Valorant Haven map guide: tips, strategies, spike sites
Haven features mostly medium range engagements with highly defensive starting positions. It is the only map that contains 3 sites the attackers can plant on each round.
From a defensive point of view, A Site is the only one where the attackers can contest Long and Short at a similar time as the defenders, causing a lot of fire fights to happen.
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While explaining the map strategies, I might use the most common callouts to indicate each placement.
A Site - Attack
When attacking A Site, obtaining the control on the ultimate orb and A Short is crucial in the very beginning of the round.
Many defenders will play aggressively to capture the ultimate orb. Peeking A Long as quickly as possible gives you the greatest chance of successfully killing the enemy before they can attack you, as they have a couple meters further to travel to reach their peeking position.
Pushing onto site in either direction can be a bit tricky, however, you have much more space when peeking from A Long, onto site, allowing for solid double peeking opportunities and ability outplay (Such as Jett’s smokes).
When on Long, always have a teammate protecting you against aggressive A Short rushes.
It is important to note that almost all of Heaven is wall-bangable, making a well placed Sova’s Recon Bolt invaluable.
If you’re an Omen player and you want to ult into Hell, rather than Heaven, select the back of the building, away from the window, as you cannot warp into the wall on Heaven: it will automatically warp you below it into Hell.
Planting the Spike
The optimal planting point depends on the team composition, however, in a clutch scenario, the best place to plant is the one pictured below.
This angle can be seen from deep in A Short, A Long, Heaven, and if positioned correctly, Hell as well. It allows for easy picks when the enemy tries to defuse, or strong outplays with stalling abilities like Orbital Strike.
A Site - Defense
As a defender, you have two options: playing in an aggressive stance (left), or playing passively (right). Here there are two positioning suggestions side by side:
Your goal on the aggressive side (left) is to pick any enemy you see, bait out early ability usage, and gather information for your team.
The aim on the right is to protect the ultimate orb and strive for survivability, while maintaining control over the immediate site.
B Site - Attack
As an attacker, B Site is the most difficult in every aspect: it is hard to take, hold, and defend against retakes.
The enemy can approach you from three separate directions and is always nearby; this means that when planting on B you must act as fast as possible. Overall, it is not recommended to plant here often.
B Site - Defense
Mid control is very important on Haven. However, with so many bomb sites, defense is often stretched thin. You will not have more than two players in close proximity to another.
Generally, the defense is set with one on C, one in C Garage prepared to rotate to C or B when needed, one on B, and two on A (in Long and Short).
If pressured from Mid, or if you have a weak player holding B, it will be much harder to rotate and retake sites. Nevertheless, you can counter this issue by having the A Short player rotate to B, so they can help to watch the front entrance from the hall on the east side of B.
C Site - Attack
There are three clear ways onto site, but only two are recommended, unless you have a Brimstone to secure areas from Long with his Sky Smokes.
Full push to C from Long, with one member watching behind to ensure nobody flanks.
A split of two on Long, and three on Garage.
A full push into Garage, with one member peeking B to get a pick of the enemy B player rotating to help Garage.
Pushing onto C Site can be tricky: there are many locations to be attacked from, and generally it is easier to retake than A.
There are six places that enemies can be lurking when you push onto site:
Immediately to the left when you come from Long.
Behind the boxes towards Garage to the right.
On top of the elevator to the left.
Behind the elevator.
Behind the center stack.
On top of the wooden dunnage at the right side of the site.
Planting the Spike
Make sure all of these areas are clear before planting the Spike, or the enemy will have a very easy time getting a pick or more. The image below shows the most optimal position to plant.
This area can be seen from any entrance, and has a wall to bounce grenades, mollies, and some ultimates, in order to stall the defuse.
C Site - Defense
To defend C, you need a player watching Garage, which can be done from the corner above the elevator on C, or from the window inside of Garage.
One player can play behind the center stack to dodge in and out the enemy fire coming from Long. This can also be viewed from the dunnage in the corner, and behind the elevator in the corner of C.
Be careful: if your teammate dies at B, you are unprotected from the back of the site.
In the image above, red is for cross fire, which is less optimal escape wise, but better aggressively. Green is safer, but provides nearly no cover fire or double peeking ability.
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Credit to Drowsy Boar who provided information and images for this article.
