by chopsttv

Disclaimer: These positions are all SUBJECTIVE, and you should play a position based on your choice of character and enemy reads. Adapting to the situation is extremely important and setting up with the same position every single time will result in a loss.

With that out of the way, i’ve played around 50+ hours of the Valorant closed beta, and have seen many, many players- whether new to tactical shooters, or playing their first few games, confused on how and where to stack on each map.

The purpose of this post is to show off the safest default positioning you can have as a team on each map, reasoning why, and how it can result in easy rounds.

SPLIT:

Lets start off with everyone’s favorite map so far.

Many people complain about Split being a bad map. The two opinions i’ve constantly seen on the sub are either “Split is my favorite map!” or “If I have to play on Split one more time i’m uninstalling.” I really think until you learn how to play the map, its a pretty bad time- but once you have it down its very fun.

The ideal default positioning on Split is two players at A Site, two players controlling Mid, and one player at B site.

The reasoning behind this, is fairly simple. Split is ALL about mid control, and almost nothing else. Good attacking teams will try and get mid control instead of funneling completely onto one site every round, and its very good to stack two players here on your defense. The player in Connector (Mid Vent) can easily watch the B entry point to mid, and the player in Heaven (Mid Mail) can easily set up a crossfire OR watch Sewers.

By playing these positions, if the enemy team decides to rush B, player 5 is easily able to call, while player 3 and 4 rotate to B site within seconds- whether its through Heaven, or wrapping around Garage (B Main).

This goes for A site as well- if the enemy team decides to rush A, player 3 is easily able to rotate through Connector and play A Heaven (A Tower) with player 2. It is HEAVILY advised player 4 continues to watch mid in case there is a rotation through Sewers.

Its very easy to make rotations in general with these positions, and most of the time Defenders have a giant advantage over Attackers on Split.

HAVEN:

I’ve seen many people complain that this kind of game shouldn’t have a 3 site map, and get frustrated when they don’t understand how to play around it. Lets talk about Haven.

The ideal default positioning for Haven is two players on A Site, ONE player in B Site, ONE player in Garage, and ONE player on C Site. This map is the map I see the worst defending positioning on by far, and i’m hoping to put some insight into why this positioning is the safest way to play.

First off, the reasoning why A Site pretty much needs to be two stacked, is A Short and A Long cannot, (to my knowledge), be watched at the same time. This puts one stacking at A at a huge disadvantage. Player 1 being at Heaven is easily able to cover either Long OR Short, and player 2 is able to roam multiple angles, setup crossfires, and make plays depending on who they are playing. Communicate with your other A player and setup new positioning when you can.

The reasoning why its best to 1 stack the other positions, is with these you’re easily able to cover EVERY angle, and rotate appropriately. Player 3 is able to watch Mid Window, and if its a rush through Mid to B site, player 4 and 5 can rotate easily. Player 4 is able to watch Garage, and if its a rush to C angles can be covered by player 4 and 5 while player 3 rotates accordingly. If its a rush to C Long, player 5 is able to SAFELY watch one angle at a time by playing back corner, without being exposed to flanks or other angles while player 4 rotates.

Proper communication is extremely important by all 3 of these players, but guarantees safe play and easy rotations when done right. As a bonus, I highly recommend someone with vertical mobility play at the 3 position, like Jett, Raze, or Omen. You can get off angles on top of B site, and catch enemy rushes off guard easily.

BIND:

I really enjoy the teleportation mechanic on this map, and think it adds a ton of positioning mind games. These are (in my opinion) the best options for defending on Bind.

So, like I mentioned, Bind is a bit of a tricky one because of the teleportation mechanic. I’ve found a lot of the time as well, when the enemy team decides to rush B site, the players stacking A get very confused on what to do, when to rotate, and where to go.

Lets talk about A site first. I feel this site is pretty flexible, and all 3 players can move around accordingly, but should stay in the same radius near their area. Player 3 is able to watch A Short very easily, but keep in mind good players WILL pre-fire U-Hall almost immediately when pushing. You can play off angles around A Portal and catch rushers off guard with ease. Player 2 can either try and set-up a crossfire with player 3, OR watch Showers near the “Vent” position shown on this map. Its also very easy for player 2 to wrap through U-Hall and try to catch anyone at Short off guard. Player 1 is easily able to watch Showers, or Short from Heaven, but keep in mind if you’re in this position you are by far the most vulnerable, as if there is a push through Showers the attacking team will more than likely look to punish Heaven before anything else. Just like A Site for Haven, COMMUNICATE with your team and set-up new positioning/strategies to catch the attacking team off guard.

When rotating from A, player 1 should STAY in Heaven in case of a teleport or fake push.

B site is extremely flexible on Bind, and both players are able to heavily lurk around site. I’ve drawn some lines for players 4, and 5, for a couple different areas/angles they’re able to safely watch and cover. Player 4 can aggressively hold Hookah (Although personally I don’t agree with that positioning.), stay in B Cubby to watch B Long, or move back to B Hall to cover Hookah from a safer angle. Player 5 can either back up to Elbow to set-up a crossfire on Window, or watch Garden from an off angle. If you decide to be aggressive, player 5 can also push up to B Long and go for a pick on anyone rushing. Communication is key, and while i think B players are able to be a bit more aggressive, timing is very important and these players need to make plays together.

CLOSING NOTES:

Again, i’d like to remind people reading this guide that this is intended for new players, whether it be to the Valorant closed beta or people playing a tactical shooter for the first time.

If you’d like more positioning guides, i’m going to be streaming/doing educational content and VOD reviews for Valorant over at https://www.twitch.tv/chopsttv in about a week or so. I really look up to coaches/players in the Overwatch and CS community that do educational content on stream, and plan on doing the same to the best of my ability.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you received at least some help/insight to the game! If you haven’t received access yet, hang in there and good on you for preparing ahead of time!