How to Use One-Way Smokes in Valorant: Explained

Valorant is a shooting-based game and being able to shoot at opponents while their vision is blocked makes it all easier. One-way smokes create a situation where one can see the other player but not vice-versa as they work like a one-way glass. Even though we have just five controllers in Valorant, namely Brimstone, Omen, Viper, Astra, and Harbor, one way can also be created by agents like Jett with her cloudburst and Cypher with his cages.

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How To Use One-Way Smokes in Valorant

The use of one-way smoke requires careful positioning. A player should keep their distance from the smoke as a general rule. You won't get any information by standing directly near your smoke because it will probably be covering your vision. Instead, take a position far from the smoke so you can catch any enemies that dare to hide there.

On the other hand, the smoke should completely block the view of your opponents, forcing them to travel through it. One-way smoke works best when used in areas where enemies can't stand far behind it. It's not always necessary to cut off your opponent's whole field of vision. You can see your opponent's feet before he can move around the smoke by positioning one in a corner. Before the fight begins, you have a much quicker reaction time.

The agents that can create a one-way smoke kind-of situation are:

• Omen
• Brimstone
• Viper
• Astra
• Cypher
• Jett

Jett as a duelist can still create one-way situations by throwing her smoke in the air at the entry points as the opponent's vision gets stuck in the white colored cloud bursts while exposing their feet.

Omen used to have the best one-way smokes as he could put up his smokes in the middle of any wall and surface until he got nerfed in Valorant Patch 6.0. This implies that one-way smokes, which are typically placed over walls or other structures, can no longer be placed at crucial choke points.

Harbor, being a controller, can still not be used to create effective one ways as the design of Harbor's Cove (Q) prevents bullets from going through it initially until it is destroyed. However, you will still be able to see the opponent's lower body providing you the chance to land some strikes with a few leg shots.

Viper will have to throw Poison Cloud, essentially serving as a projectile. Having stated that, to perform one-way smokes for Viper, one must learn a variety of poison orb lineups to land perfectly on the narrow ledges. In the same way, Cypher's ability, Cyber Cage, can be used. When activated, it grows into a cylinder-shaped cloud of greyish-white smoke, obstructing vision and making noise when enemies go through it. Players can attempt to learn one-way lineups to quickly kill opponents that risk getting behind your one-way, as well as to match it with Cypher's tripwire.