Remember when KAY/O first got released and people were overreacting to his suppression dagger? Players were constantly @'ing developers on Twitter asking for nerfs and counterplay to his suppress ability. Everyone thought KAY/O would redefine the meta and that he'd be an insta-pick in both matchmaking and in professional play. Yet here we are, an agent that rivals Yoru (normally seen as a troll pick) in winrate % and pick %. I wanna put forward a few theories as to why this is the case, because it isn't immediately obvious why he struggles so much as his kit seems overall pretty solid, in theory...

​

ZERO/POINT (E):

This ability suppresses anyone caught in the radius for 8 seconds. It can be destroyed, however a good KAY/O will almost always throw it in places where it is difficult/impossible to do as the suppression effect goes through walls. What makes this ability shine is the info it gives, knowing that you suppressed the Cypher/KJ defending a site gives you such a precious opening to take advantage of as that player is now completely stripped of his defences.

Personally, I think this dagger is primarily good on defence for two purposes: 1- His dagger can give foolproof info on an area. Memorise a good place to throw it that can't be broken and you'll clear an area with 100% certainty on who is and isn't there, allowing you to take early space. 2- If you expect a 5-man rush, especially one with a lot of Ults (Raze/KJ/Jett), the dagger is incredible at bringing that rush to a stop as you suppress 5 people in a small area so now they can't properly execute and they lose their window of timing before defensive rotations arrive.

I personally struggle to get consistent value out of his dagger on attack, the only time where I feel like it gives real meaningful impact is when I either suppress a KJ/Cypher or I happen to reveal a lot of enemies in one area giving away a gamble stack from the opponents. Normally I'd end up suppressing one person maybe two. How much does that really do for my team? It gives extremely general info on the whereabouts of that person, and the suppression effect doesn't magically make them unable to aim or anything, they can still fight back just fine, especially when getting supported by distant allies like smokes from across the map. When compared to something like a Sova arrow, the value you get from it on attack is not even close.

What I'd do to buff this ability (this buff mainly impact attacking rounds where opponent positional info is more important). Any players caught within the radius who is in direct Line of Sight with the dagger will have their exact position revealed on the map (no wallhacks like Sova). This means that if you get suppressed from behind a wall, your exact location will NOT be revealed, however if the dagger sees you directly, it will reveal your exact position on the map. Keep in mind, for KAY/O's to make use of such a mechanic, they will have to throw more risky daggers that have the potential to be broken, instead of throwing the hidden ones. This adds a nice risk/reward dynamic to the ability where the user chooses to either throw a safe arrow or a "breakable" arrow, in hope of getting more detailed info. I think such a change is fair and healthy for the agent.

​

FLASH/DRIVE (Q):

Honestly, this ability is in a really good state after the recent buffs Riot made to the audio and glow timer. The flash is now much harder to dodge and is of a similar strength to flashes from rival agents like Skye and Breach. I wouldn't change much about this ability. So well done to Riot for balancing them appropriately.

​

FRAG/MENT (C):

It's basically a molly/grenade hybrid with the familiar throw trajectory as a Killjoy molly and Viper smoke orb. As a Killjoy main, this was amazing as all my attacking lineups that clear corners were the same. The best way to use this ability is to clear areas of the map and throw it where you expect people to swing you from, it's not a particularly good stalling ability because it doesn't last very long (~5s). Similar to a Phoenix molly. It's nice because it deals damage in pulses so you'll always deal a decent amount of damage, even if the enemy touches it for a very brief moment where they'd barely take like 10 damage with any other molly. I don't think this ability is particularly weak or strong, it just serves its purpose, nothing fancy. I just wish the LoS requirement wasn't a thing and that it dealt damage through walls like other agent's mollies. It doesn't stand out enough in its attributes so it seems rather unecessary for it to be differentiated in this way, just makes it more inconsistent near slightly elevated areas of the map (Logs in Haven C site for example). I could see this being removed as a future buff.

​

NULL/CMD (ULT):

His Ult is pretty damn good for rushes and executes, it basically forces the other team to play retake since there isn't much they can do to fight back. No one can throw mollies, grenades, flashes at you, so as long as your team uses their utility well, you should have a straightforwards site-take. Interesting to note though, I do find that I get revived while downed way less frequently than I expected. I thought it would almost be like a Phoenix Ult where you are almost guaranteed to be revived but that doesn't seem to be the case, unless I'm just getting very unlucky (or stupid) with my positioning. This Ult is pretty good, if Riot wanted to buff it, I wouldn't them givng him a similar effect to Reyna Ult where enemies are highlighted and faster animations of reload, gun pull-out, grenade throw, flash throw etc...KAY/O would feel amazing with quickened animations in his Ult. Food for thought.

​

I hope this post gains enough traction so that Riot devs see this feedback, perhaps it is valuable to them. Of course some of what I say is just my opinion and the devs may have differing ones, but it may give them a fresh perspective on some areas. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!