Looking at the overview of Fracture, it can be one of the most daunting maps in the entire VALORANT pool. This may sound hard to believe, but with some tips and strategies, you can master Fracture. We will break down Fracture and the compositions and then provide you with some ideas to dominate the map; let’s get into it.

Fracture: The Basics

From a basic map overview, Fracture has a unique layout, unlike any other map in the pool. No, we’re not talking about the 4 orbs, though that is also part of it. But, as you most likely know, the spawns are pretty weird. The Defenders spawn in the middle of the map, with spike sites both directly left and right. Meanwhile, the starting area of attackers essentially surrounds the entire map.

The design behind Fracture is clear; Riot wanted a fast-paced map with lots of rushes, strong executes, and exciting gameplay. But just because they had an idea doesn’t mean it’ll play out that way. So let’s dive deeper, going over a typical Fracture composition and why that matters anyway. 

Ideal Compositions

Your team composition will be important when playing a map like Fracture, so let’s discuss it. 

A typical Fracture comp kind of looks like this: 

You have a Brimstone to smoke important angles and speed up any executes or rushes into sites. Then have a Raze, for one, to do funny duelist things, but also especially to make sure you get out of the choke points, using her blast packs. Next, you got a Breach to flash and stun your team into sites and to walk the Duelist and hold their hand.  

Then you need a Killjoy or Cypher to anchor sites, potentially lurk on attack, and especially hold down information to ensure you know what’s happening around the map. Finally, your fifth agent is for choice. 

In pro play, this will almost always be an info initiator; think a Fade, Skye, or even a Sova if you’re a bit goofy like Evil Geniuses. It wouldn’t hurt to get out a second duelist in the form of a Jett. Plus, if you’re in low ELO, it’s not uncommon to see at least one instalock duelist screaming, crying, and begging for a ‘healer’, so chances are, your comp will have a Sage.

The first step to Fracture is to win in agent selection, so try to pick a fundamentally sound comp and look to abuse clear issues when your opponents fail to do so. 

Attacker Side on Fracture

Alright, the comp’s there; how should we approach the map? Great question! Let’s start by going over how to approach Fracture’s attack side! 

RUSH! RUSH! RUSH!

First of all, a bit like how the map was intended, you can decide to rush into sites fast, particularly if you have the double duelist, Jett, plus Raze variation. 

You go 4 A or B main, have your Sentinel split from the other side, and then plop down the stimmy, stun out, flash site, and dash plus blast-pack in. Happy days, the site is yours at 1 minute 30!  

However, a couple of boxes need to be ticked for this approach to work. 

First, your Breach needs to know what they’re doing, and your duelist must be able to work with him. To make a rush work: utility must be well-timed, every corner cleared, and there can not be gaps for cheeky enemies or quick-on-the-trigger OPerators to abuse.

An advantage of playing in higher ELOs is that most Breach players, at the very least, know how to stun most common angles; this makes life easier since you, now as the Raze, can say: “yo breach can you flash main early, then stun site, I’ll blast pack in!” However, depending on your rank and the agents you and your friends play, you might not have decent coordination as an option. 

Next, your team needs to know how to rush properly! If you’re rushing but are actually slow, you’ll just be stalled out, waiting until you die from an unexpected flank. Also, your team, especially your duellists, must know how to deal with Sentinel utility. If a single Cypher trip makes your Raze or Jett recoil in fear, and they don’t really know how to deal with it or go past the util, you’re going to have a bad time. 

Playing, slow, map control & orbs farming

In some games, your team does not care to do anything together, and you are literally all alone. So, if that’s the case, we have some ideas.

We’ll be honest; playing fully split up and alone, especially on a map like Fracture is not ideal; if your enemies are good, you’re going to get picked off by OPs, and enemies will make sure to play together always to guarantee at least a trade. 

However, if your team isn’t great, your comp sucks, and there isn’t much to lose, well, you may as well try to default a bit, play for picks, and seek out relatively fair 1v1s. 

Try to slowly push areas like Arcade, Dish, or even B main, listen for sounds, and do your best to catch enemies off guard. No enemies to be found? Don’t overcommit by walking into site alone; grab the orb, and look for a different fight. This isn’t exactly the strategy you’ll see in pro games, but if your team is awful, it is a way to make the game more dependent on your ability to seek out and win 1v1 aim duels. 

Killjoy Ult B

One thing we should probably mention because it’s a round win on its own; when you have a Killjoy ult, and the opponents don’t have theirs, nor a Brimmy ult, you can carefully place the lockdown on under to be awarded the B bombsite after a short wait of just 13 seconds. If you get ahead in the ult economy, this is easily the most straightforward way to take a site, and if things go according to plan, also a round in the process.

Lurking Arcade

Last but certainly not least, for all you Sentinel players out there: if you feel like your team is constantly running into stacks and, well, death, try calling this one: Ask your teammates to create presence on A, and let them take A main while you silently walk up to Arcade. When the time’s right, and you hear rotations, you strike and get a nasty flank going into their spawn. Of course, that’ll only be effective if your enemies are over-rotating, but this is an amazing punish when they do! You can even do it from canteen sometimes.

Defender Side on Fracture

Now that you have enough ideas to swiftly 12-0 on attack, you need to close it out on defense; what should we do there? 

Get the OP Out

Well, first on the list, of course, looking at your opponents’ comp and seeing if there are any obvious holes to abuse. Are they lacking a Sentinel? Go for thought-out pushes, using utility and at least one teammate to guarantee a trade at worst. And if they’re missing a crucial pick in Breach and or a movement Duelist, well, then it’s time to get the OPs out! 

On a map like Fracture, there are so many easy-to-hold angles that you can safely play from even without movement, so no matter if you’re a Skye, Raze, Sage, or even Brimstone, you’ll have plenty of easy-to-OP angles, where you have to make it bold to get punished. If your enemies don’t have a Breach-duelist combo, or they’re not doing a proper job, then OPing will be child’s play.

Dedicated Spawn Player(s)

The next defensive idea is another kind of Fracture special: dedicated spawn players. When playing Fracture, you’ll usually have your Brimstone standing AFK with his iPad out in the middle of spawn. Of course, this is to be able to place smokes on either side, but even if you don’t have a Brimmy, having a spawn player is not a bad idea!

We mentioned that rotations on fracture are quick, but if you play in spawn, you’ll be on either site within 4 seconds of your teammate spotting an enemy, so it’s a great way to play both sites at once. Of course, you don’t want to put 5 in spawn; you still need to spot the enemies first after all, but having one, or sometimes even two there, is not as troll as you might think it is. 

Get Aggressive!

Next up, something we already touched upon a bit, but taking map control aggressively on defense can be a great idea, especially when your enemies are not full-rushing sites. 

Even if your opponents have a Sentinel and are slowly going for 4-1 splits, there are still a lot of angles to be held. If there’s a Cypher all alone dish/arcade side, his trips probably won’t be enough to save him from defenders pushing from both sides with guns blazing and well-placed utility! 

Alternatively, going back to the Killjoy strat we talked about for attack, that’s another reason you might want to push when you’re up against it on defense. If you feel like the lockdown is coming towards B, why not try to have 3 players push Arcade right at the start of the round, maybe even with a crunch coming through from Dish. Doing this will allow you to quickly walk underground and destroy the lockdown right as it’s placed! Just be careful not to get surprised by attackers peeking Arcade somewhat delayed; it’s a common counter to the counter. 

Play for Retakes

Now for one final idea, you can use to win more Fracture games: setting up for retakes. This strategy is usually a pretty good response when your opponents are too good at hitting the sites. If you notice you can’t stop them, you don’t quite join them, but you change your approach.

When you want to play for the retake, you try to hold on to most of your utility, let the enemies plant, and begin executing your own the moment the spike goes down. As long as you ensure your enemies don’t have great post-plant positioning, you should easily be able to retake, assuming your team works together well. 

For example, if you play retake B, or even A, to be honest, you can Breach –  then instantly Brim ult to get the combined effects of two ultimates. You knock enemies to the back of the site with the rolling thunder, eliminating their movement, and within seconds you’ll see names of the fallen tributes due to the orbital strike. 

You can probably already tell, though, this requires team play, and some good coordination, so it’s a bit hard to recommend in ranked. If you’re confident in your team, you can try it, but it’s not for every game or team.