Riot Games confirms Icebox is being axed from VALORANT

Three years after VALORANT was first brought to our screens, the map pool in Riot Games' tactical shooter has increased from the original three to a much more impressive collection of nine.

But the developers don't allow all of the maps to be playable at the same time, and while they leave a majority of them in at all times, there's often one or two maps that get pulled out to head to the workshop.

Recently, Riot added Lotus, the ninth map, into VALORANT at the expense of Breeze, but heading into patch 6.08, it seems like even more shake-ups are afoot.

Riot Games is set to pull Icebox out of the VALORANT map pool

Having been in VALORANT since October 2020, Icebox is now the latest map that Riot has identified to be in need of a makeover.

Now, as of April 25, Icebox is going back to the lab, as Riot Games has confirmed it will be pulled out of the Competitive and Unrated queue map rotation.

It's going to be the second time that Icebox has been removed from the game, but this time fans are hoping that there will be more work done to the middle of the map that will allow for a better lurk potential and better transitions between the bomb sites.

Bind to be added back to VALORANT in April 25 update

With Icebox leaving, Riot is also re-adding Bind, which has been called for by fans who had a huge hole left in their hearts after its omission.

Early images of the reworked map have already been praised, especially with some major adaptations to the A-Site, and fans are now excited for the April 25 update.

Lotus and Fracture might be the next maps to go once Breeze returns, given their ambitious layouts haven't quite worked, but it's a good time to be a VALORANT fan with this new map pool.