Abilities and resources

Every agent has four abilities, used with C, Q, E and X on the default keys:

• two basic abilities (usually C and Q), which you buy during the buy phase;
• the signature ability (usually E), which has one free charge each round and for many agents recharges on its own after a while;
• the ultimate (X), which is not bought: it charges as you earn points.

Each ability has a maximum number of charges and a price. The agent pages list each kit; what matters here is the logic: basic abilities are the ones you decide when to buy, the signature is the one you can count on every round, and the ultimate only comes every so often and changes a whole round.

The rules on keeping abilities are few but important:

• abilities you bought and did not use stay with you next round, even if you die;
• charges that recharged during the round do not stack: next round you start from the free charge again;
• some abilities give temporary charges, which disappear at the end of the round.

In practice: there is no point "saving" a signature ability for next round, because the free charge comes anyway. It does make sense to think carefully about the abilities you buy: if you do not use them you do not lose them, but you have not helped the team win the round either.

Some abilities can also be destroyed: traps, cameras, drones and recon darts, for example, break when you shoot them. Knowing this, you learn to get rid of them when they bother you, and not to place yours where the enemy will break them straight away.

Ultimates charge with ultimate points. You earn them by:

• getting a kill;
• dying;
• collecting the ultimate orbs on the map;
• planting or defusing the spike.

The number of points needed varies by agent: the most powerful ultimates cost more. Orbs are the only source that depends on you alone: grabbing one takes a few seconds in a spot that is often exposed, so collect it when it is safe (at the start of the round, when the site is yours, after a plant with the situation under control).

The scoreboard shows the ultimate status of both teams: checking it at the start of the round tells you whether the enemy has something in hand that changes a retake or an entry.

Think of every ability as a limited resource, like bullets or seconds on the round timer. Every time you use one, ask what you got in return:

• information (where they are, how many);
• space (a corner cleared, a path covered);
• time (the enemy slowed down, a rotation arriving);
• an easier fight (the enemy blinded, damaged, forced to move).

If you get none of these, the ability is wasted, even if it "landed where it should". That is one reason two players with the same lineups can get very different results: what counts is when and why you use it, not just where.

A good exercise: at the end of a round, go back over every ability you used and try to say in one sentence what it gave you.

In a round you do not just use your own abilities: the team has five kits, and the best results come when they combine. A smoke covering one angle, a flash blinding the next one and a duelist entering right after are worth far more than the same three abilities used at different moments.

That is why, before the round, it is worth knowing what your teammates have: who has smokes, who has flashes, who gathers info. In the chapter on synergies we look at the most common combinations.

Even more important is saying what you use: "flash A main", "smoke CT", "I have drone". An ability that is called out lets teammates use it; an ability used in silence often helps only you, or nobody.

The enemy has limited resources too. If you listen and watch, you can count what they have used:

• if their controller has already thrown their smokes, the next attack will be less covered;
• if their initiator has used their flashes, their duelists will go in without help;
• if their sentinel has lost their traps, the flank is no longer watched.

Telling your team is valuable info: "Sova has no darts", "no Omen smokes". It changes what you can afford in the next few seconds.