Getting to know how to use Omen effectively in a team may seem easy but there are plenty of details that need to be covered. His kit makes him an obvious flanker or lurker but that role is hard to pull off because of Omen’s audio cues. There are workarounds for that problem and you need to know how his abilities work. This Omen character guide will aim to teach you essentials ways of using his abilities.
Omen’s Abilities
Ability | Button | Cost | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Dark Cover | E | Free – 2 charges (35 seconds cooldown) | EQUIP a shadow orb and see its range indicator. FIRE to throw the shadow orb to the marked location, creating a long-lasting shadow sphere that blocks vision. HOLD ALTERNATE FIRE while targeting to move the marker further away. HOLD the ability key with targeting to move the marker closer. Used mainly to block line of sight and cover pathways |
Paranoia | Q | 200 – 1 charge | INSTANTLY fire a shadow projectile forward, briefly reducing the vision range of all players it touches. This projectile can pass straight through walls. Used mainly to blind enemies but it is also useful as it can disrupt audio from the enemies hit by it |
Shrouded Step | C | 100 – 2 charges | EQUIP a shadow walk ability and see its range indicator. FIRE to begin a brief channel, then teleport to the marked location. Used mainly to create unique angles and create flanks |
From The Shadows | X | Ultimate – 7 Points | EQUIP a tactical map. FIRE to begin teleporting to the selected location. While teleporting, Omen will appear as a Shade that can be destroyed by an enemy to cancel his teleport. Used mainly to flank enemies from behind while your team forces the engagement |
How to Use Paranoia
Paranoia is mostly used as a blind to either support teammates for an entry frag or to do it yourself. It goes through walls and its best feature is its audio disruption. It can block the hearing for the enemies hit by it and make them more susceptible to area damaging abilities.
It is also the perfect time to use your Shadow Step as it makes a sound when you are about to cast it and when it ends. What makes the ability more powerful is that you cannot look away from it as it will always blind you. Be careful in shorter ranges because enemies blinded by Paranoia can still see things within a close radius.
How to Use Dark Cover
Dark Cover is Omen’s unique line of sight blocking ability. The smoke is hollow and you can create more strategies with it. One strategy is that if you choose to enter Dark Cover, you can see the enemy’s gun first if they choose to enter. This gives you a split second to react faster than the enemy.
Be careful when you use Dark Cover because it has a 35 second cooldown and it only lasts for 15 seconds. Having multiple angles blocked can help the team and if your team is low on utility, you can always save yours for that purpose.
You can also produce ‘one way smokes’ with Dark Cover like Cypher’s Cyber Cage. Try aiming for the higher walls in pathways and make sure that Dark Cover is closer to them than to you. This makes it a ‘one way smoke’ where you can see the enemy but they cannot see you.
How to Use Shrouded Step
Shrouded Step has a short range of 15 meters and also has sound cues when he uses the ability and when it finishes. Try to get the high ground when teleporting so that the enemies will be forced to look up from their natural head height aim. This strategy is more common in the B site of the map Haven.
You and your teammates can smoke both the left and the right side of the boxes in the B Site. While your teammates advance to the site, you can teleport on top of one of the boxes and support your teammates from there.
It is also possible to just teleport near to the corner of the box in B Site and plant the spike while your teammates hold a crossfire from the Mid Courtyard.
You can also create situations to double peek entryways if you choose to teleport to the right side and your teammate peeks from the left side. Be careful with your timing when doing so because an agent like Jett can still manage to pick someone off and get away with it if you do not time the peeks right.
How to Use From The Shadows
The ultimate is quite straightforward. You can teleport anywhere in the map but there is also a small circle when you use it. That circle is the sound cue where enemies in that radius can hear the ability being used.
This means that good players will already know the nearby vicinity you have teleported to. It is ok if they do know your location but it is best to come in with a plan.
The usual strategy is that you can create a flank towards a site while your teammates push as soon as you have already set up from behind. This gives the enemies less time to react and clear you out.
Most of the time, it will lead to them sacrificing themselves by trying to get pick offs at a disadvantage, rather than choosing to back off and wait for a perfect retake.
It can also be used to make quick rotations in the map. You can help your teammates who have already confirmed that the enemy plans to take a particular site. You can choose to flank the enemy team from behind or help your teammates set up a quick crossfire out of nowhere.
It can also be used as a fake where most of your team commits to take a particular site. Once the defenders are scattered across the map trying to reinforce, you can easily take the spike and teleport to the other site and plant it.
Omen Agent Tips and Tricks – Summary
- Combine your abilities as they work hand in hand
- One way smokes are a crazy advantage to have with Dark Cover
- Use From The Shadows to create flanks with your team
With all the strategies mentioned, Omen can be an extremely versatile agent that can perform multiple roles. He is hard to use because of the simple fact that Shrouded Step and From The Shadows involves so much risk when executing. He is a high risk and high reward agent depending on how you use him.