Your Guide to VALORANT Maps

VALORANT has become the go-to tactical shooter of the coming decade with its precise gunplay and diverse roster of agents. As it grows, agents and maps keep being added to the game in an effort to change up the game’s pace. Read on to discover the VALORANT maps being played out on the futuristic Earth on which that the game is set.

An Introduction to VALORANT Betting

VALORANT is a fast-growing esports game boasting a diverse range of tournaments for punters to bet on, with options including moneyline wagers, handicap bets, totals, and prop bets. If you put in the time to learn about the ins and outs of the highly-acclaimed tactical shooter, you can land some handsome winnings!

Before you begin betting on VALORANT, though, you should learn about the basics of the game first. Aside from actually playing it yourself, there are resources that you can look up such as Mobalytics, ProGuides, and Skill Capped to further your knowledge. You can also view official livestreams of events on Riot Games, Twitch, and YouTube.

What Are VALORANT Maps?

VALORANT is a 5v5 character-based tactical first-person shooter where characters known as “Radiants” battle it out to detonate or defuse the Spike at a map’s site.

Each game of VALORANT is played on a map. These maps are the battlegrounds where all the fast-paced and high-stakes action takes place, set in locations based on reality following the First Light, a historic event in the VALORANT universe that started it all.

Currently, there are seven (7) active, playable VALORANT maps, each set in fictional locations with otherwise real coordinates and architecture that reflects the culture of the country it’s in. Each of these maps has its own unique lore that connects them to the VALORANT universe, along with unique features that enable players to take control of each game in their own creative way.

These maps have in, one way or another, taken inspiration from previous esports games in the FPS scene.

What Makes Up a VALORANT Map?

VALORANT, much like first-person shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, follows the traditional objective of planting or defending a bomb (called the Spike). To do this, players must navigate a map divided into sites A, B, and the occasional C: three defending sites designed to encourage strategic play. A few of these include teleporters, automatic doors, ziplines, and more.

Our 3D Environment Artist @RiotPHRISK breaks open how VALORANT maps are built from the inside out. Read all about it: https://t.co/Zh0a3QTVaH

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) November 16, 2020

Since VALORANT is a tactical shooter, ultimate orbs are present across maps with one in neutral territory per site. These ultimate orbs give agents one point closer to their ultimate abilities, which can drastically change the fate of a round thereby forcing players to contest over these areas.

How Many Maps are in VALORANT?

There are currently nine maps in VALORANT, but only seven are part of the Active Pool, with one of these nine maps is only available in Practice Mode.

Here are all of them:

History of VALORANT Maps

VALORANT was a much-awaited FPS, dubbed Project A back in 2019 as rumours and anticipation surrounding the game's released continued to build up. When the beta version was launched to limited access on April 7, 2020, VALORANT had four playable maps from the jump: a sandbox training map in ‘The Range’ and three standard maps called Bind, Haven, and Split.

On its official launch date, VALORANT was released alongside Ascent, which was coincidentally one of the very first maps designed for the game. From there, Riot promptly followed it up with the controversial release of Icebox in October. This was followed by a near-linear schedule of releasing maps every six months, with Breeze in April and Fracture in September.

In June 2022, VALORANT received its 8th Standard map called Pearl, set in Lisbon, Portugal, featuring some beautiful aesthetics. Pearl’s release has also prompted the devs to remove one map from the 7-map Active roster to make space for the newest addition.

Current Active VALORANT Map Pool

With seven maps in rotation, it’s always best to learn the details of each to improve your chances at betting.

Ascent

To start it off, we have the classic Ascent which was released during VALORANT’s launch patch in June, 2020. Set in Venice, Italy, Ascent is the aftermath of a spike detonation that caused the city to rise out of the ground and into the sky.

We put in work. Watch the full official VALORANT launch gameplay trailer set on our newest map: Ascent. https://t.co/MRvTlbkDLp pic.twitter.com/mJZXOlDP2c

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) June 2, 2020

Ascent features a large, open middle area with Spike sites A and B on opposing sides. This highly contested middle ground allows attackers to have their way around the map once controlled. Ascent’s unique feature comes in mechanical doors that lead into the respective sites. Each door is triggered by a switch from inside the site and is impenetrable while closed but can eventually be damaged and destroyed.

Ascent has been praised for its design, which makes it feel closest to a balanced map to play from the defenders' and attackers’ point-of-view. Smokers are invaluable to gaining control in the middle of the map, while Sentinels like Killjoy allow teams to diversify their play by allowing them to lock down a single site by their lonesome. Round it off with initiators like KAY/O and Sova to gather crucial information across sites, and you’ll be peachy.

Bind

Then, we have Bind set in the deserts of Rabat, Morocco, a place Cypher would call his hometown. From the outside, Bind looks like your typical desert map but with a crucial twist — teleporters. Designed without a middle ground like Ascent to fight over, Bind has two one-way teleporters, which allow players to take shortcuts from A Short to B Short and B Long to A Lobby. Players, guns, and projectiles can enter these teleporters to enter an exit room which automatically opens once close enough to its entrance.

These teleporters allow for speedy rotations or sneaky flanks that open up strategic play. Furthermore, agents with ability projectiles such as Viper’s Snake Bite or Raze’s Paint Shells and Boom Bot can allow teams to defend their allies from the opposing site. However, using the teleporter gives a loud audio cue that lets the enemy team know that it has been used, which gives it an equivalent risk factor.

Haven

Moving to the Orient in Thimphu, Bhutan is Haven, a monastery with towering masterpieces of architecture. What makes Haven unique is its introduction of three Spike sites for contest throughout the map. Its three-site setup means that defenders will have a hard time defending all the sites simultaneously. But its design with the garage, sewers, tower, and long halls allows defenders to have an easier time holding off the attackers.

Haven can be one of the most intimidating #VALORANT maps, but knowing what callouts your team is making can help a lot. pic.twitter.com/iBUQ3FBAfp

— ValorIntel (@ValorINTEL) June 3, 2020

Despite having three Spike sites, Haven’s sites are rather small which allows for an agent like Breach to truly shine. Breach’s entire kit can catch defenders off guard which will allow attackers to enter the site. To cover the map’s vast space, a Sentinel with anti-lurking abilities like Chamber and Killjoy could help ease their team’s worries as well. Lastly, an agent like Omen, which has the ability to travel across the map seamlessly, is invaluable in Haven which can smoke all relevant entrances to the site while teleporting across the sites’ crates and catching enemies by surprise.

Icebox

In the frozen wasteland set in Bennett Island, Russia, we have VALORANT’s fifth map, Icebox. This map had a bit of an icy (pun intended!) reception during its launch due to the introduction of horizontal ziplines and sites with lots of verticality deeply tied to its gameplay. However, after crucial changes to its design, Icebox is now considered a map that the community has grown to love with better opportunities for players to choose their angles and improve their chances of success in skirmishes.

With this in mind, this gives agents like Viper a lot of agency, as her Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud can provide invaluable cover horizontally and vertically. Another core agent is Sage, with Icebox arguably her strongest map given that teams can easily plant the spike with her Barrier Orb. And, of course, given its layout, Jett easily shines on this map, as she can hop from box to box and engage in off-angles to win her duels.

Breeze

Take a vacation in the tropics with VALORANT’s sixth released map set in the Bermuda Triangle – Breeze. This is VALORANT’s widest map yet with wide open spaces and long, narrow halls. To add to that, Breeze combines what unique features previous maps had such as rope ascenders, a mechanical door, and an all-new mechanical one-way chute.

Before Patch 4.0, Breeze was greatly disliked by the community for being too large, which gives the advantage to the attacking side since rotating takes too long. However, they introduced changes that made entering sites harder and defending sites easier, tipping the scales in favor of the defenders a little bit.

Given its open structure, agents that can gather information over long distances – such as Sova and KAY/O – do well. In Breeze, traditional smokers such as Brimstone and Omen fail to cover sites as comprehensively as Viper, who can simply cut sites in half. Lastly, agents that excel at long range engagements (such as Jett and Chamber) with Operators can be hard to challenge in Breeze.

Fracture

One of VALORANT’s darker maps, Fracture is a top-secret experimental site that was split apart in a disaster involving Radianite. It is set in Santa Fe, USA, and is named aptly after the fracture that split the facility, which was triggered by the agent, Chamber.

Fracture is Riot’s most unique take on a VALORANT map thus far, as it flips the script on defending and attacking sites. To start, defenders spawn at the center of the map. Meanwhile, attackers spawn in one area but can enter either site through one of four quadrants through a one-way cross-map zipline. To further take it up a notch, Fracture is the only map to have four ultimate orbs compared to the usual two, which allows for deeper strategy because of more ultimate ability usage.

This makes entering sites easier for the attackers as defenders will have to worry about four entrance points. Breach allows for an even easier time accessing sites with his signature Faultline and Rolling Thunder. Pair it with Viper and Astra who can divide the sites with ease, and you have a site that’s easy to take control of.

Pearl

Pearl is VALORANT’s newest map – at least for the time being until the new map is most likely soon released.

Set in Lisbon, Portugal, the map itself is actually an underwater city. The centre is compact and maze-like, while the wings feature ideal long-range firing positions. By design, it has a two-site, three-lane layout; otherwise, it's a fairly traditional VALORANT map without any mechanical hooks or other dynamic elements.

Valorant’s new map Pearl takes place in an underwater city https://t.co/CrUtjATfiH pic.twitter.com/eUZYJKmtlg

— Polygon (@Polygon) June 16, 2022

The ideal team will have Brimstone as part of their roster, simply because of his smoking abilities and control. Cypher should be your Sentinel of choice because of his Trapwire and Spycam. Get Fade and KAY/O to complete the roster, and you’ll have a great time playing against whatever your enemies throw at you.

The Range

As a competitive tactical shooter, it’s only natural that VALORANT players will want to sharpen their aim and test their arsenal before heading into battle. As such, Riot has created The Range map, which allows players to practice across a variety of modes: Open Range, Shooting Test, Spike Planting, and Spike Defuse.

In The Range, players can test all the different agents and their respective abilities and try all the weapons available in the shop. For players who want to test their movement, the development team created a trial course in the Open Range game mode, which involves jumping on small ledges and strafing around corners mid-air to reach the top of one of the towers.

Like Ascent, The Range is also set in Venice, Italy.

Most Popular VALORANT Maps

VALORANT map popularity can often change over the course of a few days, especially after big patches that change gameplay in certain ways. With that said, here’s how the numbers look for the most popular VALORANT maps:

• Ascent – 14.52% (5,541 matches)
• Haven – 14.40% (5,497 matches)
• Icebox – 14.36% (5,483 matches)
• Breeze – 14.28% (5,452 matches)
• Fracture – 14.24% (5,437 matches)
• Bind – 14.19% (5,416 matches)
• Pearl – 14.01% (5,346 matches)

Rotation of VALORANT Maps

It’s been two years since VALORANT was released, and we’ve finally reached a point where there are more maps in the game than in the Active Map Pool. This is good because it improves variety and makes the game more entertaining. VALORANT is similar to CS:GO in this regard.

Maps for the Average Joe

In competitive or unrated, the map selection process follows a weighted random or ticket system. To put it in simpler terms, whenever you play a map, the chances of playing that same map in the next lobby are reduced. This helps ensure players get to play a range of maps from the tight corners of Split to the wide halls of Breeze.

In the past, the community has had complaints asking for a map selection feature, much like CS:GO’s where players only queue up for a select map. Nevertheless, Riot developers have been critical of implementing such a feature as it could discourage players from playing existing maps, lower competitive integrity, and lengthen queue times.

However, in the hopes of improving the variety of maps played, Riot is changing the map selection process to a deterministic map system. This system was introduced in Patch 4.04 in Latin America at first and then the rest of the servers. Deterministic map selection follows three rules when picking a map. First, it looks at all the maps players have played over the last five games, then it removes any maps a player has played twice. Finally, the system picks the least played map.

Today, we're pushing our new “deterministic” map system out to all regions. This should increase the variety of maps in your queue based on a system we tested at the start of Patch 4.04. You can read how it all works in our most recent patch notes, under Competitive Updates. https://t.co/VbuQOQauSI

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) March 4, 2022

It’s not perfect, but it hopes to address the concerns of players experiencing playing Breeze six times in a row. That said, it is worth noting that Riot has not excluded the possibility of implementing future changes (such as the map selection future) due to the game’s young age.

Maps in Professional Play

In pro play, matches are played in best-of-ones, best-of-threes, or best-of-fives. As such, teams ban and pick the maps they want to play on depending on their preference and seeding, all of which you can watch on livestreams. Across a match, a map can only be played once unless all other available maps have been played, and seeing that there are only seven maps in rotation as of the moment, that would not be possible.

Generally, the better-seeded team decides if they will be Team A or Team B for the map selection process. If there is no predetermined seeding, the “better-seeded” team will be selected at random. This means that map drafting actually matters in a team’s performance in any given match, as the maps that a team is comfortable with can easily dictate whether they win or lose.

According to the VCT Rulebook, teams will alternate picks and bans for map selection across the various best-of matches. The rules change depending on whether it’s a best-of-one, best-of-three, or best-of-five, but generally teams will alternate their map bans and picks until there are only a remainder of maps left for the teams to play.

Maps Removed from the 2023 VALORANT Map Pool

We’ve finally reached a point where VALORANT has ‘too many’ maps for the Active Map Pool, causing the devs to look for ways of keeping the gameplay fresh.

So, with the addition of Pearl to the Active Map Pool, the map that first got ‘singled out’ and removed was Split. While the gaming community was somewhat split (again, pun intended) on the map itself, it was still slightly sad to see it go.

However, this didn't last too long – the good news is that Split is back! It must be said, however, that there have been some other changes -the two maps that got removed from the active map roster instead are Breeze and Bind.

Split is back (with some changes). Bind and Breeze are out for now. Read about the next Competitive/Unrated queue map rotation.https://t.co/TdjDiJIHe0 pic.twitter.com/Wc5nybIEnx

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) December 2, 2022

So, to recap: Split is back in, Breeze and Bind are out.

Future of VALORANT Maps

As mentioned before, Riot intends to release new VALORANT maps in six-month cycles, which means one map every episode. In the past year, Riot has been receptive to community feedback as they have implemented various, notable changes to maps like Breeze and Icebox, and quality-of-life improvements to all the rest.

In the future, expect Riot to introduce more unique map features such as Fracture’s four neutral quadrants or Haven’s three plant sites. In a Reddit AMA, the dev team shared that they are considering adding in mirror or even night-time maps. Furthermore, as Riot expands the game’s lineup of maps, expect their narrative team to develop the game’s lore further as they tie the game’s maps to VALORANT’s story progression.

We already know that the map seen in Act 5 (the city geo-dome map) is Pearl, the newest map that Riot Games has released. While it is a traditional map without too many innovative additions, we are therefore expecting the next map to be completely unique. The good news is that the number of represented countries in the game is constantly increasing.

As Riot’s existing pool of maps grows, however, there will come a time when the active map pool for competitive and professional play will have to be adjusted. Perhaps, similar to its predecessors, VALORANT could feature an active-duty map pool that will serve as the rotation of maps that can be played in professional play (such as in VCT 2022 or VALORANT Champions). Meanwhile, in unrated and competitive games, things could be limited to an active-duty and a reserve map pool. This ensures that only the most competitive of VALORANT maps remain available for players.

Summary

VALORANT is a tactical FPS game with various elements that contribute to a team’s victory or defeat, keeping things entertaining and strategic enough to keep capturing the players’ interest.

One of the best aspects of VALORANT are the maps – all of them have been meticulously designed to be as balanced as possible, but unique and different from each other. Hopefully, Riot Games continues their mission in exactly the same way, because the work they’ve done so far has been excellent!