Bind Map Guide: Compositions and Strategies
Bind is one of three original maps in Valorant that were playable in beta. Although it seemed very odd at first from a traditional tactical FPS point of view, Bind grew on a lot of people over time and is one of the Valorant community's favorite maps today.
Bind is statistically "the fairest and most balanced map" in Valorant regarding which side has the advantage, as both attack and defense are very close to a 50% win rate.
Map Overview
In our previous guide we covered Ascent, which is all about Mid control. Bind, on the other hand, has no Mid at all. Both sites have two distinct entries, one short and one long. However, what makes Bind unique are two one-way teleports that enable a lot of creative plays as well as quick site-to-site rotations.
Teleporters have a big role when it comes to Bind strategy. Correct usage can lead to some great plays, while one wrong TP can lose the round. You can use them to quickly rotate or use the sound cue to fake the rotation. You can even throw abilities through teleporters; however, they make a different sound than Agents.
Bind is a wide-open map with narrow funnels, especially on site entries. Also, Ultimate orbs are positioned in contested areas and usually require utility or numbers advantage to be secured safely. Op-ing on Bind is common due to a lot of open areas such as A and B long, or A Heaven.
Attacking on Bind
Since each site has two entries, you want to hit from both sides at once if you can to split up enemy utility. "Patience is gold" on Bind when attacking, as you want to bait out as much utility from defenders, so when you push the site, they don't have as many tools to stop you.
Be careful though, as waiting for too long can put you in a tricky spot, and you won't have enough time left on the clock. Also, be careful of Defenders using teleports for quick rotations and disrupting your push.
Using teleports to fake a bomb site entry and quickly rotating to the other one can be a very efficient play if enemies already rotated. Also, it is a good Ultimate Orb farming strategy to overload B long to secure the first one, then quickly teleport to secure one in Showers.
Since A site is pretty wide, using Viper or Sage wall to divide it is a common strategy. Also, smoking off Heaven and Lamps(U-hole) is a good idea, as you can safely reach the Truck and plant the spike from Short. Having one to two players pushing Showers is recommended to split the enemy focus or just grab easy frags by flanking defenders who committed defending Short.
When attacking B, it is important to clear Hookah, as one Defender with a Judge can end your round. Raze Boom-bot and nades, and Breach Aftershock are good examples of effective ways to clear Hookah. Be careful if instantly peaking B long since there is often a Defender with an Operator holding the angle.
B site is much tighter than A, so be careful when pushing deep site without clearing all angles. Smoking points like Elbow and CT is generally good to have a safe path to the plant zone.
In post-plant scenarios on Bind, try to spread out and have at least one player outside the bomb site. Learning Viper, Brimstone, or Sova utility lineups to defend the spike defuse from outside the site will undoubtedly win you a lot of rounds.
Defending on Bind
Since attackers' main goal is to bait out as much of your utility as possible before they strike, your job is to stall as much as possible. Proper utility cycling coordinated with your teammates is key to slowing down the attackers. The idea is to use abilities efficiently one by one, to force enemies into unfavorable positions and force them to make plays late in the round.
Gaining early info on their position will help you "not waste utility," which will be helpful later in the round. The usual defensive setup is two players playing on B and three players holding the A site. You can also have one player in CT spawn waiting to quickly rotate off of info, depending on which side attackers plan to push.
Defenders on Bind can make a lot of aggressive plays on both sides of the map. Instantly peaking B long with an Operator is common since you are always going to be first on the angle. Also, aggressive plays in Hookah and Showers can be very annoying to deal with if played correctly.
Agents and Team Compositions
Many team compositions and Agents can work on Bind, so meta varies from patch to patch and region to region. However, playing double controllers proved to do very well since smokes and mollys have a lot of value on Bind.
Since Astra has fallen in priority due to heavy nerfs this year, Viper and Brimstone are go-to controller picks on Bind nowadays. Viper's kit is good at anchoring a site, and she excels in post-plant scenarios with her Ultimate and Snakebite lineups.
Brimstone has the best smokes for Bind, while his Ultimate and mollys can singlehandedly shut down attackers' push and work great in post plants. Brimstone usually takes the primary controller role, while Viper or Astra/Omen play a "Lurker" role.
When it comes to duelists, Raze is considered a must-pick on Bind. Her Boom-bot and grenades are a great tool for clearing Hookah, Lamps, Showers, and front parts of the bomb sites. Other duelists like Jett and Reyna are mostly used as secondary options in double duelist team comps.
The main reason secondary duelists are not very common is Chamber. His Sentinel/Duelist hybrid playstyle is perfect for Bind. He is used as a primary Operator user to hold long angles like B long and Showers.
Other Sentinels have fallen out of favor, as Chamber checks all the boxes with only Sage having any presence in games. He got nerfed on 4.09; however, we expect him to still be an S-tier Agent.
Lastly, the initiator role is probably the most wide-open when it comes to Bind. Skye and Sova were traditionally solid options because of their info-gathering abilities. However, Fade quickly showed potential to be a great pick on Bind. It is still too early to tell for sure, so keep your eyes open on Fade in the coming weeks.
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