Post plants in Valorant are a relatively straightforward process; the attackers have to hold onto a site until the spike detonates, while the defenders attempt to clear them out. While this seems simple enough on paper, in professional Valorant matches, the strategy and coordination to successfully pull of an attack side post plant must be flawless as a team.
In the North American VCT Game Changers circuit, VersionX in particular has showcased their expertise when it came to post plants, with the team’s recent additions of Makayla “Starlight”, Kat “Katriggered” Perez, and head coach Martin “Anderzz” Schelasin elevating their level tactically and strategically. Here’s a look at how VersionX played their post plants on Haven against Misfits Black.
Agent Comp
VersionX runs an agent composition of Killjoy, Skye, Jett, Breach, and Brimstone. On the post plant front, Breach, Killjoy and Brimstone are strong additions as they both have utility to use for either delaying retakes or denying defusal, with Killjoy’s nanoswarm, Breach’s after shock, and Brimstone’s incendiary fulfilling this purpose. These three agents’ ultimates are also useful in this regard, with each burning time on the spike.
Anti-Bonus Round
After losing pistol and the subsequent eco, VX finally had a full buy while MSF was still on Spectres and Sheriffs. The team gained full C site control and decided to go for a double crossfire setup to cover for a defense retake from spawn and garage, along with Killjoy playing from C Long.
VX knew that MSF were outclassed in weapons and utility, so they kept their distance and played for long range fights. Even if the on-site players were to die, VX’s Killjoy still had nanoswarm lineups off-site to delay the spike defuse.
Anti-Half Buy — Double Flank
On round 7, VX decided to go for a full offsite post plant, having an operator on Jett posted from C Long, Killjoy nanoswarms on the spike, and Brimstone playing lineups along with an orbital strike. While this was happening, both Breach and Skye were in the midst of a flank coming from Defender Spawn. First, Killjoy activated her mollies 1 by 1 to deny a spike defsuse, and to give time for the flank to come into play. She also used her lockdown ultimate to waste more time before it got removed by MSF’s own orbital strike. Once she activated her second nanoswarm, Brimstone threw his incendiary so that once KJ's nanoswarm finished, his utility would land.
Unfortunately, Brimstone’s Molly missed, but VX went for a utility combo with Breach’s fault line paired with orbital strike on the spike. This is so that anybody around the spike falling towards the backsite would get hit by the fault line and get stunned or killed by the ultimate.This helped delay the spike defuse and made for easy kills for the flankers.
Gun Round — A Offsite post-plant
In round 8, VX went for another offsite post-plant after getting A site quickly without any casualties. For site setup, they had Jett on top of the A Long box posted on Heaven while Breach was in A short cubby, Killjoy in sewers playing nanoswarms, Brimstone on A long playing lineups as well,and Skye doing a flank. Because VX took down Chamber before taking site, this opened up the opportunity to have Skye’s late flank without getting detected.
To delay the defuse, VX first had Breach stun and activated a Killjoy nanoswarm. As this happened, Brimstone launched his molly next to deny another spike tap, with it landing right after Killjoy’s nanoswarm. Lastly, Breach used an Aftershock from cubby to deny another spike tap, winning at VX the round by time. As an added bonus, Skye’s flank finally came in and takes off the last person on site, causing economical damage.
