While Clove’s self-reviving ultimate gives them a powerful advantage in VALORANT, they must also secure a kill or damaging assist to reap its benefit. One strange interaction with Killjoy’s Lockdown seems to nullify the kill/damage condition of Not Dead Yet, however, giving Clove an unfair advantage in some cases.
As showcased in a clip uploaded to Reddit, if Clove activates Not Dead Yet and gets detained in enemy Killjoy’s ultimate right after or at the same time, they no longer need to grab a kill or damaging assist to stay alive in VALORANT. Looking at how it cancels an essential condition, it seems to be a significant bug requiring Riot’s attention.
Also, notice how Clove says, “That was weird,” instead of what’s supposed to play if they make it out of their ultimate alive, which is one of the following:
- “I’m back for good!”
- “That was close!”
- “Think I’ll stay!”
In fact, “That was weird” is the voice line that plays after Sage resurrects them. The bug somehow recognizes Clove caught in Killjoy’s ultimate as Sage’s Resurrection.
In case you are wondering, to replicate this interaction, you need to activate Clove’s ultimate exactly when Killjoy’s Lockdown activates, so it’s quite situational and difficult to take advantage of in ranked VALORANT games.
Also, don’t confuse this bug with the fact that you can dodge Killjoy’s ultimate with Not Dead Yet’s dismiss animation—the latter is a mechanic and still requires you to deal damage or get a kill to survive. Thanks to its design, Clove’s ultimate has a lot of unique interactions in VALORANT. For example, you can activate Not Dead Yet while suppressed by KAY/O. You can’t, however, do the same while in Iso’s ultimate.
Riot hasn’t acknowledged this bug yet, but we expect the developer will fix it in the near future to keep things balanced.
