VALORANT Map Guide Bind
In this series of guides, I will guide you through the basics of each and every VALORANT map to give you a leg up on the competition. This time I’ll be taking you through Bind. It is definitely one of the more intricate and tricky maps in the game so let’s get to it.
What are the callouts?
Getting to grips with the most fundamental callouts is essential at every rank. Being able to give accurate information to your teammates creates better team synergy, giving you a far greater chance to win.
These are the most important callouts for Bind that are given in the game by Riot themselves. While these are enough to get you started if you want to take it a step further, check out our Valorant Bind Map Callouts Guide.
What's the gimmick?
All the maps in VALORANT have a special gimmick to make them unique. Bind has by far the most impactful and game-changing gimmick in my opinion and these are the teleporters.
There are 2 teleports on this map and they are both one way only. The first TP allows you to jump from A short to outside hookah (B window). The second allows you to jump from B long to outside showers (A bath). Use these to outmanoeuvre your opponents and quickly rotate between the sites. It does make a sound when you go through so your opponents will know you are using it.
The A site
Like always, let’s start with the A site. This site has 2 attacker entrances, one through A short and one through showers. The default plant is just in front of the truck.
We typically see smokes to help cover the plant. Generally one will cover the heaven and the other will conceal the swing from the backsite. It’s important to have pressure from both entrances or else you can be funnelling yourself into the opponents' utility.
Lamps is probably the most interesting position on this site though as it connects the front of the site to the back. Whether you’re attacking or retaking, it’s important to properly clear this as a sneaky opponent controlling this position will cause all kinds of headaches. Don’t be afraid to invest utility and fight for it.
The B site
The B site of Bind is much more unique in its’ design. Again there are two entrances but the lanes leading to them are more defender favoured than on A. The most important location towards this site is hookah (B window). It’s a difficult location for attackers to properly clear and we often see defenders attempt to hold onto this to help defend the site. On both sides don’t be afraid to fight for it.
The site itself has a large tube in the middle for defenders to play around. Typically when attacking, we see one smoke blocking off the main defender entrance and another blocking off elbow. This allows you to isolate the players who are positioned on the site. It’s important to properly clear the tube and behind as there are a few tricky positions that attackers can get caught out by, particularly all the close corners.
How to attack on Bind?
Attacking on Bind is different from almost every other map as there is no traditional mid. This means that you can never really take additional map control and split attack a site. Instead, you have to brute force through the forward-facing entrances. This means that at the top level professionals favour faster executes instead of more traditional defaults.
As I’ve mentioned already, it’s important that you use both entrances to the site you’re trying to attack otherwise it’s very easy to be stalled out and lose a lot of map control.
There are also lot’s of great post-plant lineups for this map that are well worth learning. These can be done from very safe positions and will create a huge amount of problems for defenders as they have to retake quicker than they are comfortable with.
How to defend on Bind?
When defending on Bind, the key is to control important forward positions of the map to give your team information and stall for time much easier. Coordinate with your team to control one of the lanes, either showers, A short, mid (outside hookah) or B long. By far the biggest problem I see is not controlling any space and just sitting on the sites, this is a surefire way to lose.
The next most important thing is to counter the rushes that the attackers will likely do. The best way to do this is by learning to stall effectively with your utility. Invest just enough so that the attackers don’t feel comfortable pushing but you don’t waste everything.
Finally, it’s important to properly anchor each site. Because of the teleporters, attackers can easily jump around and exploit holes that are left in your defence when you over-rotate. Make sure you’re always leaving at least one person on each site until the spike is planted to being caught out.
What agents are good on Bind?
Like always, I like to look at the most popular composition used by pros right now. For Bind it looks like this.
This composition is interesting for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, we see that teams favour Raze of Jett. This is significant given the state of Jett’s balance and how she is always exceedingly popular. We see Raze takeover however because of how closed the map is. There isn’t a lot of wide-open space where Jett can have free reign with the OP. Instead, Raze allows you to clear close angles and punish people playing in corners.
Secondly, we see Viper being played but it’s important to note that she is used in a very different way than on other maps. On Bind, she is used as a sentinel. This is because of her excellent ability to stall the attacks. She can also use her wall to allow her to lurk which is otherwise very difficult on this map.
When playing Bind I would cautiously recommend playing Raze. I don’t normally recommend duelists because they are all too common in ranked anyway. On Bind though, Raze can make a world of difference.
Because of its unique mechanics and design, Bind is such a deeply interesting map and hopefully, this guide has given you all the tools you need to get started.
