Valorant’s eighth map, Pearl, is an underwater city is filled with tight corners, long narrow walkways, and a sprawling Mid area that opens up a lot of room for mid-round rotations and greater strategic depth.
Knowing where to place your smokes is key to success. You want to block off parts of the map that opponents could be holding from, in order to pressure them and give your team the advantage.
Here’s where you should be placing your smokes when playing dome smokers like Omen, Astra, or Brimstone.
All the smokes you need to know on Pearl
Attackers
A Site push
If you’re doing a five-man push from A Main, make sure to block off the top of the stairs of A Link to prevent the enemy team from holding a cross-fire position. Depending on how many smokes you have left, you can block off either A Flowers or A Secret.
These smokes will make getting into the A Site much easier, obscuring the most common vantage points for the defenders.
However, when executing an A Site split push from A Main and A Art through Mid Plaza, you can simply smoke A Flowers and A Secret to get to the site.
Mid push
The Mid section has a lot of narrow passages attackers can exploit.
A Mid to A Site push starts at Mid Plaza. Once you have Mid control, you can then make your way to A Art. Placing a smoke at Mid Connector blocks off a close angle defenders could be holding from, helping you take A Link more easily.
After securing A Link, controllers can then smoke A Flowers or A Secret before going into the A Site. However, you’ll want to be careful of opponents who push through your smoke at Mid Connector.
If you’re looking to conquer B site instead, go through Mid Plaza and then take control of Mid Doors. Going down B Link can be tricky because you’re exposed to defenders at Mid Connector, but smoking off that area will prevent defenders from shooting you as you cross to B Link.
Once through B Link, smoke either B Hall or B Tower before you enter the site. B Hall also has two openings, so you’ll need to choose carefully.
B Site push
Going through B is more straightforward since you’re just going down from B Ramp toward B Main. Before peeking into B Main, make sure to smoke the side of B Hall that’s closer to B Main.
After taking B Main control, you should smoke B Tower to prevent defenders from holding a high vantage point, especially if they have an Operator.
The same two smokes at B Hall and B Tower should also work for a B site split push from B Ramp and Mid Doors.
Defenders
A site defense
If you hear movement at A Main, you can block off the top of the stairs from A Main. If the attackers have taken control of A Link, smoke the top of the stairs of A Link as well.
Mid defense
Mid control is critical on Pearl because it allows for rotations onto each site and leads straight into the defenders’ spawn.
To make it difficult for attackers to take control of Mid Plaza, defenders can block off Mid Shops or Mid Top at the start of the round.
B site defense
The B site of Pearl can be tricky for defenders. Since B Main is so wide, one smoke isn’t enough to cover the whole area. Defenders can reduce the angles they have to focus on by smoking one side of it. This means attackers will have to be wary of you pushing up into the smoke, or someone holding in the small pocket at B Main.
You can also block off the entryway of B Link to B Site if your team has lost control of Mid.
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