Kairi “Valkyrie” Imahara is the next legend to join the Apex Games and the skies belong to her. Valkyrie is armed with her VTOL Jets, her Missile Swarm, and a high-powered jetpack that lets her reach great heights almost immediately.
Movement is a deadly weapon in Apex Legends and Valkyrie has a lot of it. Her VTOL Jets let her hover in the air and easily reach most high grounds in the game. It’s the essence of her character and the cornerstone of her kit. But it’s far from being her only weapon.
Related: Valkyrie offers a change of pace to Apex Legends, jetpacking her way into Legacy with a chip on her shoulders
Here’s what you need to know to play Valkyrie.
Passive: VTOL Jets
Valkyrie’s passive, VTOL Jets, allows her to fly into the air and is extremely handy for reaching ledges, vantage points, or even just repositioning. It’s a versatile ability that lets players travel long distances and can function as a short-range dash—as well as everything in between.
Activating the VTOL Jets gives Valkyrie a small forward speed boost when she engages her jetpacks and she’ll continue to fly at that velocity until players cancel her animation or she runs out of fuel. Her tank fills up gradually after a cooldown and reusing the ability resets the delay until it starts charging.
Valkyrie’s flight pattern is fairly predictable and she’s not extremely fast, so enemies can still shoot her in the air. Holding down the aim down sights button will take away the vertical velocity and make Valkyrie hover in a straight line, which helps control her direction.
As a balancing tool, she can’t shoot while using her passive and there’s a short animation after deactivating it that prevents the legend from drawing her weapons for a small window of time.
Valkyrie can activate her passive a few times in quick succession at the expense of extra fuel consumption. This allows her to cover short distances and feels like a mini-dash or a double jump of sorts. Players can use the technique to quickly hop onto a nearby roof mid-combat, for instance, and resume fighting from an elevated position.
It’s possible to make a long retreat with Valkyrie, but it will likely require evasive maneuvers. There’s no cover in the air, so she’s vulnerable while flying. In combat, players will more likely than not use her VTOL Jets to gain the high ground or to make a quick dash, but the ability offers her great value outside of a fight.
Her passive can be used nearly in any situation as long as there’s fuel, but the quick speed boost when activating it also cancels any previous momentum. Using that tactical right after taking an Octane jump pad can let her quickly change directions but will negate any previous speed boosts from the leap. Players will have to decide between using her passive or carrying her momentum, according to content creator Mokeysniper.
Don’t expect Valkyrie to play like Pharah from Overwatch, though. A good Pharah can stay in the air almost indefinitely, but Valkyrie doesn’t have that luxury. The new legend can’t shoot while hovering either, but she can use her tactical.
Tactical: Missile Swarm
Valkyrie’s suit contains a battery of missiles that can unleash an explosive salvo on enemies as her tactical ability—and it comes in handy with her kit. Although she can’t shoot while in the air, she can use her missiles, which creates room for valuable plays with her.
Activating her tactical throws a barrage of 12 missiles in a four-by-three square, which hit the area after a small delay (roughly two seconds). It deals around 25 damage and stuns enemies caught in the blast. Players can hold their tactical button to show a grid of where the rockets will land or quickly press it when in a hurry.
The rockets can serve as a zoning tool when pushing or used to slow down enemies in a chase. They’ll lock onto the target area after being fired, so a good Valkyrie can use her tactical, shoot the missiles, then reactivate it to fly away while the rockets do their job.
It’s possible to use Valkyrie’s tactical while on the ground and it can hit enemies hidden behind low cover, such as a rock and even Rampart walls. Activating the ability while in the air will grant a better line of sight but it comes with its share of risk.
Valkyrie’s tactical is a significant part of her kit and adds some offense to her arsenal. Her ultimate doesn’t follow the same vein, though, and won’t deal any direct damage to enemies. But it can be a useful tool for repositioning.
Ultimate: Skyward Dive
Her ultimate ability is essentially a portable redeploy balloon for Valkyrie and her squad. Skyward Dive locks Valkyrie into a takeoff animation and fellow legends can join the launch. Triggering the ability again sends the team high into the air and lets them skydive, like a jump tower.
Though it might be tricky to pull this off during combat (at least without some good cover), Skyward Dive can be a good escape tool in the right circumstances. Outside of combat, it works as a great rotation tool—even better with an added passive.
While skydiving—after using Skyward Dive, taking a redeploy balloon, or even jumping from the dropship—Valkyrie will highlight nearby enemies inside her field of view and within a certain distance. This tool comes in handy to know if there are any enemy squads when rotating through the air.
Class: Recon
Valkyrie is a member of the Recon class, which means she can scan survey beacons to find out the location of the enemy. The category works well with her kit. The VTOL Jets let her easily reach any survey beacon in the arena and she can use that information to reposition and rotate based on the ring location by using Skyward Dive.
How to play Valkyrie: Tips and tricks
Valkyrie is a versatile legend. Players can use her more aggressively and take advantage of her flight to make short dashes or hop in and out of cover, for instance, and apply pressure to enemies with her Missile Swarm. Valkyrie can also use her jetpacks to pursue a running foe, especially if they try to climb or grapple their way to safety.
A more defensive approach, however, lets Valk use her missiles to hold off an enemy squad and her jetpacks to keep the enemy at bay while outmaneuvering them around cover.
Regardless of your preferred playstyle, Valkyrie can benefit from a series of tricks. Quickly toggling her passive to get a double jump or a speed boost may be the most common of them, but players should also take advantage of her tactical. Missile Swarm won’t be her main source of damage, but it’s a good complement to an assault—whether it’s used to pin enemies down or to open an engagement with a stun.
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