With maps as rich as the ones present in Valorant, it’s difficult to know everything about them. If you ever wanted to know how good your knowledge about Split is – be it when talking about lore, agent composition, or how to default – or wanted to complement said knowledge, this article can help you.
If you’re flipping through Valorant’s map descriptions on their official website, when opening Split’s description, you’ll face this little excerpt:
“If you want to go far, you’ll have to go up. A pair of sites split by an elevated center allows for rapid movement using two rope ascenders. Each site is built with a looming tower vital for control. Remember to watch above before it all blows sky-high”.
But what does this actually represent? Well, fear not, for in this article you’ll find everything you need to know about Valorant’s codename Bonsai map; commonly known as Split.
On our first stop, we’ll be talking briefly about something that not many people may be interested in, the Lore behind the map. There is, however, one motive behind the choice of this topic, which can be summarized in one sentence: knowing more about these minutiae make the whole of the game more vivid and richer, which can help you enjoy it more. Also, keep in mind that this section isn’t a thorough analysis, just an overview. The map designing process, which can be found here, will not be featured here, for example.
Located in Tokyo, Japan – and for a more specific location, you can try these coordinates: 35°41'CD'N,139°41'WX'E – Split houses the headquarters and the main research labs of Valorant’s infamous Kingdom corporation. In-game, you can actually easily observe Kingdom's influence while comparing the two contrasting sides of the map: one futuristic and well developed versus an impoverished and more traditional one – this duality can also help in understanding our next segment.
Almost like a tourist guide, here I'll show you parts of the map that deserves your attention – even if just a little – be it for their beauty, for some sort of hidden connection, or just some funny feature you can only find in it. Also, keep in mind that the locations were cherry-picked for the list; you’re more than welcome to explore the whole map in a custom game and see all the other sights in it!
Our first stop can be found on Market, near the entrance that leads to Garage: meet the Scuttle Shack. In this little shop, you can see one of the best crossovers between different Riot universes in the form of thousands of Scuttles – the little crab thing that roams the rivers of Summoner's Rift – filling boxes and on one majestic sculpture.
From the front of the Shack, walk in the direction of Mid, and after crossing the first gateway, look to your right. Here, you can find the most iconic statue in the game: Froggie Hat. Born from the community, this statue was responsible for the birth of a whole collection of cosmetics, from skins and buddies all the way to sprays and player cards. You can find a more thorough biography about our little frog in this article together with some curiosities about other gun buddies.
The next location on our itinerary can be found right next to the Defender’s spawn. As soon as you jump into the map, look to your right and you’ll find the fanciest shop in town. Living up to the location it can be found, it’s also here that you’ll find some of the major announcements Riot do in-game – like the Masters and Game Changers tournaments. On the other side of the map, near the Attackers’ spawn corridor that leads to the A site, you can find their competitor in the footwear category.
Continuing our shop spree, let's head to the coziest coffee shop in town: The Crown coffee. With the A bombsite as its landscape, the Crown coffee shop bears one of the most iconic brands in the game with its little King Espresso. If you ever get tired of shooting different versions of your agent, stop by and taste their Matcha.
At the last stop on our tour, I’ll tell you about two of the nicest graffiti in town; with both being pretty close to each other. When looking out for them, you'll be able to find the first one on a wall right past the stairs that lead to B Heaven, and the other one on the wall above B Heaven’s window. Other Graffiti can also be found at Mid and on the wall near Newbox at B bombsite – both covered in another article.
Defaulting on Split and Meta Agents
Before we start with the last part of this piece, I recommend that you read this article written by byrrice if you don’t fully comprehend what playing default is. Keep in mind that the article talks about defaulting in CS:GO; the concept, however, can be used in Valorant without major problems.
Image from the Oficial Riot News page
One of the first three maps released during the early stages of the game, Split can be described as a map with a lot of height differences, represented by the higher grounds that loom over the bombsites (namely A and B Heaven), tight spaces and corridors, and a lot of angles that have to be checked since it doesn't have a lot of places for long-range duels to happen. You have to look out for those rat plays!
The cherry on the cake is how fast rotations can happen in this map – especially through Vents (or Ropes) – considering that with the added verticality, the map isn’t on the broader side. This configuration turns Split into a map where, excluding explosion-type executions, playing and trying to conquer space needs to be done in a very methodical way since at any moment an enemy can be hiding behind a box or at the next corner.
With this methodicalness in mind, playing default on Split can, in many cases, be slower than other maps if you don’t have the right utility to work on these narrow spaces and corridors. What can normally be seen in a standard default are the attackers playing with a greater pressure towards Garage at the start of the round – normally allocating two or three players to take control of the space and orb – while another player watches over Mid for any aggressive pushes from the Defender team.
The last member of the team will be making pressure on the other side of the map on A Ramp; this, however, doesn’t translate as pushing alone and dying, you can either stay in place and watch for pushes or try to lurk around some of your utility if your agent has any that can help you with it.
With Garage secured, the team can move some of the players towards Mid and try to take some space in there. From these two movements, some sort of gap that your IGL can use to make the next call should be formed.
ZETA DIVISION vs Team Liquid - VCT Masters Reykjavík 2022 – Bracket Stage Day 7 Map 3
Thinking about Agents, many different ways to play the map has already been seen through the many pro matches around the globe – taking two different teams that played in the last Masters as examples, when thinking about how NIP plays the map, you’ll see a composition with two Duelists; while with Zeta Division’s approach, you’ll find a slower playstyle with two Controllers.
One good comparison can be made with this article written by Zen. In his article, you can see many of the agents listed there that are still relevant today – except for Phoenix, who got power crept into oblivion – but if you pay attention you’ll see that in many cases the way he explains how you can play the agents are incomplete. This in no way shows an inability of Zen when thinking about the game. His article is actually a great guide, but a dated one. It just shows how the game kept evolving and new ways of playing were discovered.
Take the two duelists listed in the article (Phoenix and Jett) for example; nowadays, you’ll see that agents like Raze, and Neon have a preference when picking if your concern is taking and creating space, and if you see the need for an agent with the Operator, Chamber in many ways has the upper hand in a comparison over Jett.
In today’s meta, however, there are some agents that can be considered S-tier, especially in the Initiator role, with Breach reigning over, and in the Duelist role, where Raze flies over the competition. The utility of these two Agents just works too well on the map, and many compositions already are built to work around them.
With such richness surrounding all of Valorant’s content – and I already advocated about this richness when talking about skins and gun buddies on other occasions –, it’s difficult to formulate a brief article about everything present on one map. And even if some things, like landmarks not featured or agents not specified, couldn’t appear above, I hope that this article can show you something that you didn’t know, ignite your passion for exploring Valorant’s maps, or even settle any doubts you had about Split.
