So, I've been playing Neon quite a bit in the Plat ELO range. I just came back to VALORANT about a month ago, so I'm still getting back in the swing of things. Last I played was back in Episode 1 Act 3 where I was Plat 2.

I have a long history of FPS experience, most notably on CS:GO where I was level 10 on FACEIT, which was a ranking in the top 2,500 players from solo queue.

I have previously mainly played Brimstone at first, Breach, but mostly Phoenix back in Episode 1. I realized quickly in coming back that Phoenix is just not the right choice when Jett, Reyna, and Raze are obvious better choices for a duelist, and if you're looking for better flashes, Skye and Breach in my opinion are much superior due to the flexibility of the flashes.

Anyway, I decided to switch to Neon and I was having a huge increase in KDR and ranked up pretty fast from the Silver range up to Plat 2. While in the Silver/Gold range, I thought Neon was a really good agent. The slide got a lot of kills, and the ult actually netted me plenty of 3k, 4k, and even a few 5ks here and there.

However, once I got to playing Plat+ players, I quickly realized that my feelings on Neon completely changed.

I am still able to hold my own due to aim/movement/game sense when I'm playing up to par, but there a few things I realized of why it feels really empty and almost pointless to pick Neon over the other duelists.

I will go into detail of the pros and cons I feel Neon has and why I think that she is just yet another pointless addition to the game in an actual competitive sense. Maybe you will disagree; maybe you're higher ELO than me and you can enlighten me on some things, maybe you're lower and you're still feeling the power. Either way, discuss away...

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THE WALL:

Pros -

1. Blocks vision and allows you to run through it to re-position yourself. Double sided so it can block more than 1 angle. (yay, a wall...)

2. Hurts enemies slightly if they pass through it

Cons -

1. Casting it isn't that easy, especially if you're running fast. Clip the side of a wall with it and it's ruined.

2. Hurts your teammates, too... and VERY hard not to hit your allies a little bit when they are with you. This can add up quite a bit when you're talking about 150 health - damage from your wall = faster kill from enemy (could be 1 bullet less to kill, or a 1 tap headshot with a phantom etc)

3. Can only cast it while you're facing forward. Similar to Phoenix's wall, nowhere as useful strategically as a Sage wall or Viper wall because of this reason imo.

4. Requires you to actually run through it most of the time to actually get any real value. Most of the time that's just a suicide mission even if you're a duelist on the entry. Doesn't always add any real value to attackers since you're often so far ahead of your team, they can't pass through it without getting hurt, and it doesn't last that long.

5. Doesn't throw the enemy off unless you walk through it, but it's so short lived that then you just end up being open to two angles or

THE STUNS

Pros -

1. Stuns the enemy for a little bit

2. Can be cast anywhere; in the air, on high walls, bounced off the floor, etc.

3. Decent synergy with the other Neon abilities; run/slide, ultimate

Cons -

1. Stun doesn't last that long nor does it really stun "that good" in comparison to other characters like Astra, Skye, or other Flash ability characters like Reyna, Breach, Skye again, etc... Enemies can still aim pretty decently when stunned by Neon and as a defender it's not very hard to hide and wait till it wears off.

2. Very easy to bounce it badly or misclick and stun yourself, or your teammates. This is obviously based on skill but it can make for an extremely large learning curve in knowing where you can and can't hit walls, how far away you have to be from them, what spot you pick on them, and then repeat that process for every single map and every single site/hallway/etc. Not much different than other characters' skill ceilings but due to the unpredictability and factors involved it makes it tough to learn.

THE RUN (AND SLIDE)

Pros -

1. The run is pretty great. The mobility and speed is very useful for rotating, escaping engagements, changing positions, etc.

2. Slide can be very useful to surprise opponents, especially in lower ELO matches (More about this soon)

3. Slide regenerates after popping ult and/or after two kills... This one is "sorta" a pro in my opinion, but potentially seen as more of a con overall.

Cons -

1. The run makes you have to pull out your "hands" and put your gun away; can just get you killed if you have to switch back to the weapon before firing.

2. The slide requires you to be full sprinting for a couple of meters to actually use it. Combined with having to put your gun away to do it, it can often just be suicidal to try it mid engagement (As opposed to someone like Jett, etc. that can dash away instantly, or Chamber teleporting, or Raze using boost packs, Reyna dismissing, etc)

3. One of the more useful things about the slide is taking common duelist angles and surprising your opponent. What happens though is that when they are not at the angle you expect, your slide is gone. It doesn't regenerate over time, and if you only kill 1 opponent or don't have ultimate, you will not get another chance to try to use this surprising tactic, which is pretty much Neon's best thing she can do, again. The problem here vs someone like Jett or even Reyna with her dismiss ability is that they can do this in RESPONSE to a situation; Neon must PRE-EMPTIVELY do it before the engagement. Again, you must use the run ability, stow your weapon, move far enough to actually slide, then use the slide.

4. The slide makes you vulnerable for a second before you can actually fire anything. This is where I feel that in the Plat ++ ELO, it becomes even less useful because the higher ranks you climb, the better people's reaction time and aim is. A lot of times, I just get 1 shotted, or sprayed down before I can really even fire a bullet. Yes, engagements happen like this all the time, but the problem with Neon is that the character FORCES you to move forward out into the open in the line of fire to try to "style" on the enemy, but being out in the open so far already is a huge disadvantage, because, well, it forces you to wide peek and stand in the open....something that is almost never a smart move in a competitive twitch FPS shooter.

ULTIMATE

Pros -

1. You shoot lightning out of your hands... it kills enemies... good things, yes. If the enemies are weakened by you earlier or your teammates, it kills them pretty fast.

2. The lightning regenerates when you kill someone, giving you more time.

3. It lasts quite a long time overall; can scare the opponents from pushing for a bit in bomb plant situations, can make people hide instead of peek like a Phoenix ult does

4. You move fast automatically (A good thing Neon does!) but you actually get a weapon out to fully take advantage of the speed boost

5. The recoil spread is pretty small, so it does make tracking and staying on target pretty easy, especially close or mid range.

6. Works good in combination with the stuns if you hit them properly.

7. Re-spawns your slide ability, potential for double sliding if done correctly.

Cons -

1. TIME TO KILL is BAD! It takes 7 hits to kill a full health opponent. This takes a good amount of time, and requires you to stay on target the entire time. Meanwhile, a Vandal with 1 bullet to your head can end you instantly. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! In a 1 vs 2 or 1 vs 3 situation, and I pop my ult, it almost ALWAYS ends with me just thinking that I should have just kept my Vandal out, because at least then I can use my aim and abilities to hit headshots and QUICKLY kill my opponents; otherwise it's just a numbers game and by the time my 7 lightning shots hit one guy, the other one has plenty of time to react to where I am and trade the kill.

2. No headshot multiplier. Pointless to aim for the head, and even with headshots it's still 7 hits to kill. Jett can get the flying mid air 1 tap knife to the head with full accuracy; with Neon you have to run out in the open full sprint and hope your opponent just sucks at the game. This is why in Gold ranks it was great; in Plat++ it's almost useless most of the time.

3. It requires you to be out in the open and running around; no jiggle peeks or flashy movement when the goal is to keep the lightning on the opponent for long enough. Yes, you can "click" the ability at long range, but in that sense it's literally just a weak weapon with no headshot hitbox vs typically a rifle that can end your life with 1 to 5 bullets.

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TL;DR - In the end, I typically feel that Neon is just yet another weak duelist that shouldn't even really take the spot of Jett, Reyna, and Raze. When I use the abilities, it makes you and your teammates vulnerable and due to the linear nature they are very predictable and one-sided in use in comparison to the creativity that other agents allow. Your slide is great but it only works vs POSSIBLY one opponent, and just gets you killed a lot of times. The Ultimate can do good in lower ELO but once you play against people who can aim you almost always feel that having out a rifle would have been a better tactical choice.