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Riot Games
Riot Games' latest 'State of the Agents' update revealed new information about Valorant's next agent. The developers are working on a new Duelist, who will release later this year. Valorant character producer John Goscicki hinted that the upcoming agent will have a twist that players would have never expected to get added into Valorant.
At the start of Valorant Episode 7, Riot Games noted that the game will see the addition of two new Agents and a map in 2023. While one of these two agents is Deadlock, the other one is a soon-to-be-released Duelist.
When this new agent is released, they will officially be the seventh duelist in the game's expanding list of Agents. Notably, Neon was the last duelist to be released in Valorant back in January 2022.
At the end of September, Riot Games released a very interesting teaser image about this new Agent and this has allowed fans to speculate their country of origin as usual. Here's all we know so far.
Where Is the New Duelist Agent From in Valorant?
Riot Games posted an image teaser on its latest blog about the new Agent. In the image, you can see the Agent wearing gloves and grabbing a piece of meat using chopsticks. The name of the image is reportedly “duckblood,” according to several leaks.
From this image and other hints, Valorant players have been speculating that the agent could be from China, Singapore, or some other country with Chinese influence.
The image also shows a huge platter of hot, sizzling food with meat and other delicacies. According to food connoisseurs in the Valorant community, it is a Sichuan or Chongqing hot pot, which is reportedly a dish with a spicy broth made op chilly oil.
A portion of the community is convinced that Riot Games is going to be releasing another Agent from China after seeing this image and after the company invested a lot for its official launch in China, both for casual players and pros.
It is speculated that Riot Games likely wants to dive deeper into the Chinese esports market further by releasing an agent who represents the region.
However, some fans are very sure that the Agent is Singaporean. One of the hints that many of them have picked up on is from the State of the Agents blog post.
In the blog, Riot Games talked about how many players have been wanting a new Duelist for years now. It added, "At its core VALORANT is a team-based Tac Shooter where gunplay shines. For some of you that means aspiring to plow through enemies like Jinggg, and putting hours in clicking those orbs with aim trainers for that clean 5K."
The use of the word "Jinggg" caught everyone's attention as Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie is a Paper Rex pro player who hails from Singapore. Therefore, chances are that the newest Duelist could also be Singaporean.
Likewise, Twitter user and Valorant lore-enjoyer, Uberchain, who previously also decoded the teaser image of Deadlock, also sided with the theory that Agent 24 is from Singapore.
Uberchain attested that Agent 24 is indeed from Singapore and that they are eating at Uncle Fong's Chongqing hotpot chain. She added, "Chongqing hotpot is very distinct but the pot looks the same as Uncle Fong's pot. This was prolly one of the ref photos the artist used."
However, it is stated that "duck blood" is prohibited in Singapore, throwing another curveball in the community's detective work.
Uberchain also speculated that new Agent 24 could be of a mixed nationality: Chinese-Singaporean.
With all that said, Valorant's new Agent 24 is certainly of Asian origin and will be releasing before the end of the year. So fans can hope to see many more teasers and hints from Riot Games' social media handles and blog posts.
