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.

VALORANT maps have been consistently released over time and so far there are seven maps.

In this breakdown, our Radiant expert ranks the best VALORANT maps from best to worst.

For more details on our reasoning, check out our methodology at the bottom of the article.

Lastly, be sure to check back when new maps are released for updated rankings!

#1 Ascent

• Win rate stats
  • 48.8% Attack
  • 51.2% Defense

Ascent is the first map developed for VALORANT, according to Riot Ziegler. It is the map that feels the most similar to most traditional tactical fps maps from CS:GO, especially Cache.

It has a vey clean and simple mid-design. In terms of attack/defense side balancing, Ascent seems to be the most balanced map, being pretty much 50/50.

Ascent’s unique map element is the doors near the sites, which can be strategically used both by attackers and defenders.

#2 Bind

• Win rate stats
  • 48.6% Attack
  • 51.4% Defense

Bind is one of the 3 first VALORANT maps which were playable since beta. The map has no traditional mid-area, which makes it stick out a lot from other maps.

It is a defender sided map, with about 53% of the rounds won by defenders.

The unique element are the teleporters which allow fast rotations for attackers and force defenders to always be cautious on both sites.

#3 HAVEN

• Win rate stats
  • 51.0% Attack
  • 49.0% Defense

Haven seemed rather unpopular at the launch of Valorant because it features 3 sites, which is a major difference compared to traditional tactical FPS maps and affects gameplay a lot.

It is currently a slightly more attacker sided map due to the map being very wide which causes defenders to be outnumbered in most key situations.

#4 ICEBOX

• Win rate stats
  • 51.3% Attack
  • 48.7% Defense

Icebox is the first map to introduce horizontal ziplines (A Site) which seem relatively irrelevant compared to teleporters on bind or the doors on Ascent.

Losing entry battles can be very dangerous for defenders due to the long rotation times.

Small mistakes on either site as a defender can result in a pretty much lost round since retakes not only take long but are also difficult in general by how the sites are built.

#5 Breeze

• Win rate stats
  • 51.3% Attack
  • 48.7% Defense

Breeze is the largest and most wide open map in VALORANT. The map offers huge flanking potential due to many different choke points defenders need to hold at the same time.

The long distance between the two sites also comes with very long rotation times both for defenders and attackers.

The map feels rather balanced

#6 Split

• Win rate stats
  • 47.0%Attack
  • 53.0% Defense

Even after two reworks that were in the favor of attackers, Split is still a defender sided map. It’s the first map to introduce vertical ropes which can be found both on B-Site near Heaven and in Vents.

If you played VALORANT during the beta you will remember that Mid used to be impossible to breach due to how unfair it was designed and B-Site being intake able against Cypher, who used be very dominant.

The current win rate stats prove that Split is still a very defender-sided map.

#7 Fracture

• Win rate stats
  • 51.5%Attack
  • 48.5% Defense

Fracture is the youngest and least discovered map in VALORANT. Not only is it rarely picked in professional play but it also counts as the most disliked map in Ranked play.

It might be the most unique map out of all, due to it being built in a way that allows attackers to attack each site from two opposite directions.

In terms of balancing, the win rate stats seem relatively equal for both attackers and defenders.

Methodology:

We are ranking these maps based on the following criteria:

• Balance

We believe that a healthy balance in opportunities for attackers and defenders make a good map. A good map shouldn’t be too much in favor of one side and the win rates for attackers and defenders should be relatively close to each other.

• Unique element

Every VALORANT map has a unique element (e.g Bind teleporters, Ascent doors). While some of these are rather underwhelming and don’t affect gameplay too much others can add some very interesting mechanics which can be used in creative and strategic ways.

• Ranked + Pro Play Popularity

Similar to other tactical FPS games, there are maps that are much more popular than others both in professional play and in Ranked.

Especially professional play can create a good indication of maps that are well balanced and allow room for creative strategies while other maps feel like dice rolls.

For more guides and breakdowns, check out the rest of our VALORANT blog.

The post The Best VALORANT Maps (Ranked 1st to 7th) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Another general thing to note is that some walls and terrain can be fired through. As a rule of thumb, anything that leaves a bullet hole can be penetrated.

In this article, we’ll give you quick overviews for each map and their points of interest.

If you want to learn even more about the game, check out our companion that will help you master all Valorant characters, Valorant maps, and Valorant guns.

Bind

Bind is a two site map (A and B) that has attackers infiltrating from a beach coast.

Site A is accessible through an alleyway in the middle of the map called “short A” or through a building’s hallway called, “showers”.

Site B is accessible by a path along the beach called “long B” or through a marketplace and window called “hookah”.

[Learn more about Bind map]

A unique aspect of this map is that there are two one-way teleporters. One teleporter takes you from long B to the attacker’s side of showers. The other takes you from short A to the attacker’s side of hookah.

These allow both attackers and defenders alike to quickly rotate or flank the opposing team.

The teleporter is incredibly noisy so it is somewhat risky to do so if your enemies are expecting it. You can also throw projectiles, drones, and guns through teleporters.

One ultimate orb can be found inside the showers while the other is at long B right in front of the teleporter.

For an in-depth look, check out our advanced Bind guide!

Haven

Haven is a three site map (A, B, C), which is also its unique aspect as most bomb/defusal maps in FPS games tend to be two sites.

Site A is accessible through an L-shaped’ alleyway called “long A” or through an underground passage called “sewers” (A-short).

As expected, long A is more suited for long-ranged engagements while the sewers will bring close quarter combat.

[Learn more about Haven map]

Site B is accessible through a window which leads into an outdoor courtyard. The courtyard also leads to a set of doors called “garage” which allows attackers to wrap around to Site B.

The garage also acts as a connector to Site C, so attackers that make it through can threaten both B and C.

The other entry point to Site C is through a straight alleyway called “long C”. Long C has a cubby partway through so attackers can use smokes to advance safely.

The two ultimate orbs can be found at Site A outside of long A or at Site C outside of long C.

For an in-depth look, check out our advanced Haven guide by Activ!

Split

Split was added as of the first day of closed beta. Its two sites are on the far left and right sides of the map with a middle area that provides high ground dominance.

[Learn more about Split]

The unique mechanic here is that there are ropes that allow players to quickly ascend or descend quietly – you can find them at A Sewer, B Rafters, and Mid Vent.

The ultimate orbs can be found at at A main and within B main, also known as the garage.

Ascent

Ascent was the first new map to be added since Valorant’s official release.

It’s a two site map that is located in Venice, Italy.

Compared to the other maps, Ascent has the most open area with a large courtyard at the center of the map.

[Learn more about Ascent]

The courtyard offers a quick short cut to the sides of the map but is risky to cross since it doesn’t contain that much cover.

Another signature feature that is unique to Ascent is its closeable doors.

At each defensive site, there is a door that can be open or closed using a switch.

The door is armored but can be broken.

Icebox

Icebox was released at the beginning of Act III and takes place in a tundra climate. The map has a ton of verticality and angles to cover so it’s the most complex map released yet.

There are unique features such as horizontal ropes (that work identically to Split’s vertical ropes) and two-tiered planting sites, meaning that you have a low ground option to plant on and a high ground one.

[Learn more about Icebox]

It’s a great map for agents like Raze, Jett, and Omen that are able to make good use of all the boxes while agents like Sova and Cypher may struggle. Sova because it will be easy to hide from his sonar arrow and Cypher because there are many access points so his Trapwires may not get as much value as usual.

For a deep dive, check out our Icebox guide!

Breeze

Breeze was released during Episode 2 Act 3 at a tropical island location. It’s one of the largest maps in size and features some of the biggest sites in Valorant yet.

It features verticality with ropes and second floors and there is the unique map feature of one-way drop doors.

Due to its size there is a lot of potential for lurkers to make game changing plays on this map. Hence, Agents that are well equipped at watching and managing flanks do well here, I.E. Cypher and Chamber.

[Learn more about Breeze]

Agents like Viper, Skye, Sova, Jett, Cypher and Chamber excel at controlling round-to-round gameplay on this larger than usual map.

For an in-depth look from our experts, check out our Breeze map guide.

Fracture

This map is by far the most unique and unconventional tactical shooter maps that Riot have released. The map is suffering a ‘fracture’ at its center which leaves it mimicking the shape of the letter H.

Weirdly enough, defenders are spawned in at the very middle of the map whilst attackers can choose to begin their round on either side of the center (by navigating a massive zipline). This weird setup at the start of rounds makes things tough for defenders and balances out the traditional ‘CT’ sided favoritism.

There is a wide variety of potential strategies for both defenders and attackers since there are simply more entry points, chokepoints and pathways to bombsites than other maps.

Agents like Viper, Killjoy, Breach, Jett, and Chamber are staple picks for this map since their utility and ability to control sections of the map are superior to other agents.

For more information about Fracture check out this in-depth guide from our expert VALORANT gamers.

Shooting Range

The last existing map is dedicated to practicing and honing your skills. Here, you can change your agent and guns at any time (you can even test characters that you do not own yet).

At the shooting range, you can shoot at dummies that spawn at different speeds and settings such as strafing.

There is also an area dedicated to shooting long-distance targets to test the effective range of guns.

Lastly, you can also practice scenarios such as planting a spike and then defending against bots to improve your composure and ability in clutch situations.

The post All Valorant Maps Overview appeared first on Mobalytics.

Fracture is VALORANT’s newest map that released at the end of Episode 3, Act 2.

Similar to the ingenuity behind Icebox and Breeze, Riot developers have aimed to be creative and take a bunch of unconventional twists when designing Fracture.

The map released before this, Breeze, wasn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. Maybe Riot heard the community out on this one since there are quite a few stark differences.

Oppositely to Breeze, Fracture is a smaller map so it involves a lot more close-quarters contact.

Breeze was very open and spacious with minimal cover on each bombsite, this led to a Marshal and Operator heavy meta.

On the flip side, Fracture looks like it will be filled with confined spaces that have plenty of cover and angles to take short-medium range gunfights.

The Layout

Every map in Valorant feels like it is challenging the norms of tactical shooters and FPS games in general.

Haven has 3 bomb sites, Bind has weird teleporters that help you navigate the map, Breeze seems like it would better be suited to an 8v8, Icebox has so much unusual verticality, and here we are with Riot’s latest unorthodox creation, ‘Fracture’.

The layout of Fracture is mind-boggling. It traps defenders in its middle third (the middle third can be likened to the crossbar in the capital letter H).

The defenders kind of feel stuck here and Riot is really wishing them a satirical GLHF by empowering the attacking team with the ability to start on two sides of the map.

Most FPS maps prior to VALORANT have stuck to a very standardized and safe formula when it comes to attackers and defenders.

This design really throws defender favouritism out the window and puts some control back in the hands of the attackers. Two massive zip lines run across the middle of the map connecting one Attacker side spawn to the other.

This really allows the attackers to be unpredictable round to round. Defenders are going to have a really hard time reading what the attackers are planning at the start of each round since ultimately there are four main lanes they can approach bombsites A and B from.

It looks like it is going to be really easy for attackers to fake sites and rotate to the other whilst defenders have a lengthier route to take down the middle. This may just be one of the first maps which heavily favours attackers, but we will have to wait and see how the gameplay pans out in Episode 2.

Popular assumptions don’t always turn out true. For example, the majority of people thought KAY/O was going to cause massive meta shifts with his ability suppression yet he seems to be underutilised at this moment in time. Therefore, it is ultimately a great unknown as to what this unusual layout is going to mean for both defenders and attackers.

Usually there are three crucial chokepoints for defenders to hold, i.e. A, mid and B however this introduces a fourth, with the points being on either end of both A and B. It may be safe to assume that defenders are going to have a tough time watching their flanks on this map.

Hence, agent’s with abilities that can reveal opponents such as Cypher’s Spycam and Trapwire may just be essential utility for this map. That leads us onto the next part of this article which discusses ideal team compositions for Fracture.

P.S. Here is a look at the crazy zip lines which connect the two attacker side spawns to each other. Don’t worry you can’t jump off the zipline to your death so you don’t have to worry about teammates trolling.

Potential Plays

A Site Executions

Gaining control over A Rope is going to be crucial for both attacking the site as well as holding down the post-plant.

Funneling yourself through A main as attackers without gaining control over A Rope is going to leave you vulnerable to quick flanks from defenders coming through A Door.

Moreover, if you manage to enter the site through A Hall you will have no control over A Link and will be forced to hold A Drop, A link and A Rope for incoming defenders.

These are 3 spread-out angles that you will be exposed to. If you make the smarter decision to split your team through Hall and Rope, those that went Rope will gain a line of sight into Defender Side Spawn.

Holding down this part of defender spawn will safeguard your teammates on site from being pushed from A Link, as well as gain crucial information on sound queues if anyone is flanking Hall.

• The attacker’s controller agent should smoke off A Drop and the middle of Defender Side Spawn in this situation.
• Defenders that are trying to retake from A Drop should have a really difficult time entering the site if it is smoked off and your utility is on standby.

A Advice summarised

• Gain control of A Rope and A Main before executing A site.

B Site Executions

For B site, it is recommended to gain control over B Tower. It is likely that across this Episode this will become the stock standard, high percentage play when it comes to executing this Site.

Committing to B Site without having cleared B Tower can be likened to planting on B Site Ascent without ever having cleared back site.

Gaining control over B Tower can be quite tricky if you aren’t coordinating utility with your teammates.

You definitely want to clear it out with some sort of disabling ability, Breach’s Fault Line would be very effective.

After gaining control of B Tower it would be best to time your entrance to site alongside your teammates that are pushing B Arcade, as this would pressurize opponents from multiple angles, and allow you to trade each other out if need be.

If you opt to start from both Attacker Side Spawn and Attacker Side Bridge; as a team you push B Main, B Arcade and B Tower, then your main concern in a post-plant would be enemy defenders attempting to retake from mid. Knowing this, you could potentially smoke like this.

B Advice summarized

• Gain control over B Tower if entering from Attacker Side Bridge.

Be unpredictable!

This map is perfect for faking out defenders. Well planned out deception and trickery by attackers will pay off on Fracture as the defenders are given a massive task at the beginning of each round. They are stuck in the middle of attackers that can come from a vast array of passages from both sides of the map.

Knowing this, controlling the tempo of the game as attackers will be sure to confuse your opponents.

Hard executing B Site through Rope and Main control one round and then spreading around all 4 corners of the map to slowly contest for orbs the next may leave the opponents second-guessing their predictions in following rounds.

Defenders are already handed the colossal task of defending bomb tasks that have more entry points than ever before.

I can’t imagine what it would be like defending without agents that can provide information for your team.

It will be a necessity for defenders to gather intel on attackers whereabouts; where exactly they are prodding and pushing. This leads us into the next section which theorizes the most appropriate agents for Fracture.

Which agents are good on Fracture?

Cypher & Sova

It is going to be crucial to gain information on the location of the enemy, particularly when you are defending and are sandwiched between attackers that can approach from both sides.

Attempting to hold every angle as a defender may be too difficult at times. In such scenarios it would be ideal to have your Trapwires set up on passages you aren’t holding.

Moreover, there is minimal cover on both A and B sites, this may lead to defenders resorting to play retake more often than not.

Abilities like Cypher’s Spycam and Sova’s Recon Dart will play a major role in successfully retaking sites.

On top of there being minimal cover on sites, much of the cover provided by Radianite boxes, for example, makes for easy wallbangs from incoming attackers.

A lone defender opting to hold a site that is revealed by a Recon Dart won’t survive long with all the wallbang opportunities for attackers.

Breach

With the buff to the width of both his signature ability Fault Line and his ultimate, Rolling Thunder, Breach will be able to easily clear out all of the narrow passages on Fracture.

The bomb sites are quite small and cramped so his Rolling Thunder will be able to easily quake, knock up and daze any defenders on site.

On Attack, if a Breach has gained control of B Tunnel, B Main, or B Arcade and then gains information that a defender is playing in compact areas like B Tower or B Canteen, you can almost guarantee his Fault line will successfully daze these squished defenders.

Skye

Flashes which lack mobility such as Phoenix’s Curveball and Reyna’s Leer may not be as useful on Fracture as Skye’s Guiding Light.

There are a vast array of angles that need to be cleared by attackers when entering the site and a simple Curveball may fail to flash defenders deep on site.

The range at which Skye’s birds can travel will not only allow for more convincing flashes but the audio queue she receives may provide attackers with exact positionings of defenders despite never making visual contact.

KAY/O

This might be one of the best-suited maps for KAY/O. As mentioned multiple times, information gathering is more important than ever on this map, and KAY/O’s signature ability ZERO/POINT is one of the best abilities in the game at unveiling the who and the where.

The radius of his knife can cover the whole of A and B site with ease, the same can be said for the radius of his ultimate, NULL/CMD.

Preventing defenders like Breach or Astra from funneling utility your direction will ease your claustrophobic concerns on this map as an Attacker, allowing you to execute entries much more safely.

Raze

The Boombot, Paint Shells, and Showstopper are going to be very strong on Fracture.

Paint shells will buy time for rotations on defense, whilst also clearing out common defender positions when attacking.

Her Boombot will play a pivotal role in claiming control of confined spaces similarly to how the Boombot is a necessity when trying to seize Hookah on Bind.

Astra

Astra’s utility excels in tight laneways. Even just the presence of her stars on narrow passages may be enough to deter attackers from pushing.

Further, Astra excels at widespread map control since she can place stars anywhere on the map whilst in Astral Form.

This will work in favor of attackers since she can dissipate stars to confuse defenders.

Oppositely, as a defender she may be the best controller at dealing with the sense of unpredictability attackers are imbued with on this map.

The fact she can activate her Gravity Well and Nova Pulse for one bombsite whilst playing the other is going to give her the upper hand against other controllers like Brim or Viper on this map.

Yoru?

Well renowned Yoru main, Red, from NA has stated that this may just be one of the best maps suited to Yoru.

He discusses how there is a lot of opportunity to incorporate verticality when rebounding flashes.

Additionally, Yoru’s Ultimate Dimensional Drift will be able to clear out the entirety of these small bomb sites with ease.

His Gatecrash and Fake Out encourage deception, lurking and trickery which plays well into the maze-like layout of Fracture.

Rotating through mid is not exactly a quick process for Defenders and so Yoru’s Gatecrash may very well be an important ability to provide instantaneous player reinforcement.

Jett

Despite there being lots of close-quarters combat on Fracture, there do exist some lines of sight which are surprisingly long. This may make the Operator a viable choice on defence when holding these long angles.

From B Tree, to B Main and B Canteen there is quite a bit of distance between these areas. An experienced Jett on the Operator that plays B Main stairs may just be a strong way to prevent attackers from gaining control of that side of the map.

Even other areas like Attacker Side Bridge have quite long angles that open up opportunities to bring out the Operator.

In saying this, Jett is by far the best agent to be using this high risk high reward weapon since her dash synergises very well with it.

Additionally, Jett’s dash is one of the best ways to infiltrate bombsites and create space for fellow team mates.

A site looks like it has a lot of awkward middle ground between the cover on site and the entry points for attackers. Jett will be able to close this gap with her dash and seize regions of site that other agents will have a much harder time reaching.

Nevertheless, it is early days and these are just hypothetical scenarios and assumptions, who knows… maybe Cypher’s Trapwire setup on A site will prove to be all too much for Jett players.

Taking this all into account, here is a potentially strong team composition for Fracture:

• Cypher
• Sova/KAY/O
• Astra
• Jett/Raze/Yoru
• Breach/Skye

Orb Locations

As usual the location of ultimate orbs are in very open, awkward spots that can be contested by both attackers and defenders.

Interestingly there will be double the number of orbs on Fracture in comparison with previous maps.

By doing this Riot might be encouraging heavy ability usage on this map as well as inviting players to farm orbs.

Considering this, you will need to pay attention to the number of orb points your enemies have and make sure you aren’t giving away free ultimates.

Aesthetics: The beauty of each new map is ever-increasing

Riot seem to continuously be upping their game especially with the artistry behind the environment designs.

The map is literally suffering from a ‘fracture’ right in its centre which splits it into two separate and unique landscapes.

This map is no tropical paradise like Breeze with picturesque beach scenery but I must say something is very aesthetically pleasing about this map despite it being rundown after a central Radianite explosion.

On one half of the map, there is greenery in abundance; vegetation is overgrowing in every nook and cranny. Mossy greens cover the ground, stair sets and crevices whilst foliage and branches help mother nature reclaim authority over man-made metal structures.

It reminds me a bit of the atmosphere from The Last of Us series. It does an excellent job exhibiting how beautiful overgrowth can be. The little intricacies in design set the scene well and intensify the contrast between the two biomes.

On the contrary, the second half is very arid and its rocky and sandy environment is shaded distinctively with orange tones.

Lighter shades of orange make up the Radianite boxes which have up to date always been a jade green, and the boulders and desertscape have burnt orange tints.

Final Thoughts

It is going to be really interesting to see whether this map will favour attackers or defenders.

I wonder whether all the narrow passages will change the gun meta on this map, maybe the Phantom, Spectre, and Judge will be highly used weapons with all the close-quarters combat.

There are a lot of unknowns but one thing is for sure, there is quite a bit of hype right now about this map. Hopefully, it lives up to everyone’s expectations.

Fracture won’t be in the competitive queue until the 2-week mark of Episode 2.

So make sure to get comfortable with it first by playing the ‘Fracture only’ game mode for the first two weeks before it is introduced to the competitive queue.

Good luck with your future games, happy climbing.

For more map insights, head to our Valorant Maps feature. To keep up with our updated recommended agent comps, head to our Valorant Agent Tier List.

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

Jett is one of the best agents for taking advantage of the verticality that VALORANT maps offer. Holding angles up in elevated positions makes it difficult for your opponent to adjust their aim.

However, at the same time it can place you in quite awkward and vulnerable positions if you expose yourself for too long.

That is why Jett is the ideal pick for these sort of plays as she can simply dash out immediately after securing the kill.

These angles can take your opponent off guard and make for a seriously strong first pick on defense rounds.

Additionally, Jett’s signature ability allows her to dash away with a free shot on the opponent if executed swiftly enough.

We will be covering all maps and we hope to demonstrate exactly where Jett excels in combining an Operator, her updraft, and her dash to make for quick opening picks.

Haven

C long is quite a popular angle to hold with an Operator. In saying this, players on attacker rounds have learned the most common angles and precisely where they should be pre-aiming when they peek.

This position does not require you to use her updraft, but you do need to make the most of her air-drifting powers.

This equips you with a strong opportunity to grab an opening pick, dash leftwards and avoid being traded out.

This is another defensive C hold position that you can reach by drifting from the previous spot up on the box.

This spot is not as popular to hold as the previous most likely because you cannot play an off-angle and run a greater risk of being swung by multiple opponents.

If you do decide to hold this, you really need to have your finger ready on the dash key.

Jett has a strong mid hold when using the Operator in elevated positions on B site. These two holds allow her to secure kills on enemies trying to gain mid priority.

If you communicate to your teammates like Sage or Omen to wall or smoke off B entry it can make enemies feel as though they will be safe in the mid grass area, allowing you to pick them off by surprise.

When combining her knives with her updraft Jett can take aggressive peeks at some seriously tough to shoot angles up in the air. This can allow for an opportunity to grab a pick when retaking A site on defense.

Additionally, it can make for a strong opening pick when playing A garden at the start of an attacking round.

Bind

When thinking of bind there are only two main defensive positions that come to mind when aggressively peeking with the Operator.

That is on top of the tank on A site, and on top of the box beside the tank.

This may allow for you to grab a kill on enemies deciding to push short before dashing out.

If playing on top of the tank it is recommended you dash backward after taking your shot as opposed to leftwards where you may still be vulnerable to short and shower pushes.

Additionally, here are two good opportunities on B site where you can use your Updraft and knives to grab information and or kills.

Icebox

Jett has a strong defensive hold on both sites when using the Operator. The two positions are shown below.

With some practice, if you dash diagonally backwards and rightwards you can place yourself on top of rafters after taking your shot. This can open up the chance to take another peek towards enemies on A belt.

If playing the position on B site it is recommended you only peek at the door as you may run the risk of too much traffic coming towards you if you peek wider than what is shown.

Also, it is best to dash diagonally backward and leftwards to escape in the safest way possible.

Breeze

Like Icebox, Breeze offers a lot of verticality and spots for Jett to abuse.

Jett is a necessary pick on Breeze since the Operator is a must-purchase for defense rounds on this map.

Below the images is also a way that Jett can peek Mid nest when using her knives on attack rounds.

Split

Whilst on attacking rounds Jett can open up a lot of space if coordinating an A site push with utility and flashes from allies.

If A main control is established, Jett’s updraft and dash combo will more often than not safely get her into A Heaven to fight for control there.

There aren’t as many effective off angles that include verticality on Split. It is maybe best for Jett to hold mid vents with an Operator.

This spot commonly gets smoked though so often Jett’s have to resort to taking aggressive peeks with the Operator at the start of rounds.

It is maybe only recommended to do this once a game as your enemy will be wary of this after falling victim to it.

Furthermore, it will be stronger to take this aggressive peek if you have continuously been playing back site and or a slow retake tempo.

Changing tempo on defense rounds with an aggressive Operator peek can catch your enemies off guard.

Ascent

After hopping onto the wall in A main, Jett can double Updraft to fight enemies who are holding the default generator, double box and or A heaven.

On defense, Jett can hold A site archway with an Operator as shown below and safely dash behind the wall rightwards.

Lastly, peeking A short from B link on attack rounds can be quite risky. Enemies from short will most likely have their crosshair placement set up for targets on B link. By peeking like this you will be less predictable and hopefully grab the first blood.

Note: You can also peek this with an Operator and without wasting updrafts by being walled up by a Sage.

Conclusion

A few other agents like Raze and Omen can also utilize these vertical angles that have been displayed. However, they run a much greater risk of being traded out since they cannot dash to escape.

The Operator is an expensive purchase and you may only find yourself having a few opportunities to use it on defense due to your economy.

We hope that these tips and tricks have shown you a few new ways you can grab the first pick on defense, and or make aggressive plays to open up attack rounds.

To find out which maps Jett is best on, check out our VALORANT agent tier list.

The post Essential Updraft Plays Jett Mains Should Know (Every VALORANT Map) appeared first on Mobalytics.

We’ve got a brand new Valorant map, Breeze, coming out much earlier than universally expected!

The community’s first impressions and the vibes on the map itself are essentially the opposite to the previous addition to the map pool, Icebox.

Players immediately fell in love with Breeze and its setting after seeing the first leaked screenshots of the map last week.

Breeze is a tropical paradise in the middle of the ocean. Along with seaside caves and historic ruins, washed ashore garbage and stranded ships form the foundation of a little civilization on the island.

The map is one of the biggest if not the biggest map in Valorant so far and offers many angles for Operator players especially due to the great distances.

The unique feature of Breeze is a chute which you can use to quickly get into the Mid area. Although this feature will probably not have much of an impact on the way the map is going to be played, it could lead to interesting outplays.

Today, we are taking a closer look at the main characteristics of the new map Breeze and what agents are probably going to be the most and least useful ones on it.

As always, have fun reading and hopefully, you can learn something useful here!

The General Layout

Breeze has two Spike plant sites, just like Bind, Split, Ascent and Icebox.

In between sites A and B is a traditional Mid area located which can lead to both sites from behind or the flanks.

At least partial control over Mid will be crucial for both teams since attackers can only enter the bombsite through one single entrance in case they don’t have the needed Mid control.

As we already mentioned earlier, Breeze is one of the largest maps if not the largest one overall.

This circumstance means that Operators will be incredibly powerful for holding specific long-range angles or getting entry frags.

It will be very important to effectively counter these Operator peeks and to push back the respective players to gain map control.

We’ll take a closer look at how this affects the agent picks on Breeze in a later section in this article.

But first and foremost, here’s a quick summary of the main characteristics of Breeze to keep in mind:

Main Characteristics

• Operator map due to many long-distance fights
  Mid control is crucial
• Very spacious areas with little close-quarters combat
• Dividing open areas to manageable sizes with your utility is indispensable
• Quick encounters all over the map due to the Spawn Barrier positioning

Of course, there are a lot more factors to keep in mind when playing Breeze and additionally the meta will shift over time.

Nevertheless, this should give you a heads-up on what to look for when coordinating your team on this fresh map.

Areas and Orbs

A Site

The A site is very interesting in various ways: Besides many boxes and stone piles to take cover behind there are also two pyramids in the center of the site.

This image along with others below are from the official Valorant maps page.

Playing around those can create very awkward angles that are hard to expect and adjust your crosshair placement to.

Since there are so many different angles and positions from where defenders can hold the site, you basically are forced to rule out a few of these with utility.

A Recon Bolt from Siva is destined to do that for example. But also all kinds of incendiaries and nades can be thrown to limit the number of possible positions for defenders.

B Site

Breeze’s B site on the other hand is built remarkably differently.

Although the site itself is also a relatively open space, there are not as many boxes to hide behind. Only a few old overgrown ruins and a huge stone pillar in the middle of the site offer sufficient cover.

Basically, all fights that are going to go down on B site will be either mid or long-distance ones. Therefore, Operators and Vandals are the most likely weapon purchases to be seen here.

Mid Area

I personally think it is safe to say that the Mid area of Breeze is the key factor for loss or win. Whoever masters to consistently keep control over Mid for the majority of the round will have a great chance of winning the round.

Attackers need it to properly execute onto the sites and defenders have to hinder the enemies from taking extensive Mid control to increase their own chances to win.

In contrast to Icebox Ranked games, in which you either rush A or B almost every round, Breeze is going to go more in line with Ascent’s style of play.

Orbs

To be honest, both of Breeze’s Ultimate Orbs seem to be easier available for attackers.

Picking up the B orb only costs attackers a smoke or some kind of vision blocker and the A orb is also placed in attackers territory.

If defenders really wanted to get one of the Orbs, the expenditure and risk would be immense in comparison.

Recommended Agent Selection

Now, let’s take a look at which agents are going to be arguably good and which bad picks for Breeze.

For that, we discussed the potential use cases and strengths of each agent based on the map’s features internally. This resulted in a very own Agent Tier List for the map Breeze.

• Killjoy and Brimstone both were demoted into B Tier due to the range limit their abilities have:
  • Killjoy’s Ult neither manages to cover the A nor the B site in its entirety
  • Due to the size of the map, Killjoy’s utility is easily deactivated due to her not being in range
  • Brimstone’s smokes suffer from the same range limitation problem which makes him very inflexible in=game
• Viper and Jett are must picks for basically every agent comp, here’s why:
  • Viper can divide all the various open spaces to minimize the number of possible angles and denies vision for enemy Operator players
  • Also, she can basically play B site by herself on defender side
  • Jett is the best agent for agile Operator use → Operator OP on Breeze
  • The underlying strengths of Jett (Dashing into sites, smoking to cross line-of-sights, etc.) can shine on Breeze in particular

Based on this Breeze Agent Tier List, we also provide you with our favorite agent comp for the map based on our predictions.

Jett – Viper – Skye

The core of our agent comp is a well-balanced mix of Entry and Support based on Breeze’s layout.

We already explained our motivations to think that Viper and Jett will be must-picks on the new map in the future. Skye is a great addition to the comp to provide healing, information and flashes.

Since we don’t have an Omen in our comp, we are reliant on Skye to flash the enemies in most scenarios.

Sova

Sova’s Recon Bolt is one of the only possible ways to clear several positions at the same time.

Because Breeze is such a spacious map and there are a lot of different possible angles, Sova will be a valuable pick on the newest map in the map pool, too.

The real challenge will be to sort out all the different arrow lineups for each situation since there are no go-to spots that are able to reveal every single position in the respective area.

Raze

The last slot in our agent comp is really up to you.

We decided on Raze to take that remaining slot because we feel like she can close gaps and decide rounds on herself with her admittedly selfish utility kit.

For example, Yoru could be really good on Breeze due to the map’s spacious nature. Maybe he’ll finally be seen more often in the future because his kit actually became insane after the recent buffs.

For more map insights, head to our Valorant Maps feature. To keep up with our updated recommended agent comps, head to our Valorant Agent Tier List.

The post Breeze: Valorant Map Guide (Overview, Team Comp Recommendations, and Tips) appeared first on Mobalytics.

After countless teasers by Riot and weeks of speculation about the true meaning of these hints, Valorant finally received the fifth map in the map pool: Icebox.

Icebox takes place in the harsh cold of the arctic tundra and brings besides its unique setting a whole bunch of new gameplay mechanics and exciting tactical possibilities.

The map has a ton of verticality, a ridiculous amount of different angles, and is by far the most complex map released yet.

Players in the community that criticized the more or less boring map designs of Haven, Bind, Split, and Ascent seemingly weren’t left ignored by the Valorant developers.

In comparison, Icebox’s general structure, buildings, and details of the map are highly demanding to play and master.

There are also unique features of the map such as vertical and horizontal ropes (zip lines) and two-tiered planting sites, meaning that you have a low ground option to plant on and a high ground one.

Today, we are taking a closer look at the specifics of the new map Icebox and what in-game approaches might make sense for you.

As always, have fun reading and hopefully, you can learn something useful here!

The General Layout

Icebox has two Spike plant sites just like Bind, Split, and Ascent.

But unlike these mentioned maps, Icebox benefits from much more complex and creatively designed areas that will shape the upcoming combat in a way unique to Valorant.

In between the sites A and B is a traditional Mid area located which can lead to both sites from behind or the flanks.

A site is inside a large research/laboratory facility and contains different types of ropes (vertical & horizontal) as a preferred mode of transport.

B site on the other hand enjoys the fresh air of the Arctic tundra and mixes in with lots of containers and cranes.

In general, Icebox is a very wide, open map with a lot of long-distance fights for defenders and attackers. Additionally, substantial height differences all over the map favor specific agents who can bypass them. (e.g. Jett, Omen, Raze)

The fact that the warm-up spawn barriers of defender and attacker side at the beginning of the round are in very close proximity suggests extraordinarily fast encounters with the enemy and rapid gameplay in general.

In the following sections, you can learn how the different sites and areas of Icebox look in detail and how the meta on this map is probably going to play out.

Icebox’s Spike Planting Areas

Icebox is the first map to introduce multi-leveled Spike planting areas to Valorant.

This new design brings a lot of changes to the way the sites are going to be played by the defender side and especially the way afterplants will play out.

Since you can plant in an elevated area above most on-ground obstacles, the view on the Spike by the attackers will for the most part be assured at all times.

In a short time, the best plant spots will be commonly known and rounds will frequently be decided by a successful Spike plant.

Additionally, the sound system in Valorant is not perfectly adjusted at this point in the game.

That will make it harder for defenders to locate the Spike by only hearing its timer and whether it is planted on the first or second floor will be a topic of many heated in-game discussions.

Icebox’s A Site

The A site is literally the embodiment of Icebox’s most distinct trait: verticality.

All over A are boxes, generators, and Radianite crates. Not to mention the zip line and the two-tiered planting site.

For every corner you are checking when entering the site, you also have to look above and below regarding where you are positioned.

Due to these unique circumstances on the A site both attacking and defending must be adjusted accordingly.

The A site in summary:

• Vertical and horizontal ropes (zip line)
• Two-tiered Spike planting area
• Mostly long-distance fights → Vandal / Phantom / Operator preferred
• Defenders: have more room than Attackers right after the warm-up phase
• Attackers: Splits through Mid not absolutely necessary

Icebox’s Mid

The Mid area of Icebox is a pretty plain and actually the simplest part of the map.

Merely the existence of an annoying headshot angle at the defender spawn spices things up and will induce aim battles harder to take for the attacker side.

The Mid area of Icebox is comparable to the Mid area of Ascent: Control over Mid helps your team immensely, regardless of the side you’re on.

The Mid area in summary:

• Necessary for attackers to go B (not necessary for A)
• Relatively plain battlefield compared to the rest of the map

Icebox’s B Site

The B site is the most complex and incomparable part of the new map Icebox.

Two parallel pathways that both are repeatedly separated by containers lead to the B site. The difference between both is: For one of them, you do need Mid control and for the other one you don’t.

But both pathways lead to B site which is, like on A site, a two-tiered Spike planting area with a rope to reach the upper section.

Defenders playing on the B site have to keep their attention on three different entrances: B Tube to Kitchen and the two parallel pathways (B Green + B Orange).

Because of this, playing the Kitchen is a must-have since you can watch both B Tube and B Orange.

The B site in summary:

• Vertical ropes
• Two-tiered Spike planting area
• Mixed range fights → Shotguns / Spectre legitimate in some cases
• Defenders: Have to watch three possible entrances (if no Mid control)
• Attackers: Splits through Mid necessary

How the different positions and sides of Icebox are going to be played in the future remains to be seen but tendencies and predictions can partly be done by just analyzing the map.

Icebox’s Ultimate Orbs

Just like on all other maps in the current map pool there are two Radianite Orbs on the map that both teams can pick up and save for the players next Ultimate.

Usually, each of these Orbs is more attainable for one team than for the other.

This is also the case on Icebox:

The first Orb is placed near B Green and is noticeably easier to collect by the attacker side due to the closer proximity and the fact that all vision onto the Orb can easily be smoked off.

The second Orb near A is almost always free to get by the defender side because the way the spawn barriers are set on this part of the map doesn’t even allow attackers to get sight on the Orb in time.

Recommended Agent Selection

In this section, we’ll recommend an example team comp and explain why the agents are good on Icebox.

Raze – Jett – Omen

Icebox is a great map for agents like Raze, Jett, and Omen that are able to make good use of all the boxes and elevated positions. Besides, every single one of them has a strong ability set anyway as smokes, nades, and dashes are key in Valorant.

Sova

Sova’s Recon Bolt is one of the only possible ways to clear several positions at the same time.

Because Icebox is such a wide variety of low/high grounds and there are quite a few spots on the map that can easily be wallbanged, Sova will be a valuable pick on the new map, too.

Killjoy

The ongoing rivalry between Cypher and Killjoy for the spot of the “I can hold a site alone” agent goes on Icebox in favor of the German hipster girl.

The unlimited range of KJ’s turret is a huge plus on such a big map with many long-distance chokepoints. Also, Cypher’s traps often can’t be used in specific areas because the passages are simply too wide.

For more map insights, head to our Valorant Maps feature. To keep up with our updated recommended agent comps, head to our Valorant Agent Tier List.

The post Icebox: Valorant Map Guide (Overview, Team Comp Recommendations, and Tips) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Haven is currently the most popular (least dodged) map in Valorant’s map pool.

Although the mentioned map pool is relatively small to begin with at this state of the game, it is safe to say that Haven has some clear characteristics of good map design and the community loves it for a reason.

In this article, we are focusing on why exactly Haven is so liked by the general player base and what features of the map contribute to its popularity.

Furthermore, we are taking a closer look on different advanced gameplay aspects regarding Haven.

This includes how to both attack and defend each site on the map, how to approach the buy phase as a rule of thumb, and how to take specific map control including common agents and their abilities.

At the end of this you should be ready to start the grind and utilize your newly acquired knowledge to get the edge over the enemy.

The following tips and tricks work for every skill level and rank within Valorant, so let’s get started!

Haven’s General Layout

Haven’s special and most distinct feature is the existence of an additional site.

The dynamic of a three-site-map (A, B, C) is very different to everything else there is in FPS games in general.

Overall, quick rotations on the defender side enable you to try many different setups early-round without committing too hard on one side of the map.

To see this map in detail, head to our interactive Haven Valorant map.

However, the possibility to plant the Spike on one more site than usual is also a huge gamechanger for the attacker side.

How this unique dynamic of Haven can play out with the agents of the current Meta, various abilities and different approaches to the game is the topic of the following sections.

How to Approach Buy Phase

In Valorant, every round is different. One look at the scoreboard can tell you what exactly this difference in the coming round could be.

So, don’t waste your precious warm-up time knifing the spawn barriers, rather think about what information the scoreboard can give you about the battle you’re about to take part in.

Just consider the following aspects for both your team and the enemy team in this order:

1. Money situation
2. Weapons that can be afforded
3. Already and soon available Ultimates
4. Which agent could be the weak link?

With the gathered information you should be able to conclude a good approach to the round. Here are a few examples:

Attacker Side

Scenario #1:

• Enemies have no money → Eco round → Your team should avoid close ranges and areas where it is likely to stack

Possible conclusion:

• Going C Long or A Long together.

Reason:

• Take advantage of your superior weapons and choose long-distance fights.

Scenario #2:

• Your team has no money → Eco round → You should stick together and try to isolate individual enemy players

Possible conclusion:

• Going “Mid Courtyard” to B as a group.

Reason:

On defense B is often held by only one player who is easily tradable.

Scenario #3:

Enemy has enough money to buy an Operator → avoid possible Operator peeks

Possible conclusion:

Don’t cross chokepoints like A Lobby, C Long or Mid Window without flashing, stunning or smoking the potentially aiming Operator.

Reason:

No information in the world is worth the disadvantage of losing one player early on in the round.

Defender Side

Scenario #1:

Enemy has Ultimates available that are useful in afterplants → Don’t let them plant

Possible conclusion:

The defense on B is commonly neglected because it is easy to retake for the defenders. But don’t play any site on retake in this scenario. Not even B.

Reason:

For example, Sova, Brimstone, Breach, Raze and Phoenix can all easily prevent you from defusing the Spike by using their Ultimate. If multiple of these come together it’s almost impossible to win the round after the Spike was planted.

Scenario #2:

Enemy team has no money → Eco round → Don’t take “All-In” positions

Possible conclusion:

Two options: Either you and your team mate play a crossfire capable of killing all five enemies in quick succession or you choose a position where you can kill one enemy and are also able to fall back (alive). An “All-In” position would be close to Double Doors in C Short for example.

Reason:

A coordinated enemy team is likely to group up and try to outnumber you in compensation for the lack of money on their side. Every kill they get is a huge win for them.

Scenario #3:

No enemy player has money for an Operator → Peek into long-distance angles

Possible conclusion:

A typical Operator battlefield is C Long. A good idea would be to slowly push C Long with two Rifles to get early information about the enemy’s default.

Reason:

Since there is no potential Operator in the attacker team holding offensive peeks and pushes, you can be a lot more aggressive in clearing certain areas. Information is key.

Of course, there are endless possibilities to outplay your opponent in Valorant but this should give you an idea and a basic structure of what to do when you don’t know what to do.

To see which agents and agent combinations we are recommending for Haven, click here to get to the current Valorant Agent Tier List.

In-Depth Analysis for All Haven Sites

A Site

Attacking

The main pathways to access A site as attackers are A Long and A Short.

A Long and A Short.

By correctly assessing the situation your team is in (like we learned in the upper section “How to approach Buy Phase”) you are able to choose the most fitting way to take map control in the coming round.

On A you merely can decide between two areas to take: A Long and A Short.

General tendencies to take into account:

Go A Long when…
– …you have the weapon advantage (or enemies are in Eco round)
– …the enemy can’t have an Operator
– …you have adequate abilities to take it

Go A Short when…
– …you want to slowly contact A without much noise
– …the enemy can have Operator
– …you don’t have many abilities to play with

If there is no detectable resistance by the defenders on both A Long and A Short it is also justified to just take both areas simultaneously.

But in most cases, you want to focus on one area first and see what new situation comes out of that initial fight/map control.

There is one principle to always keep in mind when trying to get early map control:

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible.”

What does that mean in practice?

Try to only use the Signature Abilities of your team’s agents.

You can easily push back the enemy team from important areas of the map by only using the abilities that recharge after a certain time or a certain number of kills.

That’s what “cheap” means in this context. By using rechargeable abilities you gained map control and lost basically nothing but a little time.

From now on we will be referring to the agents most popular in the current meta.

Now we’re diving into one example for getting A Long control by applying the discussed principle:

1. Throw one of Cypher’s Cyber Cages in the choke point to A Long (Pic. 1). For a budget variant, spot with the Spycam whether a Defender is holding the angle.

2. Stun with Breach’s Fault Line the corner of A Long (Pic. 2).

3. Explode out of the Cyber Cage with at least two players.

This take is very efficient against potential Operator players and can easily be faked by only the Cypher.

Since you solely utilize the Signature Ability of Breach and the Cyber Cage of Cypher (which is not super useful on Haven otherwise) it is a very efficient way to get A Long control early on.

Also, if you play this tactic early on in the half, the enemy A players have to watch out for possible aggression every time Cypher throws his Cyber Cage in that exact spot.

You can also use the same Cyber Cage spot to sneak into A Short quietly. So, this one Cyber Cage is a great balancer to constantly leave the enemy side in the dark.

After you took control over A Long, A Short, or maybe even both the success of the round depends on how you execute onto A site and if you can withstand the retake of the defenders.

How you might go over that execute is highly dependent on the players alive, abilities left, enemies on the site, and many other factors.

However, the subsequent afterplant situation (after you successfully planted the Spike) can always be managed in an at least similar way.

Afterplant on A

Spike plant spots (marked with Spike symbols):

• Default is the most common and not a necessarily bad spot to plant the Spike. But watch out: You might be attacked by different abilities of the Defender Side (e.g. Sova’s Shock Bolts, Breach’s Fault Line or Raze’s Paint Shells).
• Another very good plant spot is right beneath Heaven. (view of it from everywhere, including A Short and A Long)

Good afterplant positions (marked with green dots):

• Under Heaven is a great position to be holding CT and the drop from Heaven.
• Close CT can be a very useful position as well if a teammate already is under Heaven (establishing an effective crossfire against enemies coming out of CT).
• Default is a very common but nonetheless strong position.
  If you got teammates either Close CT or Under Heaven, you should never be the first one fighting – rather peek on your teammate’s contact.
• Falling back into A Short can be a very wise decision either.
  If for example, no one is watching the teams back, you are better off to take on that job from A Short.
• A Long is more of an overrated afterplant position. Oftentimes you don’t have direct view of the Spike and you only can see enemies retaking from Heaven (which is a hard fight to take for you).

Defending

Just like on the attacker side, as an A defender you want to choose your approach to the round by analyzing the situation (upper section “How to approach Buy Phase”).

The various strategies of holding A in different situations and in the respective rounds are highly depending on the agents who play the site.

However, again there are a few basic principles to keep in mind:

• Most of the time you want to play two players on A:
  • One player is the “anchor” who plays A basically every round
  • The other one is the “rotator” who switches sites within the round depending on where the focus of the enemy team is.
• Operator Peeks in both A Long and A Short are a very powerful tool to get early information and maybe even a player advantage by killing an enemy.
• If you lost control of A Long or A Short or rather had to fall back to the site, consider re-aggressing after a certain amount of time if it seems the enemy team has withdrawn from the area.

Retaking A Site

A topic that can be generalized and is only partly influenced by individual agent combinations is retakes.

After your team has lost control over the A site you have to make a tough decision:

Does the surviving rest of your team want to try the retake or are you better off saving the weapons in your possession for the next round?

Here is an easy table to support you in your decision regarding A retakes:

If your team is outnumbered by the attackers alive, don’t risk losing your weapons and the round at the same time.

The other way around, you should definitely go for the retake if your team has the numbers advantage and is also at least on the same level as the attacker’s weapons-wise.

In even situations like 2v2, 3v3, etc. you have to make a decision based on all other factors:

Time left before explosion, abilities available, enemy Ultimates available and many more.

The A site has two entrances for the defenders in the case of a retake:

• CT – should be your main way in
  • You can re-frag team mates and cover them whilst defusing (Always smoke Short and Long if available before going in)
• Heaven – not recommendable in most situations
  • There are very limited positions you can clear from Heaven and eventually you have to drop and expose yourself to many different angles at once.

B Site

Attacking

B, being the middle one of the sites, replaces most of the traditional Mid area which on Haven is only a relatively small courtyard leading up to the B site.

There are two ways to enter Mid Courtyard: Mid Courtyard:

Coming from Mid Window or Mid Doors.

Some general tendencies to take into account are:

Go Mid Window when…
– …you have the weapon advantage
– …the enemy can’t have an Operator
– …you are searching for early fights

Go Mid Doors when…
– …the enemy has weapon advantage (e.g. Eco round on your side)
– …the enemy can have an Operator
– …you want to slowly take control of Mid Courtyard

Watch out for early aggression by the defender side. It is very common to encounter enemies who pushed down Mid Courtyard from B or peek out of C Short.

Here is an example of how to prevent getting caught off guard by this early round aggression towards Mid:

1. Cypher Spycam in Mid Courtyard to spot potential defender pushes (Pic. 1 + 2)

2. Use Breach’s Fault Line or Aftershock against a potential C Short peek

3. You can go in after waiting for your Cypher to call the information he got

Again, we are applying the principle of:

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible.”

Cypher’s Spycam and Breach’s Fault Line are both Signature Ability of the respective agent and thus recharge after a certain amount of time.

So, nothing lost – map control gained.

Afterplant on B

Planting the Spike on B site is a relatively easy task due to several factors:

•  Most of the time there is only one B defender (= anchor).
• Both rotation entrances can easily be smoked off for a certain amount of time.
• Rotating Defenders don’t have any direct line of sight to most Spike plant spots on B.

However, after the smokes of your team faded it is very hard to hold B from within the site.

Since the B site is pretty narrow and overall a small space, defenders can easily force you out of every position onsite by using different abilities.

At this point in time you must hope the Spike is planted for Mid Courtyard and you can prevent the defenders from defusing it as long as the timer still ticks.

In summary, after your team has run out of smokes there basically are no good afterplant positions inside B because defenders can come from both sides and sandwich you.

Defending

Basic principles to keep in mind on B defense:

• Because the B site is generally easy to retake you should focus on surviving the initial hit of the attackers. Live to fight another day.
• Pushing down Mid Courtyard is a good way for Operator and rifle players to get an advanced position and maybe even a kill on a surprised attacker

Let’s show you one example how you could go over aggressing in the Mid area:

1. Omen’s Dark Cover into Mid Window (Pic. 1)

2. Breach’s Flashpoint out of C Short (Pic. 2)

3. Defenders pushed down Mid and in C Short are peeking at the same time

Retaking B

Retakes on B site are significantly different to those on A and C.

The reasons why that is were already explained in the section “Afterplant on B” on the attacker side.

Most deciding key to a successful retake and Spike defusal on B is not the number of players alive, rather the existence of an effective flank.

Because attackers are likely to retreat to the Mid area after planting the spike, it is important to have at least one defender who can backstab these players.

Factors like abilities, Ultimates and time left are obviously also to consider but play a less crucial role.

C Site

Attacking

C Long, a straight alleyway containing a little cubby, is the only direct route for attackers to enter C site.

A second but highly contested way to reach the C site is through C Short.

C Long and C Short.

If you plan to tackle the C site at some point in the round you generally need control over C Short before.

Only coming out of one entrance (C Long) to the site is considerably harder than splitting your team and coming through C Long and C Short.

That’s why in the early round most of your team should focus on getting control over C Short because C Long can be easily played by only one attacker.

This is how that could look in-game:

1. Let your team shoot the Double Doors of C Short until its metal layer is destroyed

2. Use Omen’s Dark Cover two times: For C Long and C Short (Pic. 1 + 2)

3. Sova shoots his Recon Bolt into C Short

4. At least one player goes C Long, at least two players take C Short control

With this tactic, you get control over both C Long and C Short and maybe even get a frag in the process (e.g. by wall-banging a revealed player in C Short).

Additionally, you followed the recurring principle of

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible” by using only Signature abilities (Omen’s Dark Cover and Sova’s Recon Bolt).

Afterplant on C

Spike plant spots (marked with Spike symbols):

• The marked plant spot is the best for almost every situation. Your planting in cover and C Long, as well as C Short, have a clear view on it.

Good afterplant positions (marked with green dots):

• Backsite is a common but also very good afterplant position.
  It is advisable to hold an off-angle towards CT from that position. But watch out: Abilities like Raze’s Paint Shells or Breach’s Aftershock can force you out of position.
• Just like on the A site, Default is a position that often is expected by defenders. Nonetheless, it can be quite effective (for example by peeking CT on contact of the Backsite player or by double-peeking C Short with a mate on C Long).
•  A C Long player is always a must have.
  He can hold the flank and plays a key role in preventing the Spike defusal when the site players have fallen. Ultimates from e.g. Sova, Brimstone and Breach can also be used very effectively from C Long / C Cubby and provide extra time on the clock.

Defending

Basic principles to keep in mind on C defense:

• Most of the time you want to play two players on C:
  • One player is the “anchor” who plays C site basically every round,
    the other one is the “rotator” who starts the round in C Short and is rotating depending on where the enemy teams focus is.
• Aggression towards C Long can make sense if C Long is neglected by the attacker side. Free information or even a number advantage can result from it.
• Most importantly, C Short control is as important for the defenders as for the attackers. If you lost control of it consider re-aggressing in that area.

The following shows one way to exert pressure on the attacker side by pushing C Long:

1. Omen’s Dark Cover in the exit of the C Long alleyway (Pic. 1)

2. Breach’s Flashpoint through the corner of the left building (Pic. 2)

3. At least two players push through the Dark Cover and are ready to trade each
other

Retaking C

As much as the attacker side needs C Short control to go C in the first place, as important is C Short control for the defenders to retake the site.

Without C Short control the defenders are only able to retake through one entrance (CT) and they can be backstabbed by attackers pushing behind from C Short.

However, if the retake can be coordinated with players coming from both CT and C Short retakes onto the C site are very much possible.

Putting Theory into Practice

Keep in mind that the gameplay examples you can find throughout this article are definitely more suggestions than “the only right way” to approach certain situations. They are supposed to spark your creativity and enable you to create and try your own ideas.

Mobalytics is all about showing you helpful stuff but not forcing you to choose between it. In the Mobalytics Valorant site, for example, you can see many different possibilities where and when to use your abilities the best way possible.

There you can find every relevant usage for your favorite agent’s abilities explained in short, vivid clips. Please take along whatever you found useful in this analysis of Haven and maybe it can affect your future skillset for the better.

As always, please let us know if you found this analysis helpful and we welcome all kinds of discussion and feedback down in the comments!

The post Valorant: Haven Map Guide (Advanced Analysis) by ACTiV appeared first on Mobalytics.

Bind is a Valorant map that has two sites and is characterized by its unique one-way teleporters.

In this guide, we’ll be diving into all the different parts of the map to teach you a wide variety of ways to attack and defend when playing on Bind.

There are going to be a ton of images due to the sheer amount of angles and sightlines to cover, so we hope you find them helpful!

Note that we’ll be sticking to the most common terminology used by players during the alpha and beta, so this may conflict with the in-game callouts that were given by Riot.

For example, the location labeled as “B Window” is most often called “hookah” by the playerbase.

If the popular terminology used by players changes, we’ll adjust the article to reflect that.

For the purposes of our imagery, we’ll be using Brimstone since he’s a versatile agent that can show both smoke and Molotov (molly) locations.

Make sure to adapt and adjust these concepts according to your agent and the agents in your matches.

Contents (use this to quickly jump to where you want to be):

• How to Attack
  • Site A
  • Site B
• How to Defend
  • Site A
  • Site B

How to Attack on Bind Map

Bind has two sites (A and B) where you can plant the spike. Each of the two sites has two main accessways.

For A they are through:

• Baths (AKA “showers”)
• A Short (AKA “mid”)

For B, they are through:

• Garden (also known as “arches”) which is accessible from B Long
• B Window (most commonly known as “hookah”).

When attacking, in general, you’ll want to stack the majority of your team on the side that the spike is committing to.

This is because it is difficult to quickly rotate without having to use one of the teleporters (which are very noisy).

In most cases, you’ll want to send three to four attackers to attack a site while you have the remaining try to apply pressure on the other site or catch flankers.

We recommend going through the defender section to familiarize yourself with their mindset.

This part of our Bind guide will cover how to approach attacking each of the sites and their main entry points.

Back to top!

How to Attack A Site – Bind

Site A is accessible through A Link (from the mid marketplace) and A Lobby.

A Link leads to A Short while A Lobby, near the teleporter, leads to showers.

In general, when attacking A Short, you’ll want to send your agents that have abilities and guns that are suited for mid to long-range combat.

This is because you’ll be fighting down a long alleyway and you’ll be opened up to A Tower (most known as “heaven” if you make it through).

In comparison, the path through showers as tight corners in an enclosed space. This will lead to more close-ranged combat.

Lurkers should be wary of rotations through the marketplace (leading to A Link), through the cave (which leads to A Lobby) and the teleporter A exit (which leads to A Lobby and outside baths).

How to Attack A Short (Mid)

A Short is accessible from two sides, limited by the spawn walls show below.

Here’s the side that you can reach from the market:

And here’s the side you can reach from the A Lobby toward the showers.

If you’re planning to attack A, it’s a good idea to split some of your team toward the spawn wall leaning toward marketplace.

This is because there will sometimes be an enemy defending the area called the U-hall, which is right behind the teleporter and links to A-Site.

The defender’s side will start the round with an advantage because their spawn wall drops to already give them sight of the alleyway.

As an attacker, your spawn wall makes you have to turn the corner.

By peeking both sides of A Short at the same time, you’ll split the gaze of defenders that are looking for an early pick.

At worst, this will help you get a trade, at best you’ll be able to kill them before you lose an attacker.

Note that if you’re committing multiple agents to pushing mid, the defenders will usually adapt by using utility like smokes, Sage’s wall, and so on to slow your advance until they can rotate.

This is a great place for you to use your entry abilities like flashbangs.

Regardless, as you push down A Short, there are some important things to note.

If you’re rotating to push A Short later in the round or if the enemy team places a smoke at your entry point, be sure to check the A Cubby (shown below).

This is a common spot used in combination with short-ranged weapons, you can often lose multiple team members like this to a Judge or Phantom so be sure to check it.

Another spot that defenders may take is behind or even on top of the two stacked boxes.

If you’re against a Sage, Jett, or Raze, be ready to suddenly check for the upward angle.

Listen carefully to sound cues because you’ll be in range to hear them jump up with their abilities if you start the round at the A-Mid entrance.

If an enemy is peeking from behind the boxes or retreats from on top by dropping down, you can wallbang through.

Once you make it past the boxes, be ready for enemies that are defending from heaven and/or on-site.

Some common places on-site include around the green boxes or behind the truck.

Once you reach the wooden boxes, you can choose to either push right onto the site, go left through U-hall, or through the teleporter that leads to hookah and Site B.

Since we’re focusing on how to attack A, we’ll ignore the teleporter to B option for now. If you do end up going through the teleporter from A, refer to the attacking hookah section of Site B below.

If you push right, look out for agents hiding in the corner cubby or on the high ground at showers entry point.

A popular strategy here is to place a Sage wall between the truck and the wooden boxes.

You’ll be able to plant and you can limit your hold to securing A Short behind you and the U-hall.

Speaking of U-hall, here’s what you do if you push left instead of right after the wooden boxes at A Short.

First off check this corner here as it’s another common spot that defenders will use since it simultaneously covers A Short and showers.

They may also be peeking the angle underneath the arches.

As you enter, it’s a tight corner so be ready to engage as you’re entering. If you’re against a Brimstone or Sova, they may use the tight quarters as an opportunity to use their ultimate on you.

As your team pushes onto the A Site, the U-Hall defender may retreat around the corner or onto the site.

If you succeed in securing the U-hall, you’ll have a great vantage point to catch defenders that are rotating from B or jumping down from heaven.

If you killed all the A Site defenders and you have info that the rest are rotating through the market place or the showers teleporter, feel free to push take a position in heaven.

When your team has A-site under control, be ready for rotations from the shower teleporter, A Short through the market place, and from B spawn.

If possible it’s a great time to set up traps if you have an agent like Cypher.

Next up, we’ll be covering how to attack through the shower side. Once we cover that side, we’ll be covering ideal spike plant locations so hold tight!

How to Attack Showers (Baths)

The showers (also known as “baths”) are accessible from the A lobby or the one-way teleporter from B long.

It holds one of the two ultimate orbs of bind within it.

We mentioned earlier that attacking showers often involves close-range combat since it’s an enclosed space.

However, when you swing right after the spawn walls drop, be ready as you’ll sometimes face a defender that is peeking from behind the orb.

Unlike A Short where the defender will have the spawn advantage, this sightline is more neutral as you’ll be peeking at around the same time.

If you peek and don’t see a defender, you can take partial coverage behind the wooden boxes and wait to see if they’re delaying their peek.

Be aware though that these boxes are penetrable.

Besides peeking, you also have the option of waiting behind the wall until you hear a defender trying to capture the ult orb.

Be careful though as smart defenders will fake the noise to get the jump on you as you swing.

As you push under the showers entry arch, be sure to check the sides, especially if you didn’t have sight of inside the shower when the round began.

Other common spots include the right cubby and the left side that connects to A Site.

Be sure to check these locations before you try to take the ultimate orb as defenders will often use it as bait before engaging on you.

Another option is to of course fake that you’re taking it by tapping it if you don’t feel safe checking the corners ahead of time.

If you know or suspect that an enemy is hiding in these locations, it’s a good time to lead with a Boombot, molly, or flashbang.

Once you have the inside of the showers under control, listen closely for the teleporter behind you.

If your allies fail in making progress through A Short, the defenders can trap you inside the showers by covering the teleporter side entrance.

If this happens, do your best to hold off from both directions until your allies can either push through to secure site or fall back from A Short to help you deal with the defenders that took the teleporter.

In the case that you push onto site through showers, be sure to check the high ground spot on the right.

The first tier is accessible by all agents while the second can be accessed by Jett, Raze, or by a Sage wall, so be sure to pay attention to the agents in your match.

Both of these locations are wallbang-able from inside showers.

If you have high penetration weapon like an Odin or Operator it may be worth preemptively checking.

Once you make it through showers, keep an eye on heaven and help your team secure the u-hall as you look to plant the spike.

How to Attack A with utility

Before we get to planting the spike, you may be wondering about how to use your utility when attacking site A.

In this section, we’ll give you a few examples but keep in mind that utility usage and locations highly depends on the context of your match.

Be sure to adapt according to the agents on both teams and the state of your game.

The most important place to control with utility for site A is heaven. This will help protect your team from snipers and force them to either wait or have to drop down onto site to help the other defenders.

Other good locations for smoke include the U-hall entrance and on site between the truck and the green boxes.

In between the paths to A Short and showers is a cubby with high ground.

Besides being a good spot to lurk, it also provides an angle for molotovs, Sova arrows, and other abilities.

Here, you can see that you can reach heaven with the proper lineup.

If you’re inside showers, there’s also a roof hole that you can use to your advantage.

We recommend jumping into a custom game and practicing these sort of lineups for different situations, it can make your life a lot easier as an attacker if you can contest areas without putting yourself in danger.

Overall, remember to use your utility wisely and get the most value out of them.

If you use all your abilities early on and the defenders play passively, they can overwhelm you with their abilities after you plant for an easier defuse.

Be sure to mix up your timings and your approaches to keep your opponents off-balance.

But if something keeps working, don’t be afraid of repeating it until they’re able to stop it, it’s all about the mind games.

How to Plant at A Site

There’s a wide variety of options for planting on A since it’s so big. A key fundamental is to plant based on where your team has control of and away from your weakest points.

If you have control of the showers and u-hall but heaven is vulnerable, consider planting somewhere around here.

You can also plant behind the green boxes but keep in mind that this can be wallbanged from heaven but not from the U-Hall side since there is a metal plate there.

This spot here is a good option if you only have control of showers.

If you were able to push on site but lost showers and A Short, you can plant toward the U-Hall, hall leading to spawn, or heaven.

As we mentioned earlier, another option is to plant by truck if you have a Sage wall blocking off the right side of site.

This will allow you to focus on defending U-Hall, A Short behind you, and from potential agents jumping over the wall or truck.

Back to top!

How to Attack B Site – Bind

Similar to A site, B is accessible through two path ways.

One way is by going through a long alleyway known as B Long which passes by the teleporter and leads into B garden and then onto site.

The other way refers to B Short to B Window (most commonly known as hookah). This path goes by the exit of the one way teleporter from Mid A.

Similar to A, different agents and guns are suited for each of the two entry points.

Although B-long to B Garden does have some tight spaces, it is a common area for long-ranged duels to occur.

Meanwhile, hookah is a very enclosed space that often leads to close-ranged engagements.

How to Attack B Long and Garden

The spawn wall that leads to B long opens up to wide area with a fountain that you can use for partial cover.

This entry point also contains the second ultimate orb.

As you swing left to take a look down long, be aware that the defenders will have the peeking advantage and will get there first.

Unfortunately, unlike A Short, you won’t be able to peek from two different sides so they’ll be expecting you to only come from one side.

If you’re at a gun disadvantage, you’ll likely want to smoke to cut off sightlines and make it easier for you to approach.

You can also move up to the corner where the cactuses are in the image above to take the position in the image below.

This can be useful if your allies are pushing into hookah and you suspect that there are flankers coming through the marketplace in the middle of the map.

You can also hold this position to wait and see if there is a defender hiding by the teleporter or garden.

They may walk up to try to flank hookah or try to take the ultimate orb.

When you push into B long, be ready to fight whether or not the orb is there

If the enemies smoked the alleyway, there’s a chance that they may have snuck up into the corner below.

If they didn’t smoke it and you peeked at the very beginning of the round, chances are they will either be somewhere under the arches or they’re choosing to play further back from on B site itself.

Before you enter the arches, check across the site for defenders that may be hiding in the cubby or the wall under hookah’s window.

Be careful not to push forward enough for someone in the arches to see your gun.

As you push through the arches, check the garden cubby for a defender. Be careful because this is a common area for Cypher Trapwires.

This is can be a good spot to send a Boom Bot or flashbang, especially during a round where the enemy team is at an economic disadvantage and may be looking for a cheese with Shorty.

After you’ve cleared the garden before entering, the next place to check would be on site as defenders may be behind, inside, and even on top of the metal box structure.

If you don’t see anyone on site, chances are there is one enemy defending hookah and the other may be towards the “elbow” which leads to the back hall connected to the defender’s spawn.

Referring to the image below, defenders may be in the left cubby, on top of the high ground, or in the elbow on the right.

If you happen to get walled off or hear a lot of defenders taking the teleporter from A Short, consider retreating and taking the teleporter that leads to showers.

If you take this route, refer to our recommendations for attacking Site A.

They can also be on site underneath the hookah window so be sure to check that as well if your allies haven’t pushed through.

Here you can see the perspective of an enemy that is defending from the elbow. If your allies are still fighting to take hookah, you can use this angle to try to kill the enemy that is inside.

The elbow leads to the back hall which you can use to have an angle on enemies that are rotating from A Site.

How to Attack Hookah

The second entry point to Site B, hookah, is accessible through the marketplace that forks between hookah and A Short.

Unlike B long which gives the spawn advantage to the defenders, the attacker spawn has the advantage since they already have the ability to peek the hookah arches.

Similar to Short A, you can set up to have two attackers watching for a defender from each side of the entryway.

In most cases, the defender is unlikely to peek unless they have an economic gun advantage, such as Vandal versus pistols, but it’s still a good practice always be ready for the possibility.

If you push hookah later in the round or hear defenders take the teleporter, note that they may hide behind the wooden boxes shown below.

The boxes can be penetrated both ways so be careful. If they have a Jett or Raze, be ready for a potential jump on top of the box as well.

If you hear the teleporter but the doors don’t open, you can also wallbang through those.

If you have a Sage, it’s also a great place to use your wall as it can buy you a lot of time.

Cypher’s Trapwire works as well.

Otherwise, we recommend having someone lurk behind until the defender(s) leave so you don’t get trapped inside hookah between the teleporter and B site.

If you have an entry fragger like Raze, Phoenix, or Breach, they can really shine when trying to take hookah.

Whether its a Boom Bot, flashbang, or Fault Line, you can catch defenders off guard, especially if they are far from the window and unable to retreat.

If you don’t have an initiator, it may be difficult to get through without taking casualties because defenders inside hookah will have many angles to potentially kill you from.

In most cases, they’ll either be in the cubby on the left…

Or behind the box on the right.

Be on the lookout for Cypher Trapwires and be ready to evade grenades and mollies that are thrown in from site.

Once you’re in, you can jump into the box to use it as partial cover.

You’ll be able to see the sections around the metal box and into the entry from the defender spawn.

Another option is to push up to the sides of the window. Be careful for defenders who are waiting on the box at the bottom right of the window’s exit.

Note that the walls of the windows can be penetrated – not just the wooden sections but also the orange walls.

From the left side of the hookah window, you’ll also be able to see the B cubby that defenders often hide in.

It’s a good place to use an ability like a molly if you still have them available.

There’s quite a bit of depth in this cubby so be sure to keep that in mind.

If you push to the right side of the hookah window, you’ll be able to see defenders hiding behind the green boxes to the left of the metal box, and the elbow.

This is a great angle to hold if your allies are pushing in from garden so they can advance and try to secure the elbow.

Once your spike planter is on site, you should have at least one team member holding in hookah to cover potential rotations from the teleporter and marketplace.

If that’s covered, you can drop down from the window and set up your position based on where the enemy is coming from.

There’s a wide variety of spots to consider based on how many agents are left on both sides.

Here’s a cheeky option that you will grant you partial cover from the metal box.

Most rotators will expect your team to be watching this entry point from hookah so you can catch them by surprise but use this option sparingly.

How to Attack B with utility

When attacking Site B, look to use your entry abilities at the hookah entrance and the entrance to garden.

If there is a sniper peeking B long, consider countering them with a flashbang engage or by letting your team advance with smokes (just be careful not to smoke the orb and make it easier for them to take).

When approaching hookah, you can smoke the window to prevent defenders on site from being able to help when you engage on enemies inside the room.

Similar to the hole in showers, there is a way to lineup mollies and grenades through the roof.

Note that this is a difficult lineup to hit but can help you safely secure the left side of hookah as you enter.

On the flip side, be ready for defenders to also slow your advances with their utility through this roof hole.

When smoking the site, some good locations include the doorway to the defender spawn and the elbow.

Smoking these locations will help you secure the site but be ready for an attack from the elbow and spawn door.

How to Plant at Site B

As we mentioned during the Site A section, always try to plant the spike in relation to where your team has the most control.

If you have the elbow, hookah, and garden under control and expect rotations from the defender’s spawn, consider somewhere like here.

If you have spawn under control but expect rotations from hookah and garden, plant somewhere around here.

If you’re lacking information or things are chaotic, you can even plant under cover in the metal box.

As a side note, the metal box provides some cover but can be penetrated. You can be wallbanged from inside.

If you’re completely behind the box on its outside, bullets will not go through two layers.

How to Defend on Bind Map

If you’ve read through the attacker section, some of this info maybe be repetitive but we’re going to repeat it for the readers that jumped straight here.

For those of you that did jump here, we recommend visiting the attacker section to put yourself in their shoes and their mindset.

Bind has two sites (A and B) where you can plant the spike. Each of the two sites has two main accessways.

For A they are through:

• Baths (AKA “showers”)
• A Short (AKA “mid”)

For B, they are through:

• Garden (also known as “arches”) which is accessible from B Long
• B Window (most commonly known as “hookah”).

When defending on Bind, teams will usually commit at least two team members to each site, with a third flexing to either side.

In most setups, you’ll likely see three at A and two at B since A’s area is much bigger.

B’s tight entry points can be more easily held with a Sage or Cypher.

That being said, be sure to adapt according to what’s happening each round.

If the attackers are committing hard to B, send your third defender there instead.

Note that unless you take the one-way teleporters, rotations can take a very long time since there is a big gap in between A and B.

As a result, you’ll need to have strong communication with your team to know whether to start rotating the long way earlier or when its safe to take the faster teleporter.

Back to top!

How to Defend A Site – Bind

Defending A site has three parts: heaven, showers, and A Short.

From the spawn, you can take the ramp that leads to heaven or go right to go to either showers or A Short.

You can also drop down onto site from heaven if needed and you won’t take any fall damage.

How to Defend from Heaven

Heaven is arguably the most important part of defending A site because it’s able to have favorable site lines toward both entry points.

If you have an economic advantage over the attackers and they lack long-range weapons and utility, you can completely dominate if you have an OP or other long-ranged threat.

On the flip side, be ready for the defenders to keep you smoked out and for the enemy sharpshooters to contest you if they’re able to afford a Vandal, Guardian, or OP of their own.

In situations where they do smoke heaven, you can choose between waiting it out, dropping down from heaven, or going back down the ramp and taking position from the hallway known as “vents” or “CT”.

If they’re slow pushing and you have time, consider just waiting out. If they’re pushing but you have time, you probably want to rotate down the ramp.

If you’re really needed you can drop down but it’s definitely the most risky option.

When you’re defending from heaven, focus your gaze toward the side that needs your help most.

If you only have two defenders on A, of course, this means looking the opposite side of your ally who is either watching short or showers.

If you have three defenders, watch the side that the attackers are closest to pushing through.

Note that the wooden boxes at short and the walls around the shower door can be wallbanged.

You can also wallbang through the green box on site if the attackers plant behind it.

If the attackers push through A short and through the building called U-hall, you can also adjust to defending there.

In situations where the attackers send an agent or two to push through Site B and they succeed in killing your defenders there, be ready to change your angle.

When B is compromised they will likely try to take heaven or they will go through vents.

This means that if you’re defending heaven, you have to be prepared to watch five different sightlines:

• Showers
• A short
• Elbow
• Vents
• Heaven ramp

How to Defend A Short (A Mid)

When you’re defending A Short, you’ll have the advantage over the attackers since you’ll be able to see down the alley at the beginning of the round.

The attackers will have to turn around the corner, but they have the ability to come from the left and/or right side.

This makes looking for an early pick rather risky. Consider only doing so if you have a gun advantage or if you know that they aren’t double peeking from both sides.

In general, most defenders here choose to set up either near the U-hall (shown above) or somewhere in the left cubby behind the boxes (shown below).

Taking position near the boxes is more aggressive and better for shorter-ranged weapons. You can also jump on top of the box and take enemies by surprise with Jett, Raze and Sage.

However, defending around the boxes is riskier against rushes since you don’t really have cover to retreat back to.

You also have to worry about being wall banged through the boxes.

In comparison, defending near U-Hall allows you to fall back through it and onto the site if needed.

If you have smoke abilities, consider deploying them toward the far side of the alley to deter the attackers from advancing or giving you an easy shot as they push through blindly.

This will also give you the opportunity to push up into the cubby to cheese them with a close-range weapon.

Keep in mind though that good players will know this is an option and will be ready for it.

If the attackers are gradually pushing and make their way into the cubby, you can slow their advance again with a smoke here.

This will make it hard to advance without pushing out blindly and deny their ability to pivot into the teleporter.

Some agent abilities like Viper’s Q, you can use the boxes to create “one-way smokes” that allow you to see the defender in areas where they cannot see you.

In the image below, we replicate this concept with Brimstone’s smokes.

As a defender, you want to keep the attacker’s guessing and mix up approach.

Do not do the same thing over and over again unless you’re playing mind games or forcing the attackers to beat a strategy that they’ve been failing against consecutively.

Here are some other angles to consider:

In front of the truck behind boxes:

In the left cubby:

Behind the corner that wings into U-hall:

Peeking from inside U-hall:

Lastly, the other thing to remember is that if you’re defending A Short, you will be the person that can rotate the fastest to hookah and site B.

Remember that you can fire all abilities through the teleporter from Sova’s Owl Drone to Raze’s Boombot.

If you’re holding A Short, you can help out your allies fighting inside hookah by sending these sorts of abilities through.

How to Defend Showers

Since it involves tight spaces, defending showers will often entail close-ranged combat.

As such, agents with abilities like flashbangs and molotovs are very well-suited for defending the location.

This is also the section of Site A that contains the ultimate orb.

You’ll be slightly closer to the orb’s location in comparison to the attackers but they’ll be able to see you if they peek immediately.

If you’re really prioritizing the orb, you can preemptively smoke it to make securing it easier.

Just keep in mind that if the enemies are close enough to hear you taking it, they will likely blind fire in the hopes of killing you through the smoke.

Some attackers will take position behind the boxes near the teleporter or may arrive there by taking it from B long.

In this case, remember that you can wallbang them through the boxes. Keep in mind that the walls of showers can also be penetrated.

If you have a short-range weapon, you can either push up near the entry archway:

To the left cubby:

Or stay in the initial doorway connected to site:

If A Short has been having trouble, you can choose to take the high ground in the corner to allow you to simultaneously defend the shower entry while helping mid.

Note that doing this will concede the orb to the enemy team in most cases.

Every agent can access the lower tier by using the metal platform to jump (shown below).

Agents like Raze, Jett, and Sage can access the higher portion with their abilities.

If attackers secure showers, you can use smokes here to delay their push.

How to Defend A On Site

You can also defend A from its many structures on site.

This can be done by default as it gives you the versatility to rotate as needed or you may need to fall back to one of these locations if an area becomes compromised.

Similar to heaven, you’ll have the ability to pivot your sights to where you’re needed whether it’s the shower side or towards mid.

You can also take a position in the left cubby to give you sights on short and elbow while giving you the ability to peek towards showers.

You also have the option to jump onto the high ground provided by the truck and boxes.

It’s very situational due to the risk involved but can be your ace in the hole when things get hectic.

In the attacker section, we mentioned that it’s a popular tactic for teams to use place Sage’s wall to divide A site between the wall and the truck (as demonstrated below with the Brimstone smokes).

If this happens, it’s another good time to use your vertical mobility. If this isn’t possible try to either retake U-hall or breakdown the wall.

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How to Defend B Site – Bind

Site B hs two entrances, the garden (from long) and hookah (from market).

In most cases, teams commit two defenders to B as it can be slightly easier to hold, especially if you have a Cypher or Sage.

However, if the attackers repeatedly choose B, be sure to adapt and send a third ally to bolster your defenders.

How to Defend Long and Garden

B Long and garden are two connected areas that lead into B site.

Long refers to the straight stretch that extends from where the ultimate orb is to past the fountain.

Garden refers to the small area with plants and arches.

In general, you’ll want to fight towards long if you have long-ranged weapons and toward garden if you have shorter-ranged capabilities.

This is also the location of the second ultimate orb on Bind.

Due to spawn locations, you’ll have a slightly quicker step to get in position with a long-range weapon.

This will give you the advantage of being able to see attackers as they peek around the corner.

If you get pushed quickly, you can easily retreat back into garden.

If you don’t see anything on the initial peek, you can reposition to the cubby by the teleporter to have a better angle and get more information.

It will also let you jump into the teleporter to outside showers faster.

If nothing is happening (this is usually one of the lesser contested entry points), feel free to tap the orb to try to bait out attackers.

You’ll either have the advantage in the fight or you’ll have a free point and you’ll be able to rotate.

If your team is prioritizing taking the orb but you feel there may be enemies nearby, consider smoking here to help you secure it.

Be sure to try to position yourself to the left or right of the orb to decrease the likelihood of being killed through the smoke.

If you want to stay in this position but know that enemies are pushing toward showers, you can send abilities through the teleporter to help scout, slow, or kill them.

If you get a pick on long, you can push up for a more aggressive position that allows you to potentially flank toward A.

Here, you’ll have an angle on the area between market and hookah. You will be exposed from the right though so proceed with caution.

If you hear enemies taking the teleporter you can catch them off guard or flank behind them by wrapping around here.

If the attackers are committing to A, you can push out and flank through either market or along the spawn beach.

If you’re at an economic disadvantage or have a weapon that excels at shorter range, you can play within the garden under the arches rather than contesting long.

There’s a wide variety of angles you can take here to keep the attackers guessing. As long as you’re close to the arches, you’ll also be able to hear when attackers are securing the orb.

If you want to defend the garden arches but want to help with defending hookah (let’s say you don’t have a Sage or Cypher there), you can hold this position here.

If you’re an agent with upward mobility, you can use this high ground spot that allows you to simultaneously support hookah while you cover the garden corner.

It may be worth mixing in to keep your opponent guessing since they have to check the angles within garden and the lower part below the arch.

You can also defend long B, the orb, and teleporter from underneath hookah. In most cases, you’ll only want to use this spot if your team has reliable control of hookah.

If hookah gets overrun, you’ll have the height disadvantage and you’ll be crossfired if they’re also pushing long since you’re far from cover you can retreat to.

How to Defend from the Elbow

Between the site and garden is an area called the elbow which is the connector to the back hall structure.

The elbow lets you simultaneously cover hookah and enemies entering from garden.

It allows you to safely retreat to the back hall if needed.

You can easily catch enemies jumping through smokes placed at the hookah window:

Or at the garden arches:

The elbow also lets you rotate to cover defender spawn in case A site was compromised and attackers are flanking from there instead of taking the teleporter.

How to Defend B On Site (metal box)

If you lose control of hookah and/or garden, you can also fall back to using the site’s metal box as cover.

Taking a position here also provides you with some versatility.

In general, keep in mind that one wall of the metal site box can be penetrated but two cannot.

So in a pinch, you can go inside of the box but if you want to take a position on site, it’s usually best to take a position behind it for more reliable cover.

The left side of the box easy angle to catch enemies dropping down from hookah. You can even hide and listen for the sound cues if they’re hasty and don’t use the box to lessen their fall impact.

From the left side of the box, you can also shift to the left cubby to get a better angle on garden.

If you have a long-ranged weapon, you can hop onto the box to get crouched cover to cover either hookah or the garden arches.

If you get pressured just fall backwards and you’ll have cover.

This angle only allows you to see the garden arches but doesn’t allow you to see hookah.

You can push up to the green box to get an angle on hookah. but be careful since you can be wallbanged through it.

You can jump up onto the box to have a high ground spot that can be used when your enemies aren’t expecting it but you’ll need someone with an advanced position inside hookah or you’ll be exposed from that side.

The last part of defending site is the entrance to the defender’s spawn.

This is a good spot for long-ranged weapons or if you feel that your A-site may need help as you can sprint without giving away your position.

Here are two common wallbang spots that attackers that have taken hookah will hide behind.

How to Defend Hookah

The location labeled as “B Window”, is most known as “hookah” due to its nicknamed earned during alpha and beta testing before Riot tried naming callouts.

You have the ability to peek the marketplace but be aware that the attackers will have the advantage here since they’ll have access to these sightlines as soon as their spawn walls drop.

At times, it might be worth peeking if you have an econ advantage and superior range weapons with sniper/rifles vs SMGs/shotguns.

You may also want to do this if you have an agent like Phoenix since you can use your flashbang to engage and nullify their peeking advantage.

You can also use a smoke or molly to slow their advance, before peeking, or to push up aggressively.

Here’s an aggressive spot you can push up to while you have smoke up. You’ll be able to see an angle on long B after it dissipates.

If you don’t want to take the risk by peeking, the box is a great tool inside hookah.

It offers partial cover and a variety of angles to catch your enemies by surprise.

However, be aware that it will be penetrated and you can be wallbanged through it.

By playing here, you can easily jump back over the wall onto the site if things get dicey.

Here’s another angle you can take:

If you want to defend hookah but you’re worried about helping long or rotating through your spawn, consider this spot.

From here you can fall back to the cubby in sight behind you or behind the metal structure.

You can turn to cover long B for a crossfire with allies at the elbow or the cubby by the archway.

If your opponents are rushing and jumping over, you can also catch them off guard here or kill them when they take cover in the corner.

If you hear the attackers rushing you can use a closer smoke to land in time to slow them down or force them to push in.

You can preemptively fire through the smoke be ready to retreat back into site.

Agents like Cypher and Sage can also shine here with their utility.

Besides playing toward the box, you can also use this angle. It’s worth using at least a few times to force attackers to have to check it.

In future rounds, they’ll have to check their left giving you the ability to shoot them in the back if you’re playing the box that round (you get the idea).

Here’s another angle that works well if you’re playing this side of hookah.

It’s slightly elevated so it can throw the attackers off-guard.

If you’re playing away from the box, you’ll ideally want a gun with a high rate of fire like a Phantom or Odin.

This is because if there are multiple attackers, you will likely get a one for one trade since your angle may only work on one enemy (in most cases).

By having a high rate of fire you can quickly switch between targets while maintaining damage output, giving you the potential to pick off multiple enemies.

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Conclusion

Thanks for reading! We hope you learned something new.

The goal of this guide was to provide a fundamental base to build your strategies off of by showcasing commonly used tactics and mindsets from the alpha and closed beta.

We know that there are some of you out there looking for certain strategies or angles that we missed and we definitely acknowledge that there are a ton of tactics that we didn’t cover.

The beauty of Valorant is that every game can be very different due to the agent abilities so there are many creative things that you can do!

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