VALORANT Lotus ultimate guide: callouts, best agents, & more

Lotus map arrived in VALORANT with Patch Note 6.1. In this guide, you will discover everything you need to know about Lotus, including map mechanics, callouts, best agents to play and why, attack and defense strategies.

The Lotus map, VALORANT ninth map, is part of the Episode 6 Act 1 update for Valorant. It has three bomb sites for players to explore and stunning architectural settings, as it was announced by the official Valorant Twitter account.

The map, which is set in the Western Ghats region of India on Omega Earth, draws inspiration from traditional Indian architectural elements, including step-wells, rock-cut temples, and Dravidian architecture. It also has innovative gameplay elements, including walls that can be destroyed and rotating doors, as well as a silent drop mechanic. 

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Where is VALORANT map Lotus located?

As indicated by the text on the screen that reads "Western Ghats" in the Revelation cinematic, the new map's location appears to be in India. The Western Ghats is a mountain range that crosses the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa as it parallels the western coast of the Indian peninsula.

While creating Lotus map, Joe Lansford, the level designer for Valorant, was heavily influenced by step-wells and elements of the Dravidian architectural style, found in well-known Indian architectural marvels like the Badami Cave Temples, Ellora Caves, and Rani Ki Vav. Joe Lansford said that the team intended to create another three-site map to demonstrate that they planned to stick with this concept, which would offer both teams a lot of flexibility and mobility.  

In addition, the game's art director, Brian Yam, stated that he wanted to push the limits of magical and mystical elements that might not have been present in earlier maps. Another theme the team was inspired by, according to Yam, was Indiana Jones. He added that the crew was drawn to the magical, ancient vibe of the rock-cut structures.

Lotus map mechanics

Image Credit: Riot Games

Lotus is a three-site map, similar to Haven, but fundamentally different because it involves different gameplay mechanics. The spinning doorways and a wall that appears to open a link between A main and B site, are only two of the map's unique characteristics. Players will need to explore the sites from a variety of angles since the map also has a silent drop. Each site on Lotus also contains a lot of cubbies and corners for hiding in and peeking around, allowing more space for creative and unique playstyle. Keep reading for more hints about best strategies and agents to play in this new map!

When was the new map Lotus released? 

The beauty and aesthetics of Lotus were finally available for players in the Valorant Episode Six, Act One, released on 10th January 2023. Regular competitive and unrated queues will not initially have Lotus available to players. Instead, the map will have its own queue where you can employ it to practice for a few weeks and get a firm grasp on it.

Best Valorant agents for Lotus

After Haven, Lotus is the second Valorant map that includes three distinct sites on a single map. There are several routes to access each of these sites owing to the three-way entry pattern that each one uses. The hardest element of this map is simultaneously defending all three sites, which makes strategic agent selection essential.

Sova x Lotus

Sova is a compelling option for the map, given his unique ability set. Sova could be very helpful in locating his targets with his Recon darts deep inside the sites, due to the layout of Lotus. Sova can share important information without putting himself in danger by deploying his owl drone. Your teammates can use this information to decide where to rotate and whether to push out to the flank. Additionally, Sova can use it once again in the round with a 35-second cooldown. A skilled player can successfully neutralize the dangers by using his ultimate to gather all the intelligence about opposing positions. 

Jett x Lotus

An agent like Jett is well suited to play on maps like Haven and Lotus, where she can dominate in a variety of ways. On Lotus, smoke and dash moves are extremely effective, as there is a lot of land to cover before you get to the plant location. It becomes more obvious why Jett on Lotus is such a nuisance to handle when you consider how much high ground she can gain with strong pushes. 

Additionally, because each spike site functions as a unique segment, a Jett breaking away from her team and hitting the site from different entries can put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Her knives are top-notch, and this map features many updraft spots, which raises the possibility of a close-quarters battle, giving her more opportunity to use her ultimate.

Killjoy x Lotus

For obvious reasons, such as several sites and multiple site entrances, Lotus is without a doubt going to be one of the biggest retake maps in the game. Killjoy's Alarm Bot can be used to facilitate rotations and is useful as a forewarning. An excellent strategy to get some kills for your rotating teammates is to place the Alarm Bot in strategic spots and place a molly on top of it so that you can set off the trap as soon as the Bot is activated. On the other hand, nobody needs to be covering that specific location where you place the Bot until it is activated, which enables better stacking on other sites.

She performs a superb job of defending an entire site by herself and is excellent at spotting flanking attempts. Her skills enable her to annoy the opponents, regardless of whether she is on the A or C site, for as long as necessary for her teammates to rotate. Her win rates and pick rates on Haven, the only other three-site map in the game, only improved, as we saw in the most recent Valorant Champions event. And by the way, don’t forget to check out our comprehensive guide to learn more about Agent picks and find the top Agent picks for each map.

Lotus map callouts and locations

In contrast to the earlier maps like Icebox, Breeze, and Fracture, Lotus does not feature as many strategically challenging elements. The numerous entrance points to the sites, however, can make it challenging for players to master the map. 

Image Credit: Stryda

To play successfully in Lotus and assist the squad with the right callouts, you must be familiar with all of the sites. When defending or attacking a site on a new map, a proper understanding of all the map locations is necessary, which allows players to give accurate and instant callouts. Here below are all the locations of the new map Lotus!

Lotus map locations

A lobby

Image Credit: Riot Games

A root

Image Credit: Riot Games

A rubble

Image Credit: Riot Games

A door

Image Credit: Riot Games

B Upper

Image Credit: Riot Games

B pillars

Image Credit: Riot Games

B main

Image Credit: Riot Games

C Site

Image Credit: Riot Games

C gravel

Image Credit: Riot Games

C link

Image Credit: Riot Games

C Main

Image Credit: Riot Games

How to play on Lotus as an Attacker 

Attackers must clear a lot of space in order to reach any one of the three spike sites, which appears to be the major challenge. They will have three potential routes to take over at the start of each round: the C lobby, the B pillars, and the A root. The A side of the map is the most complex, with all three unique elements of Lotus accessible on the site. 

Image Credit: Riot Games

A main provides the perfect area for long-range gun battles, but once the attacking team makes their way closer to the site, the encounters shift to close-quarters-combat. The complex architecture emphasized the need for an Agent with strong close-quarters combat skills in the team. 

A player who shift-walk from A top to A drop will not create an audible drop sound, making it a crucial spot to execute a surprise attack. The destructible wall is located on A main, which goes directly to a shortcut to site B. You can also go straight to A site via the interactive rotating door between A main and A rubble.

How to play on Lotus as Defenders

When it comes to tactics and playstyle, defenders have many possibilities. Since the majority of the map will be available to defenders before the round begins, they will have a lot more space to experiment with. The only problem is that it would take a while to rotate from point A to point C and back again due to the size of the map. But you can use the special feature of the map, the rotating doors in the middle, to cut your time traveling between the two locations.

Image Credit: Riot Games

You can experiment with multiple strategies to find the best fit for your squad. Since there will be various spots and angles to clear, if your squad chooses to play passively, you can wait for the attackers to approach you. An aggressive push could also benefit defenders. 

If the revolving door is opened, attackers could be waiting in the C lobby and B main, making it too dangerous to engage in combat at C main. However, they run the risk of getting overwhelmed since their backup will have to cover a lot of ground to get there.

Ready to explore map Lotus in your next VALORANT game?

We hope this map guide was useful and that you’re now ready to go into battle! Before you start your next game, join Stryda to track all your VALORANT stats and join our daily Missions and esports Ladders. What are you waiting for?