As Riot Games continues to grow and update VALORANT gameplay, fans will see many new maps introduced over the years as developers stick to their six-month cycle of introducing new maps.
Joe Lansford, design lead for the VALORANT map team, announced in June 2022 that Riot Games will have seven maps in the active pool, after working with the esports team, surveying players, and meeting with professional bodies.
Lansford added that learning a new map in a tactical shooter can be one of the most challenging aspects of the game. Mastering a map is even more difficult, and “having a lot of maps is a steep learning curve.” The team believes that “seven maps are a nice sweet spot offering both variety and crafting,” and Split is being removed for now as a result. New players will have less to learn when entering VALORANT, and existing players do not need to learn a new map.
The June update first introduced Pearl's underwater battlefield to competitive map rotation while moving Split out of the game through Patch 5.0. The team promised that Split would return, and that's it, January 2023Confirmed in the latest post detailing the map pool changes coming with Patch 6.0.
What are the available maps in the VALORANT map pool rotation?
What are the available maps in the VALORANT map pool rotation?
Here are the current maps in the VALORANT map pool rotation, but these will change in January 2023.
- Port
- Ascent
- Ice box
- Fracture
- Pearl
- bind*
- Breeze*
Both Bind and Breeze will be removed from the active VALORANT map pool rotation at the start of Patch 2023 in January 6.0. Split will return to rotation with "new changes". Since patch 6.0 should arrive about six months after Pearl was added, fans can expect a new map to be added.
In an explanatory post, Riot said that Breeze “has some areas that need improvement in terms of agents and team composition diversity, as well as some opportunities to simplify the field.” As for Bind, Riot wants to expand its strategic diversity and “open more play around teleporters and potentially rethink the way teams defend against and attack in both regions.”
There is no current timetable for Breeze and Bind's return, but Riot has confirmed that they will be returning at some point.
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