Valorant
Being a smoker is one of the most underrated roles in Valorant. Playing it can influence the match's outcome; smoking helps the team execute sites, stop the rush and block the enemy, and help your team take or defend objectives. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to play smokes in Valorant.
Players on Reddit discuss how Pro Valorant players place their smoke and give tips and tricks:” How pro players are (or should) using smokes on Ascent.”
Understand Your Role as a Smoker
The primary role of a smoker is to control vision on the map, making it harder for the enemy to gather information, aim, or execute their strategies effectively. Common smoker agents include Brimstone, Omen, Astra, and Harbor.
Best Smoke Agent for Each Map
Not every smoke agent fits every map in Valorant. For example, playing Viper on Ascent or Omen Icebox takes a lot of work. While it may work for some, it is usually not the perfect pick and may leave some gaps in your play that can cause your team to lose, so here is a tier list of the best smoke for each map in Valorant.
Smoke Agents
Key Objectives for Smokes
Deny Vision: with the ability to smoke, you can easily deny the enemy's sight and limit their information about your team.
Control Areas: the smoker can make and stop sites rush weather with a smoke or a molly and can control a site with a couple of smokes.
Create Safe Passages: smoke can provide safe routes for your team to cross or push onto a site without exposing them to the enemy.
Delay Enemies: use smokes to delay enemy advances, buying your team time to rotate or set up defenses.
Smoke Placement Tips
Smoke correctly: many low ELO players tend to make this mistake, not smoking properly and leaving too much space for them to spam or make a hero play and lose the round.
Ascent A site Smoke
One way: At the beginning of each round, place one way of smoking. This delays enemy site rush and gives your team time to rotate.
Ascent A main One Way Smoke
Fake Smokes: Use smokes to fake a site, forcing enemy rotations or baiting utility from the enemy.
Bind Fake Smoke
Retake Smokes: Use smokes during retakes to block enemy vision and make the retake easier.
Abyss Retake Smoke
Avoid Common Mistakes
- Don’t Smoke Off Your Teammates: When setting up smokes, be mindful not to block your team's vision.
- Timing is Key: Mis-timed smokes can waste utility and give the enemy an advantage. Ensure your smokes align with your team’s push or hold.
- Don’t Oversmoke: Overusing smoke can make it harder for your team to execute effectively or allow the enemy to turn the smoke against you.
Communicate with Your Team
- Coordinate Smokes: Work with your team to ensure smokes are placed correctly for executes or defense.
- Call Out Smoke Usage: Let your teammates know when and where you’re smoking so they can adjust their positions.
Best Pros to Learn From
Watching and observing some of the pro players and teams can significantly help you with your gameplay. These players have spent hours and hours trying to perfect the agent role, so watching them will certainly give you an advantage. Players such as Mindfreak and Tenz will help you if you follow their gameplay and try to recreate some of their work; Marved is also one of the best smokers in the game. Usually, these players stream on Twitch, advising and helping people.
