Controller

Clove

Scottish troublemaker Clove makes mischief for enemies in both the heat of combat and the cold of death. The young immortal keeps foes guessing, even from beyond the grave, their return to the living only ever a moment away.

Abilities

Pick-me-up

ACTIVATE to absorb the life force of a fallen enemy that Clove damaged or killed, gaining haste and temporary health.

Bought with credits at the start of a round, and lost when you die.

Meddle

EQUIP a fragment of immortality essence. FIRE to throw the fragment, which upon landing on the floor, erupts after a short delay and temporarily Decays all targets caught inside.

Bought with credits at the start of a round, and lost when you die.

Ruse

EQUIP a view of the battlefield. FIRE to set the locations where Clove’s clouds will settle. ALT FIRE to confirm, launching clouds that block vision in the chosen areas. Clove can use this ability after death.

The signature ability — free every round, and on some agents it recharges through play rather than being bought.

Not Dead Yet

After dying, ACTIVATE to resurrect. Once resurrected, Clove must earn a kill or a damaging assist within a set time or they will die. REACTIVATE to cancel early.

Charged by ultimate orbs, kills, deaths and planting or defusing the spike.

What a Controller does

They decide which angles exist. Smokes and area denial let a team take a site while ignoring half the defenders on it.

How Clove's abilities are bought

Two of Clove's abilities are bought with credits each round and lost on death. Ruse is the signature ability, so it's free every round, and Not Dead Yet is the ultimate — it can't be bought at all, it charges through play.

Clove FAQ

What role is Clove in VALORANT?

Clove is a Controller. They decide which angles exist. Smokes and area denial let a team take a site while ignoring half the defenders on it.

What is Clove's ultimate?

Clove's ultimate is Not Dead Yet, bound to X. After dying, ACTIVATE to resurrect. Once resurrected, Clove must earn a kill or a damaging assist within a set time or they will die. REACTIVATE to cancel early.

What is Clove's signature ability?

Ruse. EQUIP a view of the battlefield. FIRE to set the locations where Clove’s clouds will settle. ALT FIRE to confirm, launching clouds that block vision in the chosen areas. Clove can use this ability after death.

How many abilities does Clove have?

Clove has 4 abilities in total: Pick-me-up, Meddle, Ruse, Not Dead Yet.

Was Clove in VALORANT at launch?

No. Clove was added after release — only 5 of the current agents shipped with the game at launch.

Is Clove free to play?

Clove has to be unlocked, like every agent beyond the starting few. You do that with Kingdom Credits earned by playing, or with VALORANT Points if you would rather not wait. Unlocking is permanent and no agent is ever sold as a stronger option — the roster is balanced, not tiered by price.

Which agents are Controllers?

There are 7 in the Controller role: Clove, Miks, Harbor, Viper, Astra, Brimstone, Omen. Roles are the game's own grouping, not a community one, and they describe the job an agent does for the team rather than how strong they are.

Clove in professional play

How often professional teams actually pick Clove, measured across 1,820 tournament games played between 2026-05-22 and 2026-08-20. This is professional VALORANT, not ranked — the two behave differently, and a pick rate at this level says more about map strategy than about what wins games in a solo queue.

0.2%

Pick rate

38.2%

Win rate

0.83

K/D

Times picked

Pick rate is the share of the ten player slots in a game that this agent filled. Win rate hovers near 50% for almost every agent because professional matches are between evenly matched teams — a figure far from 50% usually means a small sample rather than a strong agent. Maps with too few games to be meaningful are left out entirely rather than shown with a warning.

What Clove's abilities cost

Two of every agent's abilities are bought with credits at the start of a round and lost when you die. The signature is free on a cooldown, and the ultimate cannot be bought at all — it charges from kills, deaths, spike plants and orbs.

C · Pick-me-up: Bought with credits each round
Q · Meddle: Bought with credits each round
E · Ruse: Free every round, on a cooldown
X · Not Dead Yet: Charged through play, never bought

Where Clove sits in the roster

Clove was added after launch. Only 5 of the current roster shipped with the game, and the agents added since tend to carry more conditional or setup-heavy abilities than the originals.

During development Clove went by the internal codename Smonk, which is the name that still appears in the game files.

There are 29 playable agents in total, 7 of them in the Controller role.

More agents in the Controller role

The other 6 agents who fill the Controller role. If you like how Clove plays, these are the closest thing to a lateral move — same job on the team, different tools.