Cypher Valorant Guide

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The most crucial thing in every Valorant match is information. With this, you and your teammates will have an advantage on enemy positions and movements whether they want to initiate a push or rotate to the other plant site. Cypher is one of the best Agents to gather information.

Cypher is a Sentinel, they are one of the classes in the game that have a significant role to play, and it is essential to have one in your team.

Sentinels are defensive agents that specialize in deploying traps and turrets that can lock down certain areas and watch over enemy flanks or the other way around. They are also the ones who will commit to defuse or plant the spike, which often decides the round.

Another objective they perform is defending your teammates using their traps. A good Sentinel effectively postpones the enemy team from entering the spike site or relocating to another area; Cypher shines during these situations.

Whether you want to set up traps or keep your teammates protected from enemies, Cypher is as flexible as they come.

Cypher is a great choice to have it on your agent pool, especially if you are really into a defensive playstyle. Once you understand how his kit works, you can gather and secure valuable data for your team, eventually netting you the victory.

Why Pick Cypher

Generally, Cypher is amusing to play and rewards you the more you invest time into learning him. This Moroccan intelligence Agent is your eye in the sky. He is the second Sentinel introduced when the game was initially released. Cypher depends on gadgets specializing in gathering intel, setting up shop or traps, watching over his targets, and revealing enemy movements.

What is good about Cypher is that he is well-grounded in locating the whereabouts of his enemies. He can easily dominate the map using his division of gadgets that are good with gathering intel. It’s always a battle of wits when Cypher is in the game. 

Remember that Cypher’s abilities don’t affect his teammates, but make sure you deploy your traps in contested hot zones. Otherwise, you might as well end up as a broken lens to your teammate; make sure that you have an eye on everything, or at the very least force your enemies to second guess their plan of attack.

To differentiate from other Sentinels, Cypher is a defensive agent who concentrates on surveillance which means he is the guy you can depend on anticipating rotations. Additionally, he excels when taking a defensive stand as there is one less angle to watch.

Compared to other sentinels who thrive with an offensive playstyle, Cypher’s abilities are better used proactively. However, a Cypher with a keen game sense can lead to aggressive plays, since they always cover your blind spots, whether on attack or defense.

Abilities

Cypher Valorant

Agents have their own set of unique abilities that match their quirky playstyle and gameplay. These abilities can only be obtained by buying them at the start of the round. However, you need to carefully decide what abilities you want to use on each significant round to balance your economy. So, think before you purchase; there’s no need to get everything in one round.

Cypher is well-known for monitoring enemy movements across the map. He is superior on stealthy traps and cameras that once he planted, he has the vision on every enemy that set foot on that particular area. A coordinated Cypher can quickly determine who’s inside the site and avoid miscommunication between teammates. 

Tripwire

Cypher equips a badge with two charges that will emit a glowing line that stretches between the walls and surfaces once you fire it to a targeted location. An enemy who crosses that line will most likely bind unto that line, revealing its position. In addition, an enemy will be dazed if they stand within the tripwire for a few seconds.

Trapwire is Cypher’s lifeline, and you’ll want one equipped every round. Whenever an enemy sets off one of Cypher’s Trapwires, you can determine their recent location while behind the wall or in the distance.

This ability is very practical for incoming enemies entering the site or planting the spike at the destined zone. Frequently, it is deployed at the entrance of the site you want to hold on to, but other players, including me, deploy the Trapwires inside the plant zone so that it can easily determine if someone is already planting the spike.

You need to remember to make your enemies touch your Trapwires and make it as unnoticeable and unavoidable as possible by placing your tripwires where enemies can’t jump over them or crouch unto them. Or else, it will be all for nothing.

For example, one good habit is setting the Trapwire in a low point so that it’s less visible and thus less noticeable to the enemy team. Placing a Trapwire after a window is also a good choice since it will effectively block them from that route.

With some creativity, you can deploy your trapwires shapes like a cross. This way also catches Agents with high mobility, such as Raze and Jett. Furthermore, if this ability does not do well, you can redeploy it and put it somewhere with use.

As I said earlier, this skill can be reobtained. So, whenever you don’t like where your traps are placed, you’re free to obtain them so long as they’re not destroyed.

Cyber Cage

Cypher Valorant Cyber Cage

Cypher is equipped with a cage that will discharge a scrambled screen once activated, creating a zone blocking enemy vision. In addition, when an enemy enters or leaves one of these zones, it will make a detectable noise whenever they are in contact with the edges of the cage. With this, you can be aware whenever an enemy tries to rush inside. 

Cyber Cage allows Cypher to mix up his playstyle from a Sentinel to a Controller. This ability essentially locks away an area, and it’s considered a death sentence to pass through the smoke. Be warned that experienced players can take an educated guess and shoot through the smoke. It’s better used as a deterrent, not a shield.

Like other Controller agents, this ability can also be used as a one-way lineup or smoke. This means it is effective for covering the entrance of the site. Just don’t put it too near the entrance because high-ranked players are most likely pre-aiming your angle.

Cyber Cage is best paired with Cypher’s Trapwire. You can place them near each other so that both abilities cover each other’s weaknesses. In this way, enemy players will have a hard time noticing your tripwires inside of the cage, getting an easy kill with the vision provided by your Trapwire.

Unfortunately, Cyber Cage is not retrievable, so you need to be careful at all times on where you will deploy your cage, or else you will most likely give your enemies a strategic advantage.

Spycam

It is important to know what your enemy location is, and this ability is an excellent tool for that job. Cypher’s Spycam is a signature ability. Signature abilities are free abilities that can be used anytime as long as the cooldown is up.

Cypher is equipped with a spy camera that you can place at key locations. Upon contact with a wall, it will cloak itself immediately after a few seconds. You can then take control of the camera’s point of view just by reusing it. You can also fire a marking dart to enemies to reveal the location of any player who got hit by the dart. 

Just like Cypher’s tripwires, Spycam is also retrievable. Once you acquire valuable information for your teammates, you can reobtain your camera so you can use it in another area again. Keep in mind that if the camera is retrieved, it will have a 15 seconds cooldown to use it again, but once destroyed, you may have to wait until 45 seconds of cooldown to place your camera down.

Preferably, you need to place your Spycam at a higher angle to keep an eye on crucial spots around the map and remember to attach it where enemies will have a hard time noticing your camera. As you climb the ranks, enemies will have a stronger hunch about the whereabouts of your camera. You can use this knowledge as a crutch and effectively use the camera as bait to catch them off-guard.

Adjust your Spycam to the enemy’s initiator. For example, if they’re using one of the best initiators, Breach, try to place your cameras at the most common spot for him to use his abilities. If done right, you would have completely nullified their initiator without firing a single shot.

As far as I’m concerned, Spycam is one of the most incredible abilities in the game. Not only does it provides a vision to you and your teammates, but it also determines enemy positions and hears their footsteps, as well as other agents flanking your team that are vital in the course of the match. 

Neural Theft

Cypher Valorant Neural Theft

Cypher’s ultimate ability is called Neural Theft. Cypher uses this ability by throwing his hat towards a freshly deceased enemy corpse in his crosshair, giving a glimpse of the last few remaining living enemies around the map.  It reveals the enemies through a yellow outline that possessed the form of another remaining agent alive. Also, you cannot use this ability if the corpse you targeted already passed the 20-second mark.

Even it is one of the weakest ultimate abilities out there in the game, it also has its fair share of uses, especially in utility. For example, using this intel-gathering ability in mid-game is recommended so you can set your teammates on intercepting the opposing team on where they are going to push through or trying to relocate from another area.

Although this ability has an animation lag. Most likely, you will have a hard time switching between actions when an enemy is in front of you, giving them a chance of a secure kill of you. Therefore, make sure your teammates cover you when you swoop in to use this ability.

Lastly, Neural Theft is suitable for giving paramount information to your allies. So, use this ability as often as it comes up; there’s no wrong time to use it, even if there’s only one person left standing. Otherwise, it will waste time that you could have used to secure a kill.

How to Play Cypher

Character Playstyle

Cypher Valorant

Cypher is like the stereotypical tech and tactics specialist during every heist movie. Thus, patience and foresight are crucial to getting the most out of him. 

Cypher thrives when you seek opportunities to choke out enemies from the site, whether attackers or defenders. Using his variety of instruments suitable for supervising enemy activities, you aim to grant a significant advantage by providing vision. Also, when the time is right to kill, he will terminate enemies who overstep their boundaries.

Try to trap your enemies with your surveillance technology. Once you have an area covered, you’re free to leave it alone and focus on other angles. If you know a route is clear, you can tell your Duelist like Yoru to sneak through that area to hopefully steal a fast kill.

In addition, He can also be used in the offensive by attaching your tripwires and camera as your team’s cover when you and your teammates are pushing. This way, your team can identify an enemy if someone is going on a flank, attempting to stop you from entering on wherever site your team may be.

As I said earlier, his abilities are very useful when it comes to tracking down sneaky enemies. Spycam is a blessing when properly communicated to controller Agents such as Brimstone. A controller’s job is to manipulate an area capable of blocking enemy visions. Combining the might of your abilities and your controller’s assets will easily stack the enemy in one place to put your enemies on a chokehold.

The best thing you can do is make sure you are not the one who will die first so that you can continue to provide valuable intel to your teammates. Prep time is also important to him. Decide what abilities and guns you want to use on that round so you can set it all up ahead of time.

You cannot retrieve your Cyber Cage once you throw it. You want to use your cage to block the vision from an enemy sniper stationed inside the spike zone when you or one of your team is planting or defusing the spike. In addition to that, Trapwires are commonly placed at the beginning or during the buying phase. Place your tripwires at both possible flanks so you can cut off enemies from flanking. 

In terms of his abilities, you can do a little bit of imagination here and there. For example, Cyber Cage is a good combo for your Trapwire, and so is his Spycam.

So, what you need to do is place your Cybercage from where your Trapwires are set to. In this way, your enemies will have a hard time looking for the tripwires because of the confusion caused by your Cybercage, acquiring a secure kill while guarding your post. 

Additionally, you can activate your Cybercage even you are taking control of your Spycam as long as the crosshair is targeted to your cage.

Even though Spycam is an excellent tool for scouting the area, it has a long cooldown if his camera gets destroyed by the opposing team. However, to avoid getting destroyed you need to recover your camera if you already got the information your team needs.

Also, if an enemy got hit by the dart from your Spycam, you can determine the player’s location for 6 seconds as long as the player did not remove the dart attached to his body. Use this to your advantage. Cypher’s kit is straightforward in terms of defensive reconnaissance and scouting, unlike Sova which focuses on the offensive side of gathering information for the team.

This is perfect assistance for your team to widely understand which part of the map is unguarded and unprotected by enemies. Additionally, he is one of the few agents that does not possess friendly fire. 

What Are Good/Bad Maps for Cypher?

Cypher Valorant

Cypher excels on maps that have predictable openings where he can use utilize his Spycams such as Haven, Ascent, Bind, and Split. Maps like these have a long angle that is dangerous to peek that only his camera has capable of looking at enemies without the risk of dying.

For example, Cypher players in Bind often goes to the B site to set tripwires on the sand. There’s a high chance that enemies commit to the B site since the A site is more dangerous than the other. By placing his camera at the edge of the wall, below the entrance of the defender’s base, you can have a better angle to peek at enemies both in B long and B Window or simply called “hookah”.

In contrast, Cypher is bad on maps where he can’t put his traps well such as Fracture and Icebox. Yes, you can use or abilities here, but not as effective as the other maps I said earlier.

To clarify, regardless of your traps are placed or attached, it is easy to say that they can easily avoid your traps since these two maps have two or three pathways to the spike zone, giving your enemies an option of where they are going to commit a push. 

What Guns are Good/Bad for Cypher?

Cypher is good in a mid-long distance fight and is most effective in passive-defensive gameplay. What suit him best are the guns that are capable of hurting enemies in a distance such as snipers and rifles since this agent is very good at gathering information on long-range.

I highly suggest guns such as Guardian, Vandal, and Operator are the best choice for him since they supplement his style of play.

You can also adopt an aggressive playstyle and use guns such as Phantom, Spectre, or Ares if you wish to find a different approach to what he is used to playing with. Furthermore, there are no worst or best weapons for him, as long as you utilize his utility, then you are in for a treat.

Also when saving some of your credits or Eco rounds as players called, you can always go for a Classic, Ghost, Spectre, or Marshall since these guns are capable of middle-range fights, also these are inexpensive so you can still save for more credits on the next round. 

In addition, if you have a great number of credits, I suggest buying Vandal and Operator. These guns are capable of doing the one-tap mechanics, which means these guns can one-shot-one-kill your opponents by just tapping the fire button, especially the Operator since this is the strongest yet most expensive sniper there in the shop.

However, Vandal can only one-tap enemies if you aim to the head. So you need to improve your aim at the lab. 

How to Unlock Cypher in the Game

Cypher Valorant Tripwire

Characters in the game are depicted as Agents and you are provided with 5 agents that you can use after making your Valorant account. If you haven’t got Cypher yet on your roster, then what you need to do is you must click the Collections tab in the main menu.

After that, click the agent’s tab then it will proceed you to a wide selection of colorful characters. There, browse through all the agents until you find Cypher. Then, click the “Activate Contract” or use some Valorant points to unlock him automatically (it is up to you).

Anyway, after you activated his contract, you must play several matches to gain experience points until you reached the maximum level where you can gain access to Cypher.

Experiences can be obtained by playing matches in Unrated, Ranked, Deathmatch, and Special Matches. I suggest playing at Unrated or Ranked since gaining experience here is more rewarding than Deathmatch and Special events.

But if you are willing to play as Cypher, you can always do the alternative where using money is a must. Furthermore, you can gain a handful of sprays, titles, and even a pistol skin along the course of your level.

FAQs

Question: Is Cypher Good with Beginners?

Answer: Yes, he is pretty much one of the recommended to use for players who want to get into the game. Based on my own experience, I quite enjoy his abilities and playstyle in matches because his camera is very useful in every match.
Although, it is difficult to master this agent since you have to understand the ins and outs of the map as well as predict your enemy movements, his set of abilities can easily figure out by beginner players.
Playing as Cypher can put your patience to the test. Most importantly, you must be the last guy to die because your information is crucial to them since his kit swirls around scouting and trapping.
But with a thorough understanding of his general playstyle and his amazing set of abilities, if you decide to main this agent you most likely bear fruit with mastery and excellence.

Question: Who are the Best Cypher Players?

Answer: There may be players who excel when using Cypher, and these players execute their abilities, as well as their playstyle with great ease and amazing game sense.
Most notably, players such as Dapr and nATs perform as Cypher with such proficiency. Seeing them compete with other teams using this agent is moving and amusing at the same time. You can get a few tricks just by looking at how they play.
Dapr set his camera with such brilliant placement for his camera combined with his almost perfect aiming when using guns his definitely one of the players who look up by Cypher mains.
In addition to that, nATs intense 3v1 clutch before outstands with other best Cypher mains out there. Using the unpredictable placing of his traps, it is sure to say that nATs prove that even using Cypher can also be top-fragged. 

Question: Who is Cypher?

Answer: Cypher’s real name is “Ahmir” meaning “Prince” in Arabic. He is from Morocco, whose real identity remains a secret. He is a long and slender man wearing a white hat with antennas that are attached to it and a white overcoat where his gadgets are hidden inside.
He also dons a mask which is his trademark, to keep his face from being seen by other agents in the protocol. He is quite discourteous with his fellow agents, taking other tools or parts for his gadgets, letting them know after he finished using them. 
He is the fifth agent to be recruited to the Valorant protocol. Cypher is used to getting secrets and information as to his line of work. He almost knows all about his comrades’ secrets as well as their passwords but only gives it away with a good amount of money. However, he doesn’t want to share his secrets to other Agents.
Even though he killed many people before, he also has a good relationship with his fellow teammates by giving them nicknames based on their skills and appearance.
For example, calling Sova a “measured friend” since Cypher’s habit of keeping secrets quarrels with Sova’s pure honesty and transparency among the group. 

Conclusion

Keep in mind that having a trigger-happy attitude won’t climb you at the ranks. It is always about validating your teammates’ strengths and weaknesses and the teamwork you have with your fellow players. Communication is the heart and soul when using Cypher because acquiring valuable information is his main attraction.

All in all, Cypher is the man who will see right through you. I can say that his kit and playstyle are pretty much straightforward. All you need to do is set your traps and scout the area for enemy presence around and then kill them if you have the chance. So if you just want to play behind the scenes, then he’s the guy you need for that.

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