Cinematics

 are narrative videos that take place in the lore and world of VALORANT. They follow the stories and missions of the VALORANT Protocol as they deal with threats.

DUELISTS
DUELISTS was the first cinematic released by VALORANT on the day the game launched.

Plot
""What about the hostile?" "I wouldn't worry about her." "Are you certain?" "One hundred! I got this.""

- Sage and Phoenix

In Venice, Italy, VALORANT agent Phoenix pursues an unknown Radiant (known to the audience as a Mirror version of Jett) who is in possession of a bag that contains a spike. Equipped with a Vandal, Phoenix chases Jett through Venice's alleys as she tries to stop him using her knives. Able to dodge most of them, he eventually takes a hit to the shoulder, prompting him to fight back using his own radiant abilities. After Jett is able to escape past one of his incendiaries, Phoenix forces her to ground by breaking the strap of her backpack with a shot from his Vandal, then isolates the package from her by separating them with a wall of fire. At this point, Sage, who is revealed to be on comms, asks Phoenix if he has the package. Phoenix responds to say he is close but is is being held back as Jett draws a pistol and begins to fire blindly through the fire wall. Sage warns Phoenix that he cannot let her plant the spike and she expresses concern about the hostile. Phoenix assures her that she won't be a problem for him, and activates one of his Radiant powers as he goes in to retrieve the package. Jett however catches him off guard as she dashes through the fire wall, briefly taking the time to mock him before shooting him and making off with the spike. Phoenix's radiant power allows him to revive himself without harm soon after he is shot. As he brushes himself off, Phoenix starts to inform VALORANT that the hostile escaped, but stops himself as he looks up to see part of the city is now floating in the air after Jett was able to plant and detonate the spike.

DUALITY
DUALITY was the third cinematic to be released. It was unveiled in a break between maps during the Grand Finals of the VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík tournament between Sentinels and Fnatic. It takes place the day after the events of DUELISTS.

Plot
""Huh?" *chuckles* "You should see your face.""

- Phoenix and Mirror Phoenix

The world is shown to be immediately responding to the incident in Venice. Media starts to speculate that radianite may have been involved, causing stocks in the Kingdom Corporation to see their biggest drop in its history and forcing the company to release a statement reassuring the world that radianite is beyond safe and that they were not involved with the disaster in any way. Authorities also ask anyone with information about the two radiants involved to come forward. The next day, Killjoy and her turret are in Rabat, Morocco to respond to yet another spike threat. Taking fire from an unknown assailant, Killjoy commands her turret to provide cover fire as she relaods her Spectre behind the cover of a radianite crate. In the sky above, reinforcements from the VALORANT Protocol arrive aboard the Vulture with Viper and Phoenix on board, much to Killjoy's relief. Viper asks if Killjoy has located the spike, which the latter confirms. The Vulture then descends to allow Viper and Phoenix to disembark and assist Killjoy.

Viper and Phoenix arrive on site to find Killjoy kneeling besides the spike, with her turret providing cover fire. Killjoy hands Viper a tablet that shows information about the device. Viper notes that it's stealing radianite from the environment, and asks Killjoy how they can stop it. She responds by showing them a defuser she has, though Viper points out that she will need a Radi-Core to power it. The hostile is finally able to destroy Killjoy's turret with a Phantom, and Phoenix sets out in pursuit to continue providing cover for Killjoy. Phoenix catches up to the assailant and cuts him off using an incendiary. He commands the hostile to put their hands up but is surprised to see them stand up and reveal themselves as a Mirror version of himself. The copy finds the situation humorous, noting the shocked look on Phoenix's face, and prepares to fight back with his radiant powers whilst Earth-1 Phoenix is caught off guard. However Viper arrives, firing back at the Mirror Phoenix with her Bucky as he retreats through the incendiary. Before Phoenix can comment on what he has seen, the spike lets out a huge pulse, urging him and Viper to return to help Killjoy now that the enemy is gone.

Viper asks if Killjoy has found a power source, to which Killjoy responds by taking a Radi-Core out of the remains of her destroyed turret. Killjoy attaches it to the defuser and attempts to defuse, but the process fails due to the core not providing enough power. Viper explains that the radainite needs to be super-heated. Phoenix grabs the core and ignites his hand with flames, causing the radianite inside to liquefy. He hands it back to Killjoy, who reattaches it to the defuser and attempts a defuse once more. This time, the process begins, and she has just enough time to complete the defuse before the spike detonates. To Phoenix's annoyance, Killjoy reveals she was unsure if her plan would even work. The three agents then prepare to board the Vulture and leave Rabat. Killjoy is in possession of the spike to take back for analysis. Viper informs Control that the town is secure and that they're on their way home. Phoenix asks if she is talking to the "Big Man". Annoyed about not knowing what exactly he was up against, Phoenix demands that he needs answers from him. Killjoy doesn't understand why he is upset after a successful mission, but Viper explains to her what happened outside the spike site. With Phoenix asking more questions, Viper assures him that she'll talk to Brimstone and that, given everything Phoenix had been involved in the past two days, it was time to fill Phoenix in on more classified information. The three then depart from the town. Somewhere else, the Mirror Phoenix meets with the Mirror Jett from the Venice incident. He explains that they have problems, which Jett scoffs at knowing that Phoenix was the one who screwed up. Phoenix complains that Jett isn't one to talk as she didn't have to face an entire team. The two are then approached by Mirror Viper, Cypher, and Yoru. Viper tells Phoenix that if their enemies are bringing entire teams to defend themselves, so will they.

RETAKE
RETAKE was the second cinematic released on the day Episode 02 launched.

Plot
""What the hell was that for?!" "I told you you'd get shot." "Not by you!" "Well, she shot first.""

- Phoenix and Yoru

At a Kingdom facility in the Artic Ocean, Phoenix and Yoru arrive to respond to a spike threat from assailants (Cypher, Jett, and Viper) from the Mirror Earth. Phoenix watches from behind the cover of a shot up container door as Viper plants a spike. He asks Yoru over comms if he's in position. Yoru replies he is working on it, as he makes his way into a flanking position whilst in an alternate dimension that hides him from sight. Phoenix asks what's taking him so long, and Yoru tells him to be patient. Phoenix however says there's no more time to wait. Despite Yoru's concerns, Phoenix activates his Radiant powers, and engages the enemy. As Jett and Viper go to leave the site with the spike planted, Phoenix stops their escape with a fire wall. The two variants fire their weapons through the wall as Phoenix uses its cover to run to another part of the site. Cypher, watching from on top of a container with a sniper rifle, is able to spot Phoenix from over the top of the wall, and takes aim. Yoru, however, finally gets into his flanking position. He exits the alternate dimension and takes out Cypher with a shot from his Sheriff. With their squad a member down, Viper sends Jett to deal with Yoru. Jett leaps onto a suspended container and shoots towards Yoru to prevent him from getting to the spike. Hearing her reload, Yoru takes the opportunity to swing out from behind cover and shoot one of the cables keeping the container suspended. This causes Jett to fall back to ground, and she takes cover behind a radianite crate. Phoenix meanwhile is on the run from Viper. He is forced into a dead end and is hit with a gas grenade. As Viper closes in on a choking Phoenix, he notices a cable running above himself and Viper and comes up with a plan. Throwing a fireball out of the gas that blinds Viper, he jumps up onto the cable and uses a Shorty to ride down the cable towards her. Once he gets close, he leaps off his makeshift zipline to take aim at and shoot Viper with the shotgun. Back at the spike site, Yoru is hunting for Jett, placing a Rift Tether on the ground, as the spike gets closer to detonation and objects begin to rise from the ground. Jett realizes that the crate she is hiding behind is one of the affected objects and that her cover is about to be blown. As Yoru approaches and clears the area behind the crate, Jett jumps up and dashes behind Yoru, attempting to take him by surprise and shoot him with her Vandal. Yoru however was prepared, with his Rift Tether placed behind Jett. He teleports to it, dodging Jett's gunfire, and shoots her. With all of their enemies apparently dealt with, Yoru rushes to the spike and is just able to defuse it in time. With the threat dealt with, Phoenix rejoins Yoru, telling Yoru to he should have had more confidence in him. Yoru however senses something is wrong, takes aim at Phoenix, and fires. As Phoenix is shot at from behind by Jett, who had picked herself up and drawn her weapon, Yoru's shot passes though where Phoenix was to hit Jett in the heart, finally ending her. Phoenix is able to revive himself, though he is still unaware of why Yoru appeared to shoot him. Yoru points towards Jett's body, expressing satisfaction over how he had predicted that Phoenix would get shot before he rushed into battle. With Phoenix still stammering and complaining, the two leave the site after another successful mission.

WARM UP
WARM UP was the fourth cinematic released the day before Episode 04 launched.

Plot
""How about a game where the bot shoots back?""

- KAY/O to Phoenix

At VALORANT Protocol HQ, Phoenix exits a training exercise with a perfect score, joining Cypher, Jett, KAY/O, Killjoy, Raze, Sova, and Yoru. Whilst Phoenix celebrates his success, KAY/O points out that everyone else also has a perfect score in the same exercise and challenges Phoenix to a game where the bots shoot back. The agents' eyes are drawn to a cleaning bot, which gives Killjoy and Raze an idea. The pair get to work to transform the robot into "Max Bot", which is designed to imitate and replicate the powers and skills of his opponent. Most of the agents take turns to face off against Max Bot, but their confidence begins to disappear when the bot proves to be much more of a challenge than they anticipated, defeating every agent to go up against him. Cypher remains outside the training room practicing chess, whilst Yoru keeps on winning money off of Jett's bets that the agents will finally win a battle against Max Bot. Phoenix comments that he should have played chess against Cypher instead, amusing the latter as he goes on to say that wins require sacrifice, which wasn't really the agents' style. This gives Phoenix an idea, and he rounds up the rest of the agents for another go. After Phoenix draws out Max Bot into the open, the other agents join in and overwhelm the bot with their gunfire and abilities. Outnumbered and damaged, Max Bot retreats to high ground where he attempts to replicate one of KAY/O's suppression pulses. Before he is able to do so, Sova takes him down with a Shock Bolt to the back. Max Bot's body falls down in front of KAY/O and Phoenix, who celebrate their victory. Before Phoenix can deliver the finishing shot, Max Bot is smashed into the ceiling by a radianite wall. KAY/O and Phoenix turn around to see Brimstone and Sage walk into the room, where Brimstone summons all the agents for a new mission. As they all leave to depart HQ aboard the Vulture, Sage confiscates all of Yoru's winnings from him. Cypher however is left behind, and he walks into the training area to find Max Bot crippled but still functional. Unarmed, Cypher sighs as the bot engages him.

Trivia

 * The events of WARM UP take place at the same time as the events in Neon's reveal trailer.
 * A live feed of the training room from Phoenix's first fight against Max Bot appears in Neon's room when she first arrives