In VALORANT, players can easily get caught up practicing their aim and learning in-game lineups, setups, and strategies. Ironically, most players tend to forget the real reason for learning all of these things in the first place: to be able to Plant and Defend the Spike more efficiently round after round.
This is especially true in the lower tiers, where just getting the Spike down is good enough for most players, which is understandable since some people do not want to think too hard about how they will play post-plant relative to where they planted the Spike.
However, as we will explain today, where you plant the Spike matters a lot and could be the difference between winning or losing the round, let’s get started!
The VALORANT Spike
The Spike is VALORANT’s version of the C4 explosive found in CSGO.
The Spike can only be carried by Agents in the Attacking team and can be dropped onto any space accessible by Agents. Throwing the Spike in spaces that are generally not accessible by most Agents will cause it to bounce back and find its way towards the ground.
The Spike can only be planted at the designated area within bombsites. Players will tell where these plant spots are thanks to the cyan-colored highlight that glows around the designated spot.
A Spike Plant takes 4 seconds to complete, while a defuse takes 7 seconds. The Spike can be defused to its halfway point. After which, defusers will only need 3.5 seconds to defuse the bomb. Defusers are placed in a “rooted” state where they cannot fire weapons, use abilities, and move while Defusing the Spike. They can, however, pan around and move their crosshairs while Defusing the Spike. Defusers can also cancel the defuse at any time by releasing the Defuse button on their keyboard.
After the Spike is planted, a 45-second detonation timer will start ticking and beeping at a constant rate and gradually increase the tempo until it finally detonates.
Upon Detonation, the Spike releases a black hole that covers an area as large as some of the bombsites in-game. Any Agent caught within the radius will be killed instantly.
1. Ascent A-site Best Plant Spot
Contrary to popular belief, even though the spot in front of the Generator is the Default plant spot for Ascent A-site, it is not ideal for post-plant play.
The only reason why Generator is a great plant spot for Ascent A-site is that it is the Attacker-side’s quickest and safest option when they want to plant the Spike as quickly as possible. The generator gives the best possible cover from A-Rafters while planting.
However, the spot in front of Dices or Green boxes is the best option for post-plant Defense. This area gives Attackers a quick and easy sightline towards the bomb from A-Main and Tree.
2. Ascent B-site Best Plant Spot
B-Default is the set of stacked boxes located at the middle of B-site proper. Like the Generator from A-site, B-Default gives Attackers the best cover from rotating Defenders while planting the Spike.
However, if the Defenders get a hold of B-site proper with the Spike planted in B-default, post-plant for Attackers can get tricky, especially if your team is coming from both Lane and Stairs. B-Default completely blocks off the immediate vision towards the defuser from both Lane and Stairs, which forces Attackers to push out deep into Lane and Stairs, completely exposing themselves to the Defenders currently onsite.
With that in mind, the best place to plant the Spike for easy access on post-plant is actually against the Boat House’s front wall. Attackers will no longer have to push out of Lane and Stairs to get a good view of the planted Spike.
3. Split A-site Best Plant Spot
For Split, the best plant spot will be the area in the small corner in front of the blue screen in the middle of Split’s A-site itself.
The goal for every Spike plant is always to give you and your teammates the easiest and most direct angles towards the Spike. Most newer players will opt to plant the Spike in the safest spot to shield themselves from all of the enemy fire while planting, which is not a bad thing at all.
However, if you trust your teammates to cover you just long enough to secure the plant in a more open location on-site, then, by all means, go for it. Post-plant Spike Defense will be much easier.
4. Split B-site Best Plant Spot
Split’s Default plant spot is in the corner between the pillar and the large box on-site. Once again, B-Default is the default plant spot as it gives Attackers the safest and quickest Spike plant.
However, you might already be noticing a theme brewing here: Default plant spots are great for getting the Spike down and nothing more. The default plant spots make post-plant play difficult for the Attacking team, especially when they choose to Defend the Spike from farther areas such as B-Main.
For Split B-site, a better plant spot would be on the corner just by the steps towards the site itself. Ask your teammates to cover you while you are planting the Spike, though, as you will be exposed from B-Tower while planting the Spike.
5. Haven A-site Best Plant Spot
Haven A-site is a notoriously difficult bombsite to retake, even for many seasoned VALORANT players.
Part of the issue is that the only entryways towards A-site on retake will only be the A-Entrance from B-site or Defender Spawn and A-Heaven, both of which are very easy angles to hold for post-plant Attackers.
Planting the Spike just a little to the right of A-Default itself gives the Attacking team a better post-plant angle to work with.
The Spike can easily be defended from A-Long and Sewer when planted at this spot. This spot is also an easier spot to throw mollies at directly, which can help with post-plant defense.
6. Haven B-site Best Plant Spot
The same theme continues for Haven B-site; planting the Spike in a more open area will make life difficult for the planter pre-plant yet much easier for the entire post-plant team.
In this case, the best spot in Haven B-site to plant the Spike at is going to be the spot just in front of the Generator. This spot gives post-plant Attackers a direct view of the Spike from the Middle Window and Middle Courtyard.
The Defenders will be at a complete disadvantage at this point since your team will have the stronger angles on post-plant, and any defuser will be severely exposed while defusing.
7. Haven C-site Best Plant Spot
Haven C-site’s Default plant spot is in the corner between the large Radianite Container Van and the Radiante Box. Defenders will be forced to push beyond the Container Van and out of the C-Garage to stop the plant.
Unfortunately, as you might have already guessed, playing post-plant for this plant spot is going to be a nightmare for Attackers. C-Long is the safest and most advantageous spot for Attackers on post-plant.
This area minimizes the number of angles they are exposed to compared to holding from the C-site itself. However, a C-Default plant blocks off any vision from C-Long as the angle is just going to be too tight, which then forces Attackers to expose themselves while pushing into the site to defend the Spike.
A simple tweak to the C-Default plant spot will help with a post-plant play from C-Long. Planting the Spike in the small area between the Radianite Container Van and Platform will give post-plant Attackers the angle they need to defend the Spike easily.
8. Bind A-site Best Plant Spot
Bind’s A-site Default is one of the rare default plant spots in VALORANT that is also really good for post-plant play.
The Bind A-Default plant spot is easy to reach and gives the planter decent cover while planting. On post-plant, this spot is easy to defend from A-Short, A-Showers, and A-Lamps (assuming you have control of Lamps, which you probably do if you were able to get the Spike down)
9. Bind B-site Best Plant Spot
For Bind’s B-site, the best plant spot will be at the spot just to the right of the Default plant spot. This spot is easier to defend from B-Long/Garden, B-Elbow, and Hooka compared to the B-Default plant spot.
10. Icebox A-site Best Plant Spot
Once again, Icebox’s A-site Default plant spot is okay if you want to play Plant the Spike and make post-plant difficult for the rest of the team.
Sarcasm aside, the spot just a little bit to the right of A-site Default is arguably the better Spike plant spot for Icebox A-site. The more open nature of the plant helps the post-plant Attackers with post-plant defense as the Spike can be defended from multiple angles away from the site itself.
This Spike plant can easily be defended from A-Belt, Pipes, and A-Nest without the risk of exposing yourself too much to the retaking Defenders.
11. Icebox B-site Best Plant Spot
With the recent change to the boxes covering the Icebox B-Default plant spot (can no longer be wall banged), B-Default has become a safer plant spot for Icebox’s B-site.
However, despite these changes, the B-Default spot forces Defenders to swing out wider than ideal for defending the Spike, exposing themselves to many angles.
To remedy this, planting the Spike against the Tube wall will help a ton with post-plant defense, as Attackers will no longer be forced to swing out wide to cover the Spike.
This spot also helps negate any lineups from the enemy team, as most lineups are often for B-default plants anyway.
12. Fracture A-site Best Plant Spot
For Fracture, this spot in the middle of the A-site is going to be your best for post-plant play. While the A-Default spot is not a terrible place to plant the Spike in, its secluded location makes it difficult to defend on post-plant even if the Radianite wall is wall-bangable.
This open plant spot allows you to play crossfire with your teammate from both Hell and A-Main, which might be the best angle to hold the bomb from when playing post-plant.
13. Fracture B-site Best Plant Spot
Post-plant on Fracture B-site is best played at B-Tower. B-Tower gives post-plant Attackers a better vantage point to see over Viper walls, Sage Walls and Smokes towards Canteen and Generator. Planting the Spike at the Default spot is not a bad idea here as well.
However, just moving the bomb plant location slightly towards the stairs area can make life easier for your teammates playing post-plant at B-Long.
14. Breeze A-site Best Plant Spot
Breeze’s Default plant spot is located at the center of the right Pyramid when viewed from Cave. While this spot is not a bad place to plant the Spike, it forces you and your teammates from Shop to swing wider than necessary to play post-plant.
Moving the Spike plant just a little more towards the bottom right tip of the Pyramid will give your team a better angle from Shop.
15. Breeze B-site Best Plant Spot
The Default plant spot for Breeze B-site is located just to the left of the pillar when viewed from B-Main. Again, this spot is not terrible, but it just might be enough cover for the defuser to complete the defuse sequence safely.
If you are paying attention to just how far away from the actual Spike the Defuser is, you will realize that the defuser is a considerable distance away from the Spike itself. Again, this spot is not terrible, but it might cover the defuser just enough while defusing.
The best plant spot for Breeze B-site will be the one just in front of the pillar, as this area gives your team the clearest angle from B-Window and B-Main.
Keep Calm and Plant the Spike
Getting the spike down is important but pointless if you can not set it off anyway. Planting at the Default spot in every map might help secure your team’s Spike Plant but make it difficult to play post-plant when the enemy team gains control of the bomb site.
The Spike plant spots featured here might be able to give your team a better chance at winning the post-plant versus planting at the Default plant spots. Go ahead and try them out for yourself!
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