VALORANT Harbor Smokes on Ascent - Best Smokes and Strategies

This will be the only guide you need on the best smokes and set ups for Harbor on the map Ascent.

Harbor is a versatile agent with a unique set of abilities that make her a valuable addition to any team. Ascent is the oldest map in the game, with a pretty basic overall structure but multiple approaches as to how it can be played.

In this article, we will explore Harbor's abilities and highlight the best smokes for each key location on Ascent. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting out, this guide will provide you with the knowledge to effectively control Ascent and dominate your opponents with Harbor. Get ready to take your gameplay to the next level!

Setups - Attack

The attacking side is rather needy when it comes to you as a Harbor player or controller in general. How important Mid control is on this map, many angles to look out for and cover and so much more to take into account before you initiate a good execute. Here are the best Harbor smokes & setups for attacking on Ascent:

A Full Control

Staring with Attacking A site, there are multiple steps and layers to your execute that you need to become aware of. 

You have a cascade wall that can be used as a smoke, but it originally acts as a quick cover for you to push behind. And there’s your tide which is the long wall that we know about, very versatile and can be curved to any shape you like. 

Then you have the orb that is shielded blocking bullets temporarily. 

For this set up you are going to use your tide covering short and the entirety of heaven, then use your cascade wall to push through the close angle on the left, which also should reach out to Generator and potentially slow down any player there. 

Finally, you use your covering smoke only for the planter. When your teammate is about to plant it, only then you activate it. 

A Split

Sometimes, it is better to split your attacking force into two different chokepoints so you can have a better grasp and chance of opening up the site. 

Use your tide from the right and curve it so it covers up heaven just like shown. And in the same place, you are able to throw a cascade wall through and that should give your teammates an even better chance of fighting for that space on short. 

Again, smoke the planter for cover as defenders might fast retake trying to deny the plant. 

B Lane

Now it’s time to dive deeper into attacking B, the two main choke points that you should take care of are Market and CT. However, on B it’s very common that somebody is peeking early on the round to take a pick on B main, so using your cascade wall through onto B might can be an effective strategy to take B main control temporarily. 

After that, cover Market & CT with your tide wall and you can throw your shielded smoke to give yourself an easy way into lane to site. We use the shield here and not for the planter because B site is structured differently, and you don’t need to use it for a planter as you can only plant if you have full site control. 

B Stairs

Sometimes pushing B lane can be very difficult. Especially that killjoy is now a common agent pick on this map, with their set up lane might just be an impossible zone to enter. 

And where your tide wall can come to hand with a duelist play, smoke just like the picture above covering market and CT. Then, your duelist is supposed to push but towards the path of stairs. There you fight for the entry, and that doesn’t mean all of you should go stairs, indeed you will need to still take control of Lane. 

Mid To A

Mid control is fundamental on this map and that’s why you should always aim to take at least a decent amount of map control towards the middle area. Even if you are just defaulting, blocking enemies from accessing quick flanks and rotations through mid can be a huge factor lending you an advantage over them. 

To execute a well-thought Mid To A, use your shielded smoke as you enter from short and quickly use the tide wall to cover heaven. 

You can as well try to do a full circle where you also cover main if you had no teammate clearing that

Mid To B

To execute Mid To B all you need to do is simply smoke CT opening from Mid and take that all the way into CT on site. Then, you can use your cascade wall to clear market or to clear the close angle (close right) as you push out of market. 

Setups - Defense

Harbor is relatively still a new agent, we haven’t seem him in pro matches or even in ranked as often as we have expected. This is both positive and negative, obviously we don’t want agents that are useless but that also makes him very unique and untraditional to deal with. 

Here are some smokes & setups that will spice up your games with harbor: 

A Full Defense

In this defense set up you will be using your tide to completely take over A main and Short. 

It’s important to account for split pushes, even if you hear 3 steps on A main there might still be enemies looking out to push through short. And with harbor you have the ability to expand your smoke and curve it at a pretty good extent. 

A Aggressive

Sometimes, the best form of defense is offense. And that is exactly what you practice here, pushing A main with a cascade wall and a teammate can be a great strategy on an eco round. 

B Off Angle

In this set up you will take the off angle on B lane and throw your wall accordingly, and that is based on steps and your information of where enemies are pushing. As always make sure to cover the mid to b route as well. 

Mid Control

With Harbor, it might be easier than any to actually take full control of mid and that is due to his ability to cover with his amazing wall.