Cypher is one of Valorant’s Sentinel Agents, making him great at controlling certain areas of the map. Cypher is all about his gadgets and setting traps. He can place his Trapwire on a door and catch an enemy, or use his Spycam to keep tabs on areas he can’t see. With his Ultimate, Cypher can even find the locations of everyone on the enemy team, by scanning a nearby dead body.
To help you get the most of Cypher’s gadgets and where to set his traps, here are all his abilities and a few tips on how to use them.
Ability: Trapwire
Place a stealthed tripwire between two walls. Triggering enemies are restrained and revealed for a short time. If the trap is not destroyed, it activates to daze the trapped victim. Can be picked up.
Tips:
- Always use this ability where enemies might show up. Even if they destroy the trap before it’s activated, it will still give you an extra clue where they are.
- If you’re on Attack, or you’re on Defense trying to retake a site, you can set this up behind you just to be sure no one is trying to flank.
- If you need to move bomb sites you can pick this ability up and redeploy it in another area, however, if you’re on Defense sometimes it’s a good idea to leave it, that way the site you’re leaving isn’t unguarded and you can know if the enemy team tries to sneak in.
Ability: Cyber Cage
Toss out a remote activation trap. Reactivate to create a cage that slows enemies who pass through it. Look at a trap and press USE to detonate it, or hold ACTIVATE to detonate all.
Tips:
- This is like a smoke screen that can be remotely detonated. It’s great at disorienting or slowing enemies, but can be just as good for giving allies cover.
- In a tight spot, throw a cage down on the bomb site to allow you or an ally to defuse or plant the bomb.
Signature Ability: Spycam
Place a remote camera. After placing, reactivate to view the video feed. Left click while in camera to fire a tracking dart. Recharges when picked up or killed.
Tips:
- You’ll be immobale when using the camera, so make sure you’re in a safe spot before you do.
- The tracking dart that the camera fires displays the positions of the player that’s hit by it until the player removes the dart from themselves. While this information is great, the dart can also be used to aid allied players. If you shoot an enemy with the dart right before your ally engages them, the enemy might try to pull it out right away, giving your teammate a free shot.
- This camera goes invisible when you aren’t using it, but it can still be shot if enemy players know where it is.
Ultimate Ability: Neural Theft
Extract information from the corpse of an enemy, revealing the location of their living allies.
Tips:
- This ability will only display the enemy locations for a moment so choose the time to use it carefully. Some of the best times might be on Defense when you have to retake a bomb site, or on Offense when you’re trying to protect the bomb after planting.
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.