Each map has its own unique characteristics, using certain agents lets you and your team leverage these characteristics to give advantages in the game.

Using the right agents opens up new possibilities for offense and locks down enemies on defense.

This guide will go over the best agents for each map, and how to use them based on professional and ranked win rate data (from rib.gg) as well as how an agent’s utility interacts with the map.

To see useful lineups for each character on every map, check out our Maps Tool.

Pearl

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, KAY/O, Neon, Astra
  • Notable Pro Team: XSET
    • With this composition XSET beat FPX twice and FNATIC during Champions.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 54.65%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.72%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 14.08%
• How To Play
  • Fade is able to take advantage of the high rooftops on Pearl to get vision using her Haunt to get information and/or break crosshair placement to destroy the Haunt. Use the Prowlers to clear out the tight angles through mid as well as pockets on site to near sight enemies or lessen the number of angles that need to be cleared.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.33%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 19.44%
• How To Play
  • On defense take aggressive fights for first bloods all throughout the map. Use Trademark in Art, Mid Doors, or the pillar B Main to allow teammates to stack other positions or to use damaging utility or Flashes once an enemy activates the Trademark.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.03%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.93%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point is good for getting early information on defense as well as clearing out tight portions of the map. His Flash/Drive is great for assisting enemies on the wide open B site when he is rotating through spawn as well as pop flashing through the tight choke points and smokes.

Neon

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.38%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 2.08%
• How To Play
  • Neon’s Fast Lane is a great tool for getting on to site, especially B site which has very limited coverage for attackers to get deep into the site. High Gear allows Neon to rotate from site to site quickly as Pearl is a large map. Neon’s Relay Bolt is a great tool to stun enemies in one and done angles as well as attackers moving through choke points.

Astra

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.52%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.33%
• How To Play
  • Pearl is one of the largest maps and Astra is the only controller that can utilize her abilities no matter where she is on the map. This makes her great for lurking. During site executes use her Gravity Well and Nova Pulse in common defender spots to give your entry teammates advantages in fights. Astra’s Gravity Well is still great for post plant and halting attackers when they push through choke points.

Synergies

• KAY/O Frag/Ment + Fade Seize, Astra Gravity Well, Chamber Trademark
  • A damage synergy that can be used in choke points to stop attackers or to flush defenders out on executes A Dugout, Backsite A, B Screen, or B Hall.
• Fade Haunt + Neon Fast Lane
  • During a site execute, utilize the Fast Lane to get Neon deep into site with cover, and the Fade Haunt allows the Neon to shoot highlighted enemies through the Fast Lane.
• KAY/O Flash/Drive + Chamber Trademark
  • Using the Trademark for information, KAY/O can pop flash enemies who are stuck in the Trademark’s slow field.

Substitutions

• Raze for Neon
  • Raze is more dependent on teammates’ utility for site executions than Neon, but Raze does have more lethal utility that can clear the tight corners of this map and halt attackers.
• Viper for Neon
  • Viper is a solid option if Neon is not in the composition due to her Toxic Screen serving the same role as Neon’s Fast Lane on offense, and is a better tool for retakes on defense.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Icebox

Ideal Team Composition

• Sova, Chamber, KAY/O, Sage, Viper
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, Leviatan
    • LOUD and Leviatan went to overtime in a mirror matchup with this composition.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 50.00%

Agent Breakdown

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.93%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 13.33%
• How To Play
  • Sova’s Owl Drone gets a ton of value on offense to clear out the many angles for defenders to hide in B Main and A Site. This is because there are so many positions for defenders to play at various elevations which the drone is better for clearing out. On defense Sova’s Recon Bolt is great for checking for early pushes to A Belt and mid.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.44%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.75%
• How To Play
  • Chamber’s Rendezvous lets him take advantage of a lot of angles to Op from. Don’t be afraid to get aggressive and use elevated angles. Many players only Op on A rafters or behind B Yellow. Chamber can get in front of A pipes or under B Green to get quick kills from unexpected angles and get out. His Trademark is great for using in Kitchen and Orange to detect when enemies lurk through mid.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.48%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.82%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point is great for clearing out close angles, especially if a Chamber is playing there, forcing him to use Rendezvous. Learning basic Frag/Ment lineups to stall a plant is a great use because it will damage a planter through a Sage wall which is a very common way to plant on Icebox.

Sage

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.60%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.45%
• How To Play
  • Sage’s Barrier Orb is almost a necessity to get down a spike plant. Taking ground to the back site on both A and B is very difficult to do, and her Barrier Orb allows you to plant front site with more protection. Barrier Orb is even fantastic for retakes on defense as teams will typically plant front site and play back in post-plant. Her Slow Orb is good for stalling pushes and throwing at common post-plant positions such as behind B Yellow.

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.39%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 15.02%
• How To Play
  • Viper’s Poison Cloud is a fantastic way to lurk mid by throwing in mid to the right of where players can go under Tube. This allows players to lurk into Kitchen or Orange with a defensive player on Boiler not seeing them. Poison Cloud is great for setting up one ways on defense on 410 at A site or on the edge of Green Box B Main. Toxic Screen is a great way to gain ground on B site and to block Screens on A Site. Use Toxic Screen defensively by placing it across 410 from mid and through B Main to make clearing angles for offensive players more difficult.

Synergies

• Sage Slow Orb + Sova Hunter’s Fury
  • If enemies are playing in predictable post plant positions or are executing on site. Sage can slow the area, and Sova uses his Ultimate to easily hit enemies that are unable to move quickly to dodge his ultimate.Sova can ult from Boiler to 410 and Snowman to B Yellow as these are good angles to hit enemies and easy places for Sage to safely throw Slow Orbs to.
• Viper Snakebite + Sova Shock Dart
  • During post plant, both these characters have very strong utility. Viper’s Snakebite makes the diffuser vulnerable and Sova’s Shark Dart will then be able to deal double damage to kill an enemy. This can also be easily performed if playing defense and the other team is planting default A Site by throwing utility from the door at A rafters and banking it off the wall next to Generator onto default.
• KAY/O Frag/Ment + Viper Snakebite
  • It’s important to know that if shot on one side of a Sage wall, both of these abilities will damage enemies on the other side of the wall. This allows both of these pieces of utility to be used simultaneously on the defensive side of a Sage wall to prevent a planter from sticking a plant behind a Sage wall.

Substitutions

• Raze for Kay/O
  • Raze’s Blast Pack mobility lets her take advantage of elevated positions on this map. Her explosives are great for clearing out angles and forcing defenders back. Boom Bot is one of the few pieces of utility that allows teams to try to take control of back site when attacking.
• Fade for Sova
  • Prowler is good for clearing the tight angles near 410 and B Main. Be careful of elevated positions as Prowler can track enemies up high, but the ability needs line of sight. Haunt works similar to Sova’s Recon Bolt, and Seize is great for stalling pushes as well as decaying enemies trying to defuse or plant the spike.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Haven

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, Omen, Raze, Breach
  • Notable Pro Teams: FNATIC, Team Liquid, XSET
    • These teams all have a plethora of set plays utilizing the two Initiators and Raze with this composition.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 53.69%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.54%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.14%
• How To Play
  • Just like on Pearl, Fade can use her Haunt on top of rooftops to break enemies’ crosshair placement and to see over cover. Prowler is a great tool to clear out Garage. Haven has tight choke points to sites and very few spots for defenders to play, so Seize works great in these commonly played defender locations and to halt a push.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.36%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.61%
• How To Play
  • Be sure to rotate on defense when playing Chamber to not let the game pass you by. When holding A, make sure to get into A Sewer or down A Long so you have a view of A Lobby. This way you cut off all entries to A site and your 4 teammates can hold other positions. Trademark can be placed in Garage or B Site to allow teammates to stack other areas of the map.

Omen

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.50%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 11.83%
• How To Play
  • Smokes are smokes, nothing new here. Omen offers unique value with his Shrouded Step and Paranoia. Shrouded Step allows Omen to play various defensive positions such as on top of any of the boxes on A, B, or C. He can also play behind the back platform on C or behind Brick Stack A Long because if he is spotted he can use Shrouded Step to get to safety. Paranoia can be used for teammates through walls. This is great for retakes on all sites and using when in C or A Link for teammates who are under pressure.

Raze

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.70%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 6.20%
• How To Play
  • There are few defensive locations for players to use, so Raze’s Paint Shells are great for clearing them out. She can also use Blast Packs to quickly close on an enemy who is flashed and/or stunned from her teammates’ utility. Boom Bot is a good ability to clear some tight corners if no Fade Prowlers are available.

Breach

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.54%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 2.35%
• How To Play
  • His pick rate is low in ranked, but he is definitely worth trying out. Every lane in Haven is conveniently the exact same width of his Fault Line which can be used through walls to assist teammates all over the map. The geometry on sites is rather uniform, making his Flashpoint consistently blind enemies, and his entire kit is fantastic for retakes. This last bit is very important because Haven has 3 sites, and retakes are very common on this map.

Synergies

• Fade Seize + Breach Fault Line + Raze Paint Shells
  • Teams use this combo in A Lobby to trap players inside of a Raze Grenade. Breach can stun from A Long or B Link while Raze and Fade are on A Long.
• Breach Fault Line + Raze Blast Packs
  • This is a great combination for taking a site. If an enemy’s location is known, Breach can stun the enemy as Raze Blast Packs towards the enemy to close the gap and get an easy kill.
• Fade Haunt + Omen Paranoia, Breach Flashpoint
  • Flashes synergize very well with Fade’s Haunt because an enemy either is flashed they cannot see the Haunt to shoot it, or they have to turn the flash and they will get scanned. Professional teams will coordinate the timing of utilizing Fade Haunt and a flash exactly for this reason.

Substitutions

• Killjoy for Chamber
  • Haven has more lanes which makes Killjoy intriguing. Because of this, Chamber can be easier to avoid by attackers and his lone Trademark doesn’t cover as much of the map. Meanwhile Killjoy can cover more area with her utility, her Lockdown is great for retakes and taking site, and her Nanoswarms are strong for post plant which you’ll find yourself in often on Haven.
• Jett for Raze
  • Offensively Jett plays similar to Raze with her movement and being able to close in on enemies affected by utility. The other bonus to Jett is having a secondary Op. Haven is a large map and running two Operators is a viable strategy, and Jett gives you that flexibility if she is played alongside Chamber.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Fracture

Ideal Team Composition

• Fade, Chamber, Brimstone, Neon, Breach
  • Notable Pro Teams: DRX
    • In Champions DRX went undefeated on Fracture with this team composition, beating OpTic, FNATIC, and 100 Thieves.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 60.00%

Agent Breakdown

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.82%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.67%
• How To Play
  • Haunt and Prowler are able to get early information on defense which is quite useful as there are multiple angles attackers can come from. Haunt is also great for marking enemies behind Fast Lane or Toxic Screen. Prowler clears out the sites on Fracture quite easily and is great to clear out Sands as it can open the door.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.97%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 18.38%
• How To Play
  • Op aggressively, that’s how to play chamber no matter where you are. But when on Fracture take advantage of some unique angles such as on top of the double box on A site looking towards Dish or on top of B Generator looking towards B Arcade. These are two common Op spots used by bdog of Shopify Rebellion who had a 40 kill game against Cloud9 in the NA LCQ on Fracture. Trademark is a great tool to use for Chamber to watch one area aggressively and to make sure no enemies come from the other direction he has his back turned to.

Brimstone

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.13%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 10.84%
• How To Play
  • Brimstones smokes are daunting for enemies to push through, and having 3 smokes is great for coverage on a fast execute. Between his Orbital Strike and Incendiary, Brimstone is fantastic for post plant as the common plant spots on this site are wedged into corners that are easy to shoot his Incendiary into and trap enemies with Orbital Strike. This map has 4 Ultimate Orbs, be sure to farm these on Offense as Brimstone to utilize his strong post plant Ultimate.

Neon

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.65%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 5.14%
• How To Play
  • Neon’s kit lets her isolate angles on site, and stun those who are playing site. Her Relay Bolt can stun enemies playing on B site, meanwhile her Fast Lane lets her cut off defenders playing near B Generator and B Canteen to prevent these players from helping the site anchor on B. The same can be done on A site by cutting off Link and Sands. There are very few places to play defensively on A Site, and Relay Bolt can cover this entire area for easy entries. High Gear allows Neon to make space and quickly get to enemies who are affected by Breach’s utility.

Breach

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.15%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 12.93%
• How To Play
  • Fracture is a map where using Breach’s utility through walls gives tremendous value. His Fault Line is great for clearing Operators off of B Main and A Main. It is important to know that his Fault Line hits enemies at multiple elevations, this is very strong on A Site where enemies are affected both high and low site. Breach’s Rolling Thunder works like this too, which makes him able to use his ultimate from underground in B Tunnel to B Site. His Aftershock is also great for post plant, and delaying plants when enemies are tucked in site, forcing them into open sight lines.

Synergies

• Brimstone Orbital Strike + Breach Rolling Thunder
  • This combination can result in multi kills without even seeing an enemy. On defense with information from Fade, this is a great combination to use on enemies who are approaching A Hall or B Bench. This can also be used on both A and B Site as well as B Tower when attacking.
• Chamber Trademark + Neon Relay Bolt, Breach Fault Line
  • With information from the Trademark, Neon can use her Relay Bolt and Swing enemies who are detected. This combination can also be done with a Breach Fault Line on its own or in tandem to cover more area.
• Fade Seize + Brimstone Incendiary
  • If an enemy is in the back of A Site or the Trapezoid on B Site, these pieces of utility can be used to trap an enemy in a molly. This is also a solid combination to use when attacking by throwing it at a smoke in case an enemy is waiting in the smoke to get a backstab kill.

Substitutions

• KAY/O for Fade
  • Flash/Point is a very effective ability on this map to pop flash on both offense and defense due to how common Brimstone is on this map, and all choke points being occupied by his smokes. His Zero/Point is good for getting information in the early rounds on defense to get a feel for where attackers are set up.
• Raze for Neon
  • Paint shells are another great option for clearing out this map’s sites that enemies can get trapped in corners on. Boom Bot is a good piece of utility to clear out defenders in A Hall, B Main, and B Arcade in the early round. The mobility from her Blast Packs lets her make space for her team on executes by being able to get on top of A Site or to quickly capitalize on initiator’s utility.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Breeze

Ideal Team Composition

• Viper, Chamber, Sova, Jett, KAY/O
  • Notable Pro Teams: OpTic, BOOM Esports
    • These teams faced off against each other in a mirror match using this composition during Champions in which BOOM came out on top, 18-16.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 46.59%

Agent Breakdown

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.28%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 17.16%
• How To Play
  • Viper is a must pick for this map because of her Toxic Screen. Offense is nearly unplayable without a Viper. Toxic Screens should be placed diagonally across A Site and along B Wall for B Site. Poison Cloud can be used defensively in A or B Main and offensively to block off Mid Nest or A Metal Doors at the end of Halls for a lurk. You’ll need to learn lineups for those two offensive Poison Clouds, but they are well worth it. With how open this map is post plant line ups using Snakebite are very effective.

Chamber

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.35%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 18.97%
• How To Play
  • Breeze has a lot of long sight lines, so a Chamber Operator is great to have. Be sure to move around, and take advantage of some angles in mid that are not commonly cleared by utility such as B Tunnel to Mid Wood Doors, walk out Mid Wood Doors, or walk out Tunnel to B Elbow while a teammate in Mid Nest watches Mid. Trademark is commonly placed at the end of A Hall on defense and A Lobby or B Elbow on offense.

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.32%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 13.14%
• How To Play
  • Breeze is a more open map making Sova better suited for it than Fade. Owl Drone is great to use next to Ultimate Orbs to get vision of site for Operators or players playing close angles. Recon Bolt can be shot along the back walls of A and B Site to reveal enemies through Viper’s Toxic Screen for easy kills. Be sure to shoot the arrow high so it can see over the Toxic Screen. When on defense Shock Darts can be banked to damage planters on default for both sites.

Jett

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.09%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 19.04%
• How To Play
  • Jett is able to make space on offense using her Tailwind and a Cloudburst. On defense Jett can take early fights mid or even walking into A or B main by prepping Tailwind as she walks in. This requires a second teammate to watch down A Caves or B Window, or a feel of the timing to dash out by the time an enemy could be at one of those locations. If taking an aggressive fight like that, use Tailwind and/or Cloudburst to escape.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.26%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 6.96%
• How To Play
  • KAY/O’s Zero/Point counters both Sova and Viper, two agents with a very high pick rate on this map. Save this ability on defense once Sova is using his Owl Drone and/or Viper puts up her Toxic Screen for an execute. This will stall a push to allow for teammates to rotate and waste the enemy’s Owl Drone. Frag/Ment can be used A or B Main to stall pushes even further. Flash/Point is a fantastic flash to use to pop flash through a Toxic Sceen to get back site on offense or to counter flash enemies who are entering on site.

Synergies

• Viper Poison Cloud + KAY/O Frag/Ment
  • On defense this combination stalls the attackers immensely. This combination can be used in tandem or alternating so the choke point is occupied to deter attackers from pushing through. Viper can add Snakebites into the mix here which can occupy a choke point for more than half the round.
• KAY/O Flash/Point + Jett Tailwind + Viper Toxic Screen
  • This is a strong combination for scoring kills on enemies who are defending back site behind Toxic Screen. Once Toxic Screen is up, KAY/O can left click a flash that pops just on the other side of the Toxic Screen, and Jett can use Tailwind to get to these players quickly while they are still affected by the flash.
• Chamber Rendezvous + Sova Recon Bolt
  • Chamber can set up a Rendezvous close B or A Main to try to grab a quick Op kill once the round starts by looking towards B Elbow or A Ultimate Orb in A Shop. The Recon Bolt can be shot down A Cave or B Window to make sure no enemies are pushing the areas that Chamber is exposed to and not looking at so he can tunnel vision on one sight line then Rendezvous after he shoots, the Recon Bolt expires, or the Recon Bolt is destroyed.

Substitutions

• Skye for Kay/O
  • Guiding Light can pop flash through a Viper Toxic Screen and having an extra Owl Drone-like ability in Trailblazer is nice to have for finding Operators. Breeze is a massive map, so Seekers are great for information and many fights result in damage, but no kill. Because of this, Regrowth gets a lot of value.
• Cypher for Chamber
  • Having two Trapwires and a Camera that can work at any range, Cypher offers much more coverage than Chamber, and isn’t restricted to a small area on a large map like Killjoy.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Bind

Ideal Team Composition

• Viper, Brimstone, Raze, Skye, Fade
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, 100 Thieves, Leviatan
    • In Champions this composition didn’t have the best round win rate, but Leviatan was able to take down Paper Rex who were regarded as the best Bind team with this composition. FNATIC and OpTic ran this composition with a Chamber instead of Fade due to having two of the best Chamber players in the world.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 44.53%

Agent Breakdown

Viper

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.73%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 1.28%
• How To Play
  • Viper is commonly used to lurk in to A Lamps (U Hall). She does this by throwing a Poison Cloud into the entry of Lamps and a Toxic Screen to the right of A Short. When attacking B Site Viper can use a Snakebite on top of the Tube on B Site to clear a defender out of Tube because it will damage an enemy inside despite the Snakebite being above them. Defensively Toxic Screen can be set up across multiple lanes and Poison Cloud can be set up to block Hookah, A Short, or one way A Bath.

Brimstone

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.50%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 10.41%
• How To Play
  • Brimstone’s 3 smokes and Stim Beacon are great for fast burst executes which are common on Bind. His smokes are not hollow, making them daunting for attackers to push through when using them defensively. Brimstone is very strong for post plant with both Orbital Strike and Incendiary. Using Orbital Strike to clear out B Site Tube, A Lamps, and Hookah in the early round helps supplement an offensive push to take ground.

Raze

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.53%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 15.11%
• How To Play
  • Bind is Raze’s playground with a 100% pick rate at Champions. Offensively Raze can clear out many angles with her Boom Bot and Paint Shells as well as make space on site using her Blast Packs. On defense her Boom Bot gets early information and her Paint Shells can stall a push and force an attacker off a plant. All of her utility can go through the teleporters, using her Boom Bot and Paint Shells through the A Short teleporter into Hookah is a good way to crunch attackers B Short in Sands.

Skye

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.97%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.11%
• How To Play
  • Trailblazer is a good ability to get information on both offense and defense. When on defense use Trailblazer through the teleporters to get information down B Long and then outside A Bath as well as A Short and then B Short. This same thing can be done with Guiding Light. Skye plays very well in B Garden on defense as she can quickly flash enemies who are coming down B Long.

Fade

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.92%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.01%
• How To Play
  • Prowler is a great ability to clear out the close angles that bind has, especially shotguns in Hookah and A Lamps. Haunt can be thrown on top of the buildings to get a good view of site. Seize can be paired with other teammates’ damaging utility to get easy kills in defenders who are playing in one of the many one and done angles this map has. Nightfall is very strong on this map as it covers the entire area of both sites, letting your team quickly rush down a site.

Synergies

• Fade Seize + Brimstone Incendiary, Raze Paint Shells
  • This combination is good on both sides. On defense it works best in A Short when enemies are in the cubby; it can also be used to counter a plant in front of Truck on A Site when a team uses a Sage wall to plant by throwing the Seize and then banking an Incendiary off the back wall or using right click with Paint Shells to lob it over the truck. On attack use it to clear out common pockets defenders play in.
• Brimstone Orbital Strike + Raze Showstopper
  • This is a set play many teams use for fast executes on A Site. Brimstone uses his ultimate in A Lamps which either kills an enemy or forces them out the back door while Raze Blast Packs over the Truck with Showstopper to kill the enemy fleeing towards Pipes back site.
• Skye Guiding Light, Skye Trailblazer + Raze Blast Packs
  • When Skye flashes or stuns enemies they’ll hide back site while they regain their site. Raze is able to Blast Pack on top of B Tube or A Truck to get a vantage point on these enemies while that would otherwise have been safe back site.

Substitutions

• Sage for Fade
  • Barrier Orb can stifle an entire push and is great for safely planting on A Site in front of Truck. There are plenty of spots to stand on top of Barrier Orb to catch players off guard.
• Chamber for Fade
  • This map has fewer lanes, which means the attackers are more likely to run into Chamber and there is less of a need for Sentinel utility. Chamber is great for taking control of one lane with his Operator and another lane with his Trademark.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Ascent

Ideal Team Composition

• Sova, Omen, Killjoy, Jett, KAY/O
  • Notable Pro Teams: LOUD, XSET, OpTic
    • LOUD went 4-0 on Ascent with this composition which was the cornerstone of their run. XSET was able to beat OpTic and nearly beat FPX. OpTic swapped to this composition in the middle of the tournament which made headlines as Yay moved from Chamber to Yay which coincided with Derke of FNATIC swapping from Chamber to Jett on Ascent.
  • Champions Round Win Rate: 54.43%

Agent Breakdown

Sova

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 51.20%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 9.14%
• How To Play
  • Jett has once again become meta on this map, and Sova synergizes with Jett a little better than Fade does, which is why he is the pick here. Sova can get information using Recon Bolt on all parts of the map on defense. It can also be used to spam B Main with a high penetration gun. On offense support your Jett with Recon Bolt and get information using Owl Drone through A Main, B Main, and Tree. Shock Darts are great for destroying Killjoy setups that utilize an Alarm Bot and Nanoswarms in B Lane as well as a Killjoy Alarm Bot that is placed near Pizza to watch mid.

Omen

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.14%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 12.00%
• How To Play
  • On defense Omen can set up one ways A and B Main. Shrouded Step allows him to play Mid Catwalk Cubby as he can teleport out if being spammed with utility. On offense Shrouded Step can be used to get from B Main to Logs or A Main to Front Generator to make some space for teammates. Paranoia is very strong on this map and is the main reason Omen is a great pick. Ascent has small sites and Paranoia’s width takes up a good portion of the site’s Area, most notably all of A Generator, a very common defensive spot.

Killjoy

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 48.31%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 3.34%
• How To Play
  • Alarm Bot is great for allowing defenders to stack as it can cover mid when placed at Pizza or Tree. She can also hold down B Site with set ups in Lane and A Site with Nanoswarm Alarm Bot setups to kill a player who closes the door. Lockdown is great for taking sites and retaking. If using lockdown B Main, put it behind the box with the Ultimate Orb so it does not get spammed by a high penetration gun. If using Lockdown to retake B Site, place it next to the button to close the door as the platform the button is on blocks enemies on site from destroying the ult and it covers the entire site.

Jett

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 50.92%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 16.31%
• How To Play
  • Jett can play the open mid portion of the map very aggressively by using her Tailwind and Cloudbursts to get out if needed. She can do this much better than Chamber who is tethered to his Rendezvous range. When attacking Jett can make space by dashing into a Cloudburst. When doing this on B Site, dash towards the button to close the door to Mid Market and on A Site she can dash towards Dice or on top of A Generator.

KAY/O

• Win Rate (Ascendant +): 49.30%
• Pick Rate (Ascendant +): 7.20%
• How To Play
  • As mentioned earlier, Ascent has small sites. Zero/Point can cover a big area of a site for both information and suppress a sentinel, making an execute very easy. Flash/Point can be used with a left click through the window grates B Main or thrown straight upwards A Main to blind enemies on these sites without blinding teammates, or it can be pop flashed with a right click if there is a smoke blocking A or B Main. On Defense, Flash/Point is very strong mid to be used via a pop flash from Mid Market or into Tree if KAY/O is smoked off in Garden. Frag/Ment can be used to force defenders out of certain locations like Logs, Generator, or behind Dice.

Synergies

• Jett Tailwind + Omen Paranoia, KAY/O Flash/Point
  • In pro play this is commonly used by the defensive team the moment a round starts. Omen can flash from B Lane through B Main, B Main to Tiles, or A Button to A Ultimate Orb. Jett can dash through B main, mid to tiles, or down A Main to capitalize on enemies blinded. And if no one is there, then your team gets a lot of ground and good information.
• Killjoy Lockdown + KAY/O Frag/Ment
  • Killjoy’s Ultimate leaves small gaps in the area in which it detains; KAY/O’s Frag/Ment can be used in these gaps to force an enemy to die to the Frag/Ment or walk into the Lockdown.These can be done by throwing the Frag/Ment into wine with an A retake Lockdown, A Rafter with an A Main Lockdown, or B Back with a B Main Lockdown.If Frag/Ment is thrown on A Rafter it damages players under Rafters too.
• Jett Cloudburst + Sova Recon Bolt
  • When Jett dashes into her Cloudburst, Sova can simultaneously shoot his Recon Bolt. If an enemy is pinged Jett can shoot the highlighted enemy while inside her smoke. This works best when Sova shoots his Recon Bolt behind A Generator and Jett is on top of Generator as she can see all of A Site from there.

Substitutions

• Fade for Sova
  • She is used very similarly to Sova, and can even be used alongside Sova due to how strong highlighting enemies and getting information mid is on this map. Prowler can clear out close angles on site and is great for pushing defenders back who are playing aggressively.
• Astra for Omen
  • Astra’s strength comes from being able to stall the A and B Main chokepoints with a Gravity Well. On offense she is able to use Gravity Well and Nova Pulse to clear out the few places defenders can play on Ascent’s sites.

Example Defender Positions

Image from Valoplant

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back regularly for updated comps and remember to check out our VALORANT map tool for useful lineups for every agent.

The post Best VALORANT Team Comps for Each Map appeared first on Mobalytics.

Before we start talking about Pearl, let’s pay our respects to Split, which will be temporarily removed from Valorant’s Competitive and Unrated queues in Episode 5 Act I, as announced by Riot.

Although we will miss Split, Pearl seems to be a pretty solid replacement. It shares some similarities with it as well as maps like Ascent and Haven and they are all maps where Mid Control is crucial for both attackers and defenders.

What makes Pearl unique compared to other maps are (1) the holes in the walls and (2) its unique mid-design, because unlike most maps it’s not one big area.

Instead, it’s built by multiple smaller corridors which are connected to both spawns and both sites. Smokes and damage utility will play a very important role when it comes to gaining and keeping mid-control on Pearl.

The Layout

Due to Pearl featuring many small hallways, it has almost the same agent meta as Split and shares the most similarities.

As we know, all VALORANT maps have a feature that makes them unique. In Pearl’s case, it’s the holes/windows in the walls which allow some interesting plays, especially for high mobility agents such as Raze and Jett.

Window on A Site

Two holes between Mid and A Long

Sites

A Site

A-Site on Pearl seems very defender sided, when played right. Defenders have 3 (4 if you count flank) different paths they can use to retake the site and attackers will get sandwiched if they try to keep site control.

Defenders should go for early picks and play very passively until they are grouped and can execute retakes. Attackers are disadvantaged when it comes to retake situations and their best bet is to plant for A Long, keep control of it and play for post plant line ups and deny the plant.

B-Site

B-Main consists of a really long and open area that will be dominated by long-range weapons, especially by the Operator. For defenders, it’s crucial to run an Operator in order to successfully hold B-site and gain early picks.

But B-Ramp also offers some good counterplay for attackers and they can take advantage of it in both attacking and defending post-plant.

When it comes to post-plant situations, attackers have two options.

You can either keep the majority of your team on-site and keep control of the two entry points for defenders, while one is staying near B-Main and holding the flank.

Alternatively, you can plant for B-Main / B-Ramp (see marked map), give up site control, and deny the plant from a distanced position.

Both strategies seem very viable and it will be very interesting to see which one will be the most dominant in professional play.

Ultimate Orbs

As usual, both Ultimate orbs can be contested by both attackers and defenders, but their locations are more in favor of attackers.

Unlike the previous map Fracture, Pearl features two Ultimate orbs.

Recommended Team Comp

Here’s a suggested Pearl team comp, but feel free to adapt to your own playstyle and agent pool from our VALORANT agent tier list:

• Omen
  • Can smoke from far distances
  • Pearl offers many tight corridors which is great for Omen’s Paranoia
• Jett
  • Best agent to make use of the holes in the walls
  • Open areas will still be dominated by Operators, especially on defense
• Fade
  • Tracking footsteps can be useful with the number of links and corridors the map offers
  • On both sites, it’s easy to hit a large number of targets with her Ultimate
• Raze
  • Very powerful kit for map control, especially on Mid
  • Can use holes in the wall for cheeky Ults
• KAY/O
  • Knife and Ult offer tons of utility in close quarters
  • His C ability can be used across the map due to the map being mostly outdoor and having an open skybox
• Honorable mentions
  • Chamber, Astra, Breach, Skye

Thanks for reading! For more, check out our other VALORANT map guides.

The post Pearl: VALORANT Map Guide appeared first on Mobalytics.

KAY/O had a bit of a rough start when he was released since he didn’t see much play in competitive nor was he really utilized in pro play.

Despite his slow start, he did manage to pick up a few small buffs down the line, the most noticeable one being to his flash timers and the way they are set off slightly faster.

Alongside this, the SFX is slightly less noticeable than the way it was upon release. Arguably, this has made him the king of pop-flashes and if you master how to incorporate his underarm flashes into your game you will secure a lot of picks on blinded enemies.

The main thing that I believe has seen KAY/O’s playrate increase is the pervasiveness of Chamber in team compositions. KAY/O is Chamber’s biggest counter since he can completely disarm him from his ultimate and his sheriff down to a measly old Classic.

Additionally, it is becoming popular for teams to run two Initiators, (1 Controller, 1 Duelist, 1 Sentinel), in their team comps, so there is an opportunity for KAY/O to be picked side-by-side with the meta pick, Sova. In this guide, we are going to run through 5 tips that you should understand if you are hoping to add KAY/O to your agent pool.

1. Early round information

KAY/O’s knife is a rechargeable ability, in other words, you should waste little time at the start of the round trying to pick up information on the whereabouts of enemies.

If enemies are clustered the ZERO/POINT can occasionally scan almost the entire team and this can from the beginning of the round really allow your team to establish early map control by slowly pushing up other regions of the map. On top of that, it buys some time for your team to rotate since it prevents the enemy from using any abilities for a short while.

Important considerations:

• Repeatedly throwing your knife the same way every round will most likely lead to the enemy being very prepared for it, and hence, avoiding it and as a result, sending you false information.
• Swapping bombsites occasionally when defending will increase the unpredictability of your early round knife.
• Waiting a few seconds at the start of the round, roughly between 5-10 seconds may trick the opponents to think you aren’t using your early round knife the way you have been, and they might have crept back in your Zero/point radius.

2. Choose when to suppress carefully

Keeping an eye on the scoreboard is going to allow you to understand when certain enemy agents are going to use potentially devastating ultimates. Seeing ‘READY’ beside the enemy Raze, Jett, Chamber or Neon is going to allow you to understand the type of threat you are facing round-to-round.

Raze’s Showstopper and Neon’s Overdrive work on a timer function and suppressing with either your knife or ultimate nullifies them from being able to use their ultimate since their timers run out. Contrastingly, Jett and Chamber will regain their ultimate when your suppressive powers run out.

Knowing this, it is worth trying to capitalize on this window of opportunity where their powers are decimated. Generally, when enemies are attacking, they may save their Jett/Chamber ultimate for eco rounds.

If you are aware that the enemies are on some form of a save or weak buy, and you have suppressed their deadliest players on this particular round, it is worth trying to initiate a fight within this timeframe by communicating to your teammates, and or simply gaining some map control.

3. Pop-flash is your best friend

One important thing to consider is that it will take some time and practise to understand the functionality of his underarm flash. The flash has a certain travel distance that you need to familiarize yourself with, particularly with the alternate fire, underarm method.

Understanding where to position your flash is going to increase your chances of successfully full-blinding the enemy. If done correctly, you are giving the enemy very little opportunity to turn your flash.

There are niche ways to throw your flash and it is important to understand the differences that small distances can make.

For example:

If you are aiming to pop-flash B-Long on Bind, standing this close to the wall and underarm throwing your flash is going to give the enemy almost a full second to react to the flash and be able to turn it.

As you can see in the image above, the flash has almost reached the ultimate orb when you are standing this close to the wall.

Ideally, you want to reduce the amount of time that the enemy can see the flash mid-flight, which in turn will mean they have less time to react. This is the most important principle to consider when pop-flashing.

In the next image, I am standing further back and you can see that the flash only just passes the entry point to Garden and will most likely full-blind your enemies, especially if they are unaware you are playing Garden.

After you flash you want to begin pre-aiming the angle as quick as you can and making your way to peek immediately, it should look something like this:

You can play mind games with your opponents, if they are aware that you may flash something due to patterns of play, you can do a flash like in the first image that takes longer to pop, but peek it before it has been set off.

As a result, you may be peeking enemies that are attempting to turn the flash and have their back to you. In low elo opponents may not be this alert and aware so sticking to the first method is recommended and safer.

A word on overhead flashes

These are best launched as big quarterback throws from a distance, hurled high so they are set off at the top of your enemy’s screen. These have been referenced as ‘god-flashes’ in previous tactical-shooters, they aim to surprise and be unpredictable since often the enemy is unaware of its trajectory and doesn’t really see the projectile in motion before it is set off.

These types of flashes work best when your team is gelling together well and there is solid communication between you and other teammates. One specific example where this may be viable is if you are late on a rotate on Bind, the enemy has planted the bomb on B, you are rotating through Defender Side Spawn and your team is ready to exit out of the ‘CT’ door.

You can communicate with them that you are going to send a high flash and count them down to peek.

Overhead flashing like this against walls is not recommended since this provides the enemy with the largest time-frame to be able to turn your flash.

4. Maximize NULL/CMD

Be careful not to activate your ultimate too early since it only lasts roughly 10 seconds. It is best to use this right as your team is going to initiate.

One exception to this is if you are defending and you can see an enemy KAY/O on the team has ultimate and you believe you have the correct read where and how they will be pushing, (I.E. you begin hearing a lot of noise around A Cave/Shop on Breeze and you know the enemy KAY/O has ultimate).

It may be worth using your NULL/CDM before theirs. This will buy time for your team to rotate and or gain map control. Moreover, you will be able to safely use your ZERO/POINT without it being destroyed and this will provide you with rough information on how many players are around A Shop.

• Don’t be afraid to entry and when you have this ability since there is always an opportunity for you to be rebooted.
• It is strong to use if you gain information with a drone or a knife that the enemy Chamber is using his ultimate on A Site Breeze for example. This will not only force him to wait a timer until he can use his in-built Operator again, furthermore, he won’t be able to teleport out either, making him vulnerable since they often play aggressive angles.
• Communicate to your team even when you are down and waiting for a reboot, often you can still see where an enemy is positioned.

5. Master your FRAG/MENT

Your FRAG/MENT is a good way to clear chokepoints and/or prevent enemies from lurking and attacking your side whilst you are pushing the site.

For example, if you are attacking B Site Split through Heaven, you may want to throw your FRAG/MENT towards stairs to buy time to safely jump to site without getting peeked from that side of CT.

This is also a valuable ability in an aggressive sense to clear out commonly played, one-and-done spots, I.E. this spot on Icebox:

It is also very valuable in post-plant situations if you can safely throw it down onto the bomb to take the defuser off it, and or to prevent pushes to site and buy some time.

If you would like to see heaps more valuable lineups for your ZERO/POINT and your FRAG/MENT head over to our Mobalytics VALORANT app. There is information for both Attacker and Defender side lineups and it is definitely recommended to learn a few of these to add to your game.

The app has you covered with everything you need, you can easily filter through what map and or what ability you would like to learn a lineup or strategy for. Check out this post-plant molly for the common default plant on Ascent, learning something simple like this can be the difference between winning and losing the round.

Closing Thoughts

I hope this article helped you learn a few new things about KAY/O if you have already played him, and if not, I hope you are convinced that he is a worthy agent to add to your playable pool.

If you can see your team has already locked in 1x Controller, 1 x Sentinel, 1x Initiator, 1x Duelist, sometimes as opposed to adding another duelist to the mix which is often what people opt for, a second duelist like KAY/O can provide some handy utility and is a solid gatherer of information. As always, best of luck with your ranked grind.

Thanks for reading! For articles on other agents, check out the rest of our VALORANT agent guides.

The post 5 KAY/O Tips and Tricks (From a Radiant Player) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Chamber currently holds a strong position in the meta and is a very effective solo-queue agent to play when aspiring to climb. He provides benefits for his allies by boosting the team’s economy with his in-built weaponry.

Further, a good Chamber can change the course of eco rounds with his ultimate, Tour de Force and his Headhunter Sheriff. His traps can be used both offensively and defensively and provide vital information for the team.

Not only does this utility provide information for the team by covering flanks, if activated the slow lasts quite a long time and can completely compromise enemy attacks.

Chamber is the agent for you if you feel confident at times ego-peeking angles and making cheesy plays. Crosshair placement needs to be your forte as you will much of the time be pre-aiming opponents.

This article will explain how each ability of his should be used and some strategies to incorporate into your gameplay for all maps on both attack and defense. Let’s start off by exploring his general playstyle on defense and how to best use his Rendezvous teleport ability.

Thoughts on Rendezvous

Chamber’s Rendezvous is his best ability, playing weird off angles whilst easily evading danger makes him such an annoying agent to play against.

It is one of the best forms of disengage in the game since it is almost instantaneous and he does not require a kill like Reyna to Dismiss. The Rendezvous, therefore, goes toe-to-toe against Jett’s dash regarding escape potential.

Having a bunch of go-to set-ups on each map is recommended, especially on defense. Moreover, it is important to mix up the way you are placing the teleport anchors in order to keep the enemy guessing and remain unpredictable.

Similar to how Jett is able to take wild peeks in an attempt to secure opening picks, Chamber can do the same. It takes practice and experience to gain confidence holding certain angles but after repeated interactions across the same lines of sight you will increase your chances of swinging the round in your favor right from the start.

To maximize the effectiveness of his Rendezvous Chamber players must at times be audacious and bold in the way they hold and peek angles upon barrier-drop.

Rendezvous and Trademark setups for Defense (All Maps)

Important considerations

• Be creative
• No strict rules, mixing it up is key. Any little corner and crevice makes a good spot to catch enemies off guard and slow them.
• Placing them near chokepoints and or in very obvious positions repeatedly will increase the risk of these being either smoked and covered, or cleared out by cautious enemies using utility such as Shock Darts etc.
• Chamber only has two Trademarks that he can use in a single round. (There are multiple spots shown, choose two and keep changing things up). Make sure you are playing around your slows and traps and staying alive so that they activate).
• Utilizing your Rendezvous at the very beginning of rounds is worthwhile since you will then have it recharged to use again later in the round/ post-plant . So – Be brave and go for that opening pick, place one anchor for the area you will be peeking in an attempt for first blood and another in a safer area towards the back of sites or spawn so that you are safe after Chamber snaps his fingers.
• KAY/O’s suppression counters Chamber significantly since you will no longer be able to use Rendezvous and teleport out if caught by KAY/O’s ultimate or knife.
• Understanding how to set up for all bomb sites as a Chamber will give the enemy a hard time predicting your setups and strategies.
• Red squares are used to highlight his Trademark/trap ability, whilst red circles will be used to showcase where his Rendezvous anchors can be placed.

Haven

A Site

This one must be placed after barrier drop but provides good early information and slows enemies before they have reached the site to allow teammates more time to rotate.

B Site

Mixing it up playing B for one round can be a good option on Chamber, especially when his Ultimate is ready you might be able to catch enemies that peek mid window off guard. Go all the way to the end of the generator when peeking as shown, this will reduce your chances of being blinded by a Leer, etc.

C Site

Placing a Trademark in Garage when playing C allows for greater control of this region of the map. In solo-queue you can’t always whole-heartedly trust your teammates and this prevents any confusion between enemies pushing from grass/versus long, (it allows you to focus solely on C Long).

Bind

Note, teleporters can be placed to rotate between A and B Site on this map. One anchor is to be placed in U-Hall whilst the other should be on B Site in the cubby.

A Site

These are some options for your Trademark, keep mixing it up round-to-round to keep the opponents guessing. You can also opt to place one outside of showers.

Be confident to occasionally get aggressive on A Main. See clip below.

B Site

There are plenty of options to place your Trademarks and Rendezvous anchors on this site. Keep changing it up as rounds progress. (If you are playing back site you might opt to place the anchors deeper into the site like cubby and or the green box. If you are playing around Garden it may be best to place it in/under Hookah and garden/or just outside.) If you are the Sentinel responsible for holding B site it is reliable to place your 2nd anchor Deep into Elbow for safety if you have to fall off site.)

Breeze

A Site

The trap closest to A Main is unable to be spotted by enemies until they are already too close. See image below…

Aggressively holding the push out of A Shop and A Cave is a strong option as a Chamber player. It is not worth overdoing this though as the enemy team will begin cautiously clearing you out with their Initiator and utility.

Placing a trap inside Hall in the corner where the door switch is at will provide valuable information and prevent enemies from slowly lurking into your spawn.

B Site

The teleport anchor right beside B Main is placed there when planning on peeking Elbow immediately upon barrier drop. (There is a very small opportunity to take your shot when making this play as you can be peeked from Window, you must either rely on a teammate holding Window for you; inform them before the round starts to hold Window for you).

Ascent

A Site

It is safer to retreat to the other side of Heaven, or even Hell, but this play can be utilized on a Pistol round as a tactic to catch the enemy off guard.

It is not recommended to wide-swing/swing at all from this position, hold a line of sight towards the player that will push the door switch for free picks (whilst still being hidden behind the box), it is highly unlikely you will be cleared properly.

B Site

The teleport anchors can be placed as you wish here, One on Stairs, and then another back site, One near B Main and then another back site or CT, keep mixing things up that is the key as a Chamber player.

Creeping inside B Main and holding an off-angle for an early pick can pay dividends. Teleporting back towards Back Site is also a solid option especially when you have a trip set up for players dropping down from Lane. See clip below.

Fracture

A Site

Chamber players should be holding relatively aggressive off angles, and the first anchor is set up for this purpose inside A Main. To retreat safely, it is best to place it at the Link towards Defender Side Spawn. However, you can place it under site/top site to play off your trips if you wish and or have support from another teammate playing A. If no one is playing Dish it is worth placing a Trademark there as well.

B Site

The aggressive anchor is placed to peek B Main, and your second safety/retreat anchor can be placed inside Tower, towards Defender Side Spawn or in the middle of Site to play off the Trademark rightmost in the image above.

Icebox

A Site

Chamber excels on Icebox as there are so many angles available to hold and he can easily mix up his defensive positioning before enemies have even made it to site.

Take for instance, here…

…and here.

B Site

A teleport can also be set up aggressively on top of the box below the crane, to peek at Garage or Attacker Side Spawn when barrier drops.

Split

A Site

Plenty of options on Split to mix up the location of your Trademarks. It is recommended to have one up at Heaven just to gain information on how far enemies have advanced up Ramp, it prevents the danger of ‘timing’ and sneaky enemy lurks.

B Site

Teleport anchors can be set up around Pillar however you wish and whatever angles you feel comfortable holding most, and then back Alley/CT for a safe retreat to play retake if the enemy is flooding the site.

Trademark setups for Attack (All Maps)

This section will just showcase images of where you can position your traps to watch for flanks.

Sometimes if you are hard pushing a particular site with the team it is worth holding onto one Trademark to save for later in the round, either for the purpose of clearing out certain parts of the bombsite and/or to set up a trap for post-plant.

Moreover, if you do not have an initiator on your team, it can be hard to push out smoke since it is difficult to clear 270 degrees left and right of your screen. Placing a trap out of the smoke can clear close angles and detect where the enemy is on the minimap for you if they are close.

See the video below for how Trademarks can be used aggressively to check for the presence of opponents and catch them off-guard.

Haven

Bind

Breeze

Icebox

Fracture

Ascent

Split

Headhunter and its Guardian-esque functionality

For 100 credits a bullet, Chamber is able to one-shot headshot enemies no matter the distance. Considering this, there is value in making yourself accustomed to using his Headhunter’s scope in function.

Being comfortable when scoping in with his Sheriff will allow you to more easily make small adjustments at distances since it is slightly more easy to see and the adjustments will be slightly less miniscule and therefore not as difficult to pull-off.

The Headhunter makes Chamber an eco-round demon since he basically has a Guardian (a weapon valued over 2000 credits) at his disposal for 100 credits a bullet.

Pre-aiming commonly held angles at longer distances that opponents with rifles will need to tap and or burst you in return is your best bet in securing a pick. By doing this you level out the playing field regarding your weapon versus theirs.

Additionally, on pistol rounds it is worth holding longer angles with his scope as this places him at a significant weapon advantage. See clip below.

At the end of the day, Chamber is an aim-based agent. In other words, he is highly skill focused similar to Jett. Expert Chamber players are ones that understand the intricacies of aim and the myriad of ways an angle can and should be held.

To maximize Chamber’s potential you should feel comfortable securing picks on his Headhunter and you should feel like you excel when using the Sheriff and or Operator. If you do not feel comfortable and don’t like using the Sheriff and Operator, Chamber might not be the agent for you.

Tour de Force is broken, make the most of it

An Operator that can one-shot enemies anywhere and has the fire rate and feel of a Marshal?! The movement error of Chamber’s Tour de Force feels a lot less significant than the Operator and it feels very easy to use similar to how the Marshal functions.

Its fire rate makes it difficult for opponents to re-peek you after you miss your shot, this often favors you to re-peek them as their positioning will be much the same.

At times, Chamber’s ultimate is worth saving for eco-rounds as it can completely change the course of the round. The enemy will have a false sense of confidence since your team has very little money and weaponry. But if you manage to find the opening pick or two with your ultimate this not only has given you a 5v4 or 5v3 situation but you have gained one or two rifles for your teammates to use.

This is more than enough to bring the odds back in your favor and help you steal the round. Communicating to your team to hold back and live, and asking them if you can play first contact with your Tour de Force is recommended since they might be able to pick up a rifle. The longer the round goes the more opportunity you give yourself to find a pick, be patient when it comes to your ultimate on eco rounds.

In the example below, my teammates are all saving and just have an assortment of pistols, but after these two opening picks they are able to grab some rifles and we were able to secure the round. It is worth taking risky peeks and ego-peeking since you have very little to lose: your team is saving anyway and the odds of the round are heavily against you.

Final thoughts

• It is worth becoming acclimated to both sides of each map before playing Chamber.
• Chamber is a skill-based agent and you should feel confident using the Sheriff and Operator before adding him to your agent pool.
• Mix things up round-to-round on defense regarding your Trademark and Rendezvous setup as a large part of Chamber’s strategy revolves around off-angles, unpredictability and surprise.
• Chamber economic benefits to the team are considerable. He is a strong solo-queue agent and can change the course of rounds with his weaponry Headhunter/Tour de Force, especially on Eco rounds.
• Similar to Cypher, Chamber is an effective agent to ‘lurk’ on and retain map control with. For example if your team is attacking A Site on Ascent, as a Chamber player, you could place a trap outside B Main and play slowly around the opposite side of the map and try to catch enemies off that are rotating. As the bomb is planted, you can creep towards A Short/Tree Room to reconnect and play around your teammates. Lurking is a viable option on Chamber since he can use his Rendezvous to return quickly to his teammates.

Hope there were some takeaway points for you and you learned something new about Chamber in this article. As always best of luck with your ranked climb and future Chamber games.

Head to our dedicated Chamber agent page to find more setups for each map.

The post Advanced Chamber Guide By a Radiant Player appeared first on Mobalytics.

Being an effective communicator in your games is going to lead to better team coordination and ultimately increase your team’s chances of securing each round.

This article is going to explain how you can improve your communication skills in Valorant whilst also providing examples you can use in your games.

Communicating with the team as a solo queue player can be tough so we will run through some ways you can try to gel with the team.

A skilled communicator and in game leader (IGL) can provide valuable information to the team in a clear and concise manner. It is important to be succinct whilst providing as much information as possible, this will allow for your teammates to process your callouts easier.

This is because tempo in Valorant is an important concept – the earlier that your teammates understand where the enemy are and what sort of play is being executed the faster they will be able to respond. Being superfluous is not only going to slow down your team’s responses but also might lead to them missing key information.

If you’re a brand new player, we recommend skipping to the terminology section at the bottom of the article before you begin reading. Otherwise, let’s dive in!

The key ingredients for good communication

First and foremost one of the most important things is to make sure you uphold a sense of respect towards your teammates and try to create a positive environment.

By doing so you will instill them with a sense of confidence and will be minimising the chances of team tension and or individual ranked anxiety.

Credits to karinscr on DeviantArt

It is difficult to try and manufacture comradery and positivity between you and your teammates since most gamers are focused on themselves and the RR that is at stake.

Most people will appreciate it if you are simply helpful, respectful, and are conveying throughout the game that you are giving your all.

How to be helpful

The best way to help your team is to provide them with information you have on the enemy in a quick and succinct fashion.

Try to share whatever information you gain on the enemy as soon as you are aware of it, this way your team can support you earlier.

When you are making a call-out make sure not to omit any vital information in the hope of being short and snappy.

Let’s run through a good and bad version of the same callout.

Example 1:

• Bad callout: “Tagged 100, 2 mid.” [Haven]
• Good callout: “Raze tag 100 mid, Reyna back B.”
  • Here you have stated which enemy is tagged and given a more specific location for the other agent that you have also now given an identity to.

Example 2:

• Bad callout: You die back site A on Haven to a Raze that was Hell, 10 seconds ago. Your teammate is last alive in a 1v1 with the enemy Raze. Your teammate is walking up Sewers: “Raze backsite”.
• Good callout: Care close, could be anywhere

Example 3:

• Bad callout: You tag Reyna 100 but you ignore the fact she is over-healing and say, “Reyna tag 100”.
  • Same can apply for if you tag and die to a Sage early in the round.
• Good callout: “Reyna [location] tag 100 but over-healing”. “Sage tag 100 used heal”.

Example 4:

• Bad callout: You are playing aggressively at A Cubby on Bind as a defender and die to the enemy Jett, you hear lots of footsteps behind her and say, 
  • “All A”.
    • This could give your B defender a false sense of security when you can’t know for sure that all enemies are short).
  • “Jett tag 80”
    • This is a lazy callout, you are holding back information from your team, you should let them know that there are multiple enemies A side.
• Good callout: “Few A short, Jett tag 80”.

Information that you should be sharing with the team

• Spotting an enemy momentarily in the distance – You should be sharing with your team where and who it is
• Planning to use your utility as a Controller or Initiator – You should explain to your team what your plan of action is. I.e. “Dogging shop”. “Concussing ramp now”. “Pulling logs”.
• If you have noticed the enemy has wasted valuable utility, it is worth informing your team. I.e. “Sage no slows”. “Reyna Dismissed no heal”. “Breach no Flash”. “Skye dogging out B”.
• Valuable utility you don’t have this round. I.e. “No wall this round”. “No smokes this round”. “No trips this round care flank”.

How to be respectful

Try your best not to educate a teammate in game since ranked is not the best place for individual tuition, the player might take it the wrong way and it is more likely to create tensions than do any good.

If your teammate makes a mistake it should be needless to say that a small pick-me-up remark and bit of encouragement for the next round will go a lot further than anything patronising or belittling that can only fester negative energy and team tension.

One major thing I highly recommend avoiding is micromanaging your teammates. Valorant like most tactical shooters is full of unpredictable action and a myriad of different agent and map-specific interactions that can occur round to round.

Micromanaging teammates will strip them from feeling confident with their own decision making whilst also most likely aggravating them and your other teammates.

Micromanaging can be defined as guiding the player through the round with multiple callouts trying to pilot their behaviour and make their decisions for them. It is best to let your teammate do what they feel comfortable with.

Lastly, avoid saying anything if your teammate is last alive in a clutch situation unless it is absolutely necessary since it can seriously disrupt their concentration and plan of action.

How to give it your all

This should be self-explanatory, trying your best and caring about the result in ranked is going to give you the best chance of your teammates reciprocating the same effort and level of support towards you.

Go the extra mile to communicate with your team, don’t always assume that they understand the situation. This is especially the case for agents who have a significant impact on the map.

For example, if you are playing Controller Agent’s or Initiators it is important you inform your team what you are doing with your abilities.

• If you are a Breach and are silently going about your business whilst you are about to use your Faultline, Flash and Ultimate on a bomb-site your team is not going to be ready to capitalise of your utility.
• If you are an attacker in a post-plant situation where the bomb is down and you have to play time with one other teammate. Let’s say you are Astra and have a star down on the bomb so when the enemy tap you can pull them off. You should let your teammate know this so that they don’t peek unnecessarily when the bomb is tapped, they can stay hidden and make it difficult for the opponent.
• Flanking is much stronger if you are able to communicate with your team that you have slipped behind enemy lines and are able to catch them off if your team can keep distracting from the other side. This will help your team understand that they should only be jiggling and not fully duelling the opponents, they will know to only commit after you have made contact.

Some games are out of your control, even though you were respectful, helpful and gave it your all, there are just too many variables in a game of ranked and sometimes things will just fall apart and all you can do is watch.

If things happen to reach the point of no return with trolls or a team has just been arguing and is way too difficult, just remember this advice for Fanatic’s IGL, Boaster.

Communication Terminology

Anti-eco

• A strategy your team can employ to combat the enemies eco-round. This is mentioned at the start of rounds when your team is aware the enemy will be forced to eco in some sort of way. It may mean, keeping your distance from enemies and only engaging in long range duels since you assume they will have cheap close range guns.

Bait

• Examples: “Let’s bait out utility”. “Bait me”.
• To make a play where you want to draw out something from the opposition whether that is the enemy agents themselves or their utility.

Care

• Something that is said by one teammate to another about a looming or potential danger nearby. I.e. You died earlier in the round in Garage on Haven, and now your teammate is entering mid grass after A or C Lobby, you should warn them, ‘care Garage’.

Crossfire

• Establishing a line of sight to hold with a teammate so that you are both covering each other, (holding the same line from opposite sides).

Ct

• ‘Counter-Terrorists’. This is a CSGO reference and people use this since this abbreviation is a lot easier to blurt out than defender spawn.

Cubby

• Refers to part of the map with a deep pocket like area where enemies can hide. Most cubby areas in Valorant are like rectangular inlets, for example A Short Cubby on Bind.

Cut noise

• Being completely silent: shift walking, not reloading your gun etc.

Default

• Playing default is the act of showing presence across the entirety of the map. It is a strategy which can be organised by attackers at the start of the round. For example, playing default on Haven as attackers would be 1 holding C Long to prevent defenders from pushing, one holding A Garden/Lobby whilst the rest take mid control.

Dinked

• The enemy has been headshotted. You only really want to say this if you know that the enemy is low health. It has a similar function to ‘one-shot’.

Dirty

• If something is dirty, it means your team has no information for that area and it has not been cleared or checked. It is generally used by one teammate to warn the other that an enemy could be there. I.e. ‘Garage is dirty’.

Double peek

• Swinging with a teammate

Eco

• An abbreviation for economy with the generalised meaning somewhere between save and half-buy. If someone says, ‘we have to eco’ it means that the team should take into consideration that they are low in credits and they should save in one way or another.

Fake

• Most commonly used in reference to ‘faking’ an attack on a bombsite. A fake is used to deceive opponents and sell them the narrative that you are attacking a site when you intend to end up elsewhere. I.e. “Let’s fake B and go A”

Flank

• Wrapping around the map to pressure the enemy from behind.

Force

• A risky strategy of spending credits even though you cannot afford utility, rifles and full shields. A Force may be something like the whole team purchasing Spectre Light-shields with all their credits.

Half-buy

• Your team economy isn’t awful but it is sub-optimal, only a few players can afford a full-buy whilst the rest of the team is broke. In this situation, a half-buy might be viable where you buy-down to the point where you see you will still have 3900 minimum for next round. This may mean some players on your team have 5000 credits whilst others have 2000, in this case the richer players can maybe buy a Spectre Full-Shield whilst still having enough for next round.

Jiggle/ Jiggle peek

• Can be either:
  • To peek the corner (preferably with your knife out so that you are faster) without the intention to engage in a duel. Purely to find out information on the location of enemies.
  • To burst fire your gun whilst strafing in and out of cover.

Lurker

• A player who strays away from his team and traverses the opposite end of the map in a stealth like manner in an attempt to catch off rotators and find picks.

One-shot

• A common way to alert your teammate that a certain enemy is one shot away from dying. I.e. Raze is one shot. This is specific to what round and what sort of loadout your team has. For example, if it is a pistol round and you tagged the enemy Jett 70 you should refrain from saying one shot since a Classic only does 26 to the body.

One-way

• A smoke that is positioned deliberately to be advantageous to one side, (generally the side of the defending Controller agent). The smoke functions best only ‘one-way’ since there is usually a gap below it that allows for the defender to have vision on the attackers whilst the attacker has limited or no vision towards the defender.

Play for picks

• Picks in this instance is another word for kills. Playing for picks generally encourages a slow playstyle in which case you would most likely establish a ‘default’ setup as attackers in the hope to catch a defender dropping their guard.

Play time

• Try to delay the situation. If you are in a 1v1 and have planted the bomb and the enemy is searching for you, you may receive a friendly reminder from your team to ‘play time’, in this case, avoid contact with the enemy and let the clock tick down.

Prod

• ‘Prodding’ is the act of slowly creeping up into enemy terrain whilst playing defence in order to provide information for your team. For example, if you are playing C site on Haven on defence (and there has been no noise or commotion on your site at the start of your round) prodding would be carefully making your way up C Long to check for any enemy presence. This would help not only with map control if the enemy decide to return to C but allows your team to understand they have to be

Rotate

• Leave the current side of the map you are on and ‘rotate’ to the other bomb site.

Sucked/Pulled

• When Astra’s Gravity Well is activated it ‘sucks’ and ‘pulls’ enemies towards the centre of her Astral Star. I.e. “Jett sucked back site”

Retake

• Playing retake as defenders is the act of giving the bomb site to the attackers, (if you are a lone defender on site and have assessed that too much risk is coming your way you can opt to leave site and save yourself from dying). By doing so you allow for a coordinated retake to take place in which case you may have more chance as opposed to if you simply died and left your teammates 4v5.

Re-hit

• Deciding to execute the same site again after cutting noise and leaving the enemy confused/ most likely believing that you have rotated.

Save

• The act of deciding not to spend your credits on any expensive weapons or utility to make sure you can full-buy the following round.

Shift/ shift walk

• Holding the ‘shift key’ to walk silently.

Stack

• The act of grouping together the team on one bombsite as defenders.

Swing

• Stepping out of cover to peek and duel an opponent. I.e. A ‘wide-swing’ is where you continue to strafe sideways the direction you peeked out of cover regardless of the fact you already made contact 2 steps ago. This is done in hope to make yourself a difficult target for opponents.

T

• ‘Terrorist’. Again a CSGO reference, it is a lot easier to say ‘T spawn’ as opposed to Attacker spawn.

Timing

• Saying ‘timing’ alludes to the fact that the enemy got lucky in regards to when exactly they did something. I.e. If you were holding Showers on Bind for 30 seconds and then the split second you gave it up someone killed you by Peeking you from Showers, that is an example of bad ‘timing’.
  There are also instances of positive timing in which case you are aware you have slipped past enemies and can easily infiltrate their spawn and or flank. You could alert your teammates, ‘I’ve got timing just delay whilst I flank’.

Trade

• Avenging a fallen teammate immediately.

Utility/util

• Another term for agent abilities that can impact other players or the map.

Wallbang

• Refers to hitting an enemy through the wall via bullet penetration.

Hopefully you have a bit better of an understanding around how you should and shouldn’t be making callouts in your games. As always, best of luck with your ranked climb.

The post A Radiant Player’s Guide for Communicating in VALORANT Solo Queue appeared first on Mobalytics.

The release of ‘Deadeye’ has been heavily anticipated by the VALORANT community. We can now confirm that this agent is actually named Chamber.

He is very suave and looks a bit like a hitman or secret agent. In his cinematic reveal, we get a glimpse into his slick aesthetic and learn of his French origins.

His smooth criminal demeanor has much of the community raving about him being VALORANT’s coolest agent yet.

Additionally, the cinematic gives us a bit of an insight into his abilities, let’s run through them now.

C- Trademark

Place a trap that scans for enemies. When a visible enemy comes in range, the trap counts down then destabilizes the terrain around them, creating a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.

Unlike Killjoy’s Alarm Bot, this trap is visible to enemies and if it is not concealed well it is easily destroyable. Its range is massive, roughly 3 or 4 times larger than the Alarm Bot’s radius.

This ability has two charges meaning Chamber is quite competent when it comes to covering flank routes as most maps generally have more than one route which the enemy can flank from.

This sounds like a traditional ability you would find in a Sentinel’s kit. Apart from this the rest of his abilities are quite unique for a Sentinel.

Killjoy, Cypher and Sage assist their teammates immensely without having to aim, they are proficient at delaying pushes to sites with abilities like Slow Orb and Nanoswarm + Turret combo. Meanwhile, Chamber is going to have to rely on outplay and aim to maximise his kit and effectively hold sites for his team.

Q – Headhunter

Activate to equip a heavy pistol. Alt fire with the pistol equipped to aim down sights.

Unlike the Sheriff, Chamber’s Headhunter will be able to one shot enemies at any distance with a headshot. To help with this, right-clicking will allow you to aim down sight.

This is going to help tremendously when it comes to securing long range kills. These two features make it more advanced than the Sheriff.

Despite looking like a pistol, it has the power to function more like a Guardian. (Which is crazy when you think about the hefty 2250 price of the Guardian that you are getting at the price of a cheap ability.)

Each bullet of the Headhunter costs 100 credits. However many bullets that were not used end up being carried on to the next round.

Arguably the Headhunter at 100 credits a bullet will be able to go toe-to-toe with the Vandal and Phantom at very long range duels. In these types of gunfights precision is key and neither one of these rifles should be sprayed, they need to be tapped or burst fired.

If you are comfortable using the aim down sight function with rifles then the Headhunter is a very viable option in these sorts of aim duels.

For example, there is no need for Chamber to buy a Marshal on Breeze since the Headhunter will do just about the same job, see below.

E – Rendezvous

Places two teleport anchors. While on the ground and in range of an anchor, reactivate to quickly teleport to the other anchor. Anchors can be picked up to be redeployed.

Only Chamber can use these teleport anchors. After using them there is a time delay of roughly 10 seconds before he can use it again. He can use it regardless of whether it is in his line of sight.

There can be an object in between him and the anchor but as long as he is within its radius he will be able to use it.

It seems as though Chamber’s playstyle will lean towards trying to secure one kill on site before using his Rendezvous to retreat to safety and play retake.

He can also play riskier positions on site before using Rendezvous to teleport to a safer area.

X (ULTIMATE) – Tour de Force

Activate to summon a powerful, custom sniper rifle that will kill an enemy with any direct hit. Killing an enemy creates a lingering field that slows players caught inside of it.

This is stronger than the Operator since this custom sniper can one shot even to the legs.

If the enemy decides to fast push something like C Long on Haven, and Chamber kills one of them with his Tour de Force rifle.

It is going to completely derail their plan of attacking the site as not only have they lost a member of their team but they are also slowed and can no longer commit to the fast push.

This ability costs 7 ultimate points. You only get one clip of 5 bullets with this sniper.

The Tour de Force sniper rifle’s functionality is more like a Marshal than an Operator. It is a dual scope meaning it has two levels of zoom distance like the Operator. Despite its appearance, it feels lightweight and easier to control when compared to the sluggish and slow Operator.

The fire rate is significantly faster than the Operator meaning you can re-peek angles with more confidence. After firing the Operator, the enemy that was shot at has a small window to try and advance their position or change the angle that they are holding.

This can often lead to the player on the Operator getting picked off since they are caught off guard when re-peeking.

It is much tougher for enemies to try to make plays or seize space immediately after Chamber has fired his Tour de Force since it is cocked and loaded much quicker than the Operator.

Ultimately, Chamber’s re-peek potential is very strong and could lead to him securing multiple picks on enemies attempting to rush him. If Chamber did manage to secure a kill with his sniper, there will now be a slow field below the fallen enemy immobilizing any teammates they have nearby.

The fact that enemies are now slowed may prevent them from retreating behind cover since the Tour de Force will often be able to catch them off with its fire rate.

Furthermore, the fact that even a legshot does 150 damage means that the player has more confidence to aggressively flick to the enemy as they don’t need to perfectly line up shots for chest height.

All of this combined is going to lead to Chamber’s Tour de Force feeling like an Operator on steroids. The only downside is that there are only 5 bullets.

A Radiant Players’ Thoughts and Opinions on Chamber

I can see Chamber relying on a lot of mechanical skill to be used to his fullest potential, similar to Jett. In low elo Jett can be a bit of a punching bag as she is a high-risk high reward agent.

The low elo Jett may cop a bit of abuse from her team from time to time, ‘instalock duelist and bottom frag’.

I can picture the same sort of thing happening to those who pick Chamber. His kit is relatively risk-reward orientated and will rely on you hitting your shots.

Other than his Trap he doesn’t have much else to delay enemy pushes and is arguably a weaker Sentinel round-to-round in comparison to Cypher or Killjoy who can anchor a site very comfortably with their utility.

Again, similarly to Jett, Chamber will strengthen his team’s eco rounds significantly. I can see Jett and Chamber pairing up well on a team for this very reason. On eco rounds, Jett can have her knives and Chamber can use his custom sniper rifle.

If the other 3 players manage to organize a decent half-buy the team will be in a pretty strong position compared to standard eco rounds. Chamber is debatably going to be the best agent when it comes to being frugal and maximizing team economy.

For example, even if he doesn’t have his ultimate on a save round, he can use his Headhunter and then purchase a pistol for his teammate.

Depending how comfortable you are with the Headhunter you could even opt to use it round to round whilst buying rifles for teammates who couldn’t afford any. This is like a cheat code for your team’s economy since every round it only costs 800 credits to have 8 bullets of a Guardian esque gun.

I can see Chamber being popular on maps with long lines of sight where his Tour de Force will thrive and be used to its fullest potential. I assume he will have a high pick rate on Breeze, Fracture and Icebox. Especially on Fracture, since there are 4 ultimate orbs to be farmed, this will mean that Chamber can unlock his Tour de Force more frequently.

Hope you learned something about the new agent here, and as always, good luck with your VALORANT grind!

What do you think of the new VALORANT agent? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Chamber – VALORANT Agent Guide appeared first on Mobalytics.