The moody, serene underwater dome of Pearl is home to two of the hardest sites to attack in all of Riot’s first-person shooter VALORANT.
From chokes that allow defenders to isolate your team and pick them off one by one to massive long sightlines that give anyone with great aim an automatic win, attacking on Pearl can be frustrating. Thankfully, understanding more about the map’s geometry and breaking an optimal strategy into steps will make this map much more accessible.
Here is our guide for attacking on Pearl in VALORANT.
The best strategies for Pearl in VALORANT
In order to not only understand the best strategies on Pearl but also start creating your own, there are a few basic things to keep in mind about the VALORANT map’s geometry that make it different from the other maps.
The main reason why attacking on Pearl is so difficult in the first place is because there are very limited possible pathways for entering each site. Unlike maps like Sunset and Haven, where attackers have multiple options for gaining entry onto a site, Pearl’s possibilities generally boil down to just a few choices.
Due to the nature of the site entry points and how easy it is for defenders to isolate and push forward to encroach on their enemies, we recommend using a few key strategies to make the most of your attacking rounds on Pearl.
First and foremost, don’t ignore the middle area of the map. Though mid on Pearl is less divisive than mid on Split or Ascent, for example, utilizing it in a strategic way as attackers opens up a ton of possibilities.
Second, you’ll want to use agents with a lot of external utility. Since the choke points are generally narrow and focused, creating a bottleneck structure into a site, and cluttering the area with various utility is a great way to disorient your opponents. We’ll get into what agents specifically are best for Pearl later on.
There are two ways to get onto each site. The first, which is usually what teams will try at first—and ultimately realize works with varying degrees of success—is to simply go through A or B main.
The problem with using both of these strategies is that inevitably, your team is going to get bottlenecked at the two choke points circled in the image above. It is extremely easy for a singular VALORANT enemy to place a smoke that will completely cover these choke points and prevent your team from doing anything.
If you’re really set on going through A and B main, you’ll need to utilize several smokes at once, as well as other possible utility to prevent defenders coming from any of the possible places they could be hiding out.
In the image above, the stars represent our four top places to plant the Spike on Pearl. The warning signs show areas of the site you will have to block off, watch, or cover in some fashion. Smokes are a primary way to block off these sightlines for defenders, but other utility like mollies, a Sage wall, or even a Fade Prowler can work in certain situations.
It is much harder when you approach both sites with this pathway to clear each of the danger areas associated with them, and this is the main reason why we would suggest actually going through the middle of the map instead, or at least sending one or two teammates that way.
The pathways outlined in the image above show at least one way you can get around by taking control of the middle of the map. Yet in order to execute this strategy effectively, there are a few steps you’ll need to take, not just rush in all at once.
First, you’ll have to gain control of mid. Checking the corners and doors for defenders peeking aggressively will ensure your teammates don’t get picked off as they move forward. You can use utility to clear corners and prevent enemies from pushing forward. Controller agents can use one smoke during this phase to block off the entrance to the site your team will not be ending on.
The second step involves clearing Art towards A site or B Link towards B site. The push from mid to these areas is a primary opportunity for initiator agents to shine. Using flashes and other information-gathering utility will help you clear these areas.
From here, step three is actually moving on to the site while also double-checking all of those danger areas highlighted in our earlier diagram. Again, there are several ways you can check these areas, from just putting down a smoke to actually sending a duelist into battle with a defender that could be hiding there. The possibilities are endless, but you can’t forget to check a single one of these areas circled in green.
Once these areas are cleared and your team has set up a crossfire to cover, you can plant the spike for step four. Then hold the site while being mindful of all the ways defenders could flank, especially since with this strategy you will have neglected the traditional “main” areas to each site.
The best agents for Pearl in VALORANT
Due to not only the effectiveness of smokes on this map but also the high volume of smokes needed for a successful multi-layered attack strategy, we would recommend a double-controller composition on Pearl. This means your team should consist of one initiator, one duelist, one sentinel, and two controllers.
Omen and Brimstone are great choices as a main controller, but if you’re savvy you can try using an Astra instead since her smokes are so dynamic and cover such a large area. Brimstone has the advantage of being able to use three smokes at once, but once he uses his smokes in a round they don’t recharge. Omen’s teleport could give an additional element of surprise that works well on this map.
In addition to a main controller, Viper is a great agent to have on Pearl for her ability to divide up sites and block multiple areas of a site with just one ability.
As far as initiators go, we think Skye and Fade are both good choices, but Skye has an edge. She has some of the most powerful flashes, and her Trailblazer lets her traverse around corners without putting herself or teammates at risk.
Jett is great on Pearl if you’d like to capitalize on long sightlines, but surprisingly, Phoenix is also a fantastic duelist to run here because of his external utility. VCT Pacific champions Paper Rex often utilize a Phoenix to great success on Pearl.
For a sentinel, Sage isn’t a bad choice because her wall is the ultimate tool to cut off enemies. Slightly more effective is Killjoy just due to the sheer power of her utility.
