Released in Episode Six back in January, Lotus is a fairly new and complicated map in VALORANT. With players still striving to identify Lotus’ quirks, unsurprisingly, most of us continue to struggle to win games on this map. But what if I tell you there’s a ‘weapon in shining armor’ that can win you some precious rounds on Lotus almost effortlessly?
While the very sound of it can irk your opponents, purchasing the mighty Odin immediately increases the odds of winning a VALORANT match, especially on defense. The weapon is incredibly powerful due to its nasty fire rate, which increases as you fire, and high wall penetration, not to forget its blaring audio that does half the work.
Invest in the beast of a machine gun while defending Lotus, and with just a bit of game sense, you can lock down sites like a pro and deny an aggressive site entry. Pair the Odin with an intel-gathering agent like Sova, Fade, or Cypher, and you can mow down enemies through walls without them even realizing.
Related: Hate Lotus? VALORANT expert says you need to rely on this one ability
As most of you may know, Ascent has always been regarded as the map with the most number of shoot-through features, even earning the nickname “paper thin” for this reason. That being said, Lotus sports some notoriously thin barriers as well, which bullets can easily penetrate.
A couple of the most commonly used wall-penning spots on Lotus are in A Tree. Equip your Odin and spam through this point: you’ll kill anyone who tries to harvest the Ultimate Orb. You can also spam through the rotating door to kill anyone lingering in front of A Rubble.
The rotating door between the C and B sites can also be shot through. Use Sova’s Recon Dart or any location-revealing ability to reveal players taking to take space in C Mound. You can also do the opposite: ask your teammate to reveal an enemy’s location in front of B Main or use your instinct to spam through the door from C Main.
All boxes on Lotus are penetrable; make sure to capitalize on this feature as well.
There’s also a quirky spot stationed in B Upper—you can plant the spike accordingly to take advantage.
The wall between A Root and A Lobby is penetrable as well.
If you’re defending the C site, station yourself at the back of the site and fire at the wall edges near C main: those are penetrable and can land you a free kill when the attackers push through the lane. Again, be careful of anyone pushing up C Bend; smoke it if possible.
Professional teams haven’t been ignoring the Odin, either. In VCT 2023’s EMEA League season, FNATIC showcased perfect usage of the high-cost gun on Lotus, giving the LOCK//IN champions an edge over other teams who preferred the Vandal and Phantom instead.
The biggest benefit of wall-penning is that you get to deal damage without having to take head-on fights. Even if the damage inflicted is low, the tagged enemy will remain at a disadvantage throughout the round.
So, the next time you buy the Odin, don’t hesitate to spam those bullets at commonly held spots through barriers; any amount of damage you can do is good and if lucky, you can even secure a free kill.
With 100 bullets in a single round and 200 in the reserve, the Odin is a perfect weapon for defense-heavy team compositions, although it isn’t a popular choice among attackers due to the negative effects it has on the user’s movement speed and its longer equip time. But when used cautiously, even on attack, this beefy machine gun can help your team in more ways than you can imagine.
Another thing to note with the Odin is that its tracers are not hidden. So, enemies can roughly calculate your position if you spam through smokes. Be aware when firing through walls; enemies can fire back, or worse, they may reveal your location with utilities.
Recently, in Patch 6.11, ammo reserves for the Vandal and Phantom were also reduced, while the recoil multiplier for certain weapons was increased to promote precise gunplay.
With VALORANT’s two most popular rifles tuned to focus on precise and calculated use, if you’re someone who prefers the defensive approach, I suggest you master the Odin to win more Lotus games.
