Fracture did not grace the stage at the North American Last Chance Qualifier, but Upcomer did get the chance to talk to a few players about their thoughts on VALORANT’s new map. All of which said they thought the unique layout was interesting, in terms of the four orbs that teams will have to fight over and compositions that fans may see in the future.
Fracture is the best map in Valorant and im not even capping
— DOMA (@domaVALORANT) October 10, 2021
The map’s overall layout and Ranked experience
Fracture is a map with four lanes for both Attackers and Defenders to hold and opens up both sides to flanks, thanks to its design. According to FaZe Clan’s Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty, the originality allows for a varied style of play.
“The way the spawners have it is very interesting,” he said. “And being able to attack from both sides is unique. I think the map allows for a lot of fakes and takes, because the four entrances to a site are very unusual.”
Fracture also lends itself to a faster style of play, according to XSET’s Jordan “AYRIN” He. Thanks to its ropes and small size, it’s nothing like he’s seen in other tactical shooters.
“[Riot Games] don’t want to be like [Counter-Strike: Global Offensive], they don’t want to be like any other game where the maps just have one choke point,” AYRIN said. “There’s these lanes, and I think Fracture with the rope and with how small it is, it’s a really fast paced game.”
For Cloud9 Blue’s Nathan “leaf” Orf, teams will have to pick and choose what areas and orbs they want to take over, as it’s almost impossible to cover the entire field. In Ranked, AYRIN and Cloud9’s Anthony “vanity” Malaspina said they both enjoyed playing the map, while Son “xeta” Seon-ho expressed his opinion on it in other modes.
“I think one thing I can say is this map is interesting,” xeta said. “Also the worst map in Deathmatch.”
Fracture compositions in VALORANT
With the introduction of four ultimate orbs for teams to fight over, agents that only need six ultimate charges to get their ultimate ability may be prioritized in the future.
“Those teams that are orb centric are definitely going to be looking to snag those; like any team that runs Skye a lot or Phoenix or even Killjoy,” leaf said. “Everybody’s gonna be wanting to grab those orbs. All the orbs are gonna be in contention on that map.”
Sentinels are also definitely in play for any composition on Fracture, to cover each team’s flank or hold down one site while the team stacks the other. According to xeta, there are no set places for Sentinels to use their flank covering utility.
“I think the map itself is really interesting because every player thinks differently when they choose a Sentinel or a Controller, like where they set up or use utility,” xeta said.
But, these players have yet to play the map competitively or even scrim with it. This is because the LCQ did not have Fracture in the map pool. Fracture will be playable for Champions, however, and fans may get their first look at Fracture on a LAN stage in December of 2021.
