Best Team Comps for VALORANT’s Premier Mode (Every Map)

Best Team Comps for VALORANT’s Premier Mode

The Premier Alpha is currently live in Brazil. While everyone else is waiting on the game modes’ release, the least we can do is some theory-crafting on the best team compositions for each map.

These recommendations will be a blend of what works well in ranked modes and the professional scene.

Not everyone can play each agent like a pro, but with an organized team, there are more opportunities to run set plays and strategies than in solo queue games.

We’ll definitely revisit to improve this list over time, but for now, here is our list of the best team comps for VALORANT’s Premier mode by map.

Once you finish our article, head to our VALORANT maps tool for agent lineups and more.

Ascent

Ascent is a very defensive-sided map. A team that can get more offensive rounds is more likely to find success here. This team comp revolves around farming the easy-to-access Ultimate Orbs for the offensive team and making the most out of offensive ultimates.

Team Composition

• Chamber – The primary Operator to lock down on defense, and a capable lurker on offense.
• Jett – Jett is great for fighting for mid on Ascent and making space on sites during executes.
  Phoenix – Serves the role KAY/O does for pro teams, but Phoenix is much easier for a player to get value from.
• Sova – Sova can lock down B Main on defense, and is a must have tool for offense due to the tough to hit sites on Ascent.
• Omen –

Offensive Strategy

Outside of professional play, teams do not fight for ground as much on Ascent. This allows Phoenix to farm Ultimate Orbs on offense that are easy to grab for attacking players.

This strong entry ult turns this defensive map into a much more manageable attacking half. In rounds Phoenix doesn’t have Run it Back, utilize Jett’s space-making ability with Sova gathering information to get through the tight choke points on this map.

Defensive Setup

Sova sets up B Main and gets information, and can try to chip damage enemies through the wall. Jett and Omen fight for A Main with Paranoia and Tailwind. Phoenix plays Catwalk/Garden, as these are two commonly smoked areas in which he can flash out.

Meanwhile, Chamber traps mid, as mid plays are less common in non-pro play, and this trap allows Chamber to cycle an Operator around the map.

Set Play to Try

On defense Omen instantly Paranoias A Main and Sova shoots a Recon Dart in the back of A Main where blinded enemies are unable to shoot the dart. Jett dashes through A Main to kill the blinded and revealed enemies.

Alternate Agents

• Fade for Sova – These two serve very similar roles. Fade’s Prowlers can get a little better information for clearing multiple corners when executing a site.
• Astra for Omen – Omen is the easier-to-play agent, but Astra is great for stuffing all-out pushes at the choke points with her Gravity Well.
• Killjoy for Chamber – If you are bothered with opposing teams’ utility dumping on sites, Killjoy is the solution. She is able to halt pushes much better than Chamber.

Bind

Another defensive map here. The lack of a mid-lane limits attackers’ options. This team comp utilizes defensive Agents who serve specific offensive purposes to take some rounds on the attack.

Team Composition

• Raze – This has been Raze’s best map since Beta, use her here for all the tight spaces her Paint Shells clear out.
• Brimstone – His smokes are great for fast executes and stalling out the other team when on defense. His ultimate is great for post-plant and instantly taking U Hall.
• Fade – The Judge is a scary weapon on this map. Prowlers are great for clearing the tight angles on this map, and her Seize pairs very well with Raze’s Paint Shells
• Sage – Another great defensive tool for slowing pushes. On offense, her Barrier Orb is fantastic for getting plants down on A Site and Walling off Elbow on B site to safely plant.
• Viper – Yet another stalling tool. On offense her ultimate is great for getting plants down, she has strong post-plant utility, and her Toxic Screen down A Short is the only way to effectively lurk on this map to prevent defenders from rotating fast.

Offensive Strategy

Raze, Fade, and Brimstone are there for executing on sites quickly. As mentioned earlier Sage is best for walling off areas to ensure the spike plant goes down.

Viper should be playing around post-plant and setting up a Toxic Screen A Short to make defenders respect the potential there is a lurk. Viper doesn’t have to lurk every round, and you can change it up and contact walkthrough A Short using the lurk wall.

Defensive Setup

Viper is able to stall off Hookah, while Fade can get info B Long or opt to save her Haunt to play elbow and spam through a smoke that attackers put down.

A Site is on lock with Sage being able to combine her slow with Brim’s molly and Raze’s Grenade. Sage is also able to swap to Hookah, as she is a good option to shut off that area.

Set Play to Try

To take A Site, Brimstone can use his Ultimate to clear out U Hall. Meanwhile, Raze uses Showstopper and Blast Packs over Truck to kill the player escaping U Hall from Brimstone’s Ultimate.

Viper switches her Toxic Screen to give Raze extra cover and to create a pocket for Sage to place her Barrier Orb for an easy plant.

Alternate Agents

• Chamber for Viper – Gives your team some more firepower. If your team prefers to run an Op over double controller, this is the easiest substitute to make.
• Skye for Sage – Skye gives the team flashes, and her Trailblazer is great for getting info on both sides.

Breeze

This map typically devolves into rushing A. Fighting for mid or A Main prevents this from being as successful for attackers. This comp uses agents with long-distance utility who can fight up close if needed.

Team Composition

• Viper – A near must pick here. Toxic Screen is just too strong to pass up on offense.
• Chamber – The long site lines are where Chamber thrives. Use Trademark at the end of halls or on doors to prevent extra pressure on A.
• Jett – Jett is good for floating on this map, and can play most sites, no pun intended. Fighting for mid is a great use for Jett, and can allow teammates to rotate quickly by holding a contain, and getting info if the attackers cancel a hit and rotate.
• Sova – Recon Bolt is very strong here due to the size of the map, and being able to set up smoke spams through Viper’s Toxic Screen.
• Skye – Guiding Light can flash through Toxic Screen to take ground. Regrowth gets value on this map due to the longer site lines resulting in more body shots.

Offensive Strategy

On Breeze, a 4-1 or 3-1-1 split is very effective. Chamber lurks on his own, and the other players group up. Viper sets Toxic Screen, Jett Dashes in, Sova uses Recon Dart, and Skye flashes through the Toxic Screen.

This combination makes taking sites very easy with Chamber potentially getting a backstab kill on those rotating.

Defensive Setup

Sova and Skye are positioned to help Jett fight mid, or to quickly rotate to A or B to use their utility that is effective through the opposing Viper’s Toxic Screen.

Viper stalls on B with her Poison Cloud and Snakebites. Toxic Screen is placed A for retakes, and Trademark is set up Halls to prevent a lurk.

Set Play to Try

If enemies are constantly running it down A, use this set play to get a potential multikill with Sova’s ult.

At the start of the round Sova uses this lineup while Skye flashes the Ultimate Orb and if the Guiding Light indicates someone is there, Sova uses his Ultimate in the vertical portion of Shop on enemies who backed off and into A Lobby where the Recon Dart is revealing enemies.

Alternate Agents

• KAY/O for Skye – Being able to suppress Viper’s Toxic Screen or Sova on an Owl Drone is great for stalling pushes. On top of this his Frag/Ment is great for stopping pushes in chokes.
• Cypher for Chamber – If your team has a Cypher specialist, Breeze is a map that a lot of teams can be caught off guard by Cypher’s kill setups on A Site, and he gives great coverage for flanks with 2 Trapwires

Fracture

This map is even between attackers and defenders, but can sometimes feel hard to break through. This double initiator team composition is great for breaking through and getting your duelist onto site.

Team Composition

• Breach – This map was made for Breach. All of his utility goes through the geometry of this map well. He is great for taking ground and stalling plants.
• Raze – Raze can make space with her Blast Packs and the bomb sites having pockets is very good for Paint Shells to kill the player planting or defusing the spike.
• Chamber – Trademark on one side of site and set up with an Operator on the other. Chamber can hold sites very easily on this map.
• Brimstone – Orbital Strike is fantastic on this map. His general kit is great for the long lasting smokes and the molly for post plants and cutting off pushes through smokes.
• Fade – Prowlers are good for clearing out the few places defenders have to hide on sites. She can also get information early, allowing you to rotate off certain areas if no one is there.

Offensive Strategy

Clear areas and get information with Haunt and Prowlers. Have breach Flash and Fault Line players whose positions are known. Raze should be able to close in on these stunned and flashed enemies easily.

It is recommended to pinch sites from both sides and use Stim Beacon to execute even faster.

Defensive Setup

Breach and Raze make for a great combo in A-Main. Breach can set up Raze through the wall. Brimstone can molly off of Chambers trap, while Chamber holds Arcade.

It is highly recommended for Chamber rotate sites on this map with the Operator. The other good spot for his Trademark is in A Drop.

Set Play to Try

Raze jiggle peeks down A Main. If she spots an enemy Breach and Brimstone both use their ultimates. The enemies’ only options are to fall back into the Brimstone ult or fight Raze when stunned.

Use Trademark on Drop to cover the flank of these players.

Alternate Agents

• Harbor for Brimstone – This is likely Harbor’s strongest map. His vision blocking utility is great for cutting off sitelines multiple smokes are used for and his Cascade can push back Operators.
• Neon for Raze – Neon is more difficult to play, but her ability to stun, play off others’ utility and close the gap makes her great for pinch plays which are used heavily on this map on both offense and defense.

Haven

This map is all about getting a plant down and playing retake. Selected agents are based around being able to take a site on offense and take a site back on defense.

Team Composition

• Fade – Prowlers are great for the tight angles on this map and Haunt gets so much value when placed on rooftops in hard to shoot areas.
• Breach – This is a retake map, and Breach is one of the best retake agents. There is a lot of linear geometry on this map that his Fault Line goes well with.
• Chamber – Being able to confidently hold an extremity down with an Operator is great on this map as it significantly reduces the areas attackers can go.
• Jett – Able to make space on offense and can dash into a smoke on defense while teammates’ utility bombards players holding the site.
• Omen – Paranoia is another great tool for retake as it can blind half of any of the bomb sites. Haven has a lot of high areas for Omen to play using Shrouded Step.

Offensive Strategy

Feel out where defenders are playing with initiator utility and then hit a site with Jett dashing in accompanied by Fade and Breach util to reveal, blind, and stun defenders which have very few places to play on Haven’s bomb sites.

Sites are easier to hold so try to have Omen or Chamber lurking through mid to backstab enemies who are starting to retake a site.

Defensive Setup

With this team composition, rotating is recommended especially if Chamber and/or Jett have an Operator. For this setup Breach is able to Fault Line all of C long and flash the box on an execute. Omen can rotate off the Trademark or hold a Paranoia off of it being tripped.

Fade assists Chamber setting A Short or Long to have sight of A Lobby. If you can get an Operator watching A Lobby, then you only need 1 player on A which allows players to stack the rest of the map.

Set Play to Try

There are a lot of moving parts to this play. It is a play to retake A, a very common site to have to retake. The first part of the play is to have Breach Fault line back site and Omen Paranoia Graffiti and mid site.

Immediately after that is done, Fade throws a Haunt on a rooftop, Breach Aftershocks under Heaven, and Jett dashes into a Cloudburst on site box. This will set up Jett to kill highlighted enemies on site who are stunned or nearsighted.

Alternate Agents

• Killjoy for Chamber – Having both a Turret and Alarm Bot, Killjoy is able to cover a little more ground than Chamber. Lockdown is also one of the best retake ultimates in the game, which works well on this map.
• Raze for Jett – Raze can make space with Blast Packs, and Paint Shells are an added threat that can halt pushes or kill enemies who are in the small spaces this map has.
• Phoenix for Breach – This makes for an extremely aggressive comp, but Phoenix can get value on this map by farming ultimate orbs and playing around garage that has doors very nicely oriented for his Curveball.

Icebox

This map is fairly dependent on a few agents to be successful due to the layout of the map’s bomb sites. Outside of that, there is a good amount of flexibility that can be used in a team composition.

Team Composition

• Sage – Barrier Orb is almost a necessity to safely plant the spike on Icebox. Getting back site is very difficult to do on both A and B, and this ability alone makes Sage a near must play on this map.
• Viper – Using Poison Cloud to lurk smoke mid is very beneficial to prevent rotates from defenders. Toxic Screen is great for hitting B site, and Viper’s post plant is unmatched on this map.
• Reyna – She finally makes the list. The cluttered geometry of Icebox gives Reyna so many places to play off angles and dismiss away to prevent trades. There are also quite a few 50-50 angles where Leer flashes both sides and/or forces an enemy to shoot the flash, giving away their position.
• Sova – Due to the geometry on this map that makes Reyna a good pick makes Sova necessary to clear out tight areas with Owl Drone. Recon Dart is also fantastic for getting information on A site on both attack and defense.
• Chamber – Icebox typically has full on rushes with one lurker mid. Having a Chamber allows a portion of mid to have a Trademark, opening up the extremities to have more defenders. This map also has quite a few aggressive spots Chamber can set up for early Operator picks.

Offensive Strategy

Set up Poison Cloud in mid nearly every round. There is no need to lurk every round, but this forces defenders to respect a lurk into or under tube in mid. Chamber is a good option to be the lurker.

If going B, using an Owl Drone to clear close is essential. If going A, drone is best used near pipes, and Recon Dart to scan back site. Reyna needs to flash through to get ground, and Sage will use barrier Orb to plant the spike in the amount of ground that is gained from Leer and the information gathered from Sova.

Win post-plant with Viper lineups or a well-timed lurk through mid.

Defensive Setup

A Site is held by Reyna and Chamber whose kits are designed around not being traded, which is what attackers are trying to accomplish with a 4 or 5-man rush on A.

Toxic Screen is set up on A to slow attackers and play retake if needed. Sova can get information mid or B main from Boiler. His main goal is to make sure no one gets under tube.

If a player goes through tube, Trademark will alert the team. On B site Viper can set up a one way and Sage can Barrier Orb one side of Yellow Box to funnel attackers, or save Barrier Orb for retake.

Set Play to Try

This play is to aggressively challenge A Main when on defense. Sova shoots a Recon Dart along the side wall to reveal A Main and into Attacker Spawn.

Sage places a vertical wall next to the Ultimate Orb to hop on to Belt with Reyna. Reyna can use Leer to near sight enemies who are taking the ramp up to Belt and scanned by the dart.

Alternate Agents

• Jett for Chamber – The alternate Op character. Jett can make this map her playground with all the elevated places to play off.
• Fade for Reyna – A Duelist is by no means necessary on this map. Fade lets the team get more information early on to get a better idea of where attackers are leaning and to clear out cluttered angles.

Pearl

Now that we got to see this map played out in the highest level of professional play, there is a good idea as to what works best on this map.

Team Composition

• Fade – The rooftops of this map provide the perfect set up for valuable Haunts for information and setting up kills through smokes. Prowlers are great for clearing out Staple in back B Site and the close angles on A site.
• Chamber – B Ramp is a long site line Chamber can lock down. The rest of the map has off angles Chamber can hold for early kills on defensive rounds.
• Astra – Pearl is a large map. Astra can be an effective lurker on this map as her utility can reach anywhere. Recalling a star at the top of B Ramp is a common default strategy as it allows attackers to swing an Operator from either side of the sign at top Ramp.
• KAY/O – He is a difficult agent to play, but gets so much value on Pearl. The spacing of this map fits Zero/Point very well to suppress defenders for easy site takes or to clear certain areas of the map such as Staple on back B site, Art, or Dugout on A Site. There is a mix of long and short lanes, making the ability to throw Flash/Drive short or far very valuable.
• Raze – Raze can make space, Boom Bot can get good information, and Paint Shells can clear out small spaces on the map. This map isn’t ideal as Bind for Raze, but her kit can get really good value.

Offensive Strategy

Astra should recall a star at the top of B Ramp every round. This will make playing against an Operator posted on B Site so much easier.

Astra is also the ideal lurker on this map, and going mid is typically the best way to get a good lurk due to how the map is interconnected via Mid Connector and Defender Side Water.

On executes have KAY/O suppress defenders on site, Fade to clear close with Prowlers and throw a Haunt on a high rooftop, and Raze to Blast Pack in. Chamber can opt to lurk as well or take early fights and teleport out to apply pressure across the map.

Defensive Setup

Chamber can take advantage of early fights on B Site and teleport out if needed. Fade can throw her Haunt on top of the roofs next to B Ramp to spam through smokes set up between B Site and Screen.

KAY/O holds a flash off of contact from Chamber’s Trademark, or can leave for a quick rotate and let the Trademark hold B Link. Astra anchors A Site with stars at the small choke point in A Main.

Lastly Raze can get info mid with Boom Bot and quickly support Astra on A, and get Paint Shells into the choke point A Main paired with a Gravity Well.

Set Play to Try

KAY/O is pivotal for this A Site Take. KAY/O clears close site with Zero/Point, then throws Frag/Ment to force an enemy out of Pit, and lastly Flashes site at a height that a player behind the Kiosk or Flowers will be Blinded.

Astra Nova Pulses back site behind Kiosk and Gravity Wells the stairs behind Pit which forces a player into Fragm/ment or off site. Fade can get a running start to throw a Haunt back site. Raze then Blast Packs in to clean up.

Alternate Agents

• Neon for Raze – A tough agent to play, but Neon can get great value on Pearl. High Gear allows for quick rotates, and Fast Lane is a great tool to ensure getting on sites more safely.
• Harbor for Astra – The other map that Harbor can contribute well. Be sure to have Harbor play mid on defense so his High Tide can reach the extremities.

Closing

Best of luck when Premiere comes out! Integrate these team compositions and set plays to get a leg up on your opponents.

Stay on the lookout for future updates that bring in new maps and agents to the competitive scene.

Thanks for reading! For agent lineups and more, head to our VALORANT maps tool.