[2021] New to this game, utterly terrible, is the agents I'm using or am I just bad?

Hey there! I'm the designer of ranked, and I just wanted to weigh in a little bit.

FIrst off, thanks for playing Valorant! I love seeing posts where people are learning, or asking for advice, because we all have to start somewhere.

My advice, for Agents, is play what you enjoy! Try a few agents in practice, or spike rush, and see if you like their playstyle more. Someone commented on this thread, but agent abilities are used to create a more favorable situation for you. Then if you find an agent you like, going to youtube for a quick guide can always help!

I'd also recommend using the phantom, over the Vandal, when you start out. Vandal is the way to go if you are landing headshots, but phantom is much more friendly with spraying and because it has a silencer you can spray through smoke and your bullet tracers don't appear to the enemy!

Lastly Aim Labs is an awesome way to get better at aiming. Make sure you are going into the settings and setting up your sensitivity to match Valorant, also going to the workshop and downloading an Aim Playlist(I like Ron Rambo Kim's Playlists) and use them to practice it will help a ton! I usually try to do one playlist a day, even on days I don't play Valorant.

I hope this helps! I'd recommend trying Sage, Brimstone, and Killjoy - I believe they offer up some pretty different playstyles then phoenix and you may find a different playstyle you enjoy. I also think it's easier to setup smokes/defensive utility in the same spots every round and it's consistent, where as duelists you need to be a little more dynamic on where you flash, and how you clear sites based on where your opponents are playing. Good luck out there!

P.S. Never feel discouraged about not doing so well. We have a match maker for a reason and it always tries to match you with similar skilled players. We want fair match making that enables you to have fun, but also improve!