Developed by Riot Games, Valorant takes its inspiration from other multiplayer shooters such as Counter-Strike and Overwatch. Valorant added a unique twist to the shooter genre by introducing different characters, also known as agents. Every Valorant character in the game can impact how a team progresses in the round. The most important part of the game, however, is the maps. With a total of eleven maps in Valorant, you can always expect something different from each one of them.
1. Ascent
Ascent was one of the first maps added to Valorant and remains a player favorite. The Valorant lore says that this map was formed on top of San Marco in Venice, and you can see from the pictures that it takes heavy inspiration from Italian structures and streets. It is one of the most beautiful maps in Valorant.
Beauty aside, Ascent has two sites – A and B, but the map can be divided into three parts where opponents meet each other — entry A & B, mid-top to the courtyard, and bottom mid to the market. Unlike Fracture (more on this below), there’s not a single spot from which you cannot expect to face an enemy in combat at Ascent. Every corner is dangerous.
As a result, Ascent is a great map for duelists such as Jett, Reyna, and Raze, controllers such as Brimstone and Viper, initiators Sova, Fade, and Breach, and sentinels like Chamber, Killjoy, Sage, and Cypher. But it’s not about which agent you play on Ascent, as long as you have mastered an agent, you will perform well on Ascent and that’s the beauty of the map.
2. Haven
Another beautiful location turned into a war zone, Haven is a beautiful Valorant map that was one of the first to feature three sites, a slight deviation and innovative approach compared to the usual competitive maps. And oh boy does it make for chaotic situations. Clutching on Haven has to be one of the most difficult tasks since it has a very open design and too many tight corners.
Haven favors Duelists more than other categories, but if you are a sentinel or initiator, you should do well. As for controllers, Omen can be exceptionally capable at B site boxes and generators and should do well with smokes to control opponents entering the sight.
But the same will require quick callouts because the entrances to all three sites are short. As for the best sentinels to play on Haven, Chamber, Sage, and Killjoy, all work exceptionally well, especially Sage with her wall to completely block the B site. This ensures peace of mind that your teammates only have to focus on A and B.
3. Split
Split is a map in which your crosshair placement will be tested extensively. With lots of high spots, it’s a difficult map for defenders. The corners on Split are more forgiving though, and besides duelists such as Jett, Reyna, Raze, Neon, and ISO, the map favors initiators with flashes like Skye and Kay/O.
Sentinels like Sage and Chamber are also important, especially Sage to block and hold mid. In the absence of Sage, Chamber can fill in with his trap at mid and hold either A or B with a head hunter, teleport, and rapid comms.
Omen, Brimstone, Harbor, and Viper are great to watch the site while attacking, especially Omen and Brimstone. They make it even more difficult to defend with smokes on A ramps, A screens, B heaven, B back, and B main entrance.
Overall, Split might be one of the most fun maps to play, until you’re on the attacking side at least.
4. Bind
Bind in Valorant is heavily inspired by the Arab Streets map in CS:GO. It has two sites, two lobbies, and a corridor that links A and B, called A Link and B Link. The way from the defender side leads to A Tower and B Hall.
Although there are only two sites, the attackers get a lot of options on this Valorant map. There are two teleporters on the map, one at A and the other at B, which makes rotation much faster and easier.
As for the agents that work the best on Bind, they’re controllers and sentinels like Brimstone, Cypher, Omen, and Sage. If you play initiators, Skye, Fade, and Kay/O are good options. As for the duelists, Jett, Reyna, and especially Phoenix work great, thanks to his flashes and molly that can corner opponents or force them to rotate when combined with a controller’s smoke.
5. Icebox
Most Valorant players rank Icebox pretty low in their tier list, and while this is no maps tier list, if I made one, I’d put Icebox pretty high on the list. Valorant’s lore says Icebox is located in Russia, and it definitely looks inspired by the cold places in Russia.
Icebox is an Attacker-friendly map, meaning attackers will have plenty of options to switch it up if something goes wrong. Icebox has two sites and a mid area, which defenders can use to flank the attackers.
Initiators and Sentinels work particularly well on Icebox. Agents such as Sova, Skye, Fade, Sage, and Kay/O are some of the best agents on Icebox. Along with them controllers and duelists Jett, Reyna, and Viper are great for offense and entering the site swiftly.
Sage is especially useful and adds incredible value to the team, thanks to her ability to block B Tube, which the enemies can use to cause unexpected contact
Sova’s recon darts can help with enemy intel, which in turn helps the attackers plant spike sooner or the defenders understand where the attackers are.
6. Breeze
Breeze is the largest map in Valorant. It’s a pretty balanced map and gives both attackers and defenders equal chances at winning rounds. Although you could get away by using any gun, the map has some of the longest angles to hold in Valorant, therefore, sniping is the most valuable skill here.
Except for Viper who’s pretty good on Breeze, playing controllers on this map is tough. The agents that can get the most out of their abilities on Breeze are Chamber (yes, even after his massive nerf), Sova, Fade, Jett, Reyna, and Skye.
On the other hand, Sage should be good at blocking the tunnel at the A or B site entrance as a whole. Besides, the map has a huge mid-side where defenders have the upper hand. Since this map is huge, if you have an Operator or Marshal sniper gun and the enemies decide to rotate from mid, you could get an easy kill before they could even sight you.
That said, both A and B are great for open plants as there’s plenty of space for attackers to hide after planting and show up when the enemy is diffusing for easy kills and clutches. The map recently got huge changes in the Breeze updates patch in Episode 7. The changes mainly made the map more playable for both sides equally and condensed the mid area more.
7. Fracture
Fracture is one of the most hated maps in Valorant. For starters, it features a complex design compared to other maps in Valorant, but that’s where the fun is. Defenders have a clear advantage as there are plenty of spots to keep a watch and kill.
Hence, you will often find attackers on Fracture trying to fake sites so that the defenders holding the site can rotate and the other party with the spike can plant on the opposite site. While this does yield results, it may backfire if the defenders outsmart you and always hold the site.
Fracture has two sites and in the middle of the map are ropes that help attackers or defenders go from the front to the back and vice versa. This enables easy backstabbing or sneaky plants if the enemy is not aware.
As for the best agents you can play on Fracture, Chamber takes the lead along with Brimstone, Raze, Skye, Breach, Gekko, and Viper. Overall, Fracture may seem complicated at first, but as you get used to it, you understand that it’s one of the most fun maps in Valorant.
8. Pearl
Yet another great map for defenders. Pearl has two sites and an extensive mid-section with lots of openings and doors. The doors lead to mid doors, mid connector, defender side water, mid shops, mid-top, and B Link. Hence, we can safely say this map is defender-friendly as opponents can hold off angles here to scare the attackers.
Besides, if you’re on the attacking team, your best chance is to change positions often and utilize the mid area to sneak up and shoot the defenders. Like Fracture, Pearl requires your teammates to hold and fake site at times.
As for the best agents for the map, Astra is a must-have, thanks to her ultimate Cosmic divide. Moreover, her smoke can block enemies from entering the main site, she can both stun and make enemies vulnerable to bullets.
Besides, you can also play Jett to hold long sites, a sentinel like Chamber or Killjoy to watch a site. You can also take Breach, Skye, and Gekko for flashes and utils since Pearl has a lot of angles that can be used as flash points.
9. Lotus
Lotus is the latest addition to Valorant, and the Valorant lore states it’s located in and inspired by India. Again, it’s a defender-friendly map as the attackers have to take far more risks to plant the spike. Like Haven, Lotus also has two doors that can help you jump from C to B or vice versa, and a door at A to plant the spike.
There’s a wall at A link that allows opponents or you to quickly jump to B after breaking it. Also, there are three openings at the C plant — one coming from spawn and C hall, one coming from C link called C waterfall, and the other coming directly from the attacker spawn C door and C lobby.
Lotus may look like a complicated map at the start but the more you play it, the easier it gets. Lotus favors Sentinels, Duelists, and a few select initiators. For example — Killjoy, Chamber, Neon, Jett, Reyna, Breach, Sova, and Fade are all amazing agents on Lotus.
You should especially play Breach combined with Skye or Fade’s utilities could easily win matches.
10. Sunset
After a lot of maps with different features and player dynamics, Riot Games finally had to come up with something simple for all types of players. That didn’t take time as another no-gimmick map came with the 10th map Sunset. The map is based on beautiful urban features of LA with two sites, one middle area concept.
In terms of map size and distance, Sunset is one of the smaller maps in Valorant. Although the sites are bigger than other maps, the entry points and the connections are vast and congested. It seems fairly balanced just like the Ascent map.
There is only one manual door in the mid area. Overall, the map will give many an Ascent or Ascent 2.0 vibe. You can always grab any initiator and duelist to rock this map. ISO can be one of the best duelists for this map.
11. Abyss
Although no-gimmick Sunset became a fan favorite, Riot wanted to bring some flavors to its 11th map Abyss. This Norwegian map from Alpha Earth brought a no-boundary setup in Valorant for the first time.
Despite being small size-wise, Abyss packs a punch of gimmicks. The primary gimmick are the death drops that help you utilize height to your advantage. Do remember that if if you fall, there is no coming back. Other than that, ascenders and breakable doors also help the map stay in a verticle state.
The map’s layout is simple as it boasts a three-lane setup with two spike sites. With a lot of spam walls and close rotation areas, Abyss will be one of the best retake maps in Valorant. If you’re someone starting out with it then it’s worth going through our Valorant Abyss map guide and the best agents for Abyss.
These are the current maps that you can play in Valorant. What is your favorite Valorant map right now? Tell us in the comments section below. Given the pattern Riot follows for a new map release, we can expect another new one in 2024.
There’s no definitive answer to this question as it all depends on the type of player you are and the agent you main. Generally, Valorant players tend to like Ascent and Bind the most. However, with the inclusion of Sunset, it has become another fan favorite in terms of simplicity.
There’s no such map that’s bad for Jett. Jett’s abilities are universal and are tailored to work on every map. If we still had to pick the best map for Jett, it’d be Lotus and Split. You can use her agility to reach higher points for an early peek advantage in these maps.
Breeze is one of the largest Valorant maps. Although it contains only two sites, the size of the site and even the spawn looks pretty big. Sometimes you would have to open your ADS to see enemies properly for the map being so big.
