Ascent Valorant Map Guide: Strats, Best Agents, Callouts & More

Riot Games’ free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter was first teased under the codename Project A in 2019 and the game began a closed beta with limited access in April 2020. The game was officially released on 2nd June 2020 for players across the globe. Ascent is the first map that was released along with the launch of the game. Riot Games developers noted that Ascent was one of the very first maps that they pieced together on Valorant. Riot Games also stated that it was the place where much of the core gameplay of Valorant was developed and refined. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Ascent Valorant map.

When did Ascent come out in Valorant?

Ascent was the first map that the publisher released when Valorant was officially launched. The map was accompanied by the release of Reyna during the global launch of Valorant. It is almost three years old at this point after being released on 2nd June 2020. Notably, the map that is specifically meant for players to practice their gunplay – The Range – is also part of the floating map of Ascent. However, the Range is a much smaller island. Riot Games, while talking about Ascent, said that the map’s development took close to five years as it continued to evolve along with the game itself.

Where is Ascent Located?

Ascent is located in San Marco, Venice, Italy in Alpha Earth according to Valorant’s lore. Additionally, the lore states that an agent from Omega Earth planted and detonated a spike on Ascent. With the Valorant Protocol failing to stop the detonation, the explosion triggered a cataclysmic event. Following this, the city was ripped out of the ground and is now permanently suspended in the sky and is basically an airborne island. Valorant deems it a product of the “most destructive radianite-related event known to Alpha.” While the city of Venice is broken up into many pieces, Ascent is played on one of the largest pieces.

How to play Ascent Valorant map? What is the philosophy of the map?

In order to play Ascent Valorant map and dominate it, one has to understand the unique features the map has. Firstly, Ascent is one of the Valorant maps that has a wide-open mid-area that allows both the attackers and defenders to skirmish over. The mid area on Ascent allows for varied ability use as well as crisp gunplay. Successfully controlling this area enables teams to dominate both A and B sites. One of the unique features of the map is the mechanical doors that are present on both the plant sites. These mechanical doors can be opened or closed by operating the switches on the site side of the door. However, it is important to note that these doors are impenetrable while shuttered down and players can wall bang through them. When the doors get destroyed, the doorway remains open for the rest of the round.

Likewise, on A site Heaven, there is a glass panel that can be destroyed to open access to the garden area of the map. 

Ascent Valorant map is regarded as a defense-sided map, so players will need to win as many rounds as defenders to ramp up an advantage. There are also good post-plant lineups for multiple agents like Sova and Viper.

Ascent Valorant Callouts

Some of the general callouts you will hear while playing Ascent are:

• A Site

• B Site

• Mid

• Catwalk

• Boat House

• Courtyard

• Garden

• Market

• Pizza

• Spawn

• Tree/Garden

• Window

• Wine (Outside A entrance)

Here are some of the site-wise callouts

A-site

• A Switch/Doors

• Garden

• Heaven/Rafters

• Hell

• Generator

• Green Box

• A Main

• Wines

B-site

• B-Main

• Boat House

• B-Switch

• Stairs

• Mid Market

• Double green

• Triple green

• B-Lane

Ascent Mid callouts

• Mid Market

• Pizza

• Catwalk

• Courtyard

Best Agents for Ascent in Valorant

Some of the best agents to play on Ascent are as follows:

Killjoy: Killjoy is almost a definite pick on Ascent since she can hold B-site all by herself with her setups and enable her team to stack on A-site. When Killjoy’s turret watches B entrance, it is almost impossible for the attackers to enter the site without taking too much damage. Additionally, her Alarm Bot and Nanoswarms on B entrance and B-lane make entering the site really difficult. 

Sova: Sova’s recon darts come in very handy on Ascent. With intel on how many players are on which side of the map, it is easy for players to rotate and take control of mid. Players use Sova’s recon dart on B-main and then immediately used Odin to wall bang B entrance from B lane to get easy kills. 

Jett: With Ascent being a mid-heavy map, having an agent like Jett to move around quickly and take control of mid is very important. Jett can use the Operator on both attack and defense to get easy kills and mid-control. Since she can reposition herself using her dash and her updrafts, playing Jett on Ascent can be game-changing. 

Omen: Given that players almost pick Killjoy by default on Ascent, it is important to have an agent with a smoke in their kit. Though Omen has gotten nerfed way too many times, having his smokes to blind Killjoy’s setups is really key to entering sites on Ascent. Additionally, Omen can use his teleport to take control of mid or the spawn of the enemies to enable his team to get picks and enter sites.

You can also pick Sage, Fade, Chamber or Raze according to your team’s composition and needs.

Is there an Ascent card in Valorant?

Player cards in Valorant are cosmetic images that show up as the background image of players’ accounts. They are displayed in the lobby, as a banner/thumbnail on the loading screen and on the player profile that enemies see when they get killed. A player card dedicated to Ascent was added in Valorant Episode 1 Ignition Act 1. The Ascent card could be obtained in the Battlepass of the indicated season in Tier 4. Notably, it is not a reward in any of the agents’ contracts and players cannot purchase it with in-game currency.