Sentinel

Sage: abilities and tips

Sage is Valorant's support Sentinel: she blocks paths with a wall, slows pushes, heals her allies and can resurrect a dead teammate.

Origin: China
Release: June 2, 2020, patch 1.0

Playstyle

Sage plays set back, close to her teammates, and buys time for the team. On defense, you slow pushes with Slow Orb and cut off an access with Barrier Orb to leave time for rotations. On attack, the wall is mostly used to secure the plant or a retake, and to boost yourself onto high positions. You heal the ally who takes the most damage, and your ultimate turns a lost duel into a round that can still be played. You have no damaging abilities: everything rests on your gunplay, so your duels have to be clean.

Abilities

Key CBasic

Barrier Orb

300 credits · 1 charge

You place an ice wall in front of you, which you rotate with alternate fire. It takes a few seconds to strengthen, then blocks bullets, movement and vision. It is used to close a corridor, cut an angle or boost yourself up high.

Key numbers

Wall duration: 40 s
Wall health: 400, then 600 once strengthened
Strengthening: 2 s after placement
Placement range: 15 m

Keep the wall for a key moment (plant, retake, clutch): if it falls at the start of the round, the opponent just waits for it to end.
Place the wall when the enemy is busy elsewhere: it takes 2 s to strengthen and stays fragile before that.

Key QBasic

Slow Orb

200 credits · 2 charges

You throw an orb that bursts on the ground and leaves a field of ice. Players inside move much slower and their dashes are reduced. It is the ideal tool to delay a push or cover a retake.

Key numbers

Field duration: 7 s
Slow: 50%
Also reduces dash speed by 50%

Throw the orb early on a path, before the enemy commits. When fleeing, the field also slows your pursuer, but it rarely saves you.
Combine the field with an ally's shot or a damaging ability to punish the slowed enemies.

Key ESignature

Healing Orb

1 free charge per round · 1 charge · Cooldown: 45 s

You heal a wounded ally by aiming at them, or yourself with alternate fire. The healing happens over time, so it does not replace an immediate response. The ability comes back after 45 seconds, which lets you heal several times per round.

Key numbers

Healing an ally: 100 HP over 5 s
Self-heal: 100 HP since patch 13.00 (50 before)

Heal while you are in cover: the healing is gradual and you should not end up exposed to cast it.
Since patch 13.00, your self-heal is stronger: you can take an opening duel and then get back behind an angle.

Key XUltimate

Resurrection

7 ultimate points

You aim at a dead ally's body to bring them back to life with all their HP. The channel lasts a little over three seconds during which you are vulnerable. The best use comes in a clutch or a retake where every player counts.

Key numbers

Channel: 3.3 s
Range: 12 m (6 m before patch 11.04)
The ally comes back with all their HP

Secure the area before casting: the wall or Slow Orb as cover keep you from being killed during the channel.
Do not resurrect the first dead player out of reflex: wait for a moment where the ally gives back the numbers advantage, for example a 2 versus 1.

Strengths

The wall cuts off an access for 40 s: it blocks bullets and movement, and forces the opponent to look for another path or break it.
Slow Orb halves movement speed and reduces dashes, which delays a push and makes enemies easier to hit.
She is the only one who can resurrect an ally, and her healing restores HP to the team: she can cancel out the loss of a player.
The 100 HP self-heal since patch 13.00 lets you take more risks while staying viable.

Weaknesses

None of her abilities deal damage: if your duels are bad, your team gains almost nothing from your presence.
Experienced players know the classic wall positions and know how to break or bypass it.
The resurrection is visible and audible, it costs time and exposes both Sage and the ally brought back.
The healing is slow and only targets one player at a time: it does not fix a duel that is decided in a few seconds.

Tips

Often be the last to push an angle: you heal and cover the entries rather than taking the first duel.
Place the wall on defense to test a path: if it takes damage, you know the enemy is there.
Keep your crosshair at head height on the angles you hold, and counter-strafe before each shot to be accurate after a move.
Save your resurrection for a situation where it gives back the numbers advantage, not for the first ally who falls.
On a retake, throw Slow Orb in front of the team to slow the defenders, then advance with your allies.

The aim to train

The Road2Radiant benchmark subcategories that matter most here.

Static
Clicking on static targets
Sage holds angles and often finishes her duels on fixed targets: precise flicks matter more than tracking speed.
Drills to improve
Strafe Click
Clicking while strafing
You have to shoot right after a lateral move to take advantage of an angle, then get back to cover.
Drills to improve