Clove Valorant Guide – Abilities, Tips & Voicelines

Agent Guide

Who is Clove in VALORANT?

Clove turned the Controller role on its head. Where smoke agents used to be played calmly, defensively and for the team, Clove is an aggressive front-line fighter – the only Controller who seeks out duels like a Duelist and still lays smoke for the whole team.

Clove comes from Scotland, is non-binary (addressed in-game with „they/them" or „them/they") and is thematically all about immortality. That's not just story flavour but the core of the kit: Clove is the first and so far only agent who can keep acting even after their own death. Lay smoke from the death cam? Yes. Revive yourself? Also yes. That is exactly what makes Clove one of the most unique agents in the whole game.

For you as a player, that means a completely new mindset. Classic Controllers like Brimstone or Omen thrive on smoking the right angles in the background and enabling the team. Clove can do that too – but plays much more aggressively, because the kit rewards kills and forgives mistakes. Dying is not the end of the round for Clove, but sometimes just a pause. That suddenly makes risky plays worthwhile that would be suicidal with any other Controller.

In this guide you get the complete overview: we explain Clove's role as a Controller, the famous immortality mechanic, every ability in detail, tips for beginners and advanced players, the best maps – and you can listen to Clove's most distinctive lines right here. If you then want to know how good your own Clove really is, the Valorant-Spind coach analysis evaluates your real matches locally on your PC.

Role

Clove's Role: the Aggressive Controller

In VALORANT there are four roles: Duelist, Initiator, Controller and Sentinel. Clove is a Controller – the role whose core job is to block sightlines with smoke and thereby open or defend sites. Without a Controller a team can hardly structure its attacks, because open angles shred every push.

What's special: Clove fulfils this task without having to adopt the passive playstyle of a classic Controller. Clove's smoke (Ruse) is placed freely on the map like Omen or Astra – but Clove personally gets to play much further forward. Kills give Clove speed and healing, the Ultimate brings Clove back after death. This lets a Clove take on the role of the „solo Controller" while applying pressure almost like a second Duelist.

So as Clove you carry a double responsibility: you have to think like a Controller (which smoke opens the site?) and act like a Duelist (who gets the first kill?). That sounds demanding, but it's exactly the appeal – no other agent combines team utility and independence so seamlessly.

Whether your aggressive playstyle pays off is shown in the Valorant-Spind app: opening duels, trade rate, multikills and your best agent per map tell you whether your Clove risk is worth it.

Abilities

All of Clove's Abilities in Detail

Clove's kit consists of four abilities, two of which carry the famous immortality mechanic. The icons and names here come directly from the official game data.

💡 Hover over one of Clove's abilities for a preview – or click it to see the official gameplay video (from Riot's CDN) full size.

Meddle C – the Decay Throw

Meddle is a fragment of immortality essence that you throw. On impact it creates a brief zone: enemies standing in it become „decayed" – they temporarily lose part of their maximum health (Vulnerability/Decay). A decayed enemy dies faster and is more reluctant to duel. Use Meddle to drive enemies off a strong angle or to „soften up" a site just before the push.

Ruse Q – Smoke from Beyond the Grave

Ruse is Clove's core utility as a Controller: you open a map overview and place two smoke clouds freely on the map – similar to Omen or Astra. The unique twist: Clove can cast Ruse even from the death cam. If you die on the entry, you can still lay the decisive smoke for your team so the push keeps going. No other Controller supports its team after its own death.

Pick-Me-Up E – Life Force from the Kill

Pick-Me-Up is Clove's signature ability. After Clove has taken down an enemy (or was involved in the kill), you activate the ability to absorb their life force: Clove gets a boost of speed and regenerating health. That rewards aggressive play twice over – a kill makes you faster and tougher and lets you immediately keep applying pressure. The ability recharges through kills, so it costs no credits.

Not Dead Yet X – the Self-Revival

Not Dead Yet is Clove's Ultimate and the wildest ability in the kit. After Clove has died, you can trigger your own revival from the death cam within a short time window. After coming back you have a brief deadline: land a kill or enough damage and you stay alive – if not, you die again. Used correctly this means: you go aggressively into a duel, die if you have to, come back and still turn the round around. A nightmare for enemies who had already written you off.

Guide

Playing Clove Right: Tips for Every Level

Clove combines two mindsets – laying smoke and seeking duels. These tips help you connect the two instead of doing just one of them halfway.

For Beginners: Learn Smokes First

As aggressive as Clove is allowed to be – the foundation stays good smoke timing. For your main maps, learn one or two fixed Ruse setups per site (which two clouds open the entrance?). Once you master the smoke basics, you can then take the freedom for aggressive plays. And: remember the Pick-Me-Up after every kill – many beginners forget to claim the heal and speed boost.

For Advanced Players: Keep Playing After Death

Clove's biggest advantage is that dying is not the end. Dare to make aggressive entries that would be forbidden with other Controllers – because even if you fall, you can still lay smoke from the death cam and come back with the Ultimate. Plan your death utility in: if you know you're about to go into a risky duel, keep a Ruse free so you can place it while dead if needed.

The Ultimate as an Info and Retake Tool

„Not Dead Yet" isn't just for surviving. Because you come back after a death, you can deliberately be the first into a retake: you may die, but you gather information and damage – and then get back up when your teammates move in. Timing is everything: revive when your enemies are distracted or your teammates are nearby.

Maps

The Best Maps for Clove

As a Controller, Clove can theoretically play any map – every team needs smoke. But Clove is especially strong where aggressive solo plays and close duels are rewarded, because that's where the Duelist side of the kit fully shines. The percentages are rough guides, not an exact dataset.

Whether Clove works best for you personally on which map is shown by the "Best agent per map" report in the Valorant-Spind app – from your real matches, by win rate.

Setup

Clove Crosshair & Settings

Because Clove fights much more actively than classic Controllers, a calm, precise crosshair pays off here too. A small, static crosshair with clean edges helps you win the duels that Clove's aggressive playstyle constantly produces.

For mouse sensitivity with Clove, the usual guideline applies: consistent enough for clean shots, fast enough to cover several angles. Most players sit at an eDPI (DPI × sensitivity) between 200 and 400.

You will find concrete values and codes for your Clove setup here: use the crosshair generator, browse the pro crosshair database or compare yourself against the pro settings.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Clove

Verdict

Is Clove Worth It?

Clove is one of the most exciting agents in the whole game, because they combine two roles that used to be mutually exclusive: the team utility of a Controller and the independence of a Duelist. Anyone who likes to play aggressively but still wants to give their team the smoke it needs finds the perfect compromise in Clove – with the unique bonus that even your own death doesn't have to mean the end of the round.

The fastest way to improve with Clove is honest feedback about your own rounds – exactly what Valorant-Spind delivers, 100% locally on your PC, no login, no tracking.