Gekko made his VCT leagues debut to much fanfare, but it appears that the new agent isn’t quite living up to the hype. Gekko generated a lot of attention when he came out in Episode 6 of Valorant. Many pro and high-level players said he was too strong. Despite the initial excitement, Gekko hasn’t been able to keep winning, and he has quickly dropped in the rankings.
When Gekko was first introduced, he had the second-best win rate of any agent in the game, trailing only Killjoy. He quickly dominated the ranked leaderboards, and many players wanted to weaken him. But as time went on, Gekko’s rate of winning started to go down. He is currently sixth, behind Killjoy, Astra, Viper, Cypher, and Sage.
Gekko’s Pro Debut in VCT: Falling Short of the Hype?
This trend seems to reflect Gekko’s current state in professional play as well. The first weeks of VCT EMEA and Americas, as well as the second week of Pacific, are over, and we’ve seen a lot of Gekko in action, with different results. Gekko currently has the lowest win rate of any Initiator in the agent pool, according to VLR’s statistics, across all three professional leagues.
Gekko has yet to win a game in the Pacific region. Patt of Talon Esports was the first player to pick him up in the second week of the competition, but he ultimately lost the map to a red-hot T1. They would try it again with foxz on the second map, but they soon lost that map as well. As a result, Gekko has a 0 win rate in the Pacific region.
Things have gotten a little better in America. Loud was the first team to use the new initiator, with Saadhak playing Gekko for the first two maps. Loud played well and demonstrated that Gekko had good potential in the right hands. Unfortunately, EG also got Gekko for one map, and Cloud9 swept them in the opposite direction, so EG lost the series.
In EMEA, Gekko was used the most, with Navi and Karmine Corp. adopting him early. Shao picked Gekko for both maps in Navi’s first game against Koi, which the powerhouse lost 0-2. Ange1 switched to the Gekko in their next match, which was more promising. Karmine Corp was a mixed bag. In their first game against BBL, they used the character to win each map. But in their second series against Team Heretics, it was a complete blowout. They only won seven rounds in the whole match.
Commentators and analysts like Sideshow and Thinking Mans Valorant are asking if it’s even worth it to trade a Sova, Fade, or Killjoy for a Gekko. Gekko is a strong agent with a good kit, but it’s hard to use him because other agents have better map control utility.
Have you tried using Gekko in your own Valorant matches? Share your experiences and thoughts on his viability in the pro scene in the comments below
