Defending and Playing Around the Spike: VALORANT Gameplay Guide
Sometimes on offense you'll have to play defense.
Whether you’re on offense or defense, the spike is the most crucial focal point of any VALORANT game. Planting it and defusing it are two of the most pivotal mechanics that the game revolves around, but when you’re on offense, the time in which you’re forced to defend the spike after planting it is most definitely when players can either make or break a round.
Defending the spike after you’ve planted it is a daunting task that can often be unpredictable considering the number of factors that go into not only a game of VALORANT, but a single round. You only get so many chances on offense, and in this guide, we’ll break down how to make the most out of each and every one of them.
From the moment the spike hits the site, to the second the round is won, each move you make while defending the spike is crucial to your team’s success. There’s only 25 rounds in a game of VALORANT, and you’ll be on offense in about half of them (taking into consideration the flow of a given game), so you’ll want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of not only your pushing abilities, but you skills around the spike, as well.
Breaking Down a Round on Offense
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that while there are “attackers” and “defenders” in VALORANT, you won’t be subjected to playing simply offense or defense while in any given situation. The game isn’t as bare-bones as it seems on the surface. There’s going to be moments where the defenders go on the offensive, and the attack team is forced to fall back and play some defense. In this particular guide, we’ll be going over the latter of those two scenarios.
When you’re on offense, pushing is, of course, going to be the main mechanic that drives you to a successful round. Getting to the site and winning gunfights, ultimately putting your team at a numbers advantage, is the main foundation of what makes VALORANT flow. However, after you successfully engage and get to site, subsequently planting the spike in the process, you’ll be forced to hold your ground. Any round of VALORANT - especially when viewed through the lens of an attacker - can be broken down into two phases: the phase in which the attacking team pushes onto site, and the one in which that same team must defend the spike. The biggest mindset that you can take when playing defense around the spike is that standing still and letting the defenders now rotate around the map to your position is the ultimate advantage.
If you’re in a position where you’ve cleared out a site of defenders and you have a slight numbers advantage with the spike down, being able to force those defenders to come to you is a luxury you didn’t have while you were in the pushing phase of the round. Having the ability to stay still and hold down a specific area of the map allows the game to “focus” - essentially meaning that all other areas of the map are eliminated from the equation as far as your team is concerned. The only thing that should matter to you is the site itself, as well as the potential entry points for the other team.
Defending the Spike through Situational Play
Once the spike is down, the attackers become defenders and the defenders become the attackers. The last thing you want when you’re defending the spike on offense is to be caught out of position. So, with that being said, there’s a simple solution to not being caught out once the spike is planted: don’t leave the site. It really is as simple as that. Once you get the spike down at your desired destination, your main priority should be staying there and allowing the opposition to come to you. If you leave the site, you’re susceptible to getting caught out of position by a counter-rotating defender.
Remember when we discussed the idea of the map becoming more “focused” after you plant the spike? That concept should be in the front of your mind as soon as the offensive goal shifts from pushing onto site to defending it. There’s no reason to rotate once you’ve chosen a site to plant the spike. The only time you should be rotating on offense is when the spike is still in your possession and you need to make a quick change in your attack plan.
The key to playing good defense once the spike is down comes entirely in the belief that every angle and entry point to the site needs to be covered in order for the attacking team to successfully ward off any defenders that come their way. Normally, assuming all things go according to plan in terms of a successful offensive push, the attacking team will have some sort of advantage surrounding the number of living players once the spike goes down and the later phase of the round goes into effect.
From there, the situational play that you’ll have to engage in should be fairly straightforward. With the offensive team up in players, you should have multiple sight lines locked down. Assuming your entire team is alive when the spike goes down and the pushing phase is completed, you’ll not only have a distinct numbers advantage, but your team will have every available entrance onto any given site in the game covered by at least once teammate.
Entry Points and How to Defend them
Speaking of holding down entry points, it’s definitely important to discuss how they operate and more importantly, how you should be approaching them when you’re defending the spike. It’s definitely important to understand that each site in the game has three entry points, so if the defenders are rotating back around to you after your team planted the spike, there’s only going to be so many ways they can approach you.
When defending the spike, you should be cautious of the first possible strategy, which revolves around players on the opposing team splitting up and taking different entrance points to themselves. At a given point, you could be flanked by three or more players coming onto the site - all through different entry points. This means that your team will have to keep every sightline covered as the defenders now rotate onto site. Straight up 1v1 gunfights will ultimately determine how the site is protected in this kind of scenario, so you’ll have to have stronger mechanics than your pushing opponent in order to keep your teammates and the spike secure. Another strategy that the defenders could use to counter-rotate and work their way onto your site is bombarding a specific entry point with multiple players and overwhelming anyone who’s standing on the site covering the sightline. In this situation, your team will want to turn its attention to whichever entry point the opposing team is entering the site from and engage in a gunfight that will ultimately decide the round.
Regardless of how you’re forced to defend the site, though, be sure to make it a priority to keep your options open. You don’t want your team huddled into a corner simply waiting to get taken advantage of by the opposing team. Also, you want to always keep an eye on the spike, if possible, as many times, having a direct look at what’s going on on the site is much more valuable than the audio cue that comes along with the defusal process. In any given situation, you want your resources spread out around the area as best you can. The more players your team has alive on offense after the pushing phase is completed is going to be a huge factor in whether or not you’ll be able to successfully defend the spike.
Ideally, you’ll want as many sightlines as possible covered, in addition to being extremely versatile and adaptable throughout the course of any given round. Keep in mind that your job as an attacker shifts almost entirely once the spike is planted.
