The Range

The Range, also known as "The Practice Range", is a playable map where the tutorial for the game is set. Unlike the other maps, The Range cannot be loaded in a custom game, and ghost mode cannot be used in the area.

Setting[]

Live Story Elements[]

Through Brimstone's and Cypher's offices, the Range has become an important means of lore delivery, portraying a story that updates and progresses as time passes. Over time, the Range has grown to be the primary method of lore delivery in between larger updates (such as cinematics, or new Agents and Maps).

Both the offices are small rooms, containing periodically-updating elements. Brimstone's Office has a laptop and a phone, that show an Email and Voicemail sent to Brimstone respectively. Cypher's Office also has a laptop, that plays an Audio Log. Every patch, these elements are updated, changing to reflect current events and happenings in the ongoing narrative.

Since their conception, Riot has been making efforts for these features to be more accessible and easy-to-notice for players. This started in Patch 4.04, when the Bulletin Board in Brimstone's Office was moved up to the hallway outside the shooting range. The stairwell leading down to the basement also got a spray reading 'BS1 Office', pointing down to the basement, where the office is located.

In Patch 5.07, to draw attention to an update in Cypher's Office, Cypher himself was added as an NPC. He leaned against the wall, getting up to look at the player if they walked near, and helped in alerting players to the new audio log that played there. He was removed in 5.09, because there was no Audio Log present in that Patch.

In Patch 5.12, the devs went a step further - a whole host of Agents were added to the Range, each highlighting a relevant lore-related subject. Cypher was back in his old place, along with Fade (who stood in the hallway, staring at the Bulletin Board) and Brimstone (who sat in his office).

In addition, the Alarmbot was also introduced in this patch. While initially inert, it activated itself when the player interacted with the Audio Log, grabbing their attention and leading them on a tour of all the important locations.

Map layout[]

Boathouse[]

When first spawning in through the 'Open Range' option, players are dropped in a small boathouse containing the several small, narrow boats that were once used to maneuver around the canals of Venice before the city was thrust into the sky by a successful spike detonation by OMEGA. Just outside is a small dock with several overturned boats, dead fish, and discarded rope that suggests the area was filled with water and active before becoming airborne.

Shooting Range[]

Past the dock is the shooting range. This area--used to spawn in a selection of simple training bots for target practice--is located in a small, two-story building with a basement containing Brimstone's office. When one first enters the shooting range facing the area the training bots spawn, they'll find the entrance to Cypher's office on their left, as well as a small board that updates regularly based on the current story thread being followed. This item is commonly referred to as the Range Board, and a full list of its post history can be found on Kingdom Archives.^[2]

On the outside of the building for the shooting range is a staircase leading down to Brimstone's office and the holding cell that was originally used to hold Fade when she was first captured by the VALORANT PROTOCOL. This area is also where the parkour course begins.

Also located around the outside of this building is a collection of murals done in a graffiti style that appear to be made by Raze. They feature her signature orange and blue coloring, as well as several grenades and the words 'JUMP' and 'UP'.

Religious Buildings[]

Featured beside the range are three buildings resembling parts of a church. The first is a simple box containing several simple stools facing a small square table covered in a white tablecloth with a bottle of wine on top. The interior of this space is not accessible, but can be viewed through several holes in the sides of the building, and its partially opened doors. While this space appears to have once been akin to a church or other religious gathering space (noted by its stained glass windows) it does not appear it is currently in use by the VP.

Behind the main church structure is a bell tower. Most of this tower has been fractured and separated by large white spikes of dimensional distortion similar to those found on Ascent, and in very small quantities on Icebox's A site. The very top of this tower contains the end of the parkour course.

The final religious building is a small mausoleum. While the building isn't much on its own, it does suggest the surrounding area might have previously been a graveyard, adding to the aura of the area being rather eerie and unnerving as a selected base of forward operations for the VP.

Plant Site[]

A short range teleportal--similar to those found on Bind--is located at the edge of the shooting range area. Taking this teleportal leads to a training area used in the tutorial to teach players how to plant and defuse the spike. Beyond just being used for a tutorial, this area appears to act as a general training zone with several dummy targets set up as well as cardboard mock-ups of radianite crates. This area also appears to be in the more central area of what was once the asylum, as it is filled with discarded hospital equipment such as hospital beds.

Lore Breakdown and Historical Connection[]

Reality Distortion[]

Across The Range are several areas where reality has been visibly distorted. Similar to Ascent, this distortion appears as either white, static bolts of energy, or as large black-gray rifts opening up in the skies. The largest of these is over the main part of the range. When looked through, this rift shows a top-down view of The Range with its perspective shifted slightly. It's unclear if this is meant to be a peek into OMEGA Earth, but more likely, it's demonstrating the extent to which reality has been shifted as a result of the spike detonation affecting the area.

Also similar to Ascent, the entirety of The Range is positioned between two floating islands. While those two are connected by a teleportal, there are also a collection of floating islands outside the playable area of the map, thus showing the extent of the damage done to Venice as a result of the VALORANT LEGION successfully detonating a spike.

State of the Map and Decay[]

Much of The Range shows that it's been in a state of decay since before it was destroyed by the spike, and before the VP used it as a forward base. A large amount of overgrowth and general structural decay appears to have taken place, both of which take longer than the few years it's been since Venice was sent into the sky. Beyond just decay, all of the structures show significant damage to them through cracks, missing ceiling and wall pieces, and a general crumbling infrastructure. While some of this was likely caused by the ascent of the area, it is also likely that the explosion from the spike itself dealt a significant blow to the structures.

The other oddity in the state of the map is a collection of abandoned, dirty hospital beds that have been shoved into a small room on the part of The Range used for training players how to plant and defuse the spike. This detail seems to be a nod to the abandoned asylum the map is based on, and helps to add to the atmosphere of an area that was set up rather hastily in the aftermath of a major disaster.

Historical Context[]

The Range area appears to be based on the abandoned hospital and asylum on the island of Poveglia, which is an island between Venice and Lido. The island has been abandoned since 1968. Before then, it was used as a quarantine hospital, then later as a mental hospital and asylum until its closure. Currently, visits to the island are prohibited, though it is a popular spot among those who believe in the paranormal as it is considered to be one of the most haunted areas in the world.^[3]

While the structures on The Range very much reflect the structures found on the abandoned island, Poveglia also may have been an inspiration for the atmosphere of the area. The Range itself has no unique musical score, and when wandering around the area, there is a distinct lack of sound outside of character footsteps and the sound of wind passing by when one draws close to the edges of the floating island. Other maps have some degree of ambient sound, such as the seabirds in areas on Breeze, or running water at Pearl's mid.

Notes[]

• During Episode 3: Act 3, Brimstone's Office was added
• During Episode 4: Act 2, Cypher's Office was added
• The Range Board was originally housed inside Brimstone's Office. It was moved to its current position in Patch 4.04.
• The Spike Planting practice area is based on Ascent's B Site, possibly to train Agents for an upcoming battle there.
• After her capture, a cell appeared in the Range which supposedly housed Fade, despite her canonically being held in the VPHQ. This was later revealed to just be a means of showing the players "behind-the-scenes" content without having to build a new environment^[4].
• As an Easter Egg when the Alarmbot was present on the map, if you played as Killjoy and placed your own Alarmbot next to it, it would react with a heart icon.^[5]

References[]