The best sentinels on Icebox to lock down the map

Updated on August 27, 1:10 p.m. (GMT+8): Improved relevancy.

Icebox is a challenging map to play on as it has different vertical levels and multiple paths.

With the longer lines of sight, players with good aim are rewarded often on Icebox.

However, on defense, you’ll need more than to click heads to win. A key to holding these sites is choosing the best sentinels on Icebox as your agent.

Sentinels are agents that focus on defensive play, with emphasis on supporting the rest of the team through providing intel, anchoring down sites, and preventing the enemy from flanking.

With Icebox being one of the bigger maps in the game, sentinels are essential to be able to perform well on defense.

In this ONE Esports guide, we’ll look at the best sentinel agents with whom you can slay out on Icebox and their strategic nuances. Icebox is a map where you often see a double-sentinel team composition.

The best sentinels on Icebox to anchor with

Killjoy

Killjoy is one of the strongest sentinels on Icebox, if not the strongest.

Her Nanoswarms and Alarmbot, in conjunction, can melt down enemies if placed at choke points. Nanoswarms also can ensure the spike doesn’t get planted, clear out corners while attacking, and even be incredibly useful during post-plant.

Killjoy’s ultimate, the Lockdown, is powerful as well, on both attack and defense. It can be used to retake sites as well as push onto them since it detains any enemies caught in its range.

To destroy it, you’ll need a countering ultimate like Brimstone’s Orbital Strike or Sova’s Hunter Fury, baiting a possible post-plant ult out of your enemies.

She is also a proven quantity in the professional scene. Before the Chamber-meta and since his nerf, she’s been one of the most picked agents on this map.

Sage

She is not just your healer. Sage is one of the agents who is almost essential to plant the spike on Icebox. Eeven after the map has changed, she continues to find her niche.

With the Outlaw coming into play, dealing 140 damage on a body shot, it becomes increasingly important to have someone who can heal the squad. Sage can heal players from however low they are back to full health.

Barrier orb is incredibly useful on both attack and defense, being able to wall off key areas of the map like mid-tube and even help in sticking the defuse. It also helps plant the spike on site easier since you can wall off the approach angles.

Slow orbs can help prevent players from advancing onto the site quickly. She can also slow down key angles by combining her slows with other pieces of utility like Raze’s paintshells.

Finally, her ultimate, Resurrection, lets her revive a fallen teammate to rejoin the squad in battle. Sage is often picked along with another sentinel like Killjoy.

Chamber

Chamber, the French sharpshooter, was a meta pick on not just Icebox but practically every map — until he got nerfed. Despite his nerfs, he can still provide incredible value to the team thanks to his kit’s firepower.

His basic ability, the Rendezvous, can be useful in finding opening kills for the team on defense as well as attack. Trademark, while limited in range, is an excellent source of information and can be used to passively hold crucial choke points.

Remember we mentioned long sightlines on Icebox? Well, Chamber’s kit is perfect for taking these fights thanks to the damage and zoomed scopes on his Headhunter pistol and his ultimate, a shiny gold Operator.

Chamber is definitely for those who have a more aggressive approach towards anchoring, with the ability to find opening frags and escape untraded.

Cypher

While Cypher’s pick rate on Icebox may not be as high as some of the other sentinels above, he can still be efficient at anchoring sites and finding information.

His camera, of course, can be used to clear angles and to help facilitate retakes if preserved. His tripwires as well have proven to be incredibly pesky as you can no longer break them with a Jett dash or Raze satchel.

His cyber-cages are arguably one of the best short-term smokes in the game and a clever Cypher player can use them to play around on site to anchor while the rotations come in.

The icing on the cake is his ultimate — one of the remaining six-point ults, and the one that gives you instant information that can decide the fate of a round.

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