Valorant Agent Astra Guide

Listen up, gamers! It's time to talk about Astra, the queen of controllers. She's been dominating the meta in VCT Berlin Masters with an 80% pick rate on all maps except for Icebox and Breeze (Viper's home turf). So, if you want to step up your Astra game, here are some tips for Split, Haven, Bind, and Ascent.

Astra is a boss when it comes to controlling the map. With her Astral Form, she can place her stars anywhere she wants, giving her an advantage over other control agents like Brimstone, who are limited by distance. And let's not forget about her Nova Pulse and Gravity Well, which are just as deadly on attack as they are on defense.

If you're defending, placing your stars in the right spot can make it impossible for attackers to breach sites like A Main Ascent. And when you're on the attack, use Gravity Well to flush out any pesky defenders and gain control of the map early on.

So, don't be a noob. Take some tips from Astra and dominate your enemies with her strategic plays.

FIRST TACTIC

Ah, the joys of being an Astra player! You’ve got to be strategic, judicious, and a master of multitasking all at once. It’s enough to make your head spin like one of her stars!

When playing Astra on defense, it’s important to plan ahead during the buy phase. You want to make sure you’re placing your stars in optimal locations to anticipate enemy pushes. Don’t go star-crazy if you only have a few stars available, though. You’ll want to save some for later.

Use your signature ability, Nebula, to smoke off chokepoints, but be careful not to use up all your stars right away. If you do have enough stars, you can anchor a site by yourself while your sentinel covers the other.

For example, let’s say you’re playing on Ascent, and you have a Killjoy anchoring B site. You can hold A behind double box or generator while setting up your stars to complement your position. Make sure you’re playing off a teammate that can feed you information, such as someone peeking tree-room or heaven.

When the enemy commits to pushing the site, use your Gravity Well and Nova Pulse to give them a hard time. Activate your abilities while still behind cover to minimize your risk and take advantage of enemy vulnerability.

Here’s a tip: aim for the chest with your Vandal or Phantom. It only takes two shots to take down an enemy, so make them count!

Check out these examples of how to set up your stars on other maps’ bomb sites, and show those enemies who’s the star player!

SECOND TACTIC

Ah, Astra. She's the cosmic controller who knows how to play mind games with the enemy team. And one of her tactics is to use dissipating stars.

So, why is it useful to make your stars disappear into the ether? Well, one reason is to confuse your enemies with attack patterns. Let's say you've been hitting B site on Bind a few times in a row. You could set up outside of A short and showers ready to attack, but start the round by using the exact same Gravity Well at B long. Then, you can place two more stars at Elbow and CT to make the defenders think you're smoking there. This way, the defenders might fall for the fake and begin to rotate, giving you a chance to take over A site.

Dissipating stars can also help you escape sticky situations by smoking off angles just for a moment. For example, if you're stuck on the "Wine" side of A main on Ascent and need to retreat with your team, you can place a smoke at the choke point and dissipate it just in time to cross. It gives you a second of smoke that's just enough to make your way to safety.

And don't forget, you can give your enemies a false sense of security by pretending you're using your Nebula. This works well when you're breaking patterns in your attacking plays. Let's say you've smoked bottom mid on Ascent a few times in a row. You can place the same star down and dissipate it soon after. Some might be holding close to the smoke or even lurking in it, giving you a chance to pick them off.

These are just a few examples of how you can use Astra's dissipating stars to your advantage. Remember, it's situational and should be used sparingly. And if you're not careful, your enemies might just catch on to your cosmic trickery.

THIRD TACTIC

Alright, let's break down the Cosmic Divide, which is Astra's ultimate ability. When used correctly, it can turn the tide of the game and lead your team to victory. But if you don't understand its weaknesses, it can just as easily spell defeat for you.

First off, don't get too comfy behind the wall it creates. It might feel like an impenetrable fortress, but your enemies can still push through it with flashes and lethal abilities like Showstoppers. So, always be on your guard, and don't let your guard down just because you've got a wall to hide behind.

And when you do take cover behind it, don't forget about those pesky lurkers who try to sneak through. They're likely to peek around the outskirts of the ultimate, thinking they can catch you off guard. But if you're holding close to the edges of the wall, you'll have a significant advantage in punishing these players.

Need proof? Just check out this clip from VCT Masters Berlin, where G2 Avova holds the close corner of his Cosmic Divide and secures two kills. So, remember to always hold for pushes through your ultimate, and you'll be one step closer to victory.

FOURTH TACTIC

Are you tired of getting picked off by enemies while trying to push forward in Valorant? Well, it's time to learn the enemy patterns of play and use them to your advantage with Astra's Gravity Well and Nova Pulse.

For example, if you're attacking on Split and an enemy agent keeps peeking your team from A Ramps, make sure to organize a plan for the next round to suck or concuss this player. And don't forget to use your Raze or Jett's mobility to take advantage of the situation.

But timing is everything! Make sure to place your stars down at the last second before the buy phase ends. Otherwise, you'll give away your strategy and scare off the enemy.

Astra's Gravity Well is the perfect tool for seizing space without risking your team's lives. Let's say you've tried to push B Long on Bind and got taken down by an enemy Jett Operator holding the angle down towards the fountain. No worries, just place a pull down when the barrier drops and your team can safely reach the area. Now the enemy has to peek into you, and you can take them down with ease.

Same goes for A Long! Just place a Gravity Well where the enemy peeks near the ult orb, and voila! You've gained ground down long. It's all about knowing your enemy's moves and outsmarting them with Astra's skills.

So go forth, my fellow Valorant player, and use your newfound knowledge to dominate the competition.

FIFTH TACTIC

Listen up, Agents! If you want to play Astra like a pro, you need to communicate with your teammates. Astra is a team player, and her strengths come from team synergy. So, start talking!

If you're anchoring the A site on Ascent, you can't keep track of enemies pushing out of B Main. But, you can use your Nebula star to cover the chokepoint and ask your B Main player to call for your Gravity Well when enemies are pushing the site. This will increase your chances of pulling enemies and taking them by surprise.

But wait, there's more! Communication is not only important on defense but also on the attack. Use simple and concise sentences like "I just concussed cubby, pulling back site now" to alert your teammates to capitalize off your abilities.

Remember, Astra is one of the best agents right now, but you need to work with your team to unleash her full potential. So, grab your mic and start talking. Your teammates will thank you for it!

Astral Form

The first thing we need to talk about in terms of abilities is Astra’s Astral form, because it is the basis for all of her utilities. Simply activate the ability and enter Astral Form, where you can place stars with your primary fire, and you can then reactivate those stars later to transform them into Nova Pulses, Nebula or Gravity Well (her other abilities). You can also recall those stars at any time, it is called “Dissipate”, and you will only need 8 seconds before you can replace those stars, which we will talk about more later. This Astral form is the key to make Astra so good at solo holding a bomb site, because when the enemy commits to another bomb site, she can pick up all of her utilities and in 8 seconds have a full lineup of stars on the other bomb site to help with the retake. Another thing to keep in mind with Astra is the only thing that keeps you from being able to spam abilities, is the amount of stars that you have and the cooldown of your abilities. Also, instead of having to buy the different abilities, you always have them available but you have to buy each star for 200 credits (you get 2 free stars each round).

Nebula/Dissipate

Alright, so the next ability we have to talk about is Astra’s smoke ability – Nebula/Dissipate. With this ability you place your stars in Astral Form and activate them with the ability button to create a Nebula, which is just a dome of smoke. Also, you can use F to dissipate a star and return it to you, to be able to use it again in 8 seconds and in the place, where your star was dissipated, a Nebula will be created for 1 second. You get 2 Nebulas, meaning you can have 2 smokes active at once and they go on for 14 seconds cooldown when activated. If you decide to use all 5 of your stars on Nebula, that leaves you with 75 seconds worth of smokes for a round, which is by far the highest in the entire game. Cool little trick you can do with the Dissipate is, because it leave a Nebula for 1 second, you can place your stars in a line and dissipate them while walking in the 1 second Nebulas. That way you can bait enemy players that you are changing your focus on other part of the map…very smart hack!

Gravity Well

Next up we have Gravity Well, and this is the ability that everyone is having a fit over. The way to use this one is, you place your stars once again, and you activate the star with the button assigned to this ability to form a Gravity Well. The Gravity Well pulls all players in the area towards the center before it explodes and upon explosion all players that were still inside become vulnerable, taking double damage from all sources. It pulls for 4 seconds and it goes on a 12 seconds cooldown after activation. Now, with the enemy’s gun out, it takes 3 second to escape this ability while he is full running. All of those thing combined makes the Gravity Well, the single best defending ability. If you can make the enemy to peek, which they have to peek eventually if they want to take the bomb site, you just activate this ability and they will be touched by it and pulled to the center. At this point, they are pretty much a free kill. You can also use it to pull enemy players from corners and if you combine it with a friend that is waiting with a sniper, you can both make a lot of kills.

Nova Pulse

Next ability on the list is the Nova Pulse. Now, you have to activate one of your stars to detonate the Nova Pulse, which charges briefly, then strikes. This will stun enemies in the area, kind of like Breach’s ultimate and signature ability but it explodes much faster. The timing is a little bit faster than Yuru flashes, but a tiny bit slower than Phoenix flashes, which gives you a very small window to be able to react. With your gun out, if you react right at the activation time, you can barely make it out of the ring before the explosion. This is going to be one of the best abilities to use when enemies are planting, defusing, tucked deep in a corner or pushing up a long hallway. Let us explain, if the enemy team have an escape route, they have to run to it immediately if they don’t want to get stunned but if they don’t have a perfect escape route, they will get hit by this and be a free kill. So, if you ever need to clean out a corner, the Nova Pulse is almost a guaranteed kill.

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Cosmic Divide

Finally we have the Cosmic Divide, Astra’s ultimate ability. When you are in Astral Form, use your secondary fire to select a point, then use Primary fire to select two locations. These two locations form as two points in a line that divides the entire map with a cosmic wall, that can not be shot through, and heavily silence the audio on the other side of the wall. This ability is essentially a juiced up Viper wall, that lasts for 20 seconds. It is perfect for getting a plant down, executing a bomb site or performing a retake. Although the interface for throwing the ability down might be a little bit weird at first, you have so much time to make use of this wall, that it might actually be the best ultimate in the game. All of that is because it gives enough time to execute the site, plant the bomb and push into proper post plant position, before the wall ever drops.

Alright now, let us talk about the first round buy. We are going to give you two options and you decide which is best for you. Since you always have all of your abilities, and each star costs 200 credits, you have the choice of Ghost or Frenzy and 1 extra orb or the classic light armor with 2 extra orbs.

• Now the first buy of Ghost or Frenzy and sticking with 1 extra orb gives 3 stars total. This is a decent amount of smokes or gravity pulls but it doesn’t allow for much diversity of where you can position your stars and it doesn’t allow you to do much of both. This type of buy will be very good at maps like Split, where you know your 3 stars can cover everything you need and when your team already has another smoke agent, or a sentinel so you don’t have to do everything.
• The other buy is going to be the light armor classic, which allows for 4 stars. This will give you the ability to double stack both entrances, whatever bomb site you are playing, or throw standard stars and 2 backups in unexpected spots. Regardless, this extra star makes a huge difference on open bomb sites (C long on Heaven), where you have to worry about long and garage in order to control the area. And to be honest, you are probably going to need 4 stars minimum to deal with all of that pressure. Not to mention, if your team doesn’t have a sentinel or a smoker, they are probably going to need that little extra utility during the round, to give them the edge they are lacking.

So, you want to learn Astra, eh? Well, let me tell you, she's one of the more complicated controllers in the game, but don't let that scare you off. With a bit of practice, you'll be throwing out those stars like a pro in no time.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "But ChatGPT, how do I practice using Astra?" Well, my friend, the Range is always a good place to start, but don't be afraid to hop into some Unrated and Spike Rush games to really get a feel for her abilities.

Once you get the hang of her, you'll find that she's a versatile agent that excels on both attack and defense. With her Astral Form, you can quickly and proficiently place new stars mid-round, giving you and your team the control you need to secure the win.

And let me tell you, her map control is second to none. She can support teammates being rushed on the other side of the map, making her a valuable addition to any team composition.

If you're currently an Omen or Brimstone main, I highly recommend giving Astra a try. But, let me give you a little piece of advice. Don't insta-lock Astra on maps like Icebox or Breeze. Trust me, Viper is the better choice for those maps.

So, my friend, good luck with learning Astra and happy climbing!

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