KAY/O

KAY/O
Biography
Pronouns	He/Him
Origin	Alternate Timeline Earth
Race	Cybernetic
Affiliation(s)	VALORANT Protocol
VALORANT Agent Number	17
Game Details
Role	Initiator
Basic Abilities	FRAG/ment FLASH/drive
Signature Abilities	ZERO/point
Ultimate Ability	NULL/cmd
Out-of-Universe
Codenames	Grenadier
Added	June 22nd, 2021 (EP 03 Act 1, v3.0)
Voice	Gabe Kunda
Additional Pages
• KAYO/Quotes Lore Wiki Article

“	KAY/O is a machine of war built for a single purpose: neutralizing radiants. His power to suppress enemy abilities dismantles his opponents' capacity to fight back, securing him and his allies the ultimate edge. — Official description

KAY/O is an Agent in VALORANT and the fourth Initiator added to the game.

Profile

Biography

For more lore details and analysis related to KAY/O, be sure to also check out the VALORANT Lore Wiki's article! VALORANT Lore Wiki: KAY/O

• Biography
• Timeline of events

A robot from an alternate future, KAY/O was created by the humans of that time to fight back against the radiants that they were at war with. Using the power of polarized radianite, KAY/O proved effective in shutting down radiants' abilities, making them easier to eliminate. The radiant Reyna was of particularly high importance to KAY/O for her actions against humanity, and KAY/O was able to eventually eliminate her. However, at this point humans had already suffered severe losses.

KAY/O would later on travel centuries back in time to the present day, arriving on an island near the Caribbean, and would soon be recruited as an agent of the VALORANT Protocol. He now fights as an agent in a time where there is harmony between humans and radiants, alongside alternate versions of both humans he served with and radiants he fought against. However, the scars from KAY/O's previous war remain, from the losses he endured and from the pain inflicted by versions of the same radiants he now finds himself working with.

ALTERNATE TIMELINE: Early Life

• KAY/O is created by the humans of an alternate timeline to fight against Radiants in their Human-Radiant War.
  • Fights alongside Brimstone and Sova.
  • Fights against Astra, Reyna, Sage, and Skye.
• KAY/O is eventually able to kill Reyna, a major part of the Radiant forces.
• KAY/O decides to leave his time to travel back.
  • KAY/O arrives at his destination in the present-day through a modified teleporter situated on a Caribbean island.
    • He is discovered here by agents of the VALORANT Protocol.

PRESENT DAY: VALORANT agent

• Recruited as its seventeenth agent.

The Omega Project

• KAY/O is present during the Max Bot training exercise at VALORANT HQ.
  • KAY/O is one of the agents to fight against Max Bot.

The Blackmailer

• KAY/O is assigned as a member of the Istanbul strike team.
  • KAY/O's role was to run aerial surveillance from the Vulture and oversee the mission.
  • KAY/O takes it upon himself to apprehend the target when they attempt to escape whilst the Ground squad is preoccupied, jumping out of the Vulture to ground before incapacitating the target with a suppressive pulse.

Continuing the Omega Project

• KAY/O is part of a team that scouts the layout of α-Lisbon in preparation for their journey to Ω-Lisbon

First ventures into Omega

• KAY/O contacts Brimstone to apologize about being unable to distinguish the Protocol leader from memories of his own Brimstone from his previous timeline.

Project Landfall

• KAY/O lets Killjoy study his polarization core, additionally receiving some general maintenance.
• After Brimstone contacts him about doubts he was having over having betrayed Kingdom and K-SEC with their mission to shut down Landfall's interverse portal, KAY/O assures him that he was only protecting Kingdom from itself, and that the mission had been a complete success.

Scions of Hourglass

• KAY/O is assigned as a member of the Jan Mayen strike team.
• KAY/O is assigned to a strike team defending Los Angeles from the VALORANT Legion as part of a set of simultaneous incursions across Alpha.
• KAY/O contacts Brimstone to tell him to stop checking the HQ camera feeds during his time off.

Atlas Incursions

• KAY/O tells Brimstone he needs to inform the rest of the Protocol agents about why their leave was cut short and why they suddenly have a new recruit.

Personality

“	"We have one job; save this Earth. No excuses" — KAY/O (Match Start)

Though he is a robot, KAY/O is not particularly devoid of human emotion. He came to Earth as a veteran who has seen the terrible spoils of war, and he fights determined so that a conflict of similar proportions will not happen ever again. Given his affiliation in the Human-Radiant War, he has shown to be more amiable towards his human teammates, while being wary around radiant allies.

He has been known to make a lot of quips and sarcastic remarks while he charges into battle, showing that he is more than just his program as a killing machine.

Appearance

His face is a screen that displays different images based on what is happening. When he speaks, a peak meter is animated. KAY/O's body, arms, and head are made of metal. His legs are made out of what appears to be a combination of metal and leather. Parts of his body have electricity and energy visible, these parts include his forearms, the middle of his chest, and the sides of his legs.

Abilities

Basic

FRAG/ment

C(PC) • L1(PS5) • (Xbox X/S)

EQUIP an explosive fragment. FIRE to throw. ALT FIRE to lob. The fragment sticks to the floor and explodes multiple times, dealing near lethal damage at the center with each explosion.

Uses: 1 Cost: 200 Duration: 4 s Damage: 25-60 per tick (Min. outer radius-Inner radius), 1 tick/sec

FLASH/drive

Q(PC) • R1(PS5) • (Xbox X/S)

EQUIP a flash grenade. FIRE to overhand throw. ALT FIRE to lob a weaker version that explodes quickly. The flash grenade explodes after a short fuse, Blinding anyone in line of sight.

Uses: 2 Cost: 250 Windup: 1.6 s (Primary), 1 s (Alt) Debuff: 2.25 s (Primary), 1.5 s (Alt)

Signature

ZERO/point

E(PC) • ◯(PS5) • (Xbox X/S)

EQUIP a suppression blade. FIRE to throw. The blade sticks to the first surface it hits, winds up, and Suppresses anyone in the radius of the explosion. Enemies can destroy this blade.

Uses: 1 Cost:Free Windup: 1 s Cooldown: 40 s Health: 20 HP Debuff: 8 s Suppression

Ultimate

NULL/cmd

X(PC) • L1+ R1(PS5) • + (Xbox X/S)

INSTANTLY Overload with polarized radianite energy that pulses from KAY/O in a massive radius. Enemies hit with pulses are Suppressed for a short duration. While overloaded, KAY/O gains Combat Stim and can be re-stabilized if downed.

Cost:♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 8 points Windup: Stabilization: 1.5 s, Revive: 1.55 s Duration: Overload: 12 s, Downed: 15 s Health: 850 HP (Downed) Buff: +15% Fire rate, +10% Reload speed, +10% Recovery speed Debuff: 4 s Suppression per pulse

Agent Cosmetics

The following are cosmetics related to KAY/O from Agent Gear and from other sources (e.g. Battle Pass).

Gear

More information: Gear

Chapter 1

Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5
Spray: Drained	Player Card: VALORANT KAY/O	Player Title: Bot	Spray: Training Bot	Kingdom Credits: 2,000
2,000	2,500	3,000	3,500	-

Chapter 2

Tier 6	Tier 7	Tier 8	Tier 9	Tier 10
Buddy: Memory Chip	Spray: KAY/O	Player Title: Built Different	Player Card: Memory Log	Weapon Skin: FIRE/arm Classic
4,500	5,500	6,500	7,500	8,000

Other cosmetics

Player Cards

Image	Name	Source
	Collector's Edition KAY/O	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 1
	Death's Worst Enemies	Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 1
	Dimensional Folding	Event Pass: Year of the Snake
	Doodle Buds // Agents	Store: Doodle Buds
	EP 3 // Reflection	Event Pass: YR 1 Anniversary
	Epilogue: KAY/O K.O.	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 2
	KAY/O ID	Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 1 Part of collection: Agent ID
	KAY/O K.O.	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 2
	My Table, My Rules	Unobtainable since v10.03
	Pass the Sticks (banner only)	Event Pass: Year End
	Reboot (teaser)	Battle Pass: EP 02 Act 3
	Unstoppable // KAY/O	Battle Pass: EP 07 Act 3 Part of collection: Unstoppable
	Versus // KAY/O + Brimstone	Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 3 Part of collection: Versus
	Warm Up // Maxbot	Battle Pass: EP 04 Act 3

Sprays

Image	Name	Source
	Charge Needed	Battle Pass: EP 04 Act 3
	Does Not Compute	Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 2
	Don't Look Back	Battle Pass: EP 06 Act 3
	Let's Rotate	Battle Pass: EP 08 Act 1
	Mind Blown	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 3
	Never Forget Leg Day	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 1
	Nice Try!	Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 2
	No Duelist No Problem	Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 1
	Requesting Reset	Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 3

Weapon Skins

Image	Edition	Skin	Weapon	Variant	Source
		Altitude	Odin	—	Store
		Doodle Buds	Stinger	Base	Store
			Phantom	Base
			Ares	Base

Buddies

Image	Name	Source
	Epilogue: Prize Size KAY/O	Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 2
	Prize Size KAY/O	Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 2

Quotes

Main article: KAYO/Quotes

Update History

• All Platforms
• Console-only

v10.07

• NULL/cmd
  • Fixed an issue where KAY/O’s revive SFX would persist after being killed while being resurrected by an ally during NULL/cmd.

v10.06

• FLASH/drive
  • Upon bouncing, flashes will now start a 0.8 second windup and then pop. This windup has unique audio and visuals when triggered.
    • The bounce windup will not be triggered if it is already less than 0.8 seconds from popping, so it won’t increase the total max time from throw to pop.
  • Underhand maximum flash duration 1.25s >>> 1.5s
  • Increase VO callout range of KAY/O’s “flashing” voice line 20m >>> 50m
  • Unequip time 0.85s >>> 0.6s
  • A minimap indicator has been added to the flash for teammates only.
• ZERO/point
  • Fixed an issue where the dagger trajectory could behave unexpectedly with packet loss.
• NULL/cmd
  • Ally resurrection time 3s >>> 1.5s
  • Fixed a rare issue where KAY/O could appear standing up when downed during NULL/cmd

v9.05

• NULL/cmd
  • Increased rate of fire to have consistent recoil control that matches the default rate of fire.

v9.04

• FLASH/drive
  • Fixed an issue with FLASH/drive showing a second explosion if it is thrown behind a wall.

Undocumented

• FRAG/ment
  • Will now damage Ascent and Sunset doors

v8.04

• ZERO/point
  • Fixed known cases where ZERO/point would sometimes report inaccurate information.

v7.12

• NULL/cmd
  • When KAY/O is downed, the red portrait will now show for everyone in the game.

v7.02

• ZERO/point
  • Fixed the Knife Handle collision staying in world after the Suppression explosion.

v6.10

• ZERO/point
  • Improved the hitbox on KAY/O's ZERO/point so shooting the handle of the knife destroys it.

v6.07

• FRAG/ment
  • Critical danger indicator added to FRAG/ment

v6.03

• NULL/cmd
  • Fixed a bug where KAY/O would sometimes be able to move after being downed during NULL/cmd

v6.02

• ZERO/point
  • Potentially fixed bug with KAY/O’s ZERO/point (E) not showing the correct enemies that it has suppressed

v5.12

• FRAG/ment
  • Now deals damage to Fade's Prowler
  • Damage modifier to non-players reduced 250% >>> 100%
• ZERO/point
  • Health increased 1 HP >>> 20 HP
  • Now immune to all allied damage
  • Added voiceover that informs allies on exactly how many enemies have been suppressed
• NULL/cmd
  • Ultimate points increased 7 >>> 8

v5.08

• ZERO/point
  • The position indicator will no longer appear twice on the minimap in some cases

v5.07

• FLASH/drive
  • Overhand (left-click) flashbang max duration increased 2s>>>2.25s
  • Underhand (right-click) flashbang max duration decreased 2s>>>1.25s
  • Unequip Delay out of both flashes increased .6s >>> .85s

v5.06

• ZERO/point
  • Fixed issue with ZERO/point sometimes incorrectly displaying enemies that were hit on UI

v5.01

• FRAG/ment
  • Zone diameter reduced 10m >>> 8m
  • Damage now applies without needing line of sight
• NULL/cmd
  • Now, only allies will hear the full channel audio of reviving KAY/O, while downed
    • Enemies will only hear a short audio cue when the revive has started, similar to ultimate orbs or the spike

v4.11

• NULL/cmd
  • Fixed a bug where KAY/O was unable to be re-stabilized if he had already been resurrected by Sage

v4.04

• NULL/cmd
  • Fixed a bug where Chamber's Tour De Force would inconsistently spawn slow zones when firing at KAY/O during NULL/cmd

v3.06

• FLASH/drive
  • Duration of windup telegraph reduced 0.5s >>> 0.3s
  • Duration of windup telegraph reduced on Right Click 1s >>> 0.3s
  • The audio attached to the in-flight projectile has been removed
• NULL/cmd
  • No longer stops pulsing after being downed

v3.05

• NULL/cmd
  • Waves will no longer destroy the glass on Ascent

v3.04

• NULL/cmd
  • KAY/O will no longer equip abilities that have no charges if they were equipped and used right after activating NULL/cmd

v3.02

• NULL/cmd
  • Fixed KAY/O’s textures applying themselves to weapons when he is re-stabilized during NULL/cmd

v3.01

• NULL/cmd
  • Can no longer be healed while downed

Undocumented ^{Replication only}

• ZERO/point
  • Cooldown restock removed

v3.0

Added

v9.05

• Fixed an issue where KAY/O's Ability HUD was ordered incorrectly.

Trivia

• KAY/O often uses military language:
  • 86'd: Referencing the US Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 86, which is about personnel who go Absent without Leave.
    • "Target 86'd."
  • Charlie Mike: NATO phonetic alphabet for CM, likely meaning "Continue Mission".
    • "Charlie Mike, let's move."
  • KIA: Killed In Action.
    • "Hostile KIA."
  • Tango: NATO phonetic alphabet for T, likely used by KAY/O as an alternative for "Target."
    • "Tango down!"
• His name may stand for Kingdom Anti-Yield Operative.
  • KAY/O also uses "Kill All Your Opponents" as a possible backronym.
    • "Kill All Your Opponents."
• He is a master at pool hall games.
• His favorite type of music is 80's Synthwave.
• His suppression knife is described as an "All-Purpose EMP", as shown on its handle. The phrase "Nobody can escape" is also printed on it

Relations

• Many of KAY/O's interactions with other agents are recollections about their Alternate Timeline counterparts:
  • He fought alongside Brimstone and Sova, possibly under Brimstone's command. He may have had a close bond with his Brimstone, as he expresses emotion upon seeing Earth 1 Brimstone.
    • "Brimstone, I'd hug you but it would kill you. I'm serious, no hugs."
    • "Your second chance, Brimstone. I won't fail you again."
    • "Side by side again, Sova. Let's get lethal."
  • He fought against Astra, Reyna, Sage, and Skye. He has confirmed he was able to kill the Reyna from his timeline.
    • "Their Astra doesn't protect reality, she destroys worlds. I would know."
    • "Another Reyna. I killed her in the war, I'll kill her again."
    • "It is strange, Sage. Where I'm from, you're no medic, only a weapon."
    • "I've seen what the enemy Skye becomes. Deal with her now. Trust me."
  • Despite being able to fulfill his purpose, the war came at a heavy cost, and KAY/O lost many allies.
    • "I won't lose you all again."
• KAY/O has a close connection with Brimstone. KAY/O fights alongside him in his reveal trailer.
• Both their Tier 9 Agent Gear Cards show them carrying someone in their arms.
  • The similar player cards have sparked several theories, but whatever the case, it has been confirmed that the similarities between the two are intentional.
• KAY/O still shows bitterness towards other Reynas (even if they don't appear to be on a similar path) after what happened in his timeline.
  • "I'll destroy every Reyna for what she did to you-... correction, them."
  • "Reyna, I acknowledge your performance. Brimstone ordered me to."

Gallery

KAY-O Agent Reveal Trailer - VALORANT

Agent tab menu model prior to v5.03

Early concepts

Concept art

Teaser image called "Data Transfer"

KAY/O Reveal

Reveal Trailer

WARM UP

Pride 2023

INCURSIONS