One of the core gaming loops in VALORANT revolves around the spike, whether it’s planting it if you're an attacker or defusing if you’re playing as the defender. With each site having an area in which you can plant the spike, today we explore the planting of the spike in two distinct styles, "Open" vs "Safe".

Open vs Safe?

To begin, we need to clarify what we mean by “Open plant” and “Safe plant”. As shooting and using abilities doesn’t affect the spike, “Open” and “Safe” refer to both where the player plants the spike and their position when they are planting (as you can’t move or shoot during planting the spike without resetting the process). What we see a lot in games are plants that are “safe” plants. This usually refers to planting a spike in a position that is often shielded in one way or another from enemy sightlines and therefore enemy fire.

For example, this spot on Haven - C site would be considered a “Safe” plant and this position of the plant is what we see a lot in games.

The red lines indicate the sightlines to the spike, and if you were to take control of Garage and C Long, you can plant here relatively safely and fast, making sure your team gets the credits for the spike plant (and possibly for detonation if you can hold the site long enough).

While this position is ok, you can see a clear problem, in which if the enemy team were to push from Spawn or C Link, you can’t control those areas effectively. So you would either keep an eye on the spike or keep an eye out for defenders. While safe plants are good for fast planting and ensuring the credit bonus going into the next round, it doesn’t necessarily mean the 45 seconds until detonation will be easy to hold to.

This is where we introduce “Open Plants”

This position would be considered an open plant on the same site.

As you can see, after planting the spike in this position, you don't necessarily even have to be on the site to see if the spike is being defused or not. The long sightlines ensure that the defenders will have a very hard time defusing the spike without putting themselves at a huge risk. They would have to either look for attackers that could be holding an angle while not being even present on the site or risk dying by defusing the spike while the attackers are still alive. This allows the attackers to play for time and bait the defenders into making mistakes because of how exposed the spike is at all times.

Of course, the downside to planting an “open spike” would be that you would be exposed while you’re planting this, and so this only works if you take a site fully. This is why it’s important to capitalise on the numbers advantage if you win duels while attempting to enter a site. If your teammates call out two people in A site, one at B and you just defeated two players in C, you need to push C and get the plant and then set yourself up to take in a better position to defend the site.

Open Spike Positions

Here are more “Open” Spikes on subsequent maps. I’m not going to list “safe” positions as they tend to tend behind one form of cover. I’m also going to be adding sightlines to show how exposed the positions are and why they are considered "Open"

Haven - A Site

Haven - B Site

Bind - A Site

Bind - B Site

Ascent - A Site

Ascent - B Site

Split - A Site

Split - B Site

Conclusion

Hopefully, now, you have a better understanding of the nuances between open and safe plants. Depending on the manner you take the site, the abilities you use and also what the timer for the round says, you'll have to assess whether an open plant is feasible or a safe will have to do the trick. If you have the numbers advantage for the site, then it's almost always a good idea to plant open, as it gives you more options to choose from on how you decide to defend the spike.

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