The newest and most versatile controller has entered the fray! Armed with the ability to drop not only smokes but blinds, gravity wells as well as an Ultimate wall that blocks vision, dampens audio cues and, even bullets, Astra is undoubtedly an extremely flexible and tricky character that enables big brain plays to outsmart your enemies.
Despite only possessing supportive abilities, the Afrofuturistic character has Nova pulsed her way into the meta. Astra shines exceptionally bright when working with a team with strong communication and teamwork, as she can easily coordinate pushes and fakes with her rechargeable abilities that reach across the entire map. Furthermore, her ability to use astral form to check for fake defuses and planted spikes, adds a dimension to the post-plant stage of every round.
A screenshot of Ninja using Astra’s gravity well to secure a kill. Credit:Ninja
All bark no bite?
New agents are always hyped-up way beyond their actual usefulness and potential (just look at Yoru), however, Astra truly lives up to the hype, standing out as a controller that fulfils the role of a controller in a similar fashion as Omen and Brimstone (F in the chats for Viper mains) but with more versatility and creativity. This helps to spice up the current duelists centric meta of the game and introduce more team-based strategies. A well-timed gravity well with Killjoy’s nano swarm or Brimstone’s Incendiary for example can prevent an enemy team plant while simultaneously securing a kill. If that doesn’t sound OP, I don’t know what does!
FlowAscending teaming up with an Astra to pull off a Sage wall combo Credit: FlowAscending
To nerf or not to nerf?
So, should Astra be nerfed in the next patch? No way! Astra may have insane versatility and seemingly overpowered abilities but she is balanced by her low mobility and a lack of damaging abilities. In addition, the skill cap of Astra is exceptionally high and requires phenomenal game sense and communication to perform. This means that a solo queue or low-level Astra would be quite detrimental if not useless to the team. All in all, as the 15th agent introduced, Astra is truly a star team player that changes up the game and it is truly exciting to see how pro teams would utilise her unique skillset in the upcoming Valorant Champions Tour.
