Updated on April 18, 4:07 p.m. (GMT+8): Improved relevancy.
Neon, is designed to be a viable alternative to Jett with her speedrunning, sliding ways.
Her signature ability, High Gear, allows her to run faster and slide around corners, much like in Call of Duty. This means that Neon can rotate a lot quicker, and surprise enemies by taking space and gaining map control.
There are some limitations in terms of mechanics — she is only able to slide when you’re holding down the “W” key, which means she can only execute it moving forward. In comparison, Jett can dash and escape in any direction she wishes.
However, Neon’s agent ability kit isn’t as limited as you think. She has a few new mechanics that were recently uncovered. This is why we’ve decided to make a guide on how to execute Neon’s High Gear combat slide sideways and backwards as a potentially useful mechanic for getting out of sticky situations.
Valorant Neon guide: All the ways to backward, sideways, and double slide
Backward High Gear
The backward slide is the tricky one, and it requires incredibly precise timing to pull off.
There are two ways to do this. While sprinting, jump forward, then hit “S” and right-click just as you’re about to touch the ground. The biggest problem I had when attempting this was back-sliding too early, so it requires quite a few tries to get the timing right.
Here’s a video guide from YouTube user GloKaze showing how it works:
You can also slide backward without jumping, but it’s significantly more difficult to execute under pressure. You’ll need to press “S” and right-click before the slide prompt disappears, which is exceptionally hard to do.
Sideways High Gear
The sideways slide works similarly to the jumping backslide, but the window you have for executing it is a lot more forgiving.
When in High Gear, jump forward and press either “A” or “D”, then right-click. You’ll slide in the direction you want once you land.
It’s not as intuitive as Jett’s dash, but those who have mastered the intricacies of Neon’s mechanics can use them to move into a more favorable position.
Neon doesn’t have her gun out while running, so she’s pretty much defenseless. Being able to quickly change directions could be the difference between an entry kill or your team being a man down, such as when an opponent peeks into your fast lane ahead of you.
Double High Gear
Finally, this Filipino speedster can also double slide to maximize the distance covered, if she has her Overdrive ultimate ready.
As shown above by REVEN Valorant, activating her ultimate refreshes her slide, so you can use her High Gear ability twice in quick succession when you enter Overdrive during your initial slide.
That said, many of these sliding techniques are largely situational, and you don’t have to master them to get value out of Neon. She’s still an aggressive duelist that can quickly get up in your face.
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READ MORE: Valorant Neon Guide: How to combine her agent abilities for entry
