Border at a Glance
Border separates players who know Siege from players who just play it. A two-floor border crossing station with a compact footprint, exposed exterior approaches, and some of the most famous defensive holds in the game, it rewards preparation on attack and aggression on defense. Rounds here are decided by who controls the entries and who wins the roam game.
New to structured map learning? Start with our map knowledge guide for the callout system and learning methods. This guide is the Border deep-dive: every major site, the entries attackers actually use, the roam paths defenders run, and the mistakes that keep losing this map.
One honesty note: Border received a major rework years ago, and callouts vary by region. The names below are the long-established community standards. Consistency within your squad matters more than matching any guide.
Map Overview: The Border Crossing Station
Border is a fictional border checkpoint — part office complex, part security installation, part vehicle inspection yard. Two playable floors, a roof, and a wide exterior. It plays smaller than it looks because the important rooms cluster tightly: Armory and Archives east on 1F, Customs and Offices west, Workshop south, and Server, Ventilation, and CCTV upstairs.
The map’s defining tension is its compact interior versus its exposed exterior. Attackers spawn far out and cross open ground to reach the building, so defenders holding long angles from windows and the balcony can punish sloppy approaches. But once attackers are inside, the map compresses — rooms are close, rotations are short, and the action turns fast and loud. Win the entry battle and you usually win the round, because Border gives almost no room to reset once you commit.
The Key Sites
Border’s bomb sites are among the most-played in Siege. Know all of them — this map shows up constantly in ranked.
Armory / Archives (1F East)
The classic Border site. Armory and Archives sit side by side on the east ground floor, with the Armory Lockers forming the tight inner anchor. This is the default site for most teams, and the one attackers prepare for most.
Attacking it means the east approach: the balcony, the courtyard, and the Archives window — one of the most contested positions on the map. Take east control and pressure from multiple angles at once. The classic failure is trickling through the same window one at a time into prepared crossfires from Armory and the lockers.
Defending it means the lockers and the Archives hold. Set up in the lockers with angles into both bomb rooms, contest the east approach, and keep a roamer upstairs or in the courtyard to slow the take. The site falls when attackers walk into Archives uncontested — once they are planted inside it, retaking through the narrow doorways is brutal.
Customs / Offices (1F West)
The western ground-floor site. More open than Armory, more angles, and more dependent on surrounding map control.
Attackers stage from the parking lot and the western exterior, then work the Customs windows and doors. The key concept is the west-side take: clear the exterior, take the windows, push with droning support. Rushing Customs without clearing the roamers above is how attacks die — the site’s openness lets defenders reposition and flank freely.
Defenders hold it by controlling Offices and the western hallway, keeping angles on the entries, and using crossfires instead of hiding in corners. The classic mistake is over-anchoring inside the site: the rooms are too open for a static hold, and good utility will flush you out. Active defense — moving between Customs, Offices, and upstairs — beats turtling here.
Server / Ventilation (2F)
The upstairs sites are the vertical-play sites, less common than the ground-floor picks but frequent enough to need a plan.
Attacking upstairs starts on the roof. The hatch drops into Ventilation, skylights give angles into the upper hallways, and walking up the stairs into a prepared defense is volunteering for a crossfire. Open the hatches, pressure from above, force defenders off their angles, then commit.
Defending upstairs means holding the Server room and Ventilation angles with at least one player contesting the roof. Let attackers take the roof for free and you have surrendered the site’s main advantage. Watch the floor below too — attackers opening it from above can deny the entire site.
Entry Routes: The First Sixty Seconds
Border attacks live or die early. The exposed spawns make attackers vulnerable before they reach the building, and the chosen entry route shapes everything after.
The East Push
Balcony, courtyard, Archives/Armory windows — the most common attack vector on the map. Its strength is directness: you pressure the site seconds after reaching the building. Its weakness is predictability: every defender knows it is coming, and the Archives window is pre-aimed by half the player base.
Make it work by varying it. Take the balcony fast and rappel in; hold the courtyard and drone deep first; fake east and rotate west. The east push fails when it becomes ritual — the same rappel, same timing, every round.
The West Push
Parking lot, Customs exterior, western windows — the answer to teams that over-defend east. Slower and more methodical: clear the exterior with drones, take windows one at a time, build control before hitting the site. Less explosive than the east push but harder to shut down, and the natural complement when defenders stack east.
Windows as Positions
Border’s windows are not just entries — they are control points. The east balcony, the Archives window, the Customs windows, and the upstairs windows all offer angles attackers can hold for extended periods, cutting rotations and pressuring the site without committing inside. But windows are also the most predictable positions on the map: defenders pre-fire them, run out on them, and C4 them. Never sit in a window without droning the runout angles first.
The Roof Take
Against upstairs sites the roof is the third entry route — hatches, skylights, and angles defenders struggle to contest. Slower than the ground pushes but the highest-value play when the defense is upstairs. Defenders: contest the roof. One player on the roof stairs forces attackers to spend time and utility clearing you instead of hitting the site.
Roaming: Border’s Signature Defense
If Border has a defensive identity, it is the roam. Compact interior, short rotations, multiple staircases — a single roamer can pressure the east push, fall back to site, and flank the west take all in one round. Here, roaming is the default, not a luxury.
The Roam Paths
The classic roam starts upstairs or opposite the attack and works back toward the site as attackers commit. The upstairs hallways around Server, Ventilation, and CCTV are the roamer’s highway: drop down the main stairs into the site, rotate east to contest the balcony, or swing west toward Customs. Stay mobile, stay alive — a roamer dead in the first minute gifts a 5v4, but a roamer alive at the one-minute mark is a problem attackers must solve with drones and time.
The courtyard is the advanced zone. Roamers there contest the east push before it reaches the building, then fall back through the Archives area and reposition upstairs. High-risk — caught outside without support is a free kill — but it breaks attacks before they start.
The Attacker’s Answer
The most common attacking failure on Border is the un-cleared roam: a beautiful execute onto site, then death from behind by the roamer nobody found. Counter it with systematic droning — the upstairs before every ground-floor commit — and a flank watcher on every push. When you find the roamer, do not chase across the map: pinch with two players or ignore them and hit the site while they are out of position. Chasing is exactly what the roamer wants.
Site Defense Setups
Border defenses work layered: roamers upstairs and outside, anchors on site, everyone collapsing when attackers commit. The map is too small for pure anchoring — attackers isolate static defenders — and too open for pure roaming.
The standard setup runs two to three roamers and two to three anchors. Roamers start upstairs and on the flanks, contesting entries and gathering intel. Anchors hold the site — the lockers on Armory, the Customs angles, the Server room — with utility slowing the execute. As attackers commit, roamers fall back down the stairs into the site for the retake or the flank. The short distances make the collapse fast; teams that drill the timing win rounds that look lost on the kill feed.
Against the east push, put bodies east: a roamer in the courtyard or on the balcony approach, anchors on the Archives window angle, the lockers player ready for close quarters. Contest the window entry — if attackers come through the Archives window cleanly, the site is compromised.
Against the west push, keep a roamer west to slow the take, hold Offices and the western hallway as the fallback line, and prepare to retake Customs from multiple angles. The west push wins when defenses sit passively and surrender every window; it loses when each step is contested and attackers burn their utility before reaching the site.
Vertical Play
Border’s floors are close enough that vertical play is the normal state, not a special tactic. Attackers open hatches from the roof to pressure upstairs sites; against Armory, controlling the upstairs lets attackers deny the lockers and Archives from above, turning the site’s strongest positions into liabilities.
Defenders: never ignore the floor above or below your site. A player below with vertical denial can single-handedly stop a plant; a player who never checks the ceiling volunteers to die from above. The hatches, the skylight, and the destructible floors above the ground-floor sites are all well-known — there is no excuse for being surprised by them.
Operator Picks: Think in Roles
Border demands roles, not names. The geometry does not change with the meta.
Hard breach and entry are always valuable — without a way to open reinforced walls and hatches, attacks funnel into the same predictable entries. Intel and anti-roam counter the roam-heavy defense directly; a dedicated player droning ahead of the push is worth more here than a second entry fragger. Vertical operators decide the upstairs sites on both sides. Anchor utility — slowing executes, denying plants, holding angles — is the backbone of every site hold; the lockers player on Armory or the Offices player on Customs can stall an entire attack with the right setup.
Several of the best operators for beginners fill these roles comfortably — you do not need flashy picks to play Border well. For the intel role specifically, the Valkyrie guide is worth reading, and our Clubhouse map guide covers similar role thinking on another roam-heavy map.
Common Mistakes
Attacking without droning the roam. The number one Border error. Drone the upstairs every round, no exceptions — executes die to the roamer nobody found.
Rappelling the same window every round. Defenders pre-aim every known entry. Vary your entries and your timing, and sometimes do not rappel at all.
Roaming without a fallback plan. Roam for information and time-wasting, then fall back when attackers commit. Dying for one kill while the site needs you is a bad trade.
Ignoring the roof. Free roof for attackers means free vertical pressure. Contest it.
Over-anchoring on Customs. Too open for a static hold — play the surrounding rooms, stay mobile, retake instead of turtling.
Forgetting the vertical game. Both sides, every round. Open hatches as attackers; check ceilings as defenders.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main bomb sites on Border?
Armory/Archives on the east ground floor, Customs with Offices on the west ground floor, and the upstairs sites around Server and Ventilation. Armory/Archives is the most common ranked pick.
Is Border attacker-sided or defender-sided?
It shifts with the season, and honest guides should say so. Border has historically leaned slightly defender-sided at most ranks thanks to the roam game and strong site holds — but drilled attacking teams that drone properly and vary entries win consistently. Preparation beats the map’s theoretical balance.
How do I deal with roamers on Border as an attacker?
Drone the upstairs and courtyard before every push, keep a flank watcher on every entry, and never chase roamers across the map. Pinch with two players or hit the site while they are out of position. Most roamer kills come from attacker impatience, not roamer brilliance.
What is the best way to attack Armory/Archives?
Take east control first — balcony, courtyard, the hallway above — then pressure the Archives window while a second element works the Armory side. Do not trickle in one at a time. Drone the lockers before committing; walking into that crossfire blind is how the take dies.
Should I roam on Border as a beginner?
Roaming here is powerful but demanding: it needs map knowledge, timing, and fallback discipline. Beginners learn faster anchoring on site and studying teammates’ roam paths first, then taking roam spots in unranked once the upstairs rotations and fallback timings are second nature.
How did the Border rework change the map?
It reshaped parts of the office and workshop zones and adjusted exterior cover and flows. The core identity survived — same major sites, same east/west push dynamic, same entry-and-roam character. Pre-rework site knowledge transfers; update your exterior approaches and rotation timings.
The Bottom Line
Border rewards the complete player. Attackers need droning discipline, varied entries, and the patience to clear the roam before committing. Defenders need layered setups, active roamers with fallback plans, and the discipline to contest windows and the roof instead of turtling. Nobody gets a free round here — every win is earned in the entry battle, the roam game, or the vertical fight.
Learn it one layer at a time: sites and callouts first, then entries, then roam paths, then vertical play. Pair this with our map knowledge guide for the method that makes it stick — and for the next roam-heavy classic, the Clubhouse map guide uses the same structured approach.