Valorant Lotus Map: Release Date, Location, Mechanics Explained
Lotus is also called the City of Flowers and is situated in India
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Riot Games continues to celebrate the beauty and culture of India as it has officially revealed its latest map addition to Valorant. Named Lotus, the new map is situated in the Western Ghats of India on Omega Earth. The map rightly encapsulates the visuals of an ancient temple with lush greenery, step-wells, and structures inspired by Indo architecture. Additionally, Lotus, as the name suggests, boasts beautiful, humongous pink Lotus motifs on the top of the temple structures. Similar to Valorant’s Haven, Lotus also features three sites for attackers to enter and plant.
The new Indian map in Valorant is all about rotating doorways, pathways to slide in style from, destructible doors, and much more. Here’s all we know about Lotus or the City of Flowers in India.
Location of Lotus or the City of Flowers
In the Revelation cinematic, we learned that the location is in India as the text on the screen stated the Western Ghats. Notably, the Western Ghats is a mountain range that runs parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula and traverses the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa. Agents Harbor and Astra found the City of Lost Flowers in Omega Earth. Notably, Lotus is the ninth map in Valorant.
The map takes direct inspiration from Indian locations and architectural styles. Level Designer Joe Lansford reportedly said, “There are several traditional Indian architectural elements and locations that we took inspiration from. Stepwells, Rock-Cut architecture, and the Dravidian style. Badami Cave Temples, Ellora Caves, and Rani Ki Vav to name a few.” Notably, Riot Games wanted players to experience an “Indiana Jones” vibe from the map.
Map mechanics
Similar to Haven, Lotus is a three-site map but it fundamentally differs as it incorporates smaller-level gameplay strategies. Some of the uniqueness of the map includes the rotating doorways and a destructible wall that seems to open the link between A main and B site. The map also features a silent drop and therefore players will need to look at multiple different angles to hold the sites. In addition to these pathways, every site on Lotus has tons of cubbies and corners to hide and peek at.
Talking about the map’s design, Lansford reportedly stated, “We wanted to make another 3 site map and show that this is more of a format we’ll keep using than just a single map. Additionally, we aimed to make a map with high flexibility and movement for both teams.”
When is the new Indian map releasing?
Players can finally experience the beauty of Lotus and take in its aesthetics in Valorant Episode Six, Act One. This new episode and act are scheduled to go live on 10th January 2023. As usual, players will not find Lotus on regular queues of competitive and unrated at first. Instead, the map will have its own queue where you can test it out and practice for a couple of weeks and understand it thoroughly.
