Hailing from LA, Gekko and his creatures carve open the battlefield. This guide will discuss how to best utilise his abilities for maximum, value and safety, mechanical tricks with his creatures, and his best performing maps so you can feel like a Gekko expert from your first game playing him. It seems like Gekko has the answer to everything with his versatility assisting in clearing space, tracking enemies and limiting their capabilities to fight back. His abilities are unique in Valorant because they can be recycled, allowing him to get value out of his utility more than once. This will allow him to perform well both as a lone Initiator and allows him to gather intel and create space with another Initiator next to him.
Abilities
It feels like Riot purposefully added a new character that is good at all phases of the game and can individually do a lot of different things through his kit. I don’t know if this is Valorant’s way of encouraging more double Initiator comps or an effort to reduce the double duelist insta-lock behaviour in ranked, but Gekko has good utility tools which allow him to be played well both aggressively and passively. We can examine all of his abilities and how to best utilise them in order to play the agent successfully.
Wingman
Who would dare shoot at the cutest new addition to the Valorant roster? Did everyone see him in the trailer ride with Gekko on his skateboard? Only a soulless enemy sweating for RR would shoot such a good boi.
The Wingman is arguably Gekko’s most unique ability and one that can come up clutch in a lot of situations. The Wingman fires a concussive blast at the first enemy he sees in his line of sight. Alt firing Wingman will allow him to plant the spike provided Gekko holds the spike on the attack, or target a spike on defence to defuse it. The Wingman only has 100 HP and is very fragile but in situations where there are only a few people remaining, having Wingman stick plant while peaking angles or planting into an empty site while watching for enemies to flood into the site can be super important. Having Gekko means that you don’t have to subject a member of your team to vulnerability when planting or defusing, and if enemies decide to shoot Wingman, you can spam abilities into their location to secure the kill. All in all, with coordinated play and a willingness to play off the information given by Wingman, you can approach duels much more favourably.
Another tip with Wingman is that he will run to the plant spot or defuse unless he is destroyed meaning that you can ask Wingman to plant on the elevated platform of A site for easier post plants for example. Sending Wingman into areas that can be traditionally difficult to plant for an easier post-plant should expand the scope for more tactical gameplay for your team. Using Wingman to plant, reclaiming him and then sending him into an angle that defenders are coming from, Wingman is very useful for planting, recon, and stuns. Wingman really feels like an all-in-one ability and its usefulness will only be limited by the players’ ingenuity.
Wingman is undoubtedly the most unique of Gekko’s creatures
Dizzy
Gekko’s signature ability is his most traditional Initiator ability with Gekko summoning Dizzy to fly through the air and unleash plasma blasts at enemies within her line of sight. Dizzy can be reclaimed after initial use as a globule after she has expired and used again after a short cooldown. This ability is useful for clearing the initial space in front of her, and swinging off Dizzy’s blind will not flash you which makes it more reliable as a one-way flash that only affects opponents.
Listening to Gekko’s voice lines also allows you to place your crosshair on areas outside of Dizzy’s line of sight if she doesn’t catch anyone. Understanding that swinging off enemies shooting Dizzy can also be effective as they will have to flick to you from Dizzy, likely making them inaccurate. Overall, Dizzy forces opponents to hide or shoot her, which allows Gekko and his teammates to swing off the ability and create space without flashing teammates like other agents sometimes end up doing with blind abilities.
A tip with Dizzy is to throw him up instead of forwards so she doesn’t glide forwards as much so you can pick her up from a safer spot after she expires. Understanding you need to get her again after initial use and throwing her forward when you have 4 people next to you or throwing her more upwards when you’re playing with fewer people or defending a site with fewer numbers will make recycling Gekko’s creatures much safer. Also can I express how glad I am that Valorant added a flash recon ability that doesn’t shine as bright as the sun?
Swing off Dizzy to gain control of B Main
Mosh Pit
It’s basically Viper’s Snake Bite except it takes a short delay before detonating and does more damage across a larger area. The end.
Ok, that’s not quite it. In essence, understanding the differences between Snake Bite and Mosh Pit will allow players to use Mosh Pit to its full potential. While Snake Bite is a stronger post-plant ability, Mosh Pit has the potential to be used in executes comparable to Raze’s Paint Shells.
The first key difference is that Mosh Pit covers a larger area than Snake Bite. This means it can more reliably stop pushes from bigger areas and cancels more space for opponents. This means Mosh Pit will more likely stop players from pushing one side of a site if placed correctly allowing teammates and yourself to swing more confidently without fearing getting backstabbed from the side blocked off with Mosh Pit. Another upside is that it’s easier to aim in the post-plant situation without lineups and will force enemies off spike even if it’s a little off.
Another difference is that it takes a short delay before detonating to deal more damage in a single explosion. Combining Mosh Pit with abilities like Fade’s Seize can also capture kills similar to the Seize-Paint Shells combination with Raze. Playing Gekko with comms is important to do these combos as well as to have cover when you interact with abilities to pick them up again. Also, you can alt-fire the Mosh Pit like Paint Shells. Did Riot seriously just fuse Snake Bite and Paint Shells and say, ‘look at this fantastic new ability!’. Hopefully not…
Combine Mosh Pit with Fade’s Seize for kills off the start of the round
Thrash
As someone who has played with Gekko a few times, remember, Thrash also detains friendly targets as well. Be careful of where you send him. Please.
Disclaimer aside, Thrash is a very powerful ultimate that forces players off positions and can be reused once so can be used in multiple phases of play to disrupt enemy plans and buy time and space. You can also bunnyhop while controlling Thrash making her difficult to hit. She has 200 HP and is very quick so adding bunnyhops should make her even more difficult to hit. Having teammates swing off Thrash is important as unlike Gekko’s other creatures, Thrash is not a one-tap ability and therefore you can force multiple targets to shoot her or else you can get a massive detain. Either way, you force enemies to look at Thrash and make the difficult decision of shooting Thrash to not be detained and then flick onto your teammate or kill the teammate but then Thrash may already be in range to detain them which will allow Gekko to sweep multiple kills for free.
Another piece of tech with Thrash is that after activating lunge, clicking the same button will cause Thrash to explode, meaning you can control how Thrash explodes without waiting for her to explode automatically. It’s especially useful when lunging at a tight group of enemies as you can trigger good timing to detain multiple targets without sailing past them and potentially missing them. Valorant adding another detaining ability that likely has a higher rate of succeeding should make fast executes more powerful.
Defending a rush on A? I got just the creature for you
Best Maps for the New Valorant Agent
Gekko can be used in a brawl playstyle and should be fairly useful on attack sides on most maps as you can recollect Gekko’s creatures after making space as a team. In this sense, Gekko’s attack side utility shouldn’t be swayed too much from map to map, and he should have sustained success on the attacker side. Judging by the trailer and his abilities, Valorant‘s newest agent seems to thrive on maps where he can utilise his full kit methodically to create and deny space and optimal timings.
The defender side is where Gekko’s success can be map dependent as enemies come forward to take space so recycling your abilities by reclaiming the creatures can become troublesome if they land in the middle of enemy territory. This is especially true for Gekko’s Dizzy, which allows Gekko and his teammates to gain intel through the blue beasts’ line of sight. Being able to throw Dizzy and have him look for enemies in important choke points and land back on a safe space for Gekko to pick up is crucial to utilising Gekko’s kit on the defender side. If you cannot pick Gekko’s abilities up on defence, playing other agents such as Fade and Sova with their primary recon abilities on cooldown will be better. With this in mind, there are three maps where Gekko excels and can find consistent value regardless of which side he is on.
Meet Gekko and his buddies in the newest Act of Episode 6: REVELATION, live NOW. Ready for introductions? pic.twitter.com/kQ0T2IwiQZ
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) March 7, 2023
Ascent
Ascent is perhaps Gekko’s best map with Dizzy being able to be reclaimed easily and clear sightlines in the sky for him to scan multiple angles in one deployment. Gekko can take space methodically on offence on both site entries and his short cooldowns allow him and his team methodical movement and pressure on defence which can keep opponents guessing and allow Gekko’s teammates to peak areas with an advantage.
Defensively, he can clear a lot of aggression throughout all phases of play and is especially good at countering fast and bunched-up aggression with his ultimate being one of the key components to stopping rushes or detaining enemies that get too overzealous. Overall, Ascent is Gekko’s playground and he thrives on this map.
Ascent is Gekko’s playground
Fracture
Much like Ascent, Gekko excels at gathering intel safely on defence and on the attack, and his abilities can be reused to gain control of key POIs to put pressure on defence or set up for the next part of the execute. On the defender side, players can combine with Fade for a Seize-Mosh Pit combo at the entry of A Halls for easy kills, and Dizzy can be thrown from both sites to gain information on how enemies are set up on the attacker side. Much like Ascent, Thrash can also hold corners and buy teammates time and space, and Wingman can defuse spike to swing off and trade or get kills in the post-plant phase.
On the attacker side, Dizzy is very useful for gaining control of areas such as A Hall, B Bench and B Tree if opponents are going to play aggressively on defence. I don’t know if the Valorant devs deliberately designed Fracture’s offence to be about methodical acquisition and control of space but it suits Gekko right down to a tee. Thrash excels at making space on the side of A Halls and B Arcade and Wingman can be used as utility to clear angles or plant the spike if need be. Even if the push is split from both sides of the map, Gekko should still be able to retrieve his abilities with the cover of his teammates and will be useful in making space where enemies will be forced to reposition and adjust their peaks and positioning.
Gekko can be a solid contributor throughout all phases of Fracture
Icebox
While not having the same capability to peak safely and gather a lot of useful intel on the defence side on B, he still excels on the attack with Wingman being able to plant on the elevated platform on site for easier post plants. He can gather intel relatively easily on the A side with a safe pickup for Dizzy and Wingman’s plants can be done from relatively safe positions which is positive.
Paired with another Initiator such as Fade or Sova, Gekko can also occupy more freedom on this map, and the Wingman plants can force enemies to reveal their locations or allow Gekko a free plant in a favourable location. In the post-plant phase, his other abilities can clear space and angles and delay retake executes, and his short cooldowns can allow him to delay enemies multiple times given the right circumstances and communication. Overall, while he doesn’t have an excellent presence across the whole map like the other two maps mentioned, he still does the job and is very useful offensively, making him viable and interesting on Icebox.
Gekko’s offensive ability will make Icebox so much fun to play
Check out more Valorant content including what’s new with this Act.
