Forget Everything You Know About Controllers

Alright, let's get one thing straight: Clove is not your typical, sit-in-the-back, smoke-and-lurk Controller. If you're picturing yourself as a passive Brimstone dropping smokes from a safe corner, you need to wipe that image from your mind right now. Clove, Valorant's Scottish troublemaker, is here to shatter the mold and rewrite the rules of what a Controller can be. They are an agent born from chaos, a beautiful paradox who finds their greatest strength in the heat of combat and, most uniquely, in the cold embrace of death.

Clove Agent Portrait — Clove - Valorant's fearless Scottish troublemaker who redefines the Controller role

Welcome to the world of the "Aggro Controller," a hybrid role that blends the space-taking audacity of a Duelist with the map-shaping utility of a Controller. Playing Clove means you are often at the vanguard, pushing onto sites with your team, taking aggressive duels, and making plays that would be considered reckless for any other smoker. Why? Because for Clove, dying isn't just an unfortunate outcome; it's a strategic opportunity. Their entire kit is designed around the concept of immortality, allowing them to influence the round from beyond the grave in ways no other agent can even dream of.

Pro Tip

This unique design isn't just for show. It's a direct answer to a long-standing problem in Valorant's ranked queues: the unpopularity of the Controller role. For years, players have been hesitant to fill smokes because the traditional playstyle felt too passive and overly dependent on team coordination—something notoriously absent in solo queue.

Clove changes all of that. They offer the self-sufficiency of an agent like Reyna with abilities that let you stay in the fight, combined with the game-changing power to support your team even when you've been taken out. Clove is for the player who wants to control the battlefield but refuses to be chained to the backline. They are for the brave, the bold, and the ones who believe that even in death, the fight is not over.

So, if you're ready to embrace a playstyle that's all about calculated aggression and turning your own demise into your team's ultimate trump card, then you've come to the right place. Let's dive into the art of being a beautiful, immortal troublemaker.

Clove's Toolkit

To master Clove, you first need to understand the tools of their trade. Each ability is a piece of a larger, aggressive puzzle. Let's break them down in a way that makes sense in the middle of a chaotic site take.

Signature

Ruse (E): Smokes From the Great Beyond

Cost: 1 Free, 150 Credits

Charges: 2

Duration: ~14 seconds

Cooldown: 40 seconds

What it is:

This is your bread-and-butter vision-blocking tool. You get two beautiful, purple, spherical smoke charges that you place using a tactical map, much like Omen or Brimstone. You open a map view, click where you want the smokes to land, and confirm to deploy them.

The Game-Changer - Post-Death Smokes:

Here it is, the ability that defines Clove. Even after you've been sent to the spectator screen, you can open your smoke map and place any charges you have left. The smokes will deploy from the location of your corpse, allowing you to continue helping your team from the great beyond. To make it clear to everyone what's happening, smokes cast after death have a slightly darker, more ethereal hue.

Mechanics & Timings: Your smokes last for approximately 14 seconds, which is a bit shorter than Omen's, so timing is crucial. Originally, a charge would recharge every 30 seconds, but after Patch 10.4, this was increased to 40 seconds. This means you have to be more deliberate with your smoke usage; you can't just throw them out without a plan.

Basic

Meddle (Q): The Butterfly Bomb

Cost: 250 Credits

Charges: 1

Duration: ~5 seconds (Decay)

Damage: 90 HP Decay

What it is:

Think of this as your "make 'em vulnerable" button. You throw a fragment of immortality essence that erupts into a field of butterflies upon impact with the ground. Any enemy caught in this explosion is hit with a massive 90 HP "decay" debuff, temporarily shredding their health. A decayed enemy with light armor becomes a one-shot kill for a Vandal or Phantom, making them incredibly easy targets.

How to Use It:

This is your primary tool for initiating fights and clearing space. Before peeking a common defensive angle, toss Meddle in to either force the enemy to run or to set them up for a free kill. It's also a phenomenal combo tool to use with your teammates' damaging abilities.

Key Update (Patch 10.4): This ability used to explode on a fixed timer, which made it clunky and hard to time. Now, it detonates a moment after it hits the ground, which is a massive buff. It makes learning lineups and coordinating plays with your team far more reliable and consistent.

Meddle Ability Effect — Meddle creates a butterfly explosion that applies 90 HP decay to all enemies caught in the area

Basic

Pick-Me-Up (C): The Combat High

Cost: 100 Credits

Charges: 1

Health Duration: 10 seconds

Speed Duration: 3 seconds

What it is:

This is your "get back in the fight" ability. After you get a kill or even just a damage assist, you can instantly activate Pick-Me-Up to gain a temporary 100 HP overheal and a burst of movement speed.

The Reyna Connection:

It's very similar to Reyna's Devour, but with some key differences. Clove's activation is instant, you don't need to have line-of-sight to the enemy's body, and the health is temporary. Once the effect wears off, your health returns to what it was before you activated it.

Key Update (Patch 10.4): The balance of this ability was tweaked. The speed boost duration was nerfed significantly, from 8 seconds down to just 3 seconds. However, the health boost duration was increased from 8 to 10 seconds. This fundamentally changes its purpose. It's no longer a tool for long-distance repositioning but rather a quick combat reset designed to help you win your very next duel.

Ultimate

Not Dead Yet (X): Your Second Chance

Cost: 7 Ultimate Points

Charges: 1

Invulnerability: 2 seconds

Timer: 12 seconds to get kill

What it is:

This is Clove's game-changing ultimate, and it can only be activated in the few seconds after you die.

How it Works:

Once you hit your ultimate key, you'll temporarily become an ethereal, invulnerable butterfly spirit for about 2 seconds, similar to Reyna's Dismiss. This gives you a precious window to reposition to a safer or more advantageous spot. After you rematerialize, a 12-second timer starts. You must get a kill or a damage assist within this timeframe to stay alive permanently for the round. If you fail, you simply fade away and die for good.

To help you keep all this straight during the heat of a match, here's a quick cheat sheet.

Ability	Key	Cost / Ult Points	Charges	Cooldown	Duration	Quick Tip
Pick-Me-Up	C	100 Creds	1	N/A	10s (Heal), 3s (Speed)	Pop it mid-fight to win the next duel.
Meddle	Q	250 Creds	1	N/A	~5s (Decay)	Throw it where enemies hide before you peek.
Ruse	E	1 Free, 150 Creds	2	40s	~14s	Use smokes to block angles, even after you die!
Not Dead Yet	X	7 Points	1	N/A	12s (To get kill)	Use the invulnerability to reposition, then get your team to help you secure the reset kill.

The Art of Aggression

Now that you know what the buttons do, it's time to learn the philosophy. Playing Clove is less about ability execution and more about a state of mind. You need to fundamentally change your relationship with death.

The Mindset: Dying is Part of the Plan

For every other agent in Valorant, dying is a failure. For Clove, it can be a masterstroke. This is the single most important concept you need to internalize. Your death is not the end of your contribution to the round; in many cases, it's just the beginning.

Critical Mindset Shift

This leads to the idea of a "good death." A good death is not about your K/D ratio; it's about the tactical value you provide. Dying while lurking alone on the opposite side of the map is a bad death—your post-death smokes are useless to your team. A good death is dying on-site during an execute, trading your life for an enemy defender's.

Post-Death Smoke Strategy — A good death is dying in a central location like Ascent's Mid, where your smoke radius can cover multiple approach paths for a retake

This is precisely why Clove has become a dominant force in ranked play. In the chaotic environment of solo queue, you can't always rely on your teammates to trade you. But as Clove, you can take an aggressive entry duel, go one-for-one with an opponent, and still come out on top in terms of value. They are dead and gone. You are dead, but you're still smoking, still controlling the map, and still winning the round for your team.

Avoid the Duelist Clove Trap

However, this leads to a common pitfall: the "Duelist Clove" trap. Many players are drawn to Clove's aggressive, self-sufficient abilities like Pick-Me-Up and Not Dead Yet and completely forget their primary role. They become what the community often calls "ex-Reyna mains," using their smokes selfishly to help themselves take a fight, rather than using them to help the team execute a strategy.

True mastery of Clove is about resolving this internal conflict. You must use your duelist-like abilities as a means to an end. The goal of getting a kill and dying on site isn't just the frag itself; it's to unlock the most powerful version of your utility—your post-death smokes. Your life is the key that unlocks your team's victory from beyond the grave.

Attacking Like a Wrecking Ball

On attack, your job is to be the tip of the spear alongside your Duelist. You are the second person in, helping to overwhelm the site's defenders with a flurry of utility and aggression.

Here's your game plan for a site execute:

Pre-Execute: As your team groups up, start the assault by throwing your Meddle (Q) onto a common defensive stronghold—think behind the default boxes on A-site Sunset or in the back of B-site Split. This either forces an enemy to move or softens them up for an easy kill.
Execute: The moment your team commits to the push, bring up your map and drop your Ruse (E) smokes. Block off the key lines of sight that defenders will use to retake, such as Heaven, CT-spawn connectors, or market areas.
Entry: Don't hesitate. Push onto the site right behind your Jett or Raze. Your presence creates a two-front problem for any defender trying to hold their ground. If you secure a kill, immediately pop Pick-Me-Up (C) to get your health and speed boost, then roll right into the next fight.
The "Perfect Death": If you trade your life for a defender's while on the bombsite, you've done your job perfectly. Your body is now a strategic asset, perfectly positioned to drop post-plant smokes that will make the defenders' retake a living nightmare.

Defending with an Edge

On defense, Clove's unique kit allows you to be an aggressive anchor. You can take fights and hold angles that would be suicidal for other Controllers because your death doesn't leave your team high and dry.

Here's how to lock down a site:

Defensive Strategies

Stalling Pushes: As soon as you hear the thunder of footsteps indicating a full-blown rush, toss your Meddle (Q) directly into the chokepoint. The instant 90 HP decay is one of the most powerful anti-rush tools in the game.
Taking Off-Angles: Don't just hide behind a box on site. Use your immortality as a license to play in unexpected, aggressive positions.
Retaking from the Grave: This is where you shine. If the attackers manage to take the site and you fall in the process, your job is far from over.

Common Mistakes

Playing too passively and not utilizing your aggressive potential
Wasting post-death smokes on poor positioning
Forgetting to communicate your post-death utility to teammates
Using abilities selfishly instead of for team benefit

Clove Defensive Positioning — Communicate with your surviving teammates. Your post-death smokes are the key to a successful retake

Insider Tips That Win Ranked Games

Knowing the basics is one thing, but applying them in a way that consistently wins you ranked games is another. Here are the pro-level tips that separate the good Cloves from the great ones.

Pro Tip #1: The Post-Death Playmaker

Your post-death smokes are your superpower. Don't waste them on lazy, default placements. Become a true playmaker from the beyond.

Post-Death Mastery Techniques

Isolate 1v1s for Your Team

Pay close attention to your minimap and your teammates' callouts after you die. If your last-alive teammate calls that they're fighting an enemy in Heaven, don't just panic-smoke. Instead, smoke off the cross from the CT spawn. You've just transformed a potential 1v2 into a clean, winnable 1v1 for your teammate.

The Clutch Defuse Smoke

This is the single most heroic play a Clove can make. If your teammate is in a post-plant situation and needs to defuse the Spike, tell them you've got them. Smoke directly on top of the Spike. The enemies will be forced to either spray blindly into the smoke and pray they hit something, or wait for it to fade—giving your teammate the precious seconds they need to secure the round-winning defuse.

Ghost Smokes for Misdirection

What if you die on A-site but your team decides to rotate and plant on B? You can still be incredibly useful. Throw your post-death smokes on the A-site chokepoints. The enemy team will see the smokes and assume a retake or lurk is coming from that direction, forcing them to waste time and attention while your team secures the other side of the map.

Pro Tip #2: Ultimate Economy & Strategic Suicide

Your ultimate, Not Dead Yet, is a high-risk, high-reward ability. Using it smartly can swing entire games.

Communication is Key

The moment you die with your ultimate ready, get on the comms. A simple, "I have ult, I'm rezzing! Get ready to cover me or help me get a kill!" turns a selfish play into a coordinated team strategy. This prompts your teammates to either trade you out or help set up an easy kill for your reset.

Reposition for Smokes, Not Just Kills: This is a high-level, game-sense play. Sometimes, you'll die in a terrible position, and you know getting a reset kill is a long shot. In these cases, consider using your ultimate's invulnerability period only to reposition your body. Use the 2 seconds of ethereal form to sprint to a more tactically valuable location on the map. Even if you die again without getting a kill, your corpse is now in a useful spot, and you can provide game-winning post-death smokes for the rest of the round.

Baiting with Your Ghost: When you activate your ult, don't feel rushed to rematerialize instantly. Use the full 2-second duration of your ethereal form to your advantage. Anxious enemies might push your ghost, trying to predict where you'll reappear. A hidden teammate can capitalize on this, getting a free kill on the over-extended enemy. Since assists also count for your revive, this can be an easy way to secure your second life.

Pro Tip #3: Guaranteed Kills with Meddle Combos

Your Meddle ability is devastating on its own, but when combined with your teammates' utility, it becomes a free-kill machine.

The Concept: Meddle applies a 90 HP decay. Any follow-up area-of-effect damage becomes almost impossible to survive. Always be looking for opportunities to combo with your teammates.

The Best Combos for Ranked

With Raze

The classic Meddle + Raze's Paint Shells (grenade) is a deadly combination. It's perfect for clearing out enclosed spaces like Bind's Hookah or Split's B-site "hell" area.

With Sova/Fade

An information-gathering Initiator is Clove's best friend. A Meddle combined with a reveal from Sova's Recon Bolt or Fade's Haunt is a death sentence. You know exactly where the decayed enemy is, making for an easy wallbang or prefire kill.

With Breach

If you want to ensure your decayed target has no escape, pair Meddle with Breach's utility. A Meddle followed by a Fault Line stun or an Aftershock blast will trap and eliminate enemies with ease.

Pro Tip #4: Becoming a Pistol Round Monster

Pistol rounds can set the economic tone for the entire half. As Clove, you have the power to dominate them.

The Strategy: On pistol rounds, your go-to buy should almost always be a Ghost and your Pick-Me-Up ability for 100 credits.

Why It Works: In a round where nobody has armor, a Ghost is already a powerful weapon. But the real game-changer is your heal. After you get that first kill, instantly popping Pick-Me-Up grants you 100 temporary health. This effectively gives you heavy shields in a round where everyone else is unarmored, making you the most durable agent on the map. You can confidently take a second or even a third duel that would be impossible for anyone else, giving your team a massive early-round advantage.

Pistol Round Strategy — Pick-Me-Up gives you 100 temporary health in pistol rounds, making you nearly unstoppable

Clove in the Current Meta

To stay on top of your game, you need to understand how Clove fits into the ever-evolving Valorant meta. This means knowing their best partners, their toughest opponents, and how recent balance changes have affected their playstyle.

The Latest Scoop (Patch 10.4 & Beyond)

Clove received some significant adjustments in Patch 10.4 that you absolutely need to know about.

Patch Notes

Ability Changes

Ruse (E) - Smoke Cooldown

The cooldown for your Ruse (E) smokes was increased from 30 seconds to a lengthy 40 seconds.

High Impact

Meddle (Q) - Explosion Timing

Your Meddle (Q) grenade was changed to explode shortly after hitting the ground, rather than on a fixed timer.

High Impact

Pick-Me-Up (C) - Duration Balance

The movement speed boost is now much shorter (3 seconds), but the health boost lasts longer (10 seconds).

Medium Impact

What the nerfs mean for you: This was a direct response to how oppressive Clove's post-death smokes were in ranked play. You can no longer spam your smokes with impunity. Each smoke is more precious, so you must be more thoughtful about when and where you use them. Wasting a smoke now has a much longer-lasting consequence.

What the buffs mean for you: This was a massive quality-of-life improvement and a significant buff to your offensive capabilities. It makes your decay much more reliable and easier to aim, enabling those deadly ability combos we talked about. You can now confidently use Meddle for precise, coordinated plays.

What the tweaks mean for you: This change redefines the ability's purpose. It's less of an escape tool and more of a "combat reset." The goal is no longer to get a kill and run across the map; it's to get a kill, pop the heal, and immediately use that health advantage to win your next duel.

Your Perfect Partners (Synergies)

Clove thrives in compositions that embrace their aggressive nature.

Aggressive Duelists

(Jett, Raze): This is a match made in heaven. You use Meddle to soften up targets, and they use their mobility to dash in and secure the kill. When you inevitably die on the site entry, your post-death smokes provide the perfect cover for them to hold the post-plant.

Information Initiators

(Sova, Fade): A simple but brutally effective strategy: they find the enemies, you decay them, and your team eliminates them. A reveal from a Sova Recon Bolt or a Fade Haunt combined with your Meddle is a recipe for success.

Defensive Sentinels

(Killjoy, Cypher): Your utility is fantastic for stalling pushes. A well-placed Meddle or smoke can slow down an enemy rush just long enough for Killjoy's Turret or Cypher's traps to do maximum damage and gather crucial information.

Double Controller

Setups: Clove is an excellent choice for a secondary, more aggressive smoker. They can pair well with a primary Controller like Omen or Viper, who can handle the larger, map-wide smoke duties while Clove focuses on close-range fights and site execution.

Enemies at the Gates (Counters)

Every agent has their weaknesses, and it's crucial to know who can shut you down.

Your Worst Nightmares

KAY/O - The Ultimate Shutdown

He is, without a doubt, your single worst nightmare. His ZERO/POINT suppression knife and NULL/cmd ultimate completely disable all of your abilities. If you are suppressed, you are just a regular agent with a gun. You cannot heal, you cannot smoke after death, and you cannot use your ultimate to revive. A well-played KAY/O can render your entire kit useless.

Killjoy - Lockdown Punisher

Her Lockdown ultimate is a direct counter to your Not Dead Yet. If you try to revive inside her ultimate's radius, you will be instantly detained and become a free, stationary target for the enemy team.

Sova / Fade - Information Overload

While they are great partners, they are also potent counters. Their reveal abilities make it incredibly difficult for you to reposition safely after getting a kill or after reviving. A Sova who saves his Hunter's Fury ultimate for your revive can kill you the moment you rematerialize, giving you no chance to fight back.

Breach / Sage - Movement Killers

Any agent with abilities that can slow or stun you is a major annoyance. They can negate the speed boost from your Pick-Me-Up, making it much harder for you to escape or re-engage after a duel.

Your First Smokes: Map-by-Map Starter Kit

One of the biggest hurdles for new Clove players is knowing where to place smokes. Bad smokes can hurt your team more than they help. Here is a simple, foundational starter kit for the core maps to get you started on the right foot.

Ascent: Controlling Mid and Executing on Sites

Ascent Map — Ascent offers excellent opportunities for Clove's post-death smoke utility from central positions

Ascent Smoke Placements

Scenario	Primary Smoke	Secondary Smoke	Purpose
Attack A	Heaven	Tree/Door	Cuts off the two most powerful defensive positions and isolates anyone playing on the site itself
Attack B	Market Door	Defender Spawn	Allows your team to safely push up B-Main and take control of the site without being exposed to rotating defenders
Defense	A-Main	B-Main	Your primary job is to stall pushes. When you hear the enemy team committing, smoke off the main chokepoints

Defense Alternative: A powerful alternative strategy is to take Mid control by smoking off Catwalk and Mid Link early in the round.

Bind: Using TPs and Splitting Sites

Bind Smoke Placements

Scenario	Primary Smoke	Secondary Smoke	Purpose
Attack A	Heaven (Lamps)	Truck (U-Hall)	Allows your team to push simultaneously from both A-Short and Showers
Attack B	Defender Spawn	Elbow/Garden	Gives your team full control of the site for a safe plant
Defense	Hookah Entrance	A-Short	Contest early space and deny early peeks to slow down the attackers' default plays

Pro Tip: A well-placed one-way smoke on A-Short can be particularly deadly.

Split: Verticality and Mid Control

Split Smoke Placements

Scenario	Primary Smoke	Secondary Smoke	Purpose
Attack A	Screens	A-Rafters (Heaven)	Allows your team to focus on clearing the site and fighting for control of the ramps
Attack B	B-Heaven	Defender Spawn (CT)	Isolates the site and allows for a relatively safe plant
Defense	Mid Stairs	Site Entrances	Mid control is paramount. A default smoke on Mid Stairs is one of the most effective ways to slow down enemy rotations and split pushes

Haven: The Three-Site Challenge

Haven Map — Haven's three-site layout presents unique challenges for Clove's limited smoke range

Haven Smoke Placements

Scenario	Primary Smoke	Secondary Smoke	Purpose
Attack A	Heaven	A-Link	Blocks the connector that leads to B-site for isolated site control
Attack C	Back-site Platform	Garage (CT)	Allows for a safe push up C-Long with minimal defensive interference
Defense	Garage Entrance	Mid/B Support	Position yourself near Mid or on B-site for maximum rotational flexibility

Haven Defense Strategy

Clove's limited smoke range can be a challenge on Haven. It's often best to position yourself near Mid or on B-site, as this allows you to quickly help either A or C. Your main defensive goal is to use smokes to block the entrance to Garage and the main entry points to the A and C sites to stall pushes and buy time for your teammates to rotate.

Now, Go Cause Some Trouble

You've made it. You now have the knowledge, the strategies, and the mindset to truly unlock the power of Valorant's most unique Controller. Remember the core philosophy: be aggressive, be fearless, and understand that your death is not a failure—it's a weapon.

Your journey with Clove will be one of evolution. You'll start as that "Duelist Clove," drawn in by the thrill of the heal and the revive. But as you play more, you'll begin to see the bigger picture. You'll learn to balance that aggression with the strategic wisdom of a true Controller. You'll start making plays not just for your own survival, but for your team's victory, using your own life as the ultimate tool to control the battlefield.

Clove Mastery — Master Clove's unique playstyle and become the immortal troublemaker your team needs

You have the tools. You have the insider tips. You know who to fight with and who to watch out for. Now, there's only one thing left to do. Get in there, embrace the beautiful chaos, and show them what it truly means to be unkillable. Good luck, you beautiful troublemaker.