Valorant: Haven Map Guide (Advanced Analysis) by ACTiV

Tactics Board: Haven – Advanced Map Analysis

Haven is currently the most popular (least dodged) map in Valorant’s map pool.

Although the mentioned map pool is relatively small to begin with at this state of the game, it is safe to say that Haven has some clear characteristics of good map design and the community loves it for a reason.

In this article, we are focusing on why exactly Haven is so liked by the general player base and what features of the map contribute to its popularity.

Furthermore, we are taking a closer look on different advanced gameplay aspects regarding Haven.

This includes how to both attack and defend each site on the map, how to approach the buy phase as a rule of thumb, and how to take specific map control including common agents and their abilities.

At the end of this you should be ready to start the grind and utilize your newly acquired knowledge to get the edge over the enemy.

The following tips and tricks work for every skill level and rank within Valorant, so let’s get started!

Haven’s General Layout

Haven’s special and most distinct feature is the existence of an additional site.

The dynamic of a three-site-map (A, B, C) is very different to everything else there is in FPS games in general.

Overall, quick rotations on the defender side enable you to try many different setups early-round without committing too hard on one side of the map.

However, the possibility to plant the Spike on one more site than usual is also a huge gamechanger for the attacker side.

How this unique dynamic of Haven can play out with the agents of the current Meta, various abilities and different approaches to the game is the topic of the following sections.

How to Approach Buy Phase

In Valorant, every round is different. One look at the scoreboard can tell you what exactly this difference in the coming round could be.

So, don’t waste your precious warm-up time knifing the spawn barriers, rather think about what information the scoreboard can give you about the battle you’re about to take part in.

Just consider the following aspects for both your team and the enemy team in this order:

1. Money situation
2. Weapons that can be afforded
3. Already and soon available Ultimates
4. Which agent could be the weak link?

With the gathered information you should be able to conclude a good approach to the round. Here are a few examples:

Attacker Side

Scenario #1:

• Enemies have no money → Eco round → Your team should avoid close ranges and areas where it is likely to stack

Possible conclusion:

• Going C Long or A Long together.

Reason:

• Take advantage of your superior weapons and choose long-distance fights.

Scenario #2:

• Your team has no money → Eco round → You should stick together and try to isolate individual enemy players

Possible conclusion:

• Going “Mid Courtyard” to B as a group.

Reason:

On defense B is often held by only one player who is easily tradable.

Scenario #3:

Enemy has enough money to buy an Operator → avoid possible Operator peeks

Possible conclusion:

Don’t cross chokepoints like A Lobby, C Long or Mid Window without flashing, stunning or smoking the potentially aiming Operator.

Reason:

No information in the world is worth the disadvantage of losing one player early on in the round.

Defender Side

Scenario #1:

Enemy has Ultimates available that are useful in afterplants → Don’t let them plant

Possible conclusion:

The defense on B is commonly neglected because it is easy to retake for the defenders. But don’t play any site on retake in this scenario. Not even B.

Reason:

For example, Sova, Brimstone, Breach, Raze and Phoenix can all easily prevent you from defusing the Spike by using their Ultimate. If multiple of these come together it’s almost impossible to win the round after the Spike was planted.

Scenario #2:

Enemy team has no money → Eco round → Don’t take “All-In” positions

Possible conclusion:

Two options: Either you and your team mate play a crossfire capable of killing all five enemies in quick succession or you choose a position where you can kill one enemy and are also able to fall back (alive). An “All-In” position would be close to Double Doors in C Short for example.

Reason:

A coordinated enemy team is likely to group up and try to outnumber you in compensation for the lack of money on their side. Every kill they get is a huge win for them.

Scenario #3:

No enemy player has money for an Operator → Peek into long-distance angles

Possible conclusion:

A typical Operator battlefield is C Long. A good idea would be to slowly push C Long with two Rifles to get early information about the enemy’s default.

Reason:

Since there is no potential Operator in the attacker team holding offensive peeks and pushes, you can be a lot more aggressive in clearing certain areas. Information is key.

Of course, there are endless possibilities to outplay your opponent in Valorant but this should give you an idea and a basic structure of what to do when you don’t know what to do.

To see which agents and agent combinations we are recommending for Haven, click here to get to the current Valorant Agent Tier List.

In-Depth Analysis for All Haven Sites

A Site

Attacking

The main pathways to access A site as attackers are A Long and A Short.

By correctly assessing the situation your team is in (like we learned in the upper section “How to approach Buy Phase”) you are able to choose the most fitting way to take map control in the coming round.

On A you merely can decide between two areas to take: A Long and A Short.

General tendencies to take into account:

Go A Long when…
– …you have the weapon advantage (or enemies are in Eco round)
– …the enemy can’t have an Operator
– …you have adequate abilities to take it

Go A Short when…
– …you want to slowly contact A without much noise
– …the enemy can have Operator
– …you don’t have many abilities to play with

If there is no detectable resistance by the defenders on both A Long and A Short it is also justified to just take both areas simultaneously.

But in most cases, you want to focus on one area first and see what new situation comes out of that initial fight/map control.

There is one principle to always keep in mind when trying to get early map control:

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible.”

What does that mean in practice?

Try to only use the Signature Abilities of your team’s agents.

You can easily push back the enemy team from important areas of the map by only using the abilities that recharge after a certain time or a certain number of kills.

That’s what “cheap” means in this context. By using rechargeable abilities you gained map control and lost basically nothing but a little time.

From now on we will be referring to the agents most popular in the current meta.

Now we’re diving into one example for getting A Long control by applying the discussed principle:

1. Throw one of Cypher’s Cyber Cages in the choke point to A Long (Pic. 1). For a budget variant, spot with the Spycam whether a Defender is holding the angle.

2. Stun with Breach’s Fault Line the corner of A Long (Pic. 2).

3. Explode out of the Cyber Cage with at least two players.

This take is very efficient against potential Operator players and can easily be faked by only the Cypher.

Since you solely utilize the Signature Ability of Breach and the Cyber Cage of Cypher (which is not super useful on Haven otherwise) it is a very efficient way to get A Long control early on.

Also, if you play this tactic early on in the half, the enemy A players have to watch out for possible aggression every time Cypher throws his Cyber Cage in that exact spot.

You can also use the same Cyber Cage spot to sneak into A Short quietly. So, this one Cyber Cage is a great balancer to constantly leave the enemy side in the dark.

After you took control over A Long, A Short, or maybe even both the success of the round depends on how you execute onto A site and if you can withstand the retake of the defenders.

How you might go over that execute is highly dependent on the players alive, abilities left, enemies on the site, and many other factors.

However, the subsequent afterplant situation (after you successfully planted the Spike) can always be managed in an at least similar way.

Afterplant on A

Spike plant spots (marked with Spike symbols):

• Default is the most common and not a necessarily bad spot to plant the Spike. But watch out: You might be attacked by different abilities of the Defender Side (e.g. Sova’s Shock Bolts, Breach’s Fault Line or Raze’s Paint Shells).
• Another very good plant spot is right beneath Heaven. (view of it from everywhere, including A Short and A Long)

Good afterplant positions (marked with green dots):

• Under Heaven is a great position to be holding CT and the drop from Heaven.
• Close CT can be a very useful position as well if a teammate already is under Heaven (establishing an effective crossfire against enemies coming out of CT).
• Default is a very common but nonetheless strong position.
  If you got teammates either Close CT or Under Heaven, you should never be the first one fighting – rather peek on your teammate’s contact.
• Falling back into A Short can be a very wise decision either.
  If for example, no one is watching the teams back, you are better off to take on that job from A Short.
• A Long is more of an overrated afterplant position. Oftentimes you don’t have direct view of the Spike and you only can see enemies retaking from Heaven (which is a hard fight to take for you).

Defending

Just like on the attacker side, as an A defender you want to choose your approach to the round by analyzing the situation (upper section “How to approach Buy Phase”).

The various strategies of holding A in different situations and in the respective rounds are highly depending on the agents who play the site.

However, again there are a few basic principles to keep in mind:

• Most of the time you want to play two players on A:
  • One player is the “anchor” who plays A basically every round
  • The other one is the “rotator” who switches sites within the round depending on where the focus of the enemy team is.
• Operator Peeks in both A Long and A Short are a very powerful tool to get early information and maybe even a player advantage by killing an enemy.
• If you lost control of A Long or A Short or rather had to fall back to the site, consider re-aggressing after a certain amount of time if it seems the enemy team has withdrawn from the area.

Retaking A Site

A topic that can be generalized and is only partly influenced by individual agent combinations is retakes.

After your team has lost control over the A site you have to make a tough decision:

Does the surviving rest of your team want to try the retake or are you better off saving the weapons in your possession for the next round?

Here is an easy table to support you in your decision regarding A retakes:

If your team is outnumbered by the attackers alive, don’t risk losing your weapons and the round at the same time.

The other way around, you should definitely go for the retake if your team has the numbers advantage and is also at least on the same level as the attacker’s weapons-wise.

In even situations like 2v2, 3v3, etc. you have to make a decision based on all other factors:

Time left before explosion, abilities available, enemy Ultimates available and many more.

The A site has two entrances for the defenders in the case of a retake:

• CT – should be your main way in
  • You can re-frag team mates and cover them whilst defusing (Always smoke Short and Long if available before going in)
• Heaven – not recommendable in most situations
  • There are very limited positions you can clear from Heaven and eventually you have to drop and expose yourself to many different angles at once.

B Site

Attacking

B, being the middle one of the sites, replaces most of the traditional Mid area which on Haven is only a relatively small courtyard leading up to the B site.

There are two ways to enter Mid Courtyard: Mid Courtyard:

Coming from Mid Window or Mid Doors.

Some general tendencies to take into account are:

Go Mid Window when…
– …you have the weapon advantage
– …the enemy can’t have an Operator
– …you are searching for early fights

Go Mid Doors when…
– …the enemy has weapon advantage (e.g. Eco round on your side)
– …the enemy can have an Operator
– …you want to slowly take control of Mid Courtyard

Watch out for early aggression by the defender side. It is very common to encounter enemies who pushed down Mid Courtyard from B or peek out of C Short.

Here is an example of how to prevent getting caught off guard by this early round aggression towards Mid:

1. Cypher Spycam in Mid Courtyard to spot potential defender pushes (Pic. 1 + 2)

2. Use Breach’s Fault Line or Aftershock against a potential C Short peek

3. You can go in after waiting for your Cypher to call the information he got

Again, we are applying the principle of:

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible.”

Cypher’s Spycam and Breach’s Fault Line are both Signature Ability of the respective agent and thus recharge after a certain amount of time.

So, nothing lost – map control gained.

Afterplant on B

Planting the Spike on B site is a relatively easy task due to several factors:

•  Most of the time there is only one B defender (= anchor).
• Both rotation entrances can easily be smoked off for a certain amount of time.
• Rotating Defenders don’t have any direct line of sight to most Spike plant spots on B.

However, after the smokes of your team faded it is very hard to hold B from within the site.

Since the B site is pretty narrow and overall a small space, defenders can easily force you out of every position onsite by using different abilities.

At this point in time you must hope the Spike is planted for Mid Courtyard and you can prevent the defenders from defusing it as long as the timer still ticks.

In summary, after your team has run out of smokes there basically are no good afterplant positions inside B because defenders can come from both sides and sandwich you.

Defending

Basic principles to keep in mind on B defense:

• Because the B site is generally easy to retake you should focus on surviving the initial hit of the attackers. Live to fight another day.
• Pushing down Mid Courtyard is a good way for Operator and rifle players to get an advanced position and maybe even a kill on a surprised attacker

Let’s show you one example how you could go over aggressing in the Mid area:

1. Omen’s Dark Cover into Mid Window (Pic. 1)

2. Breach’s Flashpoint out of C Short (Pic. 2)

3. Defenders pushed down Mid and in C Short are peeking at the same time

Retaking B

Retakes on B site are significantly different to those on A and C.

The reasons why that is were already explained in the section “Afterplant on B” on the attacker side.

Most deciding key to a successful retake and Spike defusal on B is not the number of players alive, rather the existence of an effective flank.

Because attackers are likely to retreat to the Mid area after planting the spike, it is important to have at least one defender who can backstab these players.

Factors like abilities, Ultimates and time left are obviously also to consider but play a less crucial role.

C Site

Attacking

C Long, a straight alleyway containing a little cubby, is the only direct route for attackers to enter C site.

A second but highly contested way to reach the C site is through C Short.

If you plan to tackle the C site at some point in the round you generally need control over C Short before.

Only coming out of one entrance (C Long) to the site is considerably harder than splitting your team and coming through C Long and C Short.

That’s why in the early round most of your team should focus on getting control over C Short because C Long can be easily played by only one attacker.

This is how that could look in-game:

1. Let your team shoot the Double Doors of C Short until its metal layer is destroyed

2. Use Omen’s Dark Cover two times: For C Long and C Short (Pic. 1 + 2)

3. Sova shoots his Recon Bolt into C Short

4. At least one player goes C Long, at least two players take C Short control

With this tactic, you get control over both C Long and C Short and maybe even get a frag in the process (e.g. by wall-banging a revealed player in C Short).

Additionally, you followed the recurring principle of

“Try to get as much map control as possible for as cheap as possible” by using only Signature abilities (Omen’s Dark Cover and Sova’s Recon Bolt).

Afterplant on C

Spike plant spots (marked with Spike symbols):

• The marked plant spot is the best for almost every situation. Your planting in cover and C Long, as well as C Short, have a clear view on it.

Good afterplant positions (marked with green dots):

• Backsite is a common but also very good afterplant position.
  It is advisable to hold an off-angle towards CT from that position. But watch out: Abilities like Raze’s Paint Shells or Breach’s Aftershock can force you out of position.
• Just like on the A site, Default is a position that often is expected by defenders. Nonetheless, it can be quite effective (for example by peeking CT on contact of the Backsite player or by double-peeking C Short with a mate on C Long).
•  A C Long player is always a must have.
  He can hold the flank and plays a key role in preventing the Spike defusal when the site players have fallen. Ultimates from e.g. Sova, Brimstone and Breach can also be used very effectively from C Long / C Cubby and provide extra time on the clock.

Defending

Basic principles to keep in mind on C defense:

• Most of the time you want to play two players on C:
  • One player is the “anchor” who plays C site basically every round,
    the other one is the “rotator” who starts the round in C Short and is rotating depending on where the enemy teams focus is.
• Aggression towards C Long can make sense if C Long is neglected by the attacker side. Free information or even a number advantage can result from it.
• Most importantly, C Short control is as important for the defenders as for the attackers. If you lost control of it consider re-aggressing in that area.

The following shows one way to exert pressure on the attacker side by pushing C Long:

1. Omen’s Dark Cover in the exit of the C Long alleyway (Pic. 1)

2. Breach’s Flashpoint through the corner of the left building (Pic. 2)

3. At least two players push through the Dark Cover and are ready to trade each
other

Retaking C

As much as the attacker side needs C Short control to go C in the first place, as important is C Short control for the defenders to retake the site.

Without C Short control the defenders are only able to retake through one entrance (CT) and they can be backstabbed by attackers pushing behind from C Short.

However, if the retake can be coordinated with players coming from both CT and C Short retakes onto the C site are very much possible.

Putting Theory into Practice

Keep in mind that the gameplay examples you can find throughout this article are definitely more suggestions than “the only right way” to approach certain situations. They are supposed to spark your creativity and enable you to create and try your own ideas.

Mobalytics is all about showing you helpful stuff but not forcing you to choose between it. In the Mobalytics Valorant site, for example, you can see many different possibilities where and when to use your abilities the best way possible.

There you can find every relevant usage for your favorite agent’s abilities explained in short, vivid clips. Please take along whatever you found useful in this analysis of Haven and maybe it can affect your future skillset for the better.

As always, please let us know if you found this analysis helpful and we welcome all kinds of discussion and feedback down in the comments!