VALORANT Map Guide Haven
In this series I walk you through each and every VALORANT map, giving you all my best tips to help you improve your gameplay, and ultimately get more wins on the map. This time I’ll be talking about a personal favourite map of mine, Haven.
What are the callouts?
One of the most important things in VALORANT is communication. Being able to give and receive information efficiently and accurately can make all the difference between winning and losing. The best way to do this is to learn the callouts for each section of the map.
These are the most simple callouts for Haven but to master the calls for all those tricky angles and corners, you can check out our Valorant Haven Map Callouts Guide.
What's the gimmick?
All of the maps in VALORANT have a one of a kind feature to give every map a unique playstyle and feel. The gimmick for Haven is one of the most game-changing and this is the addition of an extra site.
The 3 site map is truly a first for tactical FPS games and this definitely sets Haven apart from the other map. Having an extra option when it comes to planting the spike, gives the attackers an edge heading into this map. However, if you’re new to VALORANT or come from another tactical FPS game, DON’T WORRY. The extra site is nothing to be scared of and makes this map very fun to play.
The A site
Now we can take a look at each of these sites in turn, starting with the A site. It’s very traditional in its layout with 2 entrances, a large box in the centre of the site, and a decent amount of close angles. There are also 2 entrances for defenders one of which is heaven. This is an elevated position that allows you to spot both entrances.
When you are attacking the A site, smoking heaven and the main defender entrance is so important. You want to isolate the player on the site and not allow them any help. One of the most tricky positions to be aware of is underneath heaven also known as “hell”. This can be tricky to clear when attacking because of the positioning of the box and it’s also a great place to sit in the post-plant.
The B site
Next up we have the much more enclosed B site. This site very much feels like the additional site even though it’s labelled B. It’s placed at the top of mid which is a very unusual placement for a site and therefore means you can’t do a traditional split attack, especially towards the A site.
When you attack B, make sure to smoke off both link entrances. Statistically, this is the hardest site to hold in the post-plant so it’s important to be creative. There are a tonne of lineups for the default part of this site and they will definitely help you win more rounds.
The C site
Finally, we have the third site, C. This is certainly one of the more interesting sites in the game in my opinion. There is a large box in the centre, but we also have a raised platform on the back of the site as well as lots of other smaller boxes creating a lot of difficult angles and corners.
However, unlike A, you can perform a more standard split attack through garage. This will definitely help if you’re having trouble bursting out of main as 5 because it can be a bit of a choke point. Try to smoke the main defender entrance and a well-placed recon bolt on the back wall can go a long way towards clearing all the necessary angles.
How to attack on Haven?
As I mentioned before, Haven is slightly attacker sided. The two biggest reasons for this are the 3 sites and the size of the map. It’s important to use all 3 of these sites to spread the defenders as thin as possible. Even if your team struggle to plant and hold the B site, it’s important to create pressure there to condition your opponent's defence.
Haven is unique in the fact it has 5 distinct lanes so if the defenders feel like they have to watch them all with a player, then rushing quickly towards C or A can be very effective as you have an easy 5v2. Another really common pro tactic you can steal involves your sentinel. Get control of either garage or A short and leave your sentinel there. You can then pressure the other site and have your sentinel listen for when the defenders rotate away. They can then take that free space and the team can rotate back.
How to defend on Haven?
Once again we can learn from the top-level pros how to defend. The key to this map is information. A good initiator player can go a long way but let’s be honest it’s much less common than a Jett. On this map, you can get good information with a Jett by taking this advanced position in A short.
If your Jett can get to here (especially with an Operator) you can stack up towards the other half of the map and if they come back to A, your Jett can get an easy kill and stall for the rotates. Controlling A lobby makes defending so much easier because of the size of the map.
Another option is to leave the B site and play it for retake. Make sure you have utility to help on this site though as it’s important you don’t just let the attackers walk into the site without you knowing. When retaking try to flank or pressure through garage as the attackers will often play for lineups.
What agents are good on Haven?
Now let’s look at what agents pro players like to use on this map and I’ll give you my recommendations. The most played composition in recorded tournaments is this.
This composition looks very standard with the double initiator. This makes a lot of sense given the importance of information
My go-to recommendation for this map is always Sova. He just simplifies the game and allows you to understand your opponent's movements very easily. There are also a lot of easy lineups for him on this map that is always fun to beat your enemies with
My other recommendation for this map is not in this most played composition but is still very popular, and that is Breach. While he doesn’t gather information in the same way, his utility is so powerful in the narrow corridors that this map has. You can also stun A lobby at the start of the round on the defender side to help get your Jett into the position in A short that I spoke about before.
Hopefully, this guide has given you all the tools you need to dive right into Haven and allow you to win more games on this map. I love this map for its unique style and design and hopefully, this guide can do the same for you.
