Icebox is one of Valorant’s largest map despite having two sites. A lot of the approaches to site leave you vulnerable to enemies, unless you can find a way to block them.
That’s where controller agents come in. It is essential to choose the best controllers on Icebox to ensure your team can approach sites safely, as well as facilitate retakes.
Controllers aid their teammates by cutting enemy vision-lines, taking control of an area, and forcing enemies into choke points.
They are incredibly useful in slicing up dangerous territory to set their team up for success.
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To be able to play around both the Operator and multiple elevations on Icebox, you need to pick the right controller agent.
In this ONE Esports guide, we’ll look at the best controller agents with whom you can take over the map, section up parts of the map, and cut off enemies’ vision.
The best controllers on Icebox to cut off enemies’ sights
Viper
Viper is the most picked controller agent on Icebox, and for good reason. Her kit seems to be perfectly geared for the map. She comes with a reservoir of toxin that recharges when not in use, and this fuels two of her four abilities.
Her free ability, the Toxic Screen, is a wall that can be placed once per round and its location cannot be altered. Enemies who pass through the screen will face some decay that reverses after time. The wall can be put up and taken down depending on Viper’s toxin reservoirs.
Her second ability is a Poison Orb, which similar to the wall, decays enemies. However, you can pick this up and reuse it during the round, making it more versatile. You can use it to cross an angle, pick it up again, and use it in post-plant.
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Her third ability, Snakebite, is a molly that make enemies vulnerable while steadily doing damage. Combined with other pieces of utility like Sova shock darts, Killjoy nano swarms, and the like, they can take out enemies playing in corners.
You can also use them in post-plant as lineups. Combined with the decay from the Poison Orb, it makes defusing the spike impossible.
Viper’s ultimate, Viper’s pit, covers a large area with a cloud of her poisonous gases. The ult reduces enemy vision, while decaying enemies steadily down to 1 HP. It can be used defensively to lock down a site or on attack, it can be deployed to make the retake attempt harder.
You can check out the best ways to use Viper on Icebox in our guide!
Omen
While Viper is the controller of choice on Icebox, Omen also has his uses. His abilities let him play around with the inherent verticality of the map.
His default ability, Dark Cover, comes with two smokes, the second of which you need to purchase at the round’s beginning.
These smokes, being hollow, are somewhere you can play within and around. They also recharge and can even be placed as one-ways.
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His second ability, Shadowed Step, is a short-range teleport that you can buy two of per round. You can use this ability to teleport atop of areas like rafters on A site, the tube in mid, and on top of Yellow on B. This is what elevates Omen over Brimstone or Astra.
Omen’s third ability is Paranoia. This is a flash that near sights players caught in it, while also distorting the sound. It covers a good area as well, and has the potential to blind multiple enemies.
Finally, his ultimate, From the Shadows, can be used to manage quick rotations around the map. The ultimate lets you teleport to any point of the map. Its most seen usage however, is to retrieve the spike when dropped in the midst of enemies.
Harbor
Harbor, the second controller who has an ability that, similar to Viper, has a longer wall instead of standard round smokes like Omen or Astra. While he isn’t seen used much on the map, he definitely has his uses, mainly when combined with Viper or Omen.
His free ability, High Tide, is a wall of water you can send along the lines you want. This wall does not block bullets or utility but impedes vision. It can also be shaped, compared to the straight line of Viper’s wall.
His second ability, Cascade, is a wall that you send in a particular direction. This travels in a straight line and you can stop it where you like. Similar to High Tide, does not block utility or bullets. You can buy two Cascades per round.
His next ability, Cove, is incredibly useful. The Cove is a sphere that blocks a certain number of bullets before shattering, especially when you plant or defuse the spike. However, it does not block utility, so beware of lineups.
Finally, Harbor’s ultimate, Reckoning, is incredibly disruptive, and can be used to attack a site, during retakes, and to deny the latter from occurring. You will summon a geyser pool on the ground.
Enemy players in the area covered by the ultimate will be targeted by successive geyser strikes. Players caught by a strike are concussed.
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