With over six months having passed since its initial removal from Valorant’s competitive map pool, one of the fan-favorite maps of the shooter is finally making its return to the active rotation.
According to prominent Valorant dataminers on X, Ascent is all set to make its return to the game’s active map pool with the upcoming Season 26 Act 3 update. Unfortunately, it will be replacing another beloved map in the pool.
As per the leaks, Bind will be departing Valorant’s competitive map pool to make room for Ascent. This isn’t that surprising, considering the fact that it has been in the map rotation for nearly a year.
However, the reaction within the Valorant community regarding this change has been rather mixed. While many fans welcome the return of Ascent to the map pool, a significant portion of players have voiced frustration over maps like Pearl, Breeze, Haven, and Fracture all being included in the rotation at the same time. Some have even gone as far as to label it “the worst map pool” in the game’s history.
Ascent was removed from the Valorant map pool with the Valorant 11.08 update in October 2025, alongside Lotus. While a slightly reworked Lotus was re-added back to the pool in Season 2026 Act 2, Ascent has yet to make its return.
It’s unclear whether Ascent will be receiving a rework at the time of its return. Riot hasn’t made an official announcement regarding the S26A3 map pool as of yet.
Valorant Season 26 Act 3 Map Pool
Should the leaks turn out to be true, the Valorant Season 2026 Act 3 map pool will include the following maps:
- Ascent
- Breeze
- Fracture
- Haven
- Lotus
- Pearl
- Split
Valorant Season 26 Act 3 goes live on April 29, 2026.
