Fracture is not in your ranked queue right now. Patch 13.00 pulled it from Competitive and Deathmatch on June 23, 2026, alongside Pearl, to make room for Summit and a returning Sunset [1]. If you queued into a game expecting it and got Ascent or Split instead, that’s why.
It’s still fully playable in Unrated, Spike Rush, and Custom games, and Riot rotates maps in and out every act — Fracture has been benched before and come back. This guide covers what actually makes the map different: the dual attacker spawn that lets you split-push from two directions at once, the two ziplines that let you cross the map without a sound, and which agents convert those mechanics into rounds won. Whether you’re practicing it in Unrated while it’s out of ranked or gearing up for its return, the mechanics below don’t change with the queue it’s sitting in.
Fracture’s Ranked Status Right Now (Patch 13.00)
Official patch notes are unambiguous: “Summit and Sunset are in the Competitive and Deathmatch queues” while “Fracture and Pearl are out” [1]. That’s a Tier-1 fact, not a rumor — it comes straight from playvalorant.com’s patch documentation for Season 2026 Act 4. Practically, that means three things for anyone searching for a Fracture guide today:
You can still play it. Unrated, Spike Rush, and Custom games all keep the full map pool, Fracture included. Win-rate data below is a snapshot, not current form. Any Fracture agent stats you find right now — including the ones in this guide — were collected before the pull, because no ranked matches have been played on it since. Treat them as “last known competitive performance,” not live meta. It’s likely coming back. Riot’s map pool has cycled seven maps at a time for several acts running; benched maps typically return within one to two acts rather than being retired outright. Bookmark this guide for whenever your act’s map notes change.
Fracture Map Layout: Every Callout You Need
Fracture is set at the fictional Everett-Linde Research Facility in Santa Fe County, New Mexico — a lab split into quadrants after a radianite experiment went wrong, according to its official in-game description [2]. That backstory isn’t just flavor text: it explains the map’s defining structural quirk. Defenders spawn in a single central zone, and attackers spawn split across two separate points that flank the defenders from opposite sides. Every other competitive map puts attackers on one side and defenders on the other. Fracture inverts it — the defenders are surrounded.
A Site callouts (from the official wiki [2]): A Main, A Door, A Rope, A Drop, A Dish, A Gate, A Link, A Hall. A Hall has an automatic door that opens the instant a player or thrown utility gets close enough on either side — useful for a bounced flash or grenade timed just right, but it also means you can’t fully seal that lane with a body block.
B Site callouts: B Main, B Tower, B Link, B Canteen, B Generator, B Arcade, B Tunnel, B Bench, B Tree. B Tower is the single most valuable piece of real estate on the map — it looks down into both Arcade and the main entry paths into B Site, so whoever holds it dictates the pace of every B round.
One more structural detail most guides skip: Fracture carries four ultimate orbs, one per quadrant, versus the standard two found on every other map [2]. That’s double the passive ultimate-point economy, which matters more on this map than almost anywhere else in the current pool — it’s a big part of why aggressive duelists post inflated win rates here (more on that below).
The Ziplines: Fracture’s Only Silent Rotation
Two parallel, one-way ziplines run underneath the defender spawn, connecting the two attacker spawn points directly [2]. Step on one and you move automatically at a fixed speed to the other side — you can’t fire your weapon, use abilities, or detach mid-ride, though holding Shift lets you slow down. If the spike carrier dies while riding a zipline, the spike drops and respawns on the nearer side rather than falling where they died [2].
The tactical value isn’t speed — it’s silence. Footsteps alert defenders; the zipline doesn’t. That’s the entire reason Fracture’s split-push identity works: you can commit noise and utility to one site, let the defense react to it, then move your second group across the map without a single audio cue giving away the rotation [5].
Three concrete uses beyond the obvious “get to the other site faster”:
The fake-then-fold. Send one group loud into A (footsteps, a thrown Skye flash, whatever), hold your second group at spawn for three to five seconds after the defense reacts, then zip that second group into a B that’s now missing a rotator. The delay matters — zip immediately and you arrive before the defender has committed to rotating, which defeats the point.
The mid-round retreat. If your first push gets read and you lose the opening duel, the zipline is a repositioning tool, not just an attacking one. A losing 2v1 on A can zip back to B and reinforce a site that’s still 4v4, salvaging a round that looked lost thirty seconds earlier.
The information trap. Because ziplines are silent, defenders can’t clear them by ear. Info agents matter more on Fracture than on symmetric maps — Cypher’s Trapwires or Sova’s Recon Bolt covering a zipline exit are one of the few ways to actually confirm a silent rotation before it’s already inside your site.
The Split-Push Timing Framework
Community guides agree that Fracture rewards split pushes and punishes single-entry pushes into a compact site [5], but almost none of them give you a timing model — just “coordinate with your team.” Here’s a concrete framework built from the map’s fixed constants: the 100-second round timer that starts after the 30-second buy phase ends, and the fact that a defender rotating from one site to the other on foot takes noticeably longer than your zipline group takes to reposition.
Think of the round in three windows:
0:00–0:20 (commit window). Pick which site gets the loud group and which gets the silent one. This has to happen before either group leaves spawn — changing your mind after both groups have moved wastes the timing advantage entirely.
0:20–0:45 (bait window). Your loud group makes contact — trades, utility, or just visible presence — at the first site. This is the signal defenders read and (hopefully) rotate off of.
0:45–1:10 (commit-to-plant window). Your zipline group crosses and executes on the second site while the defense is still repositioning or has already over-committed. As a general guideline, once you’ve baited a rotation, you have roughly 20–25 seconds before defenders realize the second site is the real push and start rotating back — that’s your plant window.
This isn’t an official Riot timing spec — it’s a practical framework built from the map’s known constants (round timer, zipline silence, one-way traversal) plus the pinch-attack logic multiple guides describe [5]. Test it in Unrated before relying on it in a ranked match once Fracture returns.
A Site and B Site Execute Patterns
For A, the standard split is three players through A Main with two through A Drop, hitting the site from two angles at once rather than funneling everyone through one chokepoint. A Dish and A Rope are the default plant spots — Dish gives a defender-facing crossfire angle for the post-plant, Rope tucks the spike closer to A Link for a faster retake defuse if you lose the site back.
For B, the fight is really about Tower before it’s about the site itself. Whoever holds Tower controls sightlines into both Arcade and B Main, so most B executes start with utility aimed at clearing or smoking Tower before the site push even begins. Canteen is the secondary chokepoint worth denying — a defender sitting Canteen can trade into an entry from B Main without ever showing themselves.
Post-Plant Positions Worth Memorizing
Fracture’s post-plant phase punishes generic positioning harder than most maps because both sites have a defender-favored default angle that a lazy plant walks straight into. On A, planting at Dish and holding from Rope or Link gives you a crossfire that covers the two realistic retake paths — A Main and A Drop — without exposing you to A Hall’s automatic door swinging open on a defender you didn’t hear coming. Planting deep on Site itself instead of Dish trades that crossfire for a worse angle: you’re now watching one lane instead of two.
On B, the post-plant math depends on whether your team still holds Tower. If you do, plant close to Generator and let Tower watch the only approach left — Canteen. If Tower’s already lost, plant toward Arcade instead and accept a wider, less favorable angle; holding a Generator plant without Tower means defending a retake from both Main and Tunnel at once, which is close to unwinnable with fewer than three defenders left alive.
Defending Fracture: Retake-First, Not Hold-First
Because attackers spawn on both sides of the map, defenders can’t play the passive “hold and wait” style that works on symmetric maps — you’re geographically surrounded before the round even starts. The data backs up an attacker-leaning read of the map: defense still wins 51.9% of rounds against 48.4% for attack [4], but that 3.4-point gap is smaller than several other maps in the current pool, and it comes from defenders playing for information and retakes rather than static holds [5].
Practical defender setup: one player anchors B Tower to watch Arcade and B Main simultaneously, one holds Canteen or plays site-anchor on B, and the remaining three split between A and mid-map info duty, ready to rotate off a read rather than a guess. Because zipline rotations are silent, your read has to come from utility, not footsteps — this is the map where a Sova Recon Bolt or Cypher Trapwire earns its slot more than almost anywhere else.
Best Agents for Fracture
The table below reflects the last competitive dataset collected before Patch 13.00 pulled Fracture from ranked — 23,101 matches, per MetaBot.GG [3]. Treat these as “last known form,” not live current-patch numbers, since no fresh ranked data can be collected while the map sits outside Competitive and Deathmatch.
| Agent | Role | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Why it works here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gekko | Initiator | 61.1% | 0.1% | Wingman and Mosh Pit both punish the silent zipline pushes this map is built around |
| Phoenix | Duelist | 59.3% | 5.0% | Self-sustain lets him lead a split push without a full team commitment backing him up |
| Fade | Initiator | 58.1% | 2.6% | Haunt reveals an entire group crossing a zipline, closing the map’s biggest information gap |
| Neon | Duelist | 52.9% | 5.2% | Sprint speed exploits A Main and B Main’s long, straight approach lanes |
| Killjoy | Sentinel | 52.0% | 2.1% | Turret plus Alarmbot covers Tower or Canteen without needing a second body on defense |
| Raze | Duelist | 52.0% | 4.4% | Blast Packs clear the tight chokepoints around Dish and Canteen fast |
| Skye | Initiator | 51.5% | 1.0% | Guiding Light doubles as the loud bait utility for a split-push commit window |
| Tejo | Initiator | 51.2% | 9.4% | Highest pick rate on the map — Stun/Suppress covers a Tower push without trading utility |
| Clove | Controller | 51.0% | 10.1% | Best-performing Controller despite the role’s weak 37.1% average here — Pick-Me-Up offsets Fracture’s exposed angles |
| Vyse | Sentinel | 50.9% | 0.7% | Razorvine slow-zones a zipline exit better than almost any other tool in the game |
The role-level pattern matters as much as the individual names: Duelists average a 50.2% win rate on Fracture, the highest of any role, while Controllers average just 37.1% — the worst role performance on the map [3]. That’s a bigger swing than most maps in the pool, and it’s a direct result of the layout: two open attacker spawns and long sightlines from Tower and Dish reward duelists who can win isolated gunfights, and punish controllers whose smokes have to cover twice as many entry angles as on a standard two-lane map.
Which Agents Fit Your Playstyle
Not every player needs the highest win-rate pick — the right agent depends on what you’re actually trying to get out of the map.
| Player Type | Priority | Recommended Agent |
|---|---|---|
| New to Fracture | Learn callouts without punishing mistakes | Killjoy — turret does the watching while you learn sightlines |
| Casual / low-commitment | Fast rounds, minimal setup | Neon — no lineups to memorize, speed alone wins duels |
| Hardcore / climbing | Highest win-rate ceiling, split-push execution | Gekko or Phoenix — both demand game sense but reward it heavily |
| Support-focused / IGL | Enable teammates instead of frag | Fade — Haunt’s team-wide reveal is the single strongest counter to silent zipline pushes |
FAQ
Why can’t I find Fracture in ranked? Patch 13.00 (June 23, 2026) removed it from Competitive and Deathmatch queues in favor of Summit and Sunset [1]. It’s not bugged or hidden — it’s simply not in the current rotation. You can still queue it in Unrated, Spike Rush, or Custom games.
Will Fracture come back to ranked? Riot has rotated maps in and out of the pool every act for several cycles running, and no map pulled this way has been permanently retired from Competitive so far. There’s no official return date, so the honest answer is “probably, eventually” rather than a guaranteed timeline — check the patch notes at the start of each new act.
Is Fracture actually attacker-sided? Not by much. Defense holds a 51.9% to 48.4% win-rate edge in the last full competitive dataset [4] — a smaller gap than several maps that never left the pool. The map feels attacker-favored because of the dual-spawn pressure, not because the numbers say defense is weak here.
What’s the single biggest mistake attackers make on Fracture? Committing both groups to the same site at the same time. The entire point of the dual spawn is asymmetric pressure — sending five players through one entrance on Fracture throws away the map’s only structural advantage and turns it into a worse version of a standard two-lane map.
Sources
[1] VALORANT Patch Notes 13.00 — Official Riot/VALORANT
[2] Fracture — VALORANT Wiki (official)
[3] Best Agents for Fracture Valorant (2026) – Win Rates & Tier List — MetaBot.GG
[4] Fracture Map Guide – Valorant 2026 Stats & Strategies — MetaBot.GG
[5] Fracture Valorant Map Guide – Callouts & Best Agents — ValoHub
Verified against Patch 13.00 (June 23, 2026). Map rotation and win-rate data will change once Fracture returns to Competitive — check this page’s update date against the current patch notes before relying on the stats above.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.