On a monthly average, there are 150,000 concurrent VALORANT viewers on Twitch. All the time, these viewers will be watching ranked or pro games battle on a series of 7 maps. On this page, we’ll identify and elaborate on the VALORANT competitive maps which are in the current map pool rotation.
VALORNT Competitive Maps List
Here are all the current maps in VALORANT map pool rotation, as of September 22, sorted by release date (oldest to newest):
- Sunset
- Split
- Haven
- Ascent
- Bind
- Lotus
- Breeze
Sunset – New Map
As the tenth map released by Riot Games, Sunset greeted the community by being introduced with Patch 7.05. Set in Los Angeles, the sun is setting on a traditional map with two sites and three lanes. Notably, the map has elements of other maps, with Mid similar to Bind thanks to the immediate gunfights and B site similar to that of Split.
Overall, this new map looks to focus on Riot’s new focus on reducing the importance of ultimates making sites a little more difficult to take for the Attackers with just utility. Teamwork is going to be crucial on this map. Streamers testing this map have suggested that this will be Defender sided.
Split
As a closed-beta map, Split has been around even before VALORANT‘s official launch in June 2020. In VCT 2023 Champions, one of the most recent international VALORANT tournaments, Split took the first spot and was picked 22 times.
According to Riot’s Level Design Lead and Senior Game Designer, the vision for the Japanese map was to shift the critical attacking and defending area off-site, towards a center, to be precise. To capture this critical area is to have all the cards since it gives a lot of info and entries for both Attackers and Defenders.
Split was removed from the competitive map pool in June 2022 only to come back fresh from a rework eight months later in January 2023. Since returning, at VCT Champions the map saw a 56.33% win rate for Attack as the professionals understand the importance of mid-control on this map.
It’s one of the most popular VALORANT maps in the game.
Haven
For a long while, Haven was the most unique of all VALORANT maps. When the game first launched with just four maps, only one had three bomb sites instead of two. It would remain to be the odd one out until Lotus came to the scene nearly three years and five maps later.
Why wasn’t Haven’s lead followed earlier? Perhaps it’s hard to emulate its layout without risking making something bland and uncreative—as critics of Lotus deem the map to be.
At VALORANT Champions, the Bhutanese map averages a 49.54% Attacker win rate. The three bomb sites slightly favor defensive strategies, although not as much in ranked games (49.2%).
All in all, Haven is a fairly balanced map where opportunities abound for both sides.
Ascent
Other than its mechanical doors and freeing aesthetics, nothing is really special about Ascent—except its traditional three-lane layout is the cornerstone that all other maps are and will be based on.
In June 2020, the Italian map was among the first maps to welcome new and starry-eyed players to Riot’s flagship FPS video game. Ascent, as VALORANT’s foundational experience, is now more popular than ever too, never leaving the competitive map pool since Day 1. It was the third least picked map at VALORANT Champions 2023 (15.09%).
In the hands of the best VALORANT teams, Ascent is a balanced map which struggles with a lack of variety when it comes to agent selection. Specifically, at VCT Champions, the Attack win rate sat at 51.24% while the defense win rate was lower at 48.76%.
Bind
The smallest map on VALORANT, Bind challenges some traditional norms. One of them is the concept of the middle lane, which the developers removed entirely and replaced with direct entry points. This allows an all-out, face-to-face brawl between Attackers and Defenders in less than 5 seconds.
After returning in Spring 2023, the changes made to Bind have made it a more balanced map, improving the chances for the Attackers while also moving around the teleporters to make them a component of strategy, rather than just a gimmick.
Thanks to these changes, the meta and the viewing experience of this map have changed, although the Defense remains favoured. Notably, at VALORANT Champions 2023, the Defense win rate sat at 53.82% which is similar to what it was in the path.
Lotus
The Indian map Lotus is as tranquil as tranquil gets—the lotus flower is associated with the enlightened Buddha himself. The Reddit forums, however, tell a different story entirely. The community just can’t decide whether the compact map is good or bad.
Lotus first reached the international stage at the VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo, about a month after its release in January 2023. There it was picked up 13 times and was played on 206 rounds, 123 of which were won by the attacking side (the Attacker win rate was 59.7%, the highest of all by 4.9%).
At VALORANT Champions, the Attacker win rate was 55.11% – higher than what it was at VCT Tokyo Masters as teams have understood the importance of manipulating rotations on this massive map.
Clarity is the motif. And with everyone across the VALORANT ranks arguing about Lotus, ironically, it’s also the needed outcome.
Breeze
Built on a Bahamian coast, Breeze offers extended sightlines and the possibility of open duels. Within seconds into the round, Site A, Site B, and middle players can see and shoot each other from afar.
The pathways are wide just like the bomb sites they lead to. For teams, the large layout is simply a question of who can cover the most area for a possible hold or access.
In December 2022, it was revealed that Breeze would be removed from the map pool. But in August 2023, Breeze returned with a new makeover, streamlined lanes, fewer angles to worry about for Defenders and an additional challenge for splits for the Attackers.
While we’re not sure how the changes will affect the map balance and the agent pool, the meta of VALORANT has changed drastically since it was last played – we can’t wait to see how the professionals approach this map now.
Reserve Maps in Valorant
The following are maps that are outside of the current map pool rotation. All of these maps were removed from the VALORANT competitive map pool in January 2023.
Icebox
Icy Russia may seem bleak, but the addition of Icebox in October 2020 had the opposite effect on the community. It follows the three-lane layout of Ascent, although the routes leading to the sites combine long sightlines and narrow routes, balancing long-range and short-range fights for both Attackers and Defenders.
When it was in the map pool, it was another Attacker-sided map – roughly 52.9-53.5% Attacker win rate and 51% in ranked.
Suffering from a repetitive agent pick rate and strategy, we’re curious to see what the rework has in store.
Especially with the increasing number of agents that are suited to its layout, Icebox could become one of the most versatile maps in Valorant.
Fracture
With the American map Fracture, which was released in September 2021, control of the two main routes branching off on either side of both sites is the name of the game. The developers call it “pinching.” This sounds harsh for Defenders. And with the map’s 52% Attacker win rate at VCT Masters Tokyo, it was getting harder to defend even for the best Valorant players in the world.
With the announcement of VALORANT’s most unique map being pulled out of the rotation, the map was only picked 5 times at VALORANT Champions, with a balanced Attack and Defender win rate. Likely, Riot Games will be working on improving the map by reducing the impact of large-area ultimate abilities such as Killjoy’s ultimate which would open up the site way too easily for both sides.
Pearl
Most Valorant map names describe a theme. With Pearl, the name also describes a concept: keep it simple. This is why the Portuguese map didn’t have a unique mechanical feature at all when it came out in June 2022—except for one crouchable path. Instead, it uses a more detailed three-lane layout and continues to build on ground-level (in this case seabed-level) concepts like angle and terrain.
Because the entire map is underwater, there’s some verticality to it. Aggressively pushing A or B, for instance, requires a tilted crosshair.
At VCT Tokyo Masters 2023, Pearl was the third-most defendable map, with a 51% Defender win rate. Most recently, at VALORANT Champions, the Defense win rate sat at 50.33%. However, the pros and casual community agree with the fact that Riot has pulled the map from the rotation to work on it further. Specifically, the B bomb site needs a massive rework considering how impossible it was to hold for Defenders – we’re curious to see what Riot Games cooks up.
If you want to get started with VALORANT betting, you may want to consider looking at the data sets involving these maps.
