SentinelThe Moroccan information broker, Cypher is a one-man surveillance network who keeps tabs on the enemy's every move. No secret is safe. No maneuver goes unseen. Cypher is always watching.
CEQUIP a trapwire. FIRE to place a destructible and covert trapwire at the targeted location, creating a line that spans between the placed location and the wall opposite. Enemy players who cross a trapwire will be Slowed and Revealed after a short period if they do not destroy the device in time. This ability can be picked up to be REDEPLOYED.
Bought with credits at the start of a round, and lost when you die.
QINSTANTLY toss the cyber cage in front of Cypher. ACTIVATE to create a zone that blocks vision and plays an audio cue when enemies pass through it.
Bought with credits at the start of a round, and lost when you die.
EEQUIP a spycam. FIRE to place the spycam at the targeted location. RE-USE this ability to take control of the camera's view. While in control of the camera, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will Reveal the location of any player struck by the dart. This ability can be picked up to be REDEPLOYED.
The signature ability — free every round, and on some agents it recharges through play rather than being bought.
XINSTANTLY use on a targeted dead enemy to download information on their team. After a brief delay, the location of all living enemy players will be Revealed twice.
Charged by ultimate orbs, kills, deaths and planting or defusing the spike.
They hold ground. Flank watch and site lockdown buy the time everyone else needs to rotate.
Two of Cypher's abilities are bought with credits each round and lost on death. Spycam is the signature ability, so it's free every round, and Neural Theft is the ultimate — it can't be bought at all, it charges through play.
Cypher is a Sentinel. They hold ground. Flank watch and site lockdown buy the time everyone else needs to rotate.
Cypher's ultimate is Neural Theft, bound to X. INSTANTLY use on a targeted dead enemy to download information on their team. After a brief delay, the location of all living enemy players will be Revealed twice.
Spycam. EQUIP a spycam. FIRE to place the spycam at the targeted location. RE-USE this ability to take control of the camera's view. While in control of the camera, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will Reveal the location of any player struck by the dart. This ability can be picked up to be REDEPLOYED.
Cypher has 4 abilities in total: Trapwire, Cyber Cage, Spycam, Neural Theft.
No. Cypher was added after release — only 5 of the current agents shipped with the game at launch.
Cypher 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.
There are 7 in the Sentinel role: Cypher, Deadlock, Chamber, Killjoy, Vyse, Veto, Sage. 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.
How often professional teams actually pick Cypher, 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.
| Map | Pick rate | Win rate | Times picked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fracture | 12.8% | 48.8% | 127 |
| Haven | 9% | 50.7% | 282 |
| Ascent | 9% | 51.7% | 230 |
| Summit | 7.7% | 53.6% | 56 |
| Sunset | 6.5% | 50% | 66 |
| Sunset | 4.1% | 51.2% | 41 |
| Pearl | 3.5% | 44% | 50 |
| Haven | 3.1% | 49% | 98 |
| Lotus | 2.2% | 35.7% | 70 |
| Ascent | 2.1% | 48.1% | 54 |
| Breeze | 1.3% | 54.5% | 33 |
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.
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.
Cypher 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 Cypher went by the internal codename Gumshoe, which is the name that still appears in the game files.
There are 29 playable agents in total, 7 of them in the Sentinel role.
The other 6 agents who fill the Sentinel role. If you like how Cypher plays, these are the closest thing to a lateral move — same job on the team, different tools.
Interactions involving Cypher, from either side — what their abilities do to other agents’ utility, and what other agents can do to theirs.
KAY/O ZERO/point suppresses Cypher Trapwire
The knife suppresses agents in its radius, and suppression also disables deployed utility belonging to them for the duration — trips in range stop functioning rather than being destroyed.
Raze Blast Pack destroys Cypher Trapwire
A satchel's explosion breaks trips in range. Cheaper than walking into one, and it clears the entrance without announcing exactly where you are the way triggering the trip does.
Cypher Trapwire reveals Yoru Dimensional Drift
This is the question people search most and the answer is counterintuitive: a Yoru in his ultimate is intangible and does not trigger trips. Cypher's trips catch his CLONE, which is a separate ability and does set them off.
Jett Tailwind passes through Cypher Trapwire
Dashing does not avoid trips — the wire triggers on contact regardless of speed. The common belief that a dash beats a trip is simply false.
KAY/O FRAG/ment destroys Cypher Trapwire
The molly's repeated damage pulses break trips caught in its area. Slower than shooting the wire, but it clears without exposing you to the angle the trip is watching.
Yoru Gatecrash passes through Cypher Trapwire
Teleport arrival does not touch the wire mid-room the way a walking body does — Yoru can appear PAST a trip line without triggering it if the tether sits beyond the wire. The trap catches travel, not arrival.
Neon High Gear reveals Cypher Trapwire
Sprinting and sliding still trigger trips on contact — the same speed-does-not-matter rule as Jett's dash. No movement ability in the game passes through a wire.
