1. Cypher is depressingly under appreciated in ranked. Considering 90% of Cypher’s value doesn’t show up on the scoreboard, and his in-game benefits are not blatantly visible to teammates as they would be for example: a Sage Res/Heal or KJ Molly/Ult. This makes it incredibly hard for cypher players to feel appreciated for the things they do. Which leads me to my second point.

2. It’s nearly impossible to be an effective sentinel as cypher with teammates that: A) don’t have comms B) ignore comms or C) acknowledge comms but don’t act on it. His abilities revolve heavily on being able to direct teammates and giving call-outs once information is available. It’s incredibly frustrating when you’re giving call outs for your teammates and them peeking/not peeking a corner and dying. This honestly makes it feel like you’ve just wasted your time trying to warn/pass along information to help your teammates.

3. Cypher is much more helpful when he’s not carrying/planting the bomb. Cypher is way more effective when setting up and making call outs of where the enemies are coming from while the bomb is being planted. This can help your teammates that aren’t planting to properly defend the teammate that is planting. Having cypher use his cam/wires during plant can help the post-plant mayhem of teammates not knowing where to look/be for incoming enemies.

4. Cypher is one of the most complex agents which makes him difficult to use, especially in low-elo. Why? Cypher has a ton of freedom and requires a lot of creativity and outsmarting. Since you need to be constantly thinking of new strategies to outsmart/trick your enemies, it’s almost impossible to have a fixed routine such as a Sage wall or KJ turret at a choke point/entrance. This makes it hard for someone with little game sense to use cyphers utility effectively and not die on every site push. But...

5. Cypher’s creativity and freedom are also his biggest powers. Enemies have to be on constant alert of changes in wire/camera placements and need to move slowly/cautiously when getting on site. This provides you with a few extra seconds to gather info/ get kills off your utility while your teammates rotate to help.

6. Cypher does not need a buff, he needs eco tweaks. His utility is balanced and isn’t overpowered/underpowered BUT having to buy the tripwires/cages every round is detrimental to your eco especially as a lot of setups are done pre-round. This makes it really hard to full buy as often as your teammates. Tripwires are really easy to hear/see if you’re looking out for them and thus easy to destroy; not to mention they can be destroyed by your teammates (@ all the raze mains 😉) Personally I believe if the tripwires don’t catch enemies/aren’t destroyed, you should be able to pick them up and reuse them for the next round. Keeping the cages non-reusable is fine as they function exactly as all the other agents’ smokes.

7. There seems to be a misconception regarding Cyphers and watching flanks. Teammates 99.9% expect to never get flanked if there’s a cypher on the team, and if you are flanked, it’s exclusively cypher’s fault. I’ll explain why this is a pretty terrible mindset to have when there’s a cypher on your team:

A) Characters like Jett, Raze and Yoru can get past Cypher’s trips pretty effortlessly without setting them off. Utility is needed but the positives of flanking an entire team relying solely on trips for flank watch outweighs the negatives of using the utility.

B) While Cypher typically frags far more effectively playing off his utility, having Cypher watch flank near his trips instead of helping on attack reduces the chances of successfully getting onto site.

C) Cypher’s camera can be used to watch flank too, but his camera can be really helpful when getting on site during plant/post-plant as mentioned in point #3.

Point to take away from this is: While Cypher can help reduce the chances of getting flanked, that should not be his sole purpose on the team and you should still be wary of flanks by characters able to bypass his trips.

That’s all I have for now :) I know it’s long but I hope this helps people get a better understanding of Cypher for both people that play him and play with him 🤍 PS. please feel free to add your own opinions/advice, things I might have missed or things you disagree with!

EDIT When referring to the “value” of Cypher or any sentinel which is not being reflected on the scoreboard, I do not mean it in regards to KDA. I mean it in terms of being rewarded for doing your job as your agent and getting rewarded for that. Higher KDA = Higher Combat Score = Higher RR. Currently the system rewards duelists higher RR for doing what they were designed to do as fraggers but does not do the same with sentinels. This is a flaw with the reward system which is why playing a character like Cypher is under-appreciated even though his real contribution to the game supersedes what his reflected contribution is and thus his reward (RR). You should not care about KDA as long as you’re helping your team and ultimately winning. PS Thanks for all the feedback and engagements! It makes me happy to know many of y’all took time out of your day to read my post :)