Valorant Brimstone Defensive Smokes on Split Guide

by MxChamp24

Hey everyone, it’s Dragonmar here and i’m back with another post for you all today. This will be based off of my 3rd Fundamental Brimstone Defensive Smokes video which is aimed at the map Split. I’ll be going over some tips based on this video, as well as some more general tips relating to what is in the video about rotates, retakes, etc.

The Video

Tip 1: Free Orbs below A-Ramp, and B-Main

• You all know by now, but I can never pass up free orbs. Split, in my opinion, has some of the most free orbs ever. The orb below A-Ramp is easily secured with a single smoke. I have yet to be consistently challenged for this orb in any game, unrated or rated. This leads me to believe this is a surefire way to gain ults faster on Split.
• B-Main is a bit more tricky because players can often make their way behind the box inside of B-Main before your smoke lands. If you want to pressure for this orb, just make sure you are clearing that box first.

Tip 2: A-Ramp full control with 1 smoke

• I find myself playing atop A-Ramp a lot on split, and as such I need to figure out a way to consistently repel the enemy. The simplest solution i’ve found thus far is to use the same smoke as in Tip 1, where you smoke toward the attacker side of the orb and block off their path toward A-Ramp and A-Short. Seems simple right? It gets better…
  • You should smoke immediately on round start, granting you access to the orb.
  • Upon gaining the orb, I backtrack up to the top of ramp.
  • Periodically jiggle or jump-peek the corner to make sure no enemy is advancing through smoke
  • Wait 5-10 seconds after your smoke clears and re-smoke the same spot. Waiting is key, it will greatly lengthen the time in which attackers must wait to push if they are not immediate in their decisions.(They tend to be slow)
  • This is a great way to keep A smoked off for well over a minute into each round.

Tip 3: A-Short Smokes Stop Pushes

• What happens if they break through my smokes and are pushing up toward ramp and onto site? The simple answer is to use two smokes. One smoke at the top of where A-Ramp plateaus, and to use your second smoke on A-Short as close to site as possible.
  • These smokes should be used the second you lose control. Why?
    • You need to guarantee no enemies can have a free path to site. The A-Short smoke tends to hold enemies up very well.
    • You’ll allow for your teammates to rotate
    • The enemy doesn’t know who/what to expect on site, meaning even if you have nobody playing on A-Site itself, you can still mind-game them into being extra cautious and wasting time.

Tip 4: A-Site Retake Options

• CT-Retake
  • Smoke off heaven, and A-Short. This will mean you only have to focus on site. I like heading straight into elbow from CT/Back halls once i’ve smoked.
• Mid/Rotate Retake
  • If rotating, throw the A-Ramp and A-Short smoke
  • If retaking, smoke doorway to ramp if you believe an enemy may be there based on info. Smoking backhall is great as well if you have no teamamte retaking from that angle. You can also smoke A-Short if you have an extra smoke, as this will stop anyone playing from Orb/Ramp from peeking you as you drop down onto site.
• T-Retake
  • If retaking from T-Side, you’ll need to absolutely smoke off Heaven, and backhall. You want a clear path to site, and those are long-range fights that you’ll most likely lose.

Tip 5: Mid hold with 1 smoke

• Simply smoke at the the stairs leading to mid-cubby outside of ropes. Giving up lower-mid control does almost NOTHING for the enemies except maybe allow them to boost onto the boxes for free.

Tip 6: B-Site Rush Control

• When you get rushed on B, STOP PANICKING.
• Now, stay safely on site behind the box/giant pillar. Use one smoke to connect the giant pillar to the wooden board/wall in front of B-Main. Then, smoke directly in front of the heaven-rope, connecting the pillar to the B-Main wall.
• These smokes will isolate site, forcing enemies to wait 15 seconds or push through the smokes. You GENERALLY have enough time from first noticing a rush to when they are on site for these all to land.
• Why not just smoke B-main? Answer: Enemies who actually Rush as a team will be well through your smoke(most likely, depending where you are playing) by the time you’d need it to be effective. Instead, these smokes give up more ground, but still retain control of site.

Tip 7: B-Site Retake Options

• Unfortunately retaking B-Site can difficult but here are some options
• Retake from Heaven
  • Smoking off the back corner of site behind the wood wall will generally block off 1 attacker who plays there
• Retake from T-Side/B-Main
  • You’ll absolutely want to throw a smoke at heaven if you do not have control. There are simply too many angles as you exit B-Main onto site to clear without a smoke.

Tip 8: Cut Off Bombsites with Smokes for Fake-Defuses

• Using B-Site as an example, i was able to win a 1v3 with a nice fake-defuse on B by cutting site off with smokes. Often times, enemies won’t have any choice but to push smoke on sites if you tap a defuse
• Example: B-Site retake 1v1. You retake from CT with one enemy left, upon exiting CT you know there is nobody heaven, and nobody close left. This means the enemy is either toward B-Main, on site, or in the back corner. By smokes from the pillar, to the close wall toward CT with two smokes, you can effectively block off the entirety of that side of the site. Now, the enemy must choose to:
  • Fire through smoke and give up their position
  • Run/walk through smoke
  • Let you defuse in hopes it was a fake
• Those are some good odds

Tip 9: Cut Off Post-Plant Positions With Smokes

• Where do players commonly go after a bomb-plant? Most good players won’t remain directly on site, instead they will advance to a location where they may be able to cut-off a defender rotating into site.
• This means that you can actually place “defensive” smokes while “attacking” a site to defuse the bomb. For example on B-Site:
  • When retaking from Heaven, it is completely viable to smoke off B-Main, and CT-Connector as enemies will often have advanced into one of these two areas to cut-off rotating defenders.

Tip 10: Rotating Smokes, Instead of Waiting

• If you have smokes, it’s better to use them to help defend a rush/while you are rotating then to use them in post plant. Why?
  • Post plant situations tend to favor the attackers due to their ability to develop full control of a bombsite.
  • By smoking early, you are generally close enough to site to help, and potentially completely stopping the rush in its tracks.
• There are obviously situations where post-plant smokes would benefit the defenders, but if you are still in a 5v5 then i would definitely recommend smoking sites will you rotate.
• My example would be Brim playing Mid on Split and rotating to B:
  • When i rotate as Brim, I immediately smoke Ramp and Short. I get into Heaven as fast as I can, quickly clear close ramp and sometimes push my OWN smoke to get toward A-Short OR
  • I clear close-ramp and push out heaven, knowing that nobody from ramp/A-Short can see me and allowing me to focus on site.

As always, these are just my personal tips and may not always be appropriate or effective in your games. I’ve found these to be highly effective and useful in the vast majority of games though. Have any questions, or want to add something? Leave a comment below and i’ll be sure to respond! Thanks for reading/watching!