Abilities don't kill,or do they? This has been a question for the fans for a while now. With Killjoy in the mix, it is quite clear that some abilities might kill enemies.
Ryan “Morello” Scott, the Character Design Lead at Riot, says he is not completely on board with this statement and he accepts it to be their fault to miss out the subtle distinction that tactical fundamentals are the keys, and not just "abilities that kill".
The Idea
According to him, the sole purpose of the character abilities is to create a better, more strategic way to obtain kills. When the opponents get distracted by the ability or are trying to evade the damage caused by the ability, that is the exact time for the player to get the perfect shot and ensure the kills. For instance, Pheonix's Curveball, Reyna's Leer, and Omen's Paranoia can be used to blind the enemies nearby, just making it easier for us to get multiple kills at a time. Cypher's Trapwire can also daze an enemy if not destroyed. But, these abilities always serve as a distraction and guns are always the primary weapons to finish off an enemy.
The Exceptions
There are cases though, where this isn't valid, like Raze's Blast Pack, her boom bot, inflict damages of around 50-100, and can be actually used to kill opponents. Even the newest addition to Agents, Killjoy, has some lethal abilities like Nanoswarm (can kill an enemy with 100 health under 2 seconds) and her Alarmbot. You can check out all her abilities in the link below.
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Devs' take on the issue
On this, "Morello" says that these will be fixed as a part of their ongoing promise to ensure tactical gameplay. But he apologizes to the fans, if they were misled by the statement "Abilities don't kill", because these abilities are an integral part of any tactical games. But for cases like the blast package, he says
https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/game-updates/ask-valorant-5/
Guns are and always will be the primary weapons to eliminate opponents, and the character abilities are just ways to strategize and improve the gun game, so we can never leave the abilities out of the game.