EDIT: People are commenting without reading my post. Addressing the more common comments: I am NOT saying that Reyna is OP. I am fully aware that she is a liability if her aim isn't on point, as well as the fact that she has no utility if doesn't get any kills. Ideally Leer would be toned down and the other aspects of her kit would somehow be reworked/changed to compensate. Arguing that different abilities are better is difficult because they are used for different things and are therefore not directly comparable - this is the most subjective part of the post. I'm not claiming that my opinion is correct and yours aren't, simply stating mine. It's highly likely that in a month from now I will look like a moron because we've optimised Cypher and Sova to new levels or something like that. Arguing about my opinion is not relevant to the main point of the argument.

People who choose to attack my skill level instead of my arguments need to learn what an ad hominem is, because that's not a real argument, it's a logical fallacy. And if it appeases you, here is my most recent game and here is my full match history. This argument is NOT a rant/cry being made from the person on the receiving end of the stomping. Also the argument that non-professional players should have no basis for balancing is just wrong. Balancing for pros and casuals is not mutually exclusive and is how game designers earn their money. Finally, having 1 person shoot the flash and 1 person peek is NOT valid counterplay because requiring a man advantage to properly counter something that costs so little and has so little risk is not balanced. You can just as easily argue that if Reyna also has a teammate then they are at a huge advantage because 1 enemy will have his dick in his hand aiming at the air. If you can't be bothered to read the whole post, I've bolded the most important parts. However, commenting something rude or dismissive when you haven't even bothered to read the post is not constructive.

END RANT

I am writing this in the hopes that Reyna's flash is addressed in the next balance patch. As Riot have stated that they are keeping an eye on agent winrates to decide balancing changes, hopefully if we can all abuse Reyna's Leer properly in our matches, we can see it receive the nerfs that it needs.

Why Reyna's flash is broken:

1. The biggest offender: it doesn't flash Reyna or her teammates. This means that there is literally 0 risk to using it. With other flashbangs like Phoenix, Breach or Omen, if you time the flash wrong, it will hit your teammates. However, if the Attackers decide to push somewhere, Reyna can literally just throw the flash through the wall while her teammates push, forcing you to either reveal your location and mess up your crosshair placement by shooting it, or to fall back, giving up site and giving the attackers a heavily advantageous post plant situation.

2. It travels through walls. This means that Reyna can cast it from safety. Again, this means that there is 0 risk to Reyna for casting Leer.

3. Because it is active for multiple seconds, you can't simply turn away and quickly peek like other traditional flashbangs. Therefore playing antiflash positions and off angles on defender side is extremely risky.

4. It only costs $200. This is partly due to Reyna's kit but she can often get away with only buying light armour and opting for Leers instead as she can effectively gain full armour from just 1 frag. It offers far too much reward for such little cost and risk.

Often I see things like "just shoot the eye" or "just position better." Neither of these are valid counterplay, as you are giving up something while Reyna and the attackers are under 0 risk. You either give up your location, or you give up the position you were holding, either way the attackers gained a significant advantage for LITERALLY NO RISK.

How to abuse Leer:

On attacker side, be mindful that you only have 2 Leers, and use them wisely. Throw them through the walls into the open while your teammates push through chokepoints. 2 Leers will get you onto a bombsite for free. Otherwise, if you get to the last chokepoint with only 1 Leer, using the second one while your teammates are taking fights on site will catch the enemy off guard for some easy frags, again for 0 risk.

If you're playing a default, Leer is ridiculously good at getting map control. You just choose somewhere that the defenders aren't allowed to peek at the start of the round, throw Leer, and the defenders are literally just not allowed to peek. For example it's very strong to throw a Leer middle on Ascent at the start of the round and have your teammate peek with an awp. Using the combination of free map control and free escapes through chokepoints strategically makes attacking so much easier for your team.

Reyna is not as good on the defender side as she lacks utility like smokes or molotovs. However, Leer is still absurdly good. The best way I've found to abuse it is to have two people behind cover waiting for footsteps. If you hear footsteps, Reyna throws the eye from behind cover, and you double peek them as it pops. This way you get a double peek while the enemies are either blinded/aiming in the air/running to cover. Bear in mind this is risky and if there are more than 2 or 3 attackers one of you will likely die. Sometimes it is better to throw a leer to stall the enemy and simply retreat to site. However, combined with a strong defensive agent like Cypher, Reyna can still shine on the defender side. EDIT: People also raised a valid point that Reyna's Leer is very strong counterplay to an enemy's Leer. If they throw a Leer then you can wait a second, throw yours, and then swing with your teammates.

On retake, if you coordinate with your team, it's usually possible to throw a Leer that covers around the middle of the site, which will affect enemies aiming at most potential retake entrances. If you do so as all of the defenders push at once, again there is literally 0 risk and massive reward, as Leer will actively gain information from enemies shooting at it or running away from it for 0 risk. It's the same idea as using it on attacker side but a little bit harder to coordinate the timing properly.

You can always use Leer to take aggressive map control, however I've found that defending sites is generally stronger than in CS where map control is extremely important. In this case you'd use it the same as on the attacker side. Having two people push behind the enemy just for the enemies to go mid and onto the site you just left is far more common in Valorant than I've ever seen in years of CS. The maps are just so big. However, map control is always extremely powerful, and Leer again gives it to you for free.

I feel like a broken record but Reyna's flash is truly the most egregious ability I've seen in Valorant, again, because there is LITERALLY 0 DOWNSIDE for using it. I can't stress this enough. Everything should have a fair risk/reward ratio. It's not fair that Reyna can just throw the bullshit flash through the wall while 4 of her teammates push and you either have to let them all the way up to site or you have to reveal your position by shooting at the eye, at which point against competent players you're going to have utility thrown at you and your head will be blown off the second you peek. While I understand things like reviving as design philosophy choices, Reyna's flash just breaks the boundaries of what a flash is. It is so much better than every other flash it's laughable.

In terms of how I would balance it, I would make the flash not go through walls. Therefore, Reyna would have to expose herself to throw a good Leer. This would still be extremely strong but not broken.

Go out and abuse Reyna in unrated and hopefully Riot will address this in the next balance change.

EDIT: A lot of responses here, some raise valid arguments. However it's just funny to see people comment about my skill level as if that's a relevant fact. Maybe try arguing the points I make instead of dismissing it because you think I'm a low rank?

Someone did raise a good point about just waiting and counterflashing. But if you look at the OP one of the ways that I said to use Leer was essentially as a counterflash. Furthermore, different flashes have the RISK of BLINDING YOUR TEAMMATES if you use them as a counterflash, which Leer doesn't.

And to be clear, I'm not arguing that Reyna is overpowered. It's just that her Leer is a completely polarizing ability as it is significantly better than the rest of her kit. A better way to balance her would be to tone down Leer and boost some of the other aspects of her kit.

Of course everything I've said is my opinion and the game has been out less than a week. But conceptually, a flash that doesn't blind teammates is always going to be extremely strong in a team based shooter. Add the other benefits that I outlined (active for multiple seconds, large range, goes through walls, cheap) and it simply provides too much utility for the risk and cost.

Because people are fixated on my skill level, I use Reyna and I abuse the shit out of her too, because I like winning and she's a fun character. Please focus on my arguments instead of my skill level.

I can't believe that people have taken this post seriously enough to literally sit there for 4 hours and comment something negative on every one of the comments I made while downvoting, but it's happened, so I'll be muting this thread now.