Valorant will stick to seven-map pool, will Split return?

Fariha Bhatti Published 17/06/2022

It’s time to bid farewell to Split. Riot Games has settled on magic number seven for the Valorant map pool, scraping Split from the rotation.

Riot Game has been building on Valorant’s limited map pool with the location release after a six-month gap. Initially, players dabbled in four maps, which led to poor rotation. The developer found a solution by adding more maps, ultimately increasing variety. In 2022, Valorant has a total of eight playgrounds, including Pearl. But, according to the developer, too many maps can feel overwhelming, hence the removal of Split.

The Episode 5 patch update is a big one. The meta-shaking patch has introduced a new rank badge to the ladder, added Pearl, and has removed a fan-favorite map, Split.

Why did Riot remove Split from Valorant?

Riot has settled on a fixed number for the Valorant map pool. From now, players will have seven maps in rotation, which means one has to go away after intervals.

“Too many maps to learn can feel overwhelming and doesn’t give some of you the opportunity to really go deep on any one of them. The team thinks seven is a nice sweet spot that offers both variety and mastery,” Riot said.

After patch 5.0, Valorant will no longer have Split in the map rotation. The developer has removed the popular map in favor of the underwater city Pearl. The shiny new reverse-aquarium map has already made its way into active duty and will stay there indefinitely. The reason is to make learning agent setups easier for all players. Doing that on a whole bunch of maps is a steep learning curve. Not to mention all the combinations of agents and utility.

The new system will ensure that players remain focused on a set number of maps instead of learning dozens of setups on new locales.

Is Split removed permanently from Valorant?

No. Split is set to be removed on June 22 indefinitely, but it’s not gone permanently. The map may return with some crucial tweaks.

The map will likely return in the next Episode, switching spots with another location. Split lovers can still enjoy it in customs and alternate game modes. However, the developer has also removed it from casual mode to keep parity between all map pools. Playing casual Split may feel like wasted time when you’re playing a map you know you’ll never see in competitive.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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