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Profile
Biography
| “ | 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.
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Hailing from the town of Severomorsk, in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, Sasha Novikov 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.
The Omega Project
- Sova is present during the Max Bot training exercise at VALORANT HQ.[5]
- Sova is one of the agents to fight against Max Bot.
The Blackmailer
- Sova is involved in searching for the blackmailer.[6]
- 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.[7]
- 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.[8]
- Sova was the Ground commander for the team and fights in the team’s final move to apprehend their target.[9]
Personality
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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
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.
Uses: 1 
Cost:
400
Duration: 
7 s
Cooldown: 
Dart: 5 s
Health: 
100 HP
EQUIP a bow with 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. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
Uses: 2 
Cost: 150
Damage: 
1-75 (Min. outer radius-Inner radius)
Signature
EQUIP a bow with 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. ALTERNATE FIRE to add up to two bounces to this arrow.
Uses: 1
Cost:Free
Duration: 3.2 s
Cooldown: 40 s
Ultimate
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
Contract
Chapter 1
| TIER 1 | TIER 2 | TIER 3 | TIER 4 | TIER 5 |
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| PLAYER TITLE: Hunter |
SPRAY: Take Flight |
PLAYER CARD: VALORANT Sova |
PLAYER TITLE: Sharpshooter |
SPRAY: On Target |
Chapter 2
| TIER 6 | TIER 7 | TIER 8 | TIER 9 | TIER 10 |
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| GUNBUDDY: Owl Charm |
SPRAY: Sova |
PLAYER TITLE: Deadeye |
PLAYER CARD: Through The Looking Glass |
SKIN: Protektor Sheriff |
Quotes
Update History
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
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.[10]
Development
- Sova's Owl Drone ability was originally the ability Drone Dart for the scrapped agent, Joules.
- Originally, Sova was supposed to be a female and was supposed to have a visor.
Relations
- Sova has close ties with his grandmother.[11]
- 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.[12]
- Sova has met his Omega counterpart.
Gallery
.png "Sova (Half).png (612 KB)")
References
- ↑ @PlayVALORANT Agent Takeover: Sova's Hometown
- ↑ VALORANT Protocol#The Blackmailer's agent dossiers
- ↑ Sova quote about going through rifts
- ↑ Sova quote greeting Omega counterpart
- ↑ Cinematics#WARM UP
- ↑ 4.03 Sova Email
- ↑ 4.04 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ 4.05 Sova Voicemail
- ↑ Istanbul Strike Team
- ↑ @PlayVALORANT Agent Takeover: Sova's interest in nature
- ↑ @PlayVALORANT Agent Takeover - Sova and his grandmother's cooking
- ↑ Reddit Narrative AMA: Sov'as opinion of Cypher
Agents
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| Quotes |  Astra •  Breach •  Brimstone •  Chamber •  Cypher •  Fade •  Jett •  KAY/O •  Killjoy •  Neon •  Omen •  Phoenix •  Raze •  Reyna •  Sage •  Skye •  Sova •  Viper •  Yoru
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| Scrapped |  Crusader • Joules •  Shatter
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