5 Unique Features in the New Map Lotus in Valorant

Have you gotten a lot of wins in the new map Lotus in Valorant yet?

Did you know? The rotating doors in Lotus are inspired by a scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A couple of these doors are on the map, one for entering A Site and another connecting B and C Sites. This is the first feature on any Valorant map, giving Lotus a unique mechanic.

Lotus is the ninth and newest map in Valorant, so many players are still figuring out all the tricks you can use in it. In the current meta, the map heavily favors the attacking side. All three orbs are positioned in favor of the attackers, there are several entryways to each side, and plant sites are also open to different lineups or wallbang spots.

If you want to learn how to play this map perfectly, check out our short list of 5 unique features in the new map Lotus in Valorant.

Lotus in Valorant

Set in the Western Ghats of India, Lotus is said to be an ancient lost city that was recently taken over by the Valorant Legion. The City of Flowers was rediscovered by Valorant’s Agent no. 21, Harbor. In the Revelation cinematic by Riot Games, Harbor, and a fellow Valorant Agent, Astra, are seen unlocking the Lotus ruins.

Lotus is only the second map in Valorant that features three different sites. Together with Haven, the three available sites make Lotus more difficult to defend, forcing teams to often leave at least one site with only a single defender.

When attackers can gather the right information, they can choose to blitz toward that single defender to easily take the site. Some unique features allow both attackers and defenders to quickly transition to a different site if they are met with enough resistance in their first choice.

After Lotus was released and added to the Competitive map rotation, together with the return of Split, the pair replaced Bind and Breeze, who is set to be reworked. In VCT 2023 LOCK//IN, Lotus was picked 11 times, the 4th most for that competition.

Unique Features in Lotus in Valorant

As the newest map released by Riot, developers also put their newest and most innovative features in Lotus. A few fun features did not previously exist in the game, giving players and teams more options to experiment with comps and tactics.

Here are our favorite features of the newest map Lotus so far.

Rotating Doors

The rotating doors are easily the largest and most obvious unique feature in Lotus. These are a couple of thick, heavy doors that require a player to hit a toggle switch to activate. 

Once you hit the switch, the door will slowly rotate for 8 seconds, allowing you to peek into or even go through the doorway for a few seconds. There are toggle switches from both the attacker and defender site, allowing either team to activate this mechanic.

The first rotating door is positioned between A Main and A Tree, one of the couple of entryways into the plant site. This allows attackers to split their attack into A site through Tree and A Main.

The second rotating door connects B Main and C Mound. It allows for a quick rotation from B to C Site or vice-versa. Because the pathway through the rotating door is shorter than from defender spawn, the B Main rotating door gives an advantage for attackers to move across sites.

Breakable Wall

Apart from the rotating doors, another feature allows players to move through sites fairly quickly. A breakable wall connects A Main and A Link from the defender side. It works like the reinforced walls in Ascent’s Tiles, except the whole wall can be broken on Lotus.

The breakable wall can be broken as soon as the round starts. It has 400 HP and can be damaged by bullets, knives, and a few select abilities like Raze’s Paint Shells, Sova’s Shock Bolts, Jett’s Bladestorm, or Breach’s Aftershock. As the wall’s HP decreases, its color changes from blue to yellow, then red.

The breakable wall is initially controlled by defenders, but once attackers take control of A or B Main, they can break it to move through sites quickly.

A Tree

Having a Tree location on the map is not quite unique, as Ascent also has one. However, A Tree on Lotus is affected by several unique features, making it one of the most fun positions to play.

First, A Tree is where the rotating door on A Main leads to. This means you typically want a defender to hold it if the attackers open that door. The tree is unique because its walls are quite penetrable, especially by High penetration weapons.

Many professional players opt to buy an Odin or Guardian when holding Tree, as you can wallbang the rotating door and even through the wall if attackers try to go through the breakable wall on the other side. You can even wallbang the default plant spot from Tree for post-plant scenarios.

Silent Drops

Audio cues are a massive part of Valorant gameplay, so this next feature is very interesting for a new map. Riot added a silent drop feature on A Site in Lotus, forcing teams to keep an eye on one angle where they cannot hear a player drop into.

You can go from A Top to A Drop by sliding down a slop that does not make noise when you hit the bottom. This is good for when defenders want to hold both A Main and Tree from A Top.

The downside to this mechanic is that players cannot climb back up that same slope. To get back to A Top, you must move out of the angle, expose yourself to Tree and A Site, and run back to the rope ascender from the back site.

B Site

B Site is the smallest plant site on any map in Valorant. It is uncommonly small and has a unique construction that puts players in different depths. The large pit in the middle of the site and the two platforms you can jump up to get to B Upper breaks standard crosshair placement from opponents.

If you destroy the breakable wall, two attacking entryways can be into B Site. For defenders, including flankers, there are four ways into B Site, making retakes much more plausible.

Now that you have learned the unique features to take advantage of in Lotus in Valorant, you can start dominating the map every time you queue into it, getting some free wins over less knowledgeable opponents.