cascade can travel a short distance while phasing through structures on the map. Players can also stop this wall at their will by pressing the key used to trigger the ability in the first place.
B-Site on Bind is a lovely place to get creative while using Cascade. Alternatively, players can also use this ability to block off A-Tower, which is a very popular sniping spot. Although this ability lasts for five Seconds, anyone who comes into contact with this wall of water is slowed down for a short period of time.
Reckoning
Reckoning is Harbor's ultimate ability. It requires seven points for a full charge. Similar to Cascade ability, the Reckoning ability can also travel forward in a straight line. While its direction cannot be altered in any way, it does have some interesting effects.
Overall, this ability has a huge area of effect radius. Anyone caught within this radius gets hit with continuous blasts of water that concusses them and impairs their weapons' rate of fire. Moreover, a plume is also formed over their heads that indicates the position of the enemies hit with this ability.
Reckoning isn't technically line-up dependent because it has a huge area of effect, making it a very deadly ultimate ability in Valorant.
In summary, Harbor is probably one of the best agents in the game. Some might even call him broken, as it is with every new agent in Valorant when they're released. But then, the learning curve for Harbor is high and many might find it difficult to use or even consider it to be very weak.
Having said that, players can get really creative with Harbor, unlike most agents in Valorant. Given the nature of his abilities, he can be quite deadly when used in combination with agents like Neon and Phoenix. In fact, there's some feeling of brotherhood between this Indian hotshot and the cool kid from Britain as seen in the voice lines.
It has barely been a week since Harbor came to Valorant. As the days progress, players will keep figuring out newer and better ways to effectively use this character.
