Playing smokes inValorantisn’t flashy, but it is a pivotal role that is crucial to giving your team every advantage possible. When smokes are played effectively it completely keeps your enemy in the dark. Playing smokes poorly also can hurt your team since misplaced smokes could have holes that can be seen through that your team is not expecting to check, or you could smoke the team’s push stopping it in its tracks.
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Smoking is all about the denial of information. Think of each smoke as cutting off entry points or vantage points. There is the act of blocking vision from someone trying to watch a spot and forcing them to move or wait to see again, or blocking a push by forcing the opponents to push through smoke blindly or to wait it out costing precious time. It’s all about forcing reactions that may not be favorable through denial. This guide will teach you the basics of playing smokes.
The Basics
Being a good smoker is all about knowing how the momentum can shift in a match and reading how each team is playing to make sure the proper sight lines and entry points are blocked. This is easiest to do by talking to the team and learning where enemies are around the map. It is highly uncommon for enemies to push through smokes and anyone who does it are at a severe disadvantage. Smokes force opponents to funnel into spots that are unsmoked or wait for the smoke to wear out which buys your team time. Deciding what to smoke at the round start is as easy as deciding:
Smokes will always inflict paranoia on opponents which can be leveraged to surprise enemies with the aid of obstructed vision. With these three things in mind, everything else is a reaction to the game state. Smokes allow your team to watch fewer spots and make it hard to push certain angles for the duration of the smoke.
Smoking On Offense
Think of each round of Valorant as different stages of momentum shifting. There are actions that happen in Valorant that force reactions from opponents. Planting the bomb, or killing someone gives the team that did them a lot of priority and forces the other team to respond. When the round starts your smokes will depend on which site your team is pushing. If the team is split up, smoke mid, or for the side that has the spike. After this wait for more information. Teammates getting killed or winning fights both should cause you to react.
This is all you really need to do until the team starts to attempt to plant. Once you are closer to the site smoke out spots that you could be shot from while attempting to get onto the site and plant. Smoke out places that are good spots to hold, so opponents can use them without being unable to see. On offense your smokes should deny enemies information and allow your team to get advantages on heavily watched areas, so your team can get in without getting picked off by the defenders.
Smoking On Defense
At the start of the round, it is very similar to offense except your initial smoke is for stalling and funneling the enemy to either site. Deny them options and force them into routes that are being watched by your team. Don’t commit too many smokes before you know where the attacking team is committing. Smoking out vantage points in the middle of the map and making it disadvantageous for the enemy to get information forces them to push a site blindly or wait out the smoke. On defense, it is even more valuable to wait for information before deciding where to commit all your smokes.
If you are on the wrong side of the map, give yourself smokes that can make it safer to rotate or smoke the site being pushed to give your team time while you rotate. Smokes are all about patience. Sometimes it can even be favorable to hide inside your smokes as enemies will not be expecting it, even if they are still at a disadvantage. Just be careful of getting sprayed down, smokes don’t block bullets. You can also spray into your own smokes to try and sneak kills on opponents who are using your smokes as cover.
