Split has been in the Valorant map pool since beta and has seen tons of playtime. With it being out so long, players have devised many tactics and strategies for the map and found what agents are good on it. This guide will show you how to attack and defend on Split, as well as what agent combinations are the best. This video by Skill Capped gives a good overview on things which we will be discussing below.

Important Agents:

There are a few good agents to have on Split and, in the Skill Capped video, they explain that Sage, Cypher, and sometimes Viper are necessities. There are a couple other options you can pick too, like Brimstone and Omen, and duelists such as Jett or Phoenix.

Sage:

Sage has always been a staple on every team due to her ability to heal and revive her teammates. Her Slow Orbs also help slow down an enemy push and can be redeployed twice to delay opponents from attacking onto the bomb site. Her wall also completely blocks off chokepoints such as A Short or B Garage, but like the Skill Capped video stated, her wall completely cuts off Mid. This is crucial as taking Mid control is vital when springing onto either A or B, and with that chokepoint zoned off, it leaves the attackers with only a few places to go.

To do this wall in Mid, Sage will need to be posted in Mid Mail to reach the other side of the wall.

Cypher:

Cypher is one of two reconnaissance agents in the game that give their team information about the enemies’ whereabouts on the map. With his Camera and Trapwire abilities, he can solo defend since there is only one entrance into it from Garage. Placing a good Camera lets him camp in Heaven to make for easy kills when the attackers come onto the site. This also has the same effect on A Site with Trapwires and his smoke ability. His ultimate also lets him find where all the remaining opponents are, making it easy to catch rotations.

Viper:

As Skill Capped says in their video, Viper is a good situational agent for this map as her abilities mesh well with Split’s layout. She has a one-way smoke through Mid Mail that prevents pushes into Heaven and onto B, as well as her Toxic Screen ability that can penetrate walls blocking off other chokepoints on the map. However, her downfall comes from the limited access to her abilities, such as her Toxic Screen only being able to be used once, or that her ability to smoke off places are limited compared to agents like Omen or Brimstone.

This is the lineup for Viper's Mid Mail one-way smoke, by putting your crosshair on the same line but on the grey trim the smoke bomb will bounce onto the top ledge and stay there, thus creating the one-way through Mail.

You can see this gap but the enemies will see this as a smoke, allowing you to see where they are going through Mid.

Brimstone/Omen:

Both agents are excellent picks here. Brimstone has a plethora of supporting abilities that give his team the edge in important rounds. His ultimate also good at stalling when the Spike is planted to prevent the opponent from defusing. Omen is also another good pick for this map due to his ability to smoke far away, so for example, he can smoke off Screens on A Site in T Spawn which is useful when doing an execute onto the bombsite. His flash also comes in handy when attacking too, while his teleport and ultimate give him a good lurking advantage to get the jump on unsuspecting enemies.

Jett:

Jett is a good agent for Split due to her ability to dash away from trouble as well as Updrafting to higher places for safety. Her smokes also become useful when attacking or delaying when heading onto a bomb site. For example, you could have her using the Op at screens and if the Attackers begin to push, she can E out of the way to get to safety before getting killed. After that she can quickly smoke off Screens to prevent the push from the Attackers.

Phoenix:

Like Jett, Phoenix excels in close-quarter scenarios due to his Flash and Molotov abilities. His Blaze ability lets him wall off places to ensure a plant is made or to make sure he or his team are not seen. For example, he could fire his wall from Garage so the people on Heaven will not be able to see him when running onto site. Another option instead of Phoenix would be Breach since his flash and disable abilities let his team pop onto site, as well as his ultimate which can clear site effectively.

When walling as Phoenix, you need to point your crosshair against the other side (not the once facing you) of the wall to make it full. If you fire your wall against the wall closest to you there will be a gap in it.

Overall, the best agent combo in my opinion would be Sage, Cypher/Sova, Brimstone, Omen, and Phoenix/Jett/Breach.

Defender Setups:

In the video above, they recommend a 1-3-1 setup on split, with one person on each site while three stick around Mid. This is a good setup for several reasons because Mid is the most important part of Split. If that is taken over, the attackers can quickly hit either A or B Sites, so it's crucial that Mid is defended well. Having agents that can solo defend sites are good too, so having ones like Cypher and Brim are good choices here. Putting Brim in A will also allow him to smoke off Mid if he is in Heaven so if Mid is being hit, he is able to delay the push a little bit to give his team a chance to rotate in. This setup is only considered the default positions, so if your opponent is pressuring other sides of the map a lot you can change it up. For example, if the attackers are hitting A more often you can run a 2-2-1 setup instead.

A Site Execution:

For A Site, one execution that you can do to ensure you get a Spike plant is to smoke off A Ramp, Heaven, and Screens. Once you have those smoked off, you can run right onto site but be wary of defenders on the site and possibly under Rafters or in Elbow. Once you are on the site, it is good to put a Sage Wall on Heaven so you can block it off and leave room to smoke other places if you have any other utility left. For post-plant positions, you want to make sure the chokepoints are covered where you smoked off, so covering Elbow/Screens, Heaven, and A Main. Getting someone into Heaven quickly will help cut off the rotations of the opponents, or watching Mid to see how many are rotating from B. You can also do a hybrid strategy of this where you do not clear Ramp and split push through Heaven and on site to clear out the defenders quicker.

When defending A Site, having someone in Heaven/Rafters and another watching A Ramp is good strategy. To switch it up you can have the person watching Ramp while the other is watching an off-angle on the bomb site. If you are running one person on the site, you will need to smoke off one of these choke points, so the opponents do not freely run through and kill you. Therefore, Brimstone is good here since he can smoke and Molotov the two entrances into site. If you use Killjoy on this map, you can stick her Turret in Screens so it can shoot people all the way in Main, and setting your Alarmbot and Nanoswarm abilities up can help chunk the attackers health before you rotate. Sova is good if another agent is playing on A as he can Recon Bolt into their spawn to see where his opponents are and can call for an early rotate if needed.

B Site Execution:

There are only 2 methods of attacking on B Site, a push through Garage or a split from Mid/Heaven and Garage. When pushing through Garage you want to make sure Heaven and the close lanes are smoked off, as well as the back of site and CT. From here you can plant in default behind the box, while clearing out the back of site and re-smoking Heaven, the entrance from CT, and Garage.

For a B split, what you need to do is get Mid control by smoking off Ropes and getting into Mid Mail. There are usually one or two agents around Mid Mail so flashing in would be effective here. Then, once you get into Heaven, you can clear it out while heading into B. While you are on Heaven, you need to watch out in the right corner of Heaven as sometimes defenders like playing there to trade out kills.

Once you are on site, you can use your remaining utility to take care of the chokepoints then take post-plant positions. Post-plant positions on this site are in the back of site, the back corner in Garage, behind the pillar, and outside the site heading toward CT Spawn.

Like attacking, defending on this site is rather simple. Cypher is effective on this bomb site as he can delay using his tripwires, smokes, and camera for vision. By placing tripwires at the entrance with a smoke, you can activate it as the enemy walks in and since when hitting a tripwire gives the enemy’s location you can spray them down through the smoke. You can also set up a crossfire on Killjoy with her Turret ability.

That is all I have for this guide on attacking and defending on Split and I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully, this helps you in your ranked matches so you can rank up! Do not forget to follow us on our various social medias and to join our Discord server!