VALORANT Sunset Guide – Everything You Need to Know
The long-awaited new Sunset is finally released with VALORANT’s EP 7 Act II. Combined with the epic trailer and Los Angeles inspired design, VALORANT’s Sunset does look promising.
The map design is simple, with no weird mechanics like teleporters and ziplines—definitely a breath of fresh air for most players. Plus, It’s a map with only two sites, unlike Lotus and Haven.
Since there is a new map in the pool, here is going to be a new rotation. Fracture and Pearl are going to be replaced by Sunset and a reworked Breeze. While Fracture was a good map in the eyes of many, we are definitely happy with Pearl being removed.
Now, we know that getting used to a new map is difficult for most players. New callouts, map structure, and new tactics can be a hassle to master. Mastering a new map is difficult in any game, but in VALORANT it’s even more complicated, as agents can be very map-dependent. You don’t know which agent is going to perform and which won’t.
In order to help you out, we have compiled this guide for you. This article will cover everything you need to know about Sunset. Let’s dive in!
Also read: VALORANT Best Settings and Options Guide
Map Layout
Sunset’s layout is similar to maps like Breeze and Split, with two sites on each side separated by a mid section. Looking at the layout, there is a heavy emphasis on mid control. We predict that both attackers and defenders are going to be fighting for mid control, as it opens more ways to the sites.
The entry points on both sides are pretty narrow, which means rushing in blindly against a good team might not work. A split push might be an optimal approach. Sunset is quite compact, which means there is going to be aggression from both sides early on for map control.
The map looks almost evenly-sided, with a slight advantage for the defenders.
Bomb Sites
Unlike Haven and Lotus, Sunset is a traditional two-site map. Both A and B sites are pretty distinct in design, however. A is more compact and small, with narrow entrances, tight walkways, and stuff like boxes. This means that there is going to be a lot of close-quarters action. Moreover, due to the compact design, there are a lot of cubbies and hiding angles to clear for both attackers and defenders.
Moving on to B, the site design is a mixture of Split and Ascent. It’s great to see Riot Games taking inspiration from maps loved by the community and sticking to tried and tested designs.
B site features a door mechanism similar to Ascent’s A site, where the players can open the doors to get access to more sightlines, or close them to do the opposite. That means part of taking B control would involve holding this door.
Structure-wise, Sunset’s B site is similar to Split’s B site. There is a pillar-like structure in the center and the area around is the site. Unlike Split, the whole area around the pillar is spike-plantable.
Middle
As we mentioned before, Sunset heavily awards the team that takes mid control. However, because of the open design, it’s going to be hard to hold it for long. It’s similar to Ascent’s middle, with a spacious area for combat separated by some boxes.
“Sunset features a mid that is fairly difficult to control and doesn’t really favor one team or another; it’s generally good for rifle ranges and opens up a bunch of opportunities for whichever team can take it. We expect to see both teams make mid-control a central part of their strategy on Sunset,” said Joe Lansford (Map Designer).
Sunset Callouts
Since the map is small there are going to be fewer callouts to remember. Most of the callouts are standard and similar to other maps.
Starting from the defender side leading to A there are two pathways; A Alley and A Link. On the site, there is a slight passage towards A Main called A Elbow. A Elbow then connects to Attacker Spawn.
Towards Middle, A Link gives access to Middle through Mid-Top. On Mid there are two ways leading to both sites. You can go to B through the B market and move to A through Mid-Tiles, leading to A lobby and A main.
There is a Mid Top and Mid Bottom similar to Ascent, with Mid Bottom at the attacker side and vice versa.
Similarly, to access B from Defender Spawn, there is a narrow pathway that splits into B Boba and Mid Top.
The B site itself is split into two parts, the B site and B market which can be accessed from both Mid and Boba.
Continuing on, there is then B main which leads to B lobby and Attacker Spawn.
Learning new callouts if never easy, but this is quite a simple and compact map, so it shouldn’t take too long.
Best Agents for Sunset
Since Sunset is a map with narrow pathways, it favors close-quarter duels. The map is definitely going to rely on heavy utility usage.
For Duelists, Raze and Jett are going to be perfect for this map. Sunset has a lot of verticality to it with different boxes, so agents like Raze and Jett can get a lot of value out of this verticality thanks to their vertical mobility.
Sunset has a lot of angles to clear, so initiators like Sova, Skye, and Fade should do pretty well. Kay/O, Gecko, and Breach could be run as second initiators for flashes and site executes. This map favors a two-initiator or two-controller meta if you ask us.
For controllers, you can probably go with anyone, as this mainly depends on your team comp. Brimstone and Omen are good choices. You can also run Viper and Harbor.
In terms of Sentinels, Killjoy is a definite pick. Her utility can be really handy especially because of the compact layout of Sunset.
Conclusion
Learning a new map is always exciting, and in a game like VALORANT, where you have to learn all the maps due to a lack of a map selector in competitive, it pays off to hit the ground running, definitely now that the map has entered the competitive map pool (VALORANT Patch Notes 7.05). With this guide, you should be able to become familiar with VALORANT’s Sunset map rather quickly so that you can get to fragging without distractions.
