When will Bind return to Valorant competitive queue?

Bind was a fan-favorite map in Valorant, set in a Moroccan city on Alpha Earth, which Kingdom ruined with its Radianite plant. It offered a unique mechanic where players could teleport from one side of the map to another using one-way teleporters. Unfortunately, Bind was taken out of the game's map pool, along with Breeze, to make space for the new map Lotus and a revamped version of Split.

These changes happened at the start of Episode 6 Act 1, around the beginning of 2023. When making them, the Valorant developers announced that Bind would be back with some potential alterations after a while. The good news is that the map is coming back to the character-based tactical shooter very soon.

---

Bind to return in Valorant at the start of Episode 6 Act 3

The official Twitter handle of Valorant has confirmed that Bind is indeed returning to the game at the start of the current Episode's Act 3. It will be added back to the title's rotating map pool on April 24, 2023, via Patch 6.08.

As expected, it will feature a couple of changes to enhance the gameplay experience. Some of these alterations include the widening of doorways in areas such as Showers on the A-Site and Defenders' spawn entrance on the B-Site.

The exit point of the B-teleporter has also been shifted and brought much closer to the entrance to A-Showers. The triple box on A-Site has also received a change in terms of its shape. This may make it a bit easier for attackers to plant the Spike safely.

More or less all the changes to the map have been designed to ensure life is a bit easier for those on the offensive on Bind, a map that has historically been notoriously defender-friendly.

---

Which map will Bind replace when it comes back to Valorant?

The developers of the game have so far insisted that they want to retain a seven-map pool so new players can easily learn the game's mechanics without much difficulty.

However, in their announcement from earlier today, the developers did not clarify if Bind's arrival would mean one of the options from the current pool will be taken out for a rework. Split, Lotus, and Pearl will definitely not be affected by the upcoming map, considering they are relatively young in their current forms. Fracture also received a bunch of changes not too long ago, which makes its removal slightly unlikely as well.

This leaves Ascent, Haven, and Icebox as potential maps that could be cycled out when Bind comes back. Icebox is one of the more likely candidates here because, despite all the changes that have been made to it, the community is not satisfied with how it plays.

Alternatively, Valorant could also expand the pool to eight maps and make space for a map-ban feature in ranked games in the future.