CT side and T side
VALORANT players carried Counter-Strike's sides over: the defending team is CT side and the attacking team is T side. "We're CT first" means your team starts on defense.
What is a CT-sided map?
A CT-sided map is one where defenders win more rounds than attackers, usually because the sites are easy to hold and quick to rotate between. A T-sided map favors attackers.
CT as a callout
On a map, CT is the defender spawn and the area right in front of it. A lurking attacker who walks into CT is behind the defenders, which is why "one CT" is an urgent call during a retake.
CT on every map
Every CT callout across all VALORANT maps, with the name to use and what the spot is for.
| Map | Callout | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abyss | Defender Side Spawn | The defender starting area. B Link and B Tower both lead out from here toward the back of B and mid. |
| Ascent | Defender Side Spawn(CT Spawn, Defender Spawn) | Where the defending team starts each round. |
| Bind | Defender Side Spawn(CT Spawn, Defender Spawn) | The defenders' starting area, reached from the B side through the B Elbow corridor. |
| Breeze | Defender Side Spawn | The defender spawn is where defenders start and the main route for rotating between the two spike sites, so calls from it track early defender movement. |
| Corrode | Defender Side Spawn(Defender Spawn) | The defenders' starting area and the origin of their rotations. It is also a route for mid-round pivots toward A Crane. |
| Fracture | Defender Side Spawn(Defender Spawn) | The central defender spawn in the middle of the H, above the zipline, and the only efficient connector between the A and B sites, which makes it the main rotation point. |
| Haven | Defender Side Spawn(Defender Spawn) | The defending team's starting area, from which defenders set up and rotate to sites. |
| Icebox | Defender Side Spawn | The defenders' spawn, which sits close to a corner of B Hut. |
| Lotus | Defender Side Spawn | The defenders' starting area, used as a safer rotation route between sites and as the retake approach. |
| Pearl | Defender Side Spawn(Defender Spawn) | The defenders' starting area, which a Killjoy turret can cover to spot approaches and which lurkers use to get information and flank. |
| Split | Defender Side Spawn(CT) | The defending team's starting area on the B side, where each defender begins the round. |
| Summit | Defender Side Spawn(Defender Spawn) | The defender spawn at the bottom center of the map, connecting to both sites. |
| Sunset | Defender Side Spawn | The defenders' starting area, which links into the upper routes including Mid Top, A Link, A Alley and B Boba. |
T spawn on every map
Every T spawn callout across all VALORANT maps, with the name to use and what the spot is for.
| Map | Callout | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abyss | Attacker Side Spawn(Attacker Spawn) | The attacker starting area, where the A Lobby route begins. One of the map's three ascenders sits in this spawn zone. |
| Ascent | Attacker Side Spawn | Where the attacking team starts each round. |
| Bind | Attacker Side Spawn | The attacking team's starting area at the far end of the map, where attackers begin each round and regroup before a push. |
| Breeze | Attacker Side Spawn | The attacker spawn is where the attacking team starts each round, and calls from it usually report enemies moving out early along the attacking routes. |
| Corrode | Attacker Side Spawn | The attackers' starting area. Players reference it as the origin of the route out toward A through the A Lobby. |
| Fracture | Attacker Side Spawn(Attacker Spawn) | One of the two attacker spawns, placed at opposite ends of the H-shaped map, from which attackers ride a one-way zipline to the far end, which is why the spawn split matters for defense. |
| Haven | Attacker Side Spawn(Attacker Spawn) | The attacking team's starting area where early utility and rotations begin. |
| Icebox | Attacker Side Spawn | The spawn on the attacker side, with a ramp corner and a yellow crate near it that double as aim references. Its barriers drop at round start. |
| Lotus | Attacker Side Spawn | The attackers' starting area, where the three round-start lanes to A, B and C begin. |
| Pearl | Attacker Side Spawn | The attackers' starting room, the point every early rotation toward Mid and both sites begins from. |
| Split | Attacker Side Spawn | The area where the attacking team begins each round. Both the A and B routes and Mid can be reached from it, so the call tells the team where enemies are coming back from. |
| Summit | Attacker Side Spawn(Attacker Spawn) | The attacker spawn, which feeds straight into both A Lobby and B Lobby. |
| Sunset | Attacker Side Spawn | The attackers' starting area; the lobbies leading into A and B both begin here. |