New patch, a long awaited Jett nerf, and the release of Fade means a bunch of teams are scrambling to figure out what the new meta team comp is on every map in order to get ahead of the curve. These qualifiers have no shortage of odd team comps and experimentation such as Yoru getting some serious consideration by OpTic on Ascent, or whatever Paper Rex team comp makes it to the top of the Valorant competitive subreddit.
So let’s look at an archetype of comp that may be played in these VCT qualifiers which would be zero duelist, the Jett nerfs have begun to push her out of the meta and Chamber is still used but is now even better as he can take over primary OPing duty, so the question remains, do you use an alternative duelist like Raze or Neon? Or do you simply opt for zero duelist and play triple initiator or even double sentinel with something like a Sage?
Zero duelist is a type of comp that notably is played on Icebox, but on maps other than Icebox, we did see ZETA DIVISION play zero duelist on Haven in their match against REJECT to less than stellar results.
The Case for Zero Duelist
Are duelists actually necessary parts of team comps for VALORANT today? On Icebox zero duelist is a common sight, so why? What makes Icebox so special that there’s the ability to run zero duelist? Well that’s because of how the site entrances work on Icebox.
On Icebox, every site has three ways to get into site, on A, it’s left and right side maze, as well as the zipline, while on B, it’s left and right side B main, as well as top B main. This means stall utility from defending players aren’t as effective, which results in less of a need to instantly create space and start pressuring the site players to prevent the usage of stall utility so they can buy time for rotates.
So why would a team play zero duelist? Well that’s because of the opportunity cost, whatever duelist they’re giving up in their team comp, most likely a Neon or Raze, but could be Jett, they’re usually getting in return a third initiator, sometimes potentially a second sentinel which could be more valuable to have over a duelist.
Initiators are probably the strongest class of agents in the entire game so having more of them is always nice, they offer good set up to make plays for both teammates and themselves, and many of them have ways to safely gather info which lets teams make good calls and rotations without having to play aggressively to gather info and risk dying, which is great because you never really want any of your initiators to die, they get more value the longer they stay alive in a round because their rechargeable signature utility is so strong.
Overall, triple initiator just allows for many ways to gather info which makes rotations and accurate calls super easy, as well as offering a lot of setup and utility that allows them to make the plays they want to make, instead of being more reactive and simply just adjusting to what the enemy team is doing.
The Case Against Zero Duelist
Not to say that there aren’t any weaknesses with running zero duelist, in fact there are a lot of issues with zero duelist.
First of all, on sites with single entrances, such as B on Breeze, stall utility is incredibly strong against zero duelist compositions. This is because normally if a team is playing Jett or any duelist that can physically make space, the Jett will dash onto site and now whoever is holding B can’t use any of their stall utility such as Viper molly, because the moment they throw it, the Jett is going to swing and fight them and because the Viper is still pulling their gun out because they just threw the molly, they’re not going to win, and obviously if they don’t throw it, the site player will just get overwhelmed. But with no duelist the moment any indication a site execute is coming, that molly goes down and now the team is pushing through a Viper molly to take a disadvantageous gun fight, or the team doesn’t push through the molly and now the entire enemy team has rotated over to the site.
Now this isn’t an overarching problem that can’t be solved, teams can pull rotations and players around the map before executing which can ensure that the enemy team aren’t in positions to use their stall utility effectively, teams can force the enemy to burn that utility during defaults, they can use their overwhelming utility to make extremely aggressive plays, or even simple as just running a KAY/O as one of your three initiators and using that knife as your first piece of execute utility to prevent any enemy utility usage. But this does rely on teams running zero duelist to play a little slower and work the map to try to pull rotations, burn enemy utility, and find openings and picks.
Speaking of playing a little slower, running zero duelist prevents any sort of “explosive” plays and executes. For example on C Haven it’s really common to see the play where Jett dashes on top of the site box and then Breach flashes through the box to allow Jett to fight the player back site.
With zero duelist this doesn’t work because there simply isn’t a non duelist character that is capable of going that fast, it’s literally just not possible.
What Maps are Zero Duelist Playable?
So if a team is going to play zero duelist, which maps would be the best for zero duelist, without coming up with a team composition that is completely unviable and awful.
Personally speaking, if the team plays correctly by burning utility, making sure enemies are out of position, and finding good openings and picks, or just running a KAY/O then I think on paper, zero duelist is certainly an archetype of composition that would be completely viable, not necessarily the best, but certainly can be good for teams with slower playstyles. Except for on Bind and Split, personally I still think Raze/Neon are incredibly strong on those maps, and with the rise of Fade, Raze combos really well with her, so I probably wouldn’t go zero duelist on either of those maps.
Should Teams Play Zero Duelist?
The answer to this question, like a lot of questions in competitive VALORANT is always going to be it depends. I could 100% see a team that plays at a slower pace, and is really thorough with their defaults running a zero duelist comp as their main comp across a majority of maps and being successful with it. But also there’s a lot to give up when running zero duelist, with the rise of Fade, I could see Raze getting much more play since she combos well with Fade, Neon is still an incredible pick even after the nerfs, and still works really with the meta initiators on a majority of maps. I even think Yoru is genuinely viable and could be a top pick if teams put in the effort to learn and play with him.