In tactical shooters like Valorant, map knowledge and strategy is everything. So to help you develop strategies, we’re going to publish a guide for each of the three Valorant maps. We’ll be using a lot of Callout terminology in the process, so watch out for the cheat images in the article to make everything easier to understand. And get your reading glasses ready, here we go – with Split.

A general piece of advice that applies to all Valorant Maps: communicating is important. It may be difficult when playing with strangers, but it really makes a big difference. A lack of communication and coordination can often make the difference between a fun round and a frustrating one.

This is especially important on Split, as the map is generally advantageous for defense with its many corners and hiding places.

All in all, Split has three bottlenecks that you have to penetrate as an attacker in order to get to Mid, A, and B. The winner is usually the one who succeeds. Whoever succeeds in this, usually owns the victory.

Split Map – B Site – Defenders Guide

Let’s go from left to right through the Bind Map: A solid tactic here is to defend the B site with only one player and instead station two players at A and at Mid. This works because the mid players can rotate to the B side very quickly and because B offers very good hiding places and corners to defend anyway.

As a sole B defender, you obviously have to approach things carefully and safely – not peeking too much and asking for help as soon as you need it, because the rotation from Mid to B is really fast.
There are lots of angles for the defender to hold and lots of cover.

Essentially, you have to cover the bottleneck from B-Main to B-Site. You are more or less spoiled for choice here and can take cover behind or on top of one of the many boxes or even at B-Heaven or B-Rafters. The important thing is to make the most of the angles and make sure you can get from cover to cover in an emergency. Attackers will never know where to look because there are simply too many angles to check.

Split Map – B Site – Attackers Guide

Attacking B is tricky because the way through the bottleneck is the only direct way onto B. There are so many angles to check and very many options for defense. As soon as you leave the bottleneck and enter the B site, you definitely need to block the right side that leads to B-Heaven. This way you directly block some options of defense. Any agent with Wall ability and/or Smokes can do this job. Then, once you have taken control of B-Site and placed the Spike, you can use the many angles and corners on B to your own advantage.

You should always be on guard, however, because the rest of the defenders can rotate very quickly from the center and have multiple access points to B, not just one choke point. Often the reinforcements come from Heaven or rotate over their spawn at B alley.

A good way to disrupt rotation opportunities is to send someone to intercept defenders on Mid Mail so they don’t get to B in the first place. Good communication is the key to success here.

Split Map – Mid – Defenders Guide

With Mid, the main thing is to hold it at all costs. If you lose Mid, you open up the entire map to the attackers and give them a massive advantage. Delay, kill, confuse…. Whatever you have to do to keep the attackers from advancing through Mid is the goal here.

To achieve this, many players take cover at Mid Vent or Mid Mail and from there keep the attackers at bay in Bottom Mid. The longer it takes for the attackers to advance here, the better.

A neat trick in eco rounds is to buy a shotgun and wait in Top-Mid – facing Mid-Mail on the left side of the bottleneck behind the corner – until unsuspecting attackers run in front of the shotgun.

Split Map – Mid – Attackers Guide

Any competent defense will make sure not to lose Mid, so it’s important that attackers at least keep defenders on Mid busy and away from your teammates trying to spike. Ideally, you use the agents’ skills to get the defenders to peek and/or drop their guard. An agent like Breach, with his full wallbang package of skills, is well suited here, since most of the time the defense is just waiting behind cover for attackers to come through the bottleneck. Anything you can do as an attacker to get the defense to leave the safety of their cover and attack early is beneficial here.

An interesting tactic: An attacker pretends to get the Ultimate Orb at Bottom Mid and tries to lure the defenders to attack him. But this only works with good communication: you need a teammate with good aim to pick off greedy, peeping defenders – otherwise this plan is just a suicide mission.

In most cases, you should have at least two attackers attacking Mid – one from Sewer and one from B-Link. This way you can then keep an eye on Mid Mail and Mid Vent from both sides. For example, if there is no one in Mid Vent, you can attack Mid Mail together – or vice versa. Once you have Mid under control, you can set the tempo for the entire game: Rotating to B becomes almost instantaneous, and defenses can be quickly overwhelmed since they no longer have the advantage of controlling the three bottlenecks. A-Site doesn’t open up quite as much, though, as the defenders still have a solid defensive advantage here, as the ropes are good to cover defensively at Mid Vent. But, bonus tip: don’t forget that you still have good accuracy on the ropes.

Split Map – A Site – Defenders Guide

There are two ways to defend the A-Site on Split – either aggressively or more cautiously. The aggressive option is to aggressively take the paths and corners leading to the site: Say, take A-Ramp and set up on A-Main.

Alternatively, you can play A more defensively by using A-Screens to keep an eye on the site. Screens provides a clear view of both entrances to A: Heaven/Rafters and A-Main. Since there is almost no cover on A-Site, setting up at Screens is a really safe way to defend, especially if you keep the off-angle.

Another option is to hide behind the shield at the back of the actual A-Spike location to surprise attackers. However, it is important to remember that the shield is fully shootable and does not provide any safe cover or means of escape. Some attackers might even preemptively empty a clip into the shield.

Split Map – A Site – Attackers Guide

As an attacker, it is very important to be prepared that the defense might be rushed on A-Main and might have anticipated the approach from A-Lobby. So extra cautious approach and also peek Ramps cautiously – especially if the enemy team has good Eco, because then they might have an operator user stationed on the ramps. Best to use the heroes’ abilities – walls and Smokes – to block the view from the ramp to A-Main.

The most dangerous part is the open area on the A-side below the rafters. Here you definitely need to use agent skills to provide cover and security. It is especially important to watch out for defenders camping at screens, as they will have a clear shot at any attackers advancing on A-Site without a utility.

Due to the lack of cover, A-Site generally requires a quick advance and spike placement.

Once you have placed the spike on A, you can again use the same angles as the defense to hold the site. Screens is again a very good place to hold and intercept defenders who may be rotating from Mid or B to A.

Valorant Beginner’s Guide

Overwhelmed with Valorant? No wonder… Without experience in similar games (such as CS:GO or Overwatch) the start in Valorant is difficult. But don’t worry, we are here to help you with our Valorant Beginner Guide.

Valorant is a special game. Many think that getting into the game is easy, but without shooter experience, you’ll quickly be on the ropes. Even CS:GO veterans can get into trouble… In Counter Strike, there are no flying knife-throwing things-people. But that’s why we are here.

This beginner’s guide is meant to help you get started in Valorant and introduce you to the world of Valorant. After that, the most important features should be clear to you, so that the fun in Valorant is not lost.

Valorant Beginner Guide: Basics

Let’s start with the meaning behind the game. In other words: What is Valorant anyway? Valorant is a first-person shooter in which two teams consisting of five players face off. The first team to win 13 rounds wins. Both teams have a different role – attacker and defender.

The goal of the attackers is to place a spike and protect it until detonation. This must happen on one of the three spots (A/B/C). In turn, the defenders must prevent the attackers from doing so.

Each match consists of two halves. After the first half (12 rounds), the two teams switch roles. The attackers become defenders, the defenders become attackers. Easy.

Agents

Before the start of a match, each player must choose an agent. Agents have unique skills, which in most cases also require a certain playstyle (offensive, defensive, support, etc.). Currently there are 16 agents in total, but new agents have already been leaked and should be added soon.

As a new player, you can initially choose between 5 free agents: Brimstone, Phoenix, Sova, Jett and Sage. To unlock more agents, you will have to sign contracts, which is mostly done via Daily Quests or earning experience points.

Valorant Beginner Guide: The best agent to start with

Phoenix is by far the easiest agent to start with in Valorant. His skills are not too complicated, can be combined well in any situation. But watch out with the flashbangs (aka your Q skill)! You’ll probably flashbang yourself and your mates quite often in the beginning, but practice makes perfect!

Valorant Beginner Guide: The best mode to start with

Stay away from Unrated mode for the beginning. This may sound strange, but especially the beginning of Valorant might be hard for you. Frustration will lead to quick quits, which in turn will get you involved in penalties and XP loss. That’s why you should start with Spike Rush first. An average game here lasts 8 minutes, while other modes can easily go over 50 minutes. In Spike Rush, you’ll be quickly released from suffering without having to take any penalties.

In addition, you don’t have to do any eco rounds in Spike Rush. This means that you’ll be able to try out your agents’ abilities, as well as the most varied weapons. Spike Rush is a great mode to learn the basics of Valorant. When you feel like you’re firmly in the saddle, you can try your luck in Unrated mode. After 20 matches in Unrated mode, you’ll gain access to Competitive mode, where you can earn ranks.

Heroes&WIKI, Valorant, ValorantGuide, ValorantGuides