Valorant reveals Omen, its teleporting assassin

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Let's get reaping.

Omen—a mysterious, teleporting assassin—is Valorant's latest character reveal. He's a sneaky fella with a penchant for befuddling enemies by blinding them with shadows. Watch him do his thing above. 

Like a lot of his pals, Omen bears a striking resemblence to one of Overwatch's roster. This time it's Reaper, and it's pretty hard to believe any of this is accidental. It's bold, really, hewing so close to a competitor's design. Generally, Riot seems to be borrowing a lot from Blizzard's playbook, but it's especially overt in Valorant. 

Like Brimstone, who channels Soldier 76, Omen stops short of just being a replica. Sure, he looks like Reaper, and more than one of his abilities evoke Overwatch's biggest edgelord, but there are just enough differences so you can tell them apart.

One of Omen's basic abilities, Shrouded Step, is essentially Reaper's Shadow Step, teleporting him to a marked location after spending a couple of seconds channelling. It's accompanied by a blinding ability, letting you fire a shadow projectile that reduces the vision of anyone it hits. 

Dark Cover is his signature move, and it's like a beefier version of his shadow projectile, letting you create a large sphere of darkness, blinding anyone caught inside it. It'll stick around for a little while, and you've got some control over where it lands. 

His ultimate ability is another teleporting trick, but this time you can select the location from a tactical map. Be careful, though, because enemies can shoot you while you're in your teleporting shade form, cancelling the move. 

For all the details on Valorant's cast of killers, take a gander at our Valorant characters guide.  If you want to play now, your best bet is watching Valorant Twitch streams. Beta keys can drop from any of them. 

Fraser Brown
Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.