Valorant Pearl Review: First impressions plus game wining tips & tricks

Valorant’s newest map, Pearl, is one that goes back to the basics. While most maps in the past have garnered a large amount of hate upon their release, the same cannot be said for Pearl.

It’s the first map without any major gimmicks like ziplines, teleporters or doors. Pearl is quickly becoming player’s favorite, with a healthy mix of choke points, entry paths and angles. The design of the map is suited to all players, with some areas allowing for close range battles, while the inclusion of longer entrances cater to those who enjoy such aim duels.

First impressions when playing Pearl

While Pearl may initially appear to be a simple two sited map, players with good macro who can effectively rotate and counterattack are rewarded. This is due to the Pearl’s mid area being a very important control point, with access to the mid directly leading to either bomb site, or the ability to flank enemies from their base.

Attackers are undoubtably favored in Pearl due to the map’s numerous entry points. Defenders are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. First, prioritizing the ever important mid control, where they risk enemies 5 stacking a main push and overwhelming a solo site defender. Second, placing greater focus on the bomb sites and leaving only one person in mid, where they risk losing mid control and thus allow enemies to pincer attack a bomb site of their choice.

MrLowlander already came up with a nice composite of 50 useful tips & tricks:

How to win on Pearl

The best set of agents to play and boost your win rate in Pearl would be those that can hold a site down and delay enemies so your team can effectively rotate. Given the importance of mid control, playing such agents allows your team to place greater emphasis in the area without having to sacrifice a bomb site early on.

1. Sage – Sage’s two slob orbs can very effectively slow enemy pushes, buying your team time to rotate. Sage’s wall early on provides information and reduces the risk of enemy flanks. However, she can also wall aggressively to peak in odd angles, adding an even greater source of danger from the already numerous angles throughout the map.

1. Viper – has always been a menace that can hold sites down due to her decay and mollys. Enemies generally tend to avoid Viper, allowing her team to focus on other areas. Viper also has the versatility in using her wall defensively to protect against multiple entry points, or for retakes which are more common in Pearl.
2. Cypher ‘s combination of trip wires and cages buy a large amount of time against enemy pushes. Also equally as important, given the multiple entry points, his camera allows him to gain very important information without having to station a teamate.
3. Killjoy similarly to Cypher is all about controlling the entry points with utility. The turret has a wide variety of place points to serve as an early beacon for lurkers. Crawler + Nanoswarm further will help locking down further.

All of these holds rely heavily on the enemy team not uber rushing or clearing utility effective. Fast rushing and solid entry will almost always result in a lost site due to how varied entries can be. I simply cant wait for this map to enter into Valorant ranked play.