Each match of VALORANT takes place on a map. Maps feature a spawn area for each team, barriers that limit accessible areas during the Buy Phase, and objective sites where the spike is to be planted.
Four maps were available at launch, and a six-month cycle is expected for the release of new maps[1].
There are currently eight playable maps in VALORANT, with an additional one for practice and training new players.
List of Maps
A downloadable folder containing all the map theme audio files can be found here.
| Image | Name | Type | Map rotation | Location | Release Patch | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
The Range | Practice | N/A |  Venice, Italy, Alpha Earth
|
Beta | |
 |
Bind | Standard | 
|
 Rabat, Morocco, Alpha Earth
|
Beta | |
 |
Haven |
|
 Thimphu, Bhutan, Alpha Earth
|
Beta | ||
 |
Split | 
|
 Tokyo, Japan, Alpha Earth
|
Beta | ||
 |
Ascent |
|
Venice, Italy, Alpha Earth
|
1.0 | ||
 |
Icebox |
|
 Bennett Island, Russia, Alpha Earth
|
1.10 | ||
 |
Breeze |
|
Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean, Alpha Earth | 2.08 | ||
 |
Fracture |
|
 Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, Alpha Earth
|
3.05 | ||
 |
Pearl |
|
 Lisbon, Portugal, Omega Earth
|
5.0 |
Map rotations
Map rotations are used in Unrated and Competitive, keeping seven maps in the pool at once and disabling all other maps from appearing in these specific game modes. Factors that can influence which maps are rotated out of the pool include player sentiment, time since release, planned updates, and the strategic variance of current and newly-released maps.[2]
The map rotation was introduced in Episode 05 with the arrival of VALORANT's eighth map, Pearl. Keeping the map pool limited to seven was seen as the sweet spot in order to ensure there is enough variety whilst not overwhelming players with having to learn and understand too many maps at once, and also allowing them to go deeper on those that are in the pool. A seven-map pool is also ideal for pro play, allowing both Bo3 and Bo5 formats to give both teams an equal number of bans without needing to play the same map twice in a series.[2]
History
Note: Whilst pro play is also affected by these map rotations, the scene does not keep to the same dates in order to give teams enough time to adjust to changes.
| Start Date | End Date | Excluded maps |
|---|---|---|
| June 22nd, 2022 | - | Split |
Map Coordinates
Each map in VALORANT has a real-life location, with its coordinates shown on the loading screen when entering a game on that map. The coordinates are listed as latitude and longitude using degrees, minutes, and seconds. The seconds values are shown as letters instead, with each letter representing a digit[3]:
| Latitude letters (N/S) | Longitude letters (E/W) | Digit |
|---|---|---|
| A | Z | 0 |
| B | Y | 1 |
| C | X | 2 |
| D | W | 3 |
| E | V | 4 |
| F | U | 5 |
| G | T | 6 |
| H | S | 7 |
| I | R | 8 |
| J | Q | 9 |
The real-life locations given by these coordinates are shown here:
Determining map selection
VALORANT uses a deterministic map system in order to increase the variety of maps players will encounter and vastly reduce the possibility of playing on the same map multiple times in a row. Once 10 players have been selected for a match, the system looks at all maps those players have played over the last 5 maps for the mode they have queued into. Any maps that a player has played twice in the past 5 maps are removed, before the system then picks the least played map from those remaining. If all maps have been removed due to the “Twice Played” rule, then this restriction will be ignored and the least played out of all the maps will be picked instead.[4]
Previous system iterations
Data for map streaks during previous systems
From launch, VALORANT used a completely random map selection system that gave all maps an equal chance of being selected. For the duration of this system there were only 4 maps available (Icebox was not released until 1.10), meaning each map had a 25% chance of being selected with no other factors taken into account. The small map pool and equal chance meant streaks of the same map were very common, resulting in 72% of players getting the same map multiple times over the course of 5 games, 26% of which would get a map streak for 3-5 of those games.[5]
Patch 1.08 changed this system to be pseudo-random instead. This system would favored maps that were, on aggregate, not seen by the 10 players selected for a match, heavily punishing maps that any player had gotten a recent streak of. With the map pool still at only 4 with the introduction of this update, many players would still get map streaks at first, but as more maps were added to the pool the chances of these streaks got much lower. Once Fracture (VALORANT's 7th map) was released, only 28% of players were getting the same map multiple times over the course of 5 games, with only 3% of which getting a map streak for 3-5 of those games.[5]
Data for map streaks a month after the deterministic system was introduced
Despite these improvements, many players felt that map streaks were still too common using the pseudo-random system. Though it heavily punished maps recently played by the 10 selected players, there was still a small chance of that map being selected anyway. In order to remove the chances of these maps appearing instead, the pseudo-random system was replaced with the current deterministic system in 4.04. Whilst it's not possible to completely prevent map streaks using the deterministic system, it was still able to further reduce the chances of players getting a map streak for 3+ games.[5]
References
Maps
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | ||||
| Practice | ||||
