Breaking Down DFM's Textbook Lotus Vs BOOM
A Simple Plan Executed Well
VALORANT currently is in the midst of one of the most unique agent metas the game has ever seen because there isn’t an obviously strong choice, sure you still have your mainstays like Omen and Viper but teams are experimenting with a wider variety of agents than we have ever seen before. Teams have played double sentinel with agents like Vyse, Chamber, and Deadlock, and Yoru’s potential is becoming fully realized in double duelist compositions and I think that’s a good topic to focus on here because outside of a few maps double duelist has never really been a meta comp archetype, and I think an excellent example of the strengths of double duelist and Yoru was showcased in DFM’s Lotus vs BOOM.
Attack
Alright DFM got their ass beat for the first 5 rounds they didn’t default out any of the Killjoy utility so they constantly just ran into 4 man stacks, so lets just skip to after their timeout.
In terms of strategy that only works with this comp there isn’t much to go over, the attacking side isn’t Yoru’s strong suit and DFM do play a very standard Lotus in this game but it was executed very well and that makes it still worth going over. Our current understanding of Lotus dictates that these three areas of the map are the most important for both sides.
For attackers, the big benefit of doing this is denying info from the defenders so that makes it harder for them to make good rotations, but it also gives you options as attackers because you could always transition into B or to mound into C in the mid round through the doors with control of these areas. The defense obviously knows this so they’re going to try and deny the attackers from getting map control in at least one of these areas, hence the rubble and mound fights you see every Lotus game.
As an example as to what can happen when you don’t deny these areas from the attackers, lets look at DFM’s first round out of their timeout, round 5. The most important thing to understand here is that BOOM do not take any early map control they are playing a very passive setup, an understandable decision given that DFM are on an eco and they might be scared of losing a couple fights and giving them guns, they also have Raze and Killjoy ult so they’re probably really confident in their ability to win a retake if it comes down to it, but you’ll see how this passiveness backfires on them.
With the initial start of round setup you can see that DFM are primarily defaulting B because they want to break the Killjoy turret and deny BOOM of passive info and they do so with no resistance.
In this next sequence, Meiy then regroups with Akame towards mound while the other two players open the door to pinch mound, with this pressure and as the solo player on C BeserX has to back up all the way to site and Dos9 is forced to rotate over towards C from B in case its an execute, you can even see Famouz over on A at stairs getting ready to rotate over towards B/C.
Meiy uses his Yoru clone to activate the Killjoy alarm bot, at this point in the round BOOM have no map control and no Killjoy utility, DFM have done an incredible job to starve BOOM of any information that can inform their rotations and decision making.
At the same time over on A the most important part of this round happens, All of DFMs defaulting and subsequent loss of information on BOOMs side forces NcSlasher to use his prowler to clear out A so Famouz can fully commit to rotating off of A, but NcSlasher’s prowler doesn’t find Gyen on the lurk and now the entire round comes to down one duel on A.
If Gyen wins this fight DFM have a free site and can set up for a great post-plant and that’s what happens. Its easy to say that If NcSlasher’s prowler had found Gyen or that if he won the duel over at A, BOOM probably win this round and I don’t think that is an incorrect observation to make, but at the same time a lot of credit has to go to DFM for setting the round up in a way where a single duel can win them the round and it’s an excellent demonstration of how crucial map control and information is on Lotus.
Even in the next round, BOOM make the adjustment and fight A, so DFM take control of mound in response, this is a very standard decision making pattern on Lotus, when defense fights over one area, the attackers take another in response.
Once they’ve taken control of mound DFM can go reclear A and push those players back to site.
All of a sudden the map is in a favorable state for DFM, BOOM again don’t really have information, DFM know initially there were 2 C and 2 A so B should be the weak site and Gyen is set up for a late lurk outside A in the post plant.
These are not new ideas on how to play Lotus, every good team plays Lotus like this but VALORANT can sometimes get a little bit messy and things very rarely go to plan, however that’s why this game specifically is interesting, there’s a sort of satisfaction I get when a plan goes the way its supposed to and for the most part at least after their time out DFM’s attacking side went basically perfectly.
Defense
Defense is where this Yoru double duelist comp shines, that’s a weird statement to make for a double duelist comp but it makes a lot of sense, we already established that Lotus for both sides revolves around these three areas, mound, B main, and rubble.
Because of that the defense is going to want to contest one of these areas but fighting over one of these areas usually involve a substantial investment of resources, not just in terms of utility but also player count and positions. However Yoru fits into this pattern of play nearly perfectly and I think the advantages of the agent and comp are perfectly demonstrated on the pistol round.
The round starts with BOOM creating a lot of presence towards B, they invested the Viper wall, an Omen smoke, prowler, boombot and two players, all this presence draws both A players from DFM over to B. DFM initially choose to fight over mound but given that BOOM don’t have anyone mound, they flip into opening the door B so they can contest the space. Obviously we know its a fake and so do DFM after investing a prowler so they can confirm that no one got a crazy timing into B.
DFM at this point can deduce that BOOM are A and look at the situation, DFM have three players mound, two players towards B and no one A, no matter what they do in this scenario A is the weakest site, at most only being able to have two players towards the site and that’s if they want to leave B open. But DFM are playing Yoru so Meiy can just take his gate crash over towards A and now DFM are in a 2-1-2 set up, a much better map state for them.
Now Akame gets his head blown off peeking stairs but Meiy being able to be back site, get a kill and just stall for time actually does have an impact in this round as it allows for Jinboong to fully rotate over and get two kills to put DFM in a 2v2, they don’t win the round but you can already see the power of the Yoru, he’s able to fight for these crucial areas of control and also be able to reinforce the weak part of the map.
Again you can see the same thing in round 17, DFM go for an aggressive mound play however they don’t see anyone and BOOM are in a prime position to take a bunch of A space, But Meiys playing Yoru so he just teleports over to A and now DFM is in a stable 2-1-2 set up again.
Here’s the same idea in round 19 but with an aggressive A play, also Meiy has an OP now.
I also want to highlight the retake in this round, all the early pressure has allowed DFM to retake through B main and the door at mound this round, this forces BOOM to push into heaven with a Fade ult, but the plant position isn’t great for that play so BOOM end up just sitting on site slowly getting picked off, I liked that Akame didn’t also flank with the rest of the team, he ended up going back to broken door to go late or be able to take advantage of an Omen flash.
Conclusion
Nothing DFM did was necessarily new or super innovative but they had a good understanding of both Lotus and their comp. On attack they understood that they needed to play a little bit slower and deny information to the defenders, on attack they fully utilized Yoru’s kit, constantly fighting up and contesting space and teleporting away to reinforce the weak site in case a fast response from the enemy team. DFM didn’t just have a good understanding of everything they needed to do, they also executed their plans to a very impressive level.