| “ | Born from the eternal winter of Russia's tundra, Sova tracks, finds, and eliminates enemies with ruthless efficiency and precision. His custom bow and incredible scouting abilities ensure that even if you run, you cannot hide.
— Official description
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Sova is an Agent in VALORANT and one of the first Initiators available to play since the Closed Beta.
Profile[]
Biography[]
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For more lore details and analysis related to Sova, be sure to also check out the VALORANT Lore Wiki's article! VALORANT Lore Wiki: Sova |
Hailing from the town of Severomorsk, in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, Sasha Novikov (Russian: Саша Новиков) is an archer who became an agent for the VALORANT Protocol as its sixth recruit, "Sova". With his right eye replaced with a mechanical one after he lost it, Sova primarily serves as the team's scout, gathering information and searching for targets using olden methods should technology come up short. Being highly capable and reliable both in the field and with his work, whilst also having experience with multiple radianite-related events (having traveled through a rift and having met his Omega counterpart), Sova has earned a reputation of being one of the Protocol's most trusted agents, especially to the organization's commander, Brimstone.
SASHA NOVIKOV: Early Life[]
- Novikov comes from Severomorsk (Russian: Северомо́рск), Murmansk Oblast, Russia.[1]
- Novikov goes under the name of Filin and is known as a Brother of Steel and String.[2]
- Novikov loses his right eye.
- He eventually replaces it with a mechanical one.
- Novikov travels through a rift.[3]
- Novikov meets his Omega counterpart.[4]
SOVA: VALORANT agent[]
- Recruited as its sixth agent.
- Sova is assigned as a member of the Thimphu strike team.[5]
The Omega Project[]
- Sova is present during the Max Bot training exercise at VALORANT HQ.[6]
- Sova is one of the agents to fight against Max Bot.
The Blackmailer[]
- Sova is involved in searching for the blackmailer.[7]
- Initial leads are unable to produce any results.
- Sova contacts Brimstone to inform him that he needed to change priorities from the Omega project to the blackmailer.[8]
- This was in response to the blackmailer contacting each agent with personal dossiers. Sova’s response to this is suggesting that VALORANT needs them found or dead.
- Sova organizes the agent assignments for the Istanbul strike team, including himself.[9]
- Sova was the Ground commander for the team and fights in the team’s final move to apprehend their target.[10]
Continuing the Omega Project[]
First ventures into Omega[]
- Sova pushes himself too far in combat training, becoming injured.[12]
Project Landfall[]
- Sova is assigned to gather intel on a Kingdom facility in Norway, but finds it completely dead save for a faint beacon.[13]
- He discovers a severely-injured Norwegian woman there who was all that remained of a cargo pickup team the Protocol had been tracking after the rest had been killed.
- After rescuing the woman and bringing her back to HQ, Sova submits his report on the mission.[14]
- Sova is assigned as a member of the Los Angeles strike team.[15]
- Upon reaching the portal room, he is tasked with shutting down the portal, but its controls are locked down.
- Wingman then has a plan to jump into the portal, taking Deadlock's nanowire accelerator with him. After Wingman enters the portal and causes it to become unstable, Sova and the rest of the agents leave the facility.
- The portal is successfully shut down, resulting in a massive sinkhole appearing in the facility car park. A Legion strike team then arrives there on a mission for α-radianite, who Sova and the rest of the Protocol team are able to repel.[16]
Scions of Hourglass[]
- Sova investigates the mysterious disappearance of Landfall's leadership after the events in Los Angeles.[17]
- Sova is assigned as a member of the Jakarta strike team.[18]
- He is tasked with a supportive role while Omen enters the SoH's skyscraper base alone, providing intel to him from a nearby building under construction.
- When Omen gets captured in an energy beam, Sova fires a large energy blast from his location into the SoH skyscraper, destroying the machine producing the energy beam and freeing Omen.
- Sova contacts Brimstone to insist that he travel to the Elder Grotto immediately after something had escaped from a containment cell at the facility, setting off alarms.[19]
Personality[]
| “ |
A humble hunter that has taken down man and beast alike, Sova works carefully and with precision, scouting around and retrieving information before taking out the enemy. As he has told Phoenix, Sova believes in the value of patience and strategic thinking. Being the team player that he is, Sova always commends his allies and never hesitates to voice out his vote of confidence in them. He seems to value the team to the point of risking his own life, to which Brimstone reminds him that it is equally important that he looks out after himself.
Cypher has described the hunter to be a 'measured' person, referring to his calm and collected nature. Described as a man of principle, Sova values honesty and transparency, and he expects nothing less but the same from his teammates.
Appearance[]
Sova has a fair skin tone and sports long blond hair that flows down to his shoulders. He has a bionic right eye with blue lenses. He is seen wearing a fur-lined coat suited for the cold weather of his home along with a dark blue cape with a white leaf-shaped symbol on the left shoulder and a X-shape on the back. He wears archery leather gloves and his owl drone rests against his left forearm. His bow is slung across his back in an easy-to-reach position. His boots take on the appearance of owls. His quiver of shock darts is located on the side of his right thigh and he has a hunting knife strapped against his left calf.
Abilities[]
Basic[]
(Xbox X/S)
EQUIP an owl drone. FIRE to deploy and take control of movement of the drone. While in control of the drone, FIRE to shoot a marking dart. This dart will Reveal the location of any player struck by the dart. Enemies can destroy the Owl Drone.
Uses: 1 
Cost:
400
Duration: 
7 s
Cooldown: 
Dart: 5 s
Health: 
100 HP
Debuff: 
0.6 s real-time Reveals
(Xbox X/S)
EQUIP a bow with a shock bolt. FIRE to send the explosive bolt forward, detonating upon collision and damaging players nearby. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALT FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
Uses: 2 
Cost: 150
Damage: 
1-75 (Min. outer radius-Inner radius)
Signature[]
(Xbox X/S)
EQUIP a bow with a recon bolt. FIRE to send the recon bolt forward, activating upon collision and Revealing the location of nearby enemies caught in the line of sight of the bolt. Enemies can destroy this bolt. HOLD FIRE to extend the range of the projectile. ALT FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
Uses: 1
Cost:Free
Duration: 3.2 s
Cooldown: 60 s
Health: 20 HP
Debuff: 0.75 s real-time Reveals
Ultimate[]
+ (Xbox X/S)
EQUIP a bow with three long-range, wall-piercing energy blasts. FIRE to release an energy blast in a line in front of Sova, dealing damage and Revealing the location of enemies caught in the line. This ability can be RE-USED up to two more times while the ability timer is active.
Cost:♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 8 points
Duration: 6 s
Damage: 80
Debuff: 1 s real-time Reveal
Agent Cosmetics[]
The following are cosmetics related to Sova from Agent Gear and from other sources (e.g. Battle Pass).
Gear[]
- More information: Gear
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | Tier 5 |
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| Player Title: Hunter Title |
Spray: Take Flight Spray |
Player Card: VALORANT Sova Card |
Player Title: Sharpshooter Title |
Spray: On Target Spray |
 2,000 |
2,500 |
3,000 |
3,500 |
4,000
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| Tier 6 | Tier 7 | Tier 8 | Tier 9 | Tier 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Buddy: Owl Charm Buddy |
Spray: Sova Spray |
Player Title: Deadeye Title |
Player Card: Through The Looking Glass Card |
Weapon Skin: Protektor Sheriff |
| 4,500 |
5,500 |
6,500 |
7,500 |
8,000
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Other cosmetics[]
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Item | Source | |
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VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 Sova Buddy | Store: VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 |
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Item | Source | |
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Agents on Leave Seoul Card | Broadcast Drops
Part of collection: Champions 2024 |
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Be Mine: Sova Card | Battle Pass: EP 04 Act 1 |
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Doodle Buds // Agents Card | Store: Doodle Buds |
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EP 2 // FORMATION Card | Prime Gaming Drops |
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Epilogue: Mementos Pt. 1 Card | Battle Pass: EP 02 Act 3 |
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Hitlist Card | Battle Pass: EP 08 Act 2 |
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Mementos Pt. 1 Card | Battle Pass: EP 02 Act 3 |
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My Table, My Rules Card | Miscellaneous |
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PREMIER V25A1 Card | Premier |
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Steel and String Card | Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 2 |
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VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 Sova Card | Store: VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 |
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VERSUS // Sova + Cypher Card | Battle Pass: EP 02 Act 2 Part of collection: Versus |
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Warm Up // Maxbot Card | Battle Pass: EP 04 Act 3 |
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Written in the Stars: Sova Card | Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 3 Part of collection: Starlit Odyssey |
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Item | Source | |
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Backseat Coaching Spray | Battle Pass: EP 04 Act 3 |
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Cover Me Spray | Battle Pass: EP 09 Act 1 |
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Defuse Deception Spray | Battle Pass: EP 07 Act 2 |
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I've Been Hit Spray | Battle Pass: EP 05 Act 2 |
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Is This A Drone? Spray | Battle Pass: EP 02 Act 2 |
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Need To Reload Spray | Battle Pass: V25 Act 3 |
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No Escape Spray | Battle Pass: V25 Act 2 |
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One Correct Answer Spray | Battle Pass: EP 08 Act 3 |
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Scribble Shock Dart Spray | Battle Pass: V25 Act 3 |
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Smile, You're On Camera Spray | Battle Pass: V25 Act 4 |
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Sova Says Sorry Spray | Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 1 |
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This Is Not Fine Spray | Battle Pass: EP 03 Act 2 |
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VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 Sova Spray | Store: VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 |
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Image | Edition | Skin | Weapon | Variant | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Altitude | Vandal | — | Store |
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Doodle Buds | Shorty | Base | Store |
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Stinger | Base | |||
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Phantom | Base | |||
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Marshal | Base | |||
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Ares | Base | |||
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VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 | Operator | — | Store |
Quotes[]
- Main article: Sova/Quotes
Update History[]
All Platforms[]
Recon Bolt
- Cooldown increased from 40s → 60s
- Owl Drone
- Fixed audio issue where the “being watched” sonic feedback wouldn't trigger if the drone had line-of-sight to the player when the drone spawned.
- Hunter's Fury
- Visual effects around Hunter's Fury have been adjusted to resolve more quickly and take up less gameplay space
- Recon Bolt
- Increased volume of Recon Bolt’s projectile loop and improved how the arrow’s sound travels through the air to make it easier to track
- Audio priority and attenuation adjusted so that you can more reliably hear the arrow when multiple audio cues are present
- Audio tech updated to make it easier understand the trajectory of the arrow, point of impact, and reveal radius
- Owl Drone
- Enemies now hear a light warning audio loop when they are spotted by Sova’s drone
- Audio hit confirm feedback has been added when shooting the drone successfully
- Fixed an issue where Sova’s arm and Drone overlapped each other in Agent Select.
- Owl Drone
- Fixed an issue where Sova would go into an incorrect idle animation pose in third person after exiting Owl Drone.
- Gameplay logic around ability effects themed as explosions has been updated. Explosions should behave more consistently in how they deal damage.
- Owl Drone
- Fixed an issue causing kills with Shock Bolt to not be awarded while using Owl Drone
- Recon Bolt
- Total number of scans reduced 3 >>> 2
- Sova's cape dynamics were redone and smoothed out, while still maintaining a silhouette close to his body to not give away enemy position.
- Hunter's Fury
- Now damages map objects
- Recon Bolt
- Now correctly appears when playing with Bloom turned off.
- Scanning VFX updated to be more visible as it travels through the world.
- Model size increased to more accurately represent its hitbox.
- Owl Drone
- Now immune to all allied damage
- Shock Bolt
- Recon Bolt
- Health increased 1 HP >>> 20 HP
- Now immune to all allied damage
- Hunter's Fury
- Now deals damage to:
- Chamber's Rendezvous
- Fade's Prowler
- Raze's Blast Pack
- Reyna's Leer
- Chamber's
- Shock Bolt
- Fixed issue with the bolts not damaging enemy traps and other game objects other than players
- Recon Bolt
- Fixed a bug where revealed agents would sometimes briefly appear in an incorrect location on the minimap
- Shock Bolt
- Fixed the trick shot VO line so that it only plays when he kills an enemy agent with 1-bounce or 2-bounce bolt
- The line will no longer play if it destroys any utility under these conditions
- Owl Drone
- Duration reduced 10s >>> 7s
- Health reduced 125 >>> 100
- Number of reveal pings reduced 3 >>> 2
- Initial delay before first ping reveals increased 1.2s >>> 1.6s
- Delay between the first and second ping remains 1.2s
- Changed crosshair color to green to better stand out against the white HUD
- Removed delay on [Target Hit] confirmation text
- [Target Hit] confirmation text now remains on the player HUD when transitioning out of Owl Drone
- Duration that [Target Hit] confirmation text remains on screen increased 1s >>> 2s
- Adjusted audio on drone dart hits for both Sova and the player hit to make confirmations more noticeable
- Fixed a bug where the Dart Cooldown UI element would not properly update after tagging an opponent
- Shock Bolt
- Max Damage decreased 90 >>> 75
- Radial damage has been scaled in accordance with new max damage
- Hunter's Fury
- Ammo count added to HUD
- Recon Bolt
- Fixed issue where the bolt could be destroyed by Brimstone's Orbital Strike even if it was well out of the laser's target area
- Hunter's Fury
- Now deals damage to the following:
- Recon Bolt
- Fixed the projectile from looking deployed for enemies when flying through the air
- Owl Drone
- Cost increased 300 >>> 400
- Shock Bolt
- Cost increased 100 >>> 150
- Recon Bolt
- Cooldown time increased 35 >>> 40
- Hunter's Fury
- Ultimate points required increased 7 >>> 8
- Fixed a bug where cancelling Hunter's Fury while charging a shot allowed the player to skip the unequip animation by equipping a weapon, ability, or the Spike
- Owl Drone
- Fixed a rare bug that could leave players unable to move or process inputs until they died when entering or returning from Owl Drone
- "We previously addressed some causes of this bug last patch, this fix should address the remaining known causes"
- Fixed issue where Sova could sometimes get the voice over for Hunter's Fury to play, even though it isn't used, by trying to equip Owl Drone at the same time
- Owl Drone
- Fixed issue where Owl Drone could clip through specific map geo and view the other side
- Fixed a couple input bugs around possessing and unpossessing Owl Drone in the same frame which lead to locking all inputs or locking view direction
- Owl Drone
- Fixed issue where Sova's hitbox was incorrect while using Owl Drone
- Sova Model
- Updated the physics on Sova's cape so that it should wiggle outside his hitbox less frequently
- Polish work on Sova's 1P hands to bring them up to the fidelity bar of the rest of the agents
- Recon Bolt
- Owl Drone
- Fixed issue causing Owl Drone to rotate slower
- Owl Drone
- Fixed jittering when reaching the max flight height
- Recon Bolt
- Removed more locations where Recon Bolt was able to go through walls
- Recon Bolt
- Will now behave more consistently and only reveal the portion of enemies behind a wall
- The Area-of-Effect indicators now only show up on the enemy's minimap if the player or their allies are close to the affected area
- Reduced collision size on arrows so they don't get stuck on corners when fired near them
- Owl Drone
- Now includes a layer of sound for engine rotors.
- Audio should better reflect thematics, while maintaining how noticeable the previous version of Owl Drone audio was for allies and enemies, as heard in 3rd-person
- Sova will no longer float in the air if the Sage Barrier Orb wall he is standing on is destroyed while using Owl Drone
- No longer rapid-fires darts if the prior one hits an enemy
- Recon Bolt
- Fixed multiple spots where Recon Bolt could over-penetrate map geometry
- Hunter's Fury
- Added foe coloring
Console-only[]
- Hunter's Fury
- There are now reduced spikes in rotational speed after firing each shot of Hunter’s Fury.
- Hunter's Fury
- Hunter’s Fury applies less drag on your controls, allowing more control over the charge’s duration.
- Recon Bolt
- Fixed an issue where Recon Bolt did not properly apply AimAssist to Revealed Targets.
- Owl Drone
- HP is now 100, up from 60.
Spotify Playlist[]
Trivia[]
- Sova means "owl" in most Slavic languages.
- Sova does photography. So far, he has shown to have taken interest with nature as his subject.[20]
- According to Raze, Sova listens to Russian hardbass.
- Sova is skilled in chess. He is one of the agents who plays chess along with Cypher and Phoenix.
Relations[]
- Sova has close ties with his grandmother.[21]
- There is friction between him and Cypher due to all the secrets Cypher keeps to himself, which conflicts with Sova's values of honesty and openness and makes Cypher difficult to trust.[22]
- Sova has met his Omega counterpart.
Development[]
- Sova's Owl Drone ability was originally the ability Drone Dart for the scrapped agent, Joules.
- In an earlier version of VALORANT, the character that would go on to be Sova was originally a woman who wore a visor.
- According to a VALORANT dev, Sova being a Serb was considered during his early development as well as him being a descendant of Nikola Tesla.[23]
Gallery[]
.png "Sova (Full).png (1.31 MB)")
![VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 Full Artwork[24]](/wiki/File:VALORANT_GO!_Vol._2.jpg "VALORANT GO! Vol. 2.jpg (100 KB)")
![Pride 2023[25]](/wiki/File:Pride_2023.jpeg "Pride 2023.jpeg (2.64 MB)")
![RECKONING teaser[26]](/wiki/File:Reckoning_Teaser_3.jpeg "Reckoning Teaser 3.jpeg (680 KB)")
![RECKONING teaser[27]](/wiki/File:Reckoning_Teaser_4.jpeg "Reckoning Teaser 4.jpeg (704 KB)")
![RECKONING poster[28]](/wiki/File:RECKONING_Poster.jpeg "RECKONING Poster.jpeg (1.64 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ Sova's home
- ↑ VALORANT Protocol#The Blackmailer's agent dossiers
- ↑ Sova quote about going through rifts
- ↑ Sova quote greeting Omega counterpart
- ↑ UNITED TOGETHER
- ↑ Cinematics#WARM UP
- ↑ 4.03 Sova Email
- ↑ 4.04 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ 4.05 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ Istanbul Strike Team
- ↑ 4.11 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ 5.10 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ UNMADE teasers
- ↑ 7.0 Sova email
- ↑ Sunset Reveal Trailer
- ↑ 7.04 KAY/O email
- ↑ 7.05 Sova email
- ↑ RECKONING
- ↑ 9.02 Sova voicemail
- ↑ @PlayVALORANT Agent Takeover: Sova's interest in nature
- ↑ @PlayVALORANT Agent Takeover - Sova and his grandmother's cooking
- ↑ Reddit Narrative AMA: Sova's opinion of Cypher
- ↑ Interview with Stefan "R4kiya" Jevremović (article in Serbian)
- ↑ VALORANT GO! Vol. 2 Full Artwork
- ↑ Pride 2023
- ↑ RECKONING teaser
- ↑ RECKONING teaser
- ↑ RECKONING poster
[]
| Current |  Sova (Quotes) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapped |  Crusader • Joules •  Shatter
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