Valorant players often find it difficult to understand new maps, such as the latest one, Fracture, right before they’re released.

With Episode 3 Act 2 and Valorant patch 3.05 right around the corner, we’ve decided to put together a guide to help shorten the learning curve and give players all the information they need to know.

This guide aims to help newcomers get the upper hand, and hopefully stop players from dodging Valorant’s newest map.

Fracture’s H-shape layout guide

Valorant Fracture map guide: Best strategies for attackers and defenders — Credit: Riot Games
Screenshot by Nigel Zalamea

Fracture may look daunting, but it’s simple if you think about it. While the map has many different locations, it is small compared to other maps like Breeze and Haven.

A quick look at the sound radius circle on the minimap shows that players will be able to hear a quarter of the map at all times. Players should be aware that map control is vital on Fracture because it has four ultimate orbs on the map.

Ultimate orb locations on Fracture

A Hall
A Dish
B Arcade
B Main

What is the sound radius circle?

This small radius circle around your agent on the minimap indicates how far you can hear the enemy agent’s footsteps and agent abilities. It also lets you know how much noise you’re making on the map.

If you ever find yourself lost, remember that you’re in a giant H-shape map with the A site on the left side and B-site on the right.

Attackers side guide: Tips and tricks

What makes Fracture unique, aside from its interactive narrative objects, is that attackers have two spawns.

At the start of the round, attackers can take a long zipline that will move them to the opposite end of the map. Two spawns open up more avenues of attack on either of the sites on Fracture.

At the start of the round, pick the site to attack and pincer it by pushing from the top and bottom part of the map. By surrounding one of the sites, attackers will be able to pinpoint the defenders’ locations and take the site.

Important things to note about the attacker spawn zipline

Credit: Riot Games
Screenshot by Nigel Zalamea

Once you take the zipline, you cannot stop or reverse backward.
There are two ziplines and they only travel one way.
You cannot jump off the zipline.

Defenders side guide: Tips and tricks

Knowing that the attackers have multiple spots to push, it is very important to hold these specific choke points:

A Dish
A Hall
Looking into B Arcade
Looking into B Tree
Looking into B Arcade

Credit: Riot Games
Looking into B Arcade

The most important part of the map for the defenders is their spawn because it is the quickest way to rotate from one site to the other. Attackers cannot get to the defenders’ spawn without crossing one of the sites on the map.

The only time defenders will have to worry about their spawn is when Omen uses From the Shadows or if Yoru uses Dimensional Drift to get behind enemy lines.

Valorant’s new map, Fracture, will be released alongside Valorant patch 3.05 which is now just a few weeks away.

Valorant Fracture map guide: Best strategies for attackers and defenders