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An image of the Abyss map in VALORANT. This map is an ancient temple located deep underground.
Esports

All maps in current pool

by admin August 23, 2025


VALORANT currently has 12 maps in total, but only seven remain in rotation at a time for the competitive (ranked and premier) and deathmatch modes. If you’re looking for a list of active maps in the current VALORANT map rotation, you’ve come to the right place.

VALORANT’s map rotation is changed frequently to help keep the experience fresh for veteran players as well as allow newbies to settle in. As part of this initiative, freshly crafted maps are added to the pool every few Acts, while Riot keeps rotating existing maps in and out of the rotation. Maps that return to the rotation after are sometimes reworked based on community feedback and the meta, but they may come back without any changes.

As of Season V25, Act Five, here’s the current VALORANT map rotation and pool, plus an outline of future or upcoming plans for the pool.

What are the current maps in the VALORANT map pool rotation?

The VALORANT  ranked map pool as of Season V25, Act Five, includes the following maps:

  • Sunset
  • Ascent
  • Haven
  • Corrode
  • Bind
  • Abyss
  • Lotus

The most recent changes to the competitive map rotation went live with Patch 11.04 (the beginning of Act five in Season V25), bringing back Abyss to the rotation and removing Icebox.

Sunset

Beautiful and serene. Image via Riot Games

Inspired by sunny Los Angeles, Sunset is relatively straightforward with no distinct gimmicks, outside of a single Ascent-like door connecting mid to B that can be opened, closed, or destroyed. Quick decision-making is key if you want to win on this map, especially when it comes to rotations. Make sure you take special care of that prominent mid-section and have a strong sentinel to take care of flanks and guard your space.

Ascent

Jett’s playground. Image via Riot Games.

Ascent’s unique feature is the switch-activated doors that lead into each site. One door leads from B Site to Mid Market. Another from A Site to A Tree. Using these doors to stall time and get information about the retake can make or break rounds. At the same time, you can preemptively destroy these doors to deny that information.

Mid control is crucial on Ascent, as it allows the attacking team to scale either Mid Catwalk to go A or Mid Market to take over B.

Haven

Welcome back. Image via Riot Games

Haven is VALORANT’s first three-site map and one of the community’s most beloved maps. It’s a large, attacker-friendly map where players may find it easier to retake sites instead of holding them down.

With multiple entry points onto sites, including C Garage, Mid, and A Sewer, you have to spread out your teammates and utility to gather information on attackers. Luckily, Haven never received any significant changes, so if you played it before, you’ll feel right back at home.

Corrode

Corrode your enemies. Image via Riot Games

The newest VALORANT map, Corrode is a three-lane, two-site “radianite salt mining facility,” which encourages a balanced mix of fast-paced and measured possibilities. While it doesn’t feature any gimmicks (like teleporters, breakable doors, etc.), gameplay isn’t simple on this map.

Whether you’re an attacker or defender, there are a lot of angles and open spaces to clear before you can even think about taking control of its cramped sites. There’s also a significant mid section that facilitates flankers and snipers and lets aggressive players run it down with a shotgun. With so many possibilities, you’d have to embrace the retake (or flank/rotate, in case of attackers) approach in most situations. Lastly, beware of determined Sova and Cypher mains, as most of the map is wall bangable.

Bind

Use the teleporters for a quick rotation. Image via Riot Games

Bind’s signature element is its two teleporters, allowing for quick rotations around the map. Playing on this map requires a lot of patience, as even if the entire attacking team is out on A, there’s still a risk of late rotation toward B. There’s no mid-section, so your team can make do without a sentinel to control flanks.

Playing closer angles has always been a viable strategy on Bind, with agents like Raze and even Harbor finding their voices here. If you’re struggling with the Vandal, buying a Judge almost guarantees a kill or two every round. This is also why you must absolutely have at least one initiator on your team to win on Bind. You can also spray through smokes to get some free kills. Besides closed spaces, several longer sightlines can be held with an Operator, like the B Long and A Tower.

Abyss

Don’t look down. Image via Riot Games

Abyss is certainly one of the most ambitious and unique map designs that Riot has put forth. The entire map is littered with pitfalls where you can plunge to your death. So if you’ve got a phobia, just don’t look down. It’s also the only map in the pool with no boundaries.

If you’re open to taking the risk, the scary edges and narrow structures open a plethora of tactical opportunities. For example, you can get a head start on the enemy team using alternative paths if you play capable agents or are simply good at movement. You can also use certain abilities quirkily to push unsuspecting enemies off the cliffs—or save your gun when there’s no way out. The possibilities are endless.

Lotus

Three sites and a dream to catch. Image via Riot Games

Being the only three-site VALORANT map other than Haven, Lotus offers a ton of strategic possibilities to keep players on their toes.

Besides three intricate plant sites, Lotus also features significant neutral spaces promoting chaotic yet fun clashes. You also get to take advantage of unique features, including a rope ascender, a silent drop, a breakable door, and two rotating doors, to tackle your enemies.

Icebox (out of rotation)

Oh, so cold. Image via Riot Games

Icebox’s closely packed and complex design promotes a lot of strategic diversity and sharp gunplay. It’s also one of the only VALORANT maps to feature Spike plant spaces at different heights: Both sites have “nests” where you can plant the Spike and defend it from afar. Whether you’re a defender or an attacker, mid control is crucial to secure a round win on this map. The unpredictability may get to you, but it’s also one of the many reasons to love Icebox.

Icebox was the latest VALORANT map to be removed with Patch 11.04.

Fracture (out of rotation)

A fracture to take care of. Image via Riot Games

While it was never a fan-favorite map, Fracture’s quirks can give rise to several unique strategies, keeping players on their toes. It hasn’t undergone any change since Patch 7.04, which had revamped multiple of its features. With four neutral zones that hold the two plant sites, two attacker spawns, and a defender spawn in between, Fracture makes sure you’re wary of the flanks—or suffer the consequence.

Breeze (out of rotation)

A breezy adventure for sniper mains. Image via Riot Games

If you love keeping your enemies on their toes, Breeze is likely one of your favorite VALORANT maps. From long halls to wide open spaces, its features are all about unleashing your creative and aggressive potential. At the same time, it’s incredibly sniper-friendly, which can be a turn-off for some players.

While it’s currently out of competitive rotation, Riot should add Breeze back to the pool in a future Act—possibly with some adjustments.

Split (out of rotation)

Ah, Split; They don’t know the meaning of the word. Image via Riot Games

Set in Tokyo, Split is a close-quarter map with multiple areas and angles for you to hold. There are barely any long-range sightlines apart from Mid and A Screens, but even those can quickly be covered with smokes to make space for the attacking team.

Split’s quirk is the two ziplines. One connects the B site with B Tower, allowing for a sneaky defense angle. Another is in Mid Vent, connecting Mid and A Ramps. This area often becomes either an ambush from a rotating side or a death pit.

Pearl (out of rotation)

We’re going down. Image via Riot Games

This underwater map isn’t everyone’s favorite and has no unique mechanical features, but it offers a variety of plays through Mid control. Mid on Pearl has multiple paths connecting almost every corner of the map, from bomb sites to team spawns.

While you can hit a site directly, you’ll often be stopped by a simple Sage wall or a smoke, where Mid comes into play. You can also take an opportunity to catch an enemy flank or become the flanker yourself through the Mid Connector.

Why is there a map rotation in VALORANT?

Falling to death is certainly a change of pace. Image via Riot Games

VALORANT maintains its reputation as a live-service FPS title that consistently gets tons of new content since its initial release. Riot hasn’t slacked off in releasing new agents, skins, and maps.

Currently, Riot adds a new map to VALORANT about every six months. The map rotation concept was only introduced in 2022 during the game’s fifth competitive Episode, once there were eight total standard maps. Team Deathmatch maps are not counted towards this total.

In June 2022, during the Pearl map’s release, VALORANT maps design lead Joe Lansford announced Riot’s decision to have a seven-map competitive rotation pool. The decision was made after gathering feedback from esports teams, players, and professional organizations.

Lansford further explained how learning a new map in a tactical shooter can be challenging, a thought that drove the decision to have active and inactive map pools. Mastering a map is even harder, and having a “whole bunch of maps is a steep learning curve.” The team believes “seven is a nice sweet spot that offers both variety and mastery.” New players will have less to learn while diving into VALORANT, and existing players don’t need to learn a new map.

Crucially, the map rotation concept only applies to the Competitive, Premier, and Deathmatch modes. Unrated, Spike Rush, and other alternate modes continue to include all 11 maps, while the Team Deathmatch mode has a separate pool altogether.

Starting with the 2025 season, VALORANT’s competitive map pool sees changes with every Act. As part of this, Riot cycles existing maps with or without changes every Act, while adding new maps every once in a while.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments
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battlefield 4
Gaming Gear

DICE lead responds to criticism that Battlefield 6 beta maps were ‘not how Battlefield should be,’ urges everyone to ‘go play some smaller/medium maps in BF3 and BF4 to get a good example of the intensity curve’

by admin August 18, 2025



By all reasonable metrics, the Battlefield 6 beta was a resounding hit. Not only is BF6 already very fun based on the handful of maps and modes we got our hands on, but the two-weekend playtest period broke records for the series on Steam.

The beta wound down this morning with players clamoring for its October 10 launch day, but not without reservations. Among longtime fans, the loudest criticism surrounded map size: The beta lacked a truly big map that captured classic Battlefield chaos.

DICE lead producer David Sirland has been the one to field these complaints over the last few weeks. After the first beta weekend, Sirland assured folks that ‘large maps exist’ in BF6, but the studio chose to test small ones to show it could handle the “full-octane” chaos of CoD.


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Then, well, it added yet another small map in weekend two, reinforcing concerns that the full map pool of nine will prioritize CoD run ‘n gunning over Battlefield’s traditional spaced-out firefights.

“That’s not how Battlefield should be,” X user Blasts4Satan replied to Sirland on August 15. “Listen to the veteran players, not the CoD fanboys. This is y’all’s last chance and it’s already looking a little too much like the other game in the room.”

We are very much looking back at our past modern incarnations when it comes to pacing. I’d urge everyone to go and play some smaller/medium map BF3 and BF4 to get a good example of the intensity curve.It is slower and more deliberate on the larger maps, as it was in the past.August 18, 2025

Returning to the thread days later to reply, Sirland reaffirmed that BF6’s pacing is on the same trajectory as the games it’s most inspired by, Battlefield 3 and 4.

“We are very much looking back at our past modern incarnations when it comes to pacing. I’d urge everyone to go and play some smaller/medium maps in BF3 and BF4 to get a good example of the intensity curve,” Sirland wrote. “It is slower and more deliberate on the larger maps, as it was in the past.”

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

It’s true that close-quarters, high-intensity maps are nothing new for the series: BF3 and BF4 had loads of smaller, linear meat grinder maps that folks remember fondly. I remember the disappointment when the only map available in the 2011 BF3 console beta (the PC version got an extra, larger map) was Operation Metro, a cramped trek through grass and tunnels that was unfriendly to vehicles.

Battlefield 3: Operation Metro Multiplayer Gameplay Trailer (E3) – YouTube

Watch On

At the time, I thought BF3 didn’t feel much like Battlefield, but I warmed to it at launch after playing Caspian Border: a wide valley of rolling hills, military compounds, and jet runways that checked every Battlefield box.

Still, Sirland repeatedly saying “large maps exist” and pointing to a 14-year-old game for proof doesn’t inspire much confidence. If large maps were a focus of BF6, you’d think we’d know what they look like by now. It’s reasonable to conclude that the BF6 beta was BF Studios debuting the primary identity of the game: Pretty and destructible maps, cramped gunfights, and sometimes vehicles.

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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Bigger Maps Found In Battlefield 6 By Dataminers
Game Reviews

Bigger Maps Found In Battlefield 6 By Dataminers

by admin August 18, 2025


A group of dataminers has reportedly shared visual evidence of some very large maps that will be available in Battlefield 6 at launch or shortly after the online shooter’s October release on PC and console.

Over the last two weekends, Battlefield 6‘s open beta was a big hit with players. The upcoming military sim’s ground combat, explosive destruction, and Battlefield 3-like vibes were well received online. I had a blast putting over 15 hours into the beta by myself and with friends. But it wasn’t a perfect beta, of course, with EA having to tweak Rush shortly after adding it, and some players complaining that the maps in the beta were too small. Well, good news for those people: We have our first reported look at some of the bigger maps that will likely be available in BF6 later this year.

As reported by MP1st on August 17, a group of Battlefield dataminers known as 1BF was recently able to extract files from Battlefield Labs. This is a version of BF6 that EA uses for testing out new features, early gameplay ideas, maps, and modes. The group claims to have datamined two maps from BF Labs: Mirak Valley, which was already confirmed by EA to be in the full game, and another, known as Eastwood, that is rumored to be BF6‘s first post-launch map. And both of these maps are much bigger than the compact, urban warfare maps featured in the beta.  According to the dataminers, Mirak Valley will be the largest map available in Battlefield 6 at launch.

Leaked images of two big Battlefield 6 maps

In renders leaked online via Imgur, which are included below, you can see various shots of Mirak Valley. Keep in mind the map won’t look like this in-game, but it does show us what looks to be a very big and open map, something Battlefield vets will appreciate.

 

 

Meanwhile, the other large map, known as Eastwood, is reportedly set in California and will feature a golf course, fancy houses, and a new vehicle: a golf cart. When EA teased a battle royale-like mode last month coming to BF6 in the future, it showed what looked like a mansion’s pool and people driving a golf cart. Perhaps Eastwood, which is likely the map’s codename and not its final title, will be the setting for this teased mode. You can see renders of Eastwood below:

A size comparison of Mirak Valley and Eastwood to the BF6 beta map Siege of Cairo has also been doing the rounds based on the datamined renders, and it does show that, yes, there are seemingly much bigger maps in Battlefield 6. This shouldn’t be too surprising to learn, though, because Battlefield lead producer David Sirland said that bigger maps would be included in the full game last week.

Datamine of previously (mostly) unseen maps from the beta files

Mirak Valley, based on the official description, will be the largest map on release

source: Happysufigeee pic.twitter.com/Hrr3YDyOTX

— 1BF | Battlefield 6 (@onebattlefield) August 16, 2025

It should be noted that datamined content isn’t guaranteed to be included in the full game. Development is messy, plans shift, and things get delayed or canned all the time. That said, these maps look very far along, and at least one of them is listed as a launch map in BF6. So while there might be some changes made between the datamined renders and the final maps in the shipped game, I’m expecting both of these maps to be included at some point in Battlefield 6.

Battlefield 6 launches on October 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.





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August 18, 2025 0 comments
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Loving Hagga Basin in Dune Awakening? Developer has plans (within plans) to bring more maps like that in future updates
Game Reviews

Loving Hagga Basin in Dune Awakening? Developer has plans (within plans) to bring more maps like that in future updates

by admin June 20, 2025


Future updates for Dune: Awakening will seemingly include “Hagga-Basin-like maps”.

Revealed by community manager Iggy in the Dune Awakening Discord server, he wrote: “I think Joel kinda leaked in the past that we plan to add more Hagga-Basin-like maps in the future as part of new content”.

Iggy refers to pre-launch developer vlogs in which Dune: Awakening spoke about the roadmap for future updates. Creative director Joel Bylos stated updates for the game would be free, with only optional cosmetics, battle passes, and especially large expansions being sold.

Check out our video on the weird history of Dune games!Watch on YouTube

Iggy later echoed this point, stating: “Content will come as part of free updates, as far as I am aware. If it ever comes as part of a paid package, I imagine it would be because it’s something big.” Iggy continues “But for now I think we have said we plan to release content for free, and then optional stuff via optional DLCs so we can actually afford rent, lights, and pineapple on pizza.”

Dune Awakening has proven exceptionally popular since its launch on Steam, breaking 150,000 concurrent players and popping off among the higher reaches of the Top Sellers list alongside Stellar Blade. A recent patch for the game provided several quality of life fixes, and ended the practice of crushing players with orniphopters in PvP.

Eurogamer’s recent review of Dune Awakening, which scored it four stars, offered praise to the progression through Hagga Basin. It features the following: “[…] the process of gathering material around the starter area of Hagga Basin, refining your haul at your handcrafted base, and manufacturing new gear is made endlessly compelling with an unwavering faithfulness to the source material.”



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June 20, 2025 0 comments
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Google Maps mobile
Gaming Gear

The Ultimate Google Maps Cheat Sheet for Smarter Travel and Exploring

by admin June 20, 2025


Whether you’re heading across town or across the country, a navigation app like Google Maps can be essential to easier travel. It can help you steer clear of heavy traffic, accidents, toll roads and other unexpected delays. It can also show you the best places to eat and visit when you’re exploring a new place.

Want to get even more out of Google Maps? We’ve rounded up some useful tricks and lesser-known features that can enhance your experience.

For more travel advice, see the best time to shop for airline tickets and how to find cheap flights.

Google Maps tricks you’ll want to use ASAP

Google Maps is packed with features that aren’t always obvious, but CNET has uncovered some of the best ones. These are tips you’ll want to keep in your back pocket.

Google Maps tips for food lovers

If you’re someone who loves checking out new restaurants or planning nights out, these tips are for you. Even seasoned diners might discover something new.

Google Maps tips for frequent travelers

If you’re constantly on the go, knowing how to use Google Maps to your advantage can make your travel days smoother. These features are especially handy while on the move.

For more, see our traveler’s prep checklist and how to improve your odds of not having your flight canceled or delayed.



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June 20, 2025 0 comments
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Gears Of War Reloaded Beta Is Getting Extended With More Maps
Game Updates

Gears Of War Reloaded Beta Is Getting Extended With More Maps

by admin June 19, 2025



Last weekend, Gears of War Reloaded had its first multiplayer beta test, and testing will resume this coming weekend. However, the team behind the game wants players to know that it has listened to comments about the first beta, and expanded the hours and the options for the second weekend.

On the game’s social media accounts, Gears of War Reloaded developer The Coalition announced the changes. The start time remains June 20 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET, but the test has now been lengthened by nine hours to Sunday, June 22 at 9 PM PT / June 23 12 AM ET.

We heard you.
More maps. More modes. More time.
This weekend’s Multiplayer Beta has been extended and Execution will now be playable along with KOTH. pic.twitter.com/KRM0viG5VU

— Gears of War (@GearsofWar) June 18, 2025

As noted in the post, Execution has been added to the beta alongside King of the Hill on Gridlock, Raven Down (Courtyard and War Machine), and Canals. Team Deathmatch and Gold Rush options are also available.

Gears of War Reloaded is the second remaster of the original game from 2006. All of the post-launch content from the game’s first remaster, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, will be included. Microsoft has also been sending free upgrades for Reloaded to anyone who already has Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.

Microsoft will drop Gears of War Reloaded on August 28 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. Cross-platform play and cross-progression will be supported. This will be the first time that Gears of War has appeared on a PlayStation system. Microsoft has yet to confirm that the next game, Gears of War: E-Day, will be cross-platform when it launches in 2026 as part of Xbox’s 25th anniversary.





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June 19, 2025 0 comments
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