Introduction
Nighthaven Labs punishes teams who play it like a smaller, older map. Released in Operation Solar Raid (December 2022), it is set at the headquarters of the private military company Nighthaven — a futuristic offshore facility near Singapore, full of laboratories, server rooms, and assembly halls. The real lesson of this map: rounds are won by whichever team controls more of the building, not by whoever shoots straighter.
That is the central mechanic here, and everything in this guide flows from it. Three playable floors, an unusually breachable structure, generous exterior space — all of it rewards coordinated map control. Attackers who clear methodically win. Defenders who plan around denying space win. Solo heroes lose, on both sides.
One honest note: Nighthaven Labs is newer than Clubhouse or Oregon, and community callouts are still standardizing. Names in this guide come from widely used community sources and in-game labels, but your squad may use different ones. The map knowledge guide covers how to build a shared callout language — especially valuable on a newer map.
Map Overview: The Nighthaven Facility
The facility has three playable floors — basement, first, and second — plus a rooftop attackers can use for access. The aesthetic is deliberately futuristic: clean corridors, glass partitions, glowing server racks. It sits on an offshore platform, so the exterior includes a landscaped main entry and a helipad area, giving attackers generous outdoor room to maneuver.
A few structural facts shape everything about how the map plays:
It is big. One of the larger maps in the ranked pool. Defenders cannot be everywhere, roamers have room to work, and attackers must budget their time — a slow, undisciplined clear runs out of clock.
It is extremely breachable. Floors and walls across much of the map open to soft breach, making vertical play a defining feature rather than a niche tactic. This cuts both ways: attackers open the map from above, defenders from below. Ubisoft’s own description emphasizes the number of entry and breach points, warning defenders that holding one position too long is genuinely difficult here.
No staircase runs two floors. The map uses single-story staircases only: basement to first, or first to second, never basement straight to second. Rotations between floors take longer and follow specific routes, which shapes roam patterns and retake planning.
The exterior matters. Breakable exterior walls and doors give attackers direct access to some bomb sites from outside, and the rooftop opens angles onto the top floor. Defenders must plan for the perimeter, not just the interior.
The map has received updates since release, so verify current layouts in-game — the fundamentals below have held, but room details shift.
The Bomb Sites: What You Are Playing For
Ranked play on Nighthaven Labs rotates through four bomb site pairings. The widely documented sites, drawn from community guides and in-game labels, are:
- CCTV / Server (2nd floor) — the top-floor site, centered on the server room and CCTV monitoring areas. Holding the rafters and the connector corridors above and around it is critical.
- Tank / Labs (basement) — the basement site, built around a large tank structure and laboratory spaces. Notably, this site has an exterior-accessible wall, which makes it unusually exposed for a basement site.
- Control / Storage (1st floor) — a first-floor site pairing the control room with adjacent storage areas.
- Kitchen (1st floor) — the second first-floor site, typically paired with the cafeteria area.
Caveat: exact site pairings can rotate between seasons, and community room names vary. The official first-floor pair is Control and Storage — do not lump both areas together as “warehouse” in callouts. Before a ranked session, spend two minutes in a custom game confirming the current site list.
Each site has a distinct character. CCTV/Server rewards vertical control and punishes teams that ignore the rafters. Tank/Labs is a basement site that plays like a ground-floor site because of its exterior access. Control/Storage is the “honest” site: big, multi-entrance, winnable by whichever team executes cleaner. Kitchen plays around its many angles and surrounding corridors.
Map Control: The Central Mechanic
If you take one idea from this guide, make it this: Nighthaven Labs is a map-control map. On Clubhouse, a single well-placed anchor can stall an entire attack. On Nighthaven Labs, that anchor gets flanked, opened from above, or simply bypassed, because the map gives attackers too many ways in. The defenders who succeed here are the ones who contest space early, fall back in good order, and make the attackers pay for every meter.
In practice, map control means knowing which parts of the building your team owns at any moment — and acting on it. Attackers: drone a zone, confirm it, move in, hold it, repeat. Defenders: contest key zones, gather information, fall back before getting cut off.
Three habits separate teams that control this map from teams that get controlled:
1. Droning is non-negotiable. Uncleared space is dangerous space here. The team with better information wins the map-control battle before the first real gunfight.
2. Verticality is map control. “Controlling the second floor” and “controlling the first floor below it” are often the same fight, because the floors are so breachable. Whoever opens the decisive angles owns the round.
3. Time is a resource. Attackers who dawdle lose to the clock; defenders who contest too aggressively lose players, then the map. Plan all three minutes: attackers with a phase per minute, defenders with a retreat timeline.
Attacking Nighthaven Labs: Approaches That Work
Attacking Nighthaven Labs starts before you enter the building. The generous exterior — the landscaped main entry, the helipad area — gives you room to set up, drone, and choose your approach. Use that space. Rushing the nearest door is how attacks die here.
The drone phase matters more here
Your drone phase should be thorough: identify defender positions, the real site, and which stairs and hatches are watched. A classic beginner failure is droning the site, finding it empty, and concluding “site is clear” while three roamers wait above it.
Clear from the top down
The most reliable formula here is the top-down clear: take the rooftop and second floor first, then work down. Breachable floors convert top-floor control into angles on everything below. For Tank/Labs, top-down pressure through the first floor usually beats a direct basement push, since the basement’s exterior-accessible wall makes frontal approaches costly.
Bring the breach
Hard breachers are close to mandatory — a lineup without reliable hard breach stalls against the reinforced walls around sites. The standard core: a primary hard breacher (Thermite, Hibana, or Ace) plus breach support. Maverick deserves special mention for opening sightlines through reinforced walls on a map where angles are everything.
Roam clearing is the real attack
Here, the “attack” is mostly the roam clear; the site execute is the epilogue. Assign zones, clear them in order, and do not let stragglers wander. Intel and entry-fragging operators earn their keep. The Lair map guide covers similar roam-clear principles on another large, newer map.
Use the exterior
Some site walls breach directly from outside, creating executes defenders may not expect — but only after droning confirms they are not watching that wall. The helipad and main entry also give you positions for late-round angles into the building.
Defending Nighthaven Labs: Setups and Planning
Defending here is an exercise in honest planning — the map punishes every shortcut. The good news: a well-planned setup is very hard to break.
Reinforce with intent
Every reinforcement needs a reason: does it protect a plant spot, force attackers through a watched chokepoint, or protect a rotate? Prioritize walls around the site and the walls connecting the two site rooms — attackers love opening the connecting wall to play both rooms as one. Wall denial is one of the two great defensive strategies here; the other is the full-press contest below.
Two defensive philosophies
- The full press: contest everything early and try to break the attackers’ clear before it starts. High-risk, high-reward — it can end rounds in ninety seconds or collapse just as fast.
- The delay game: wall denial, crossfires on the expected execute, and force a late-round scramble. Steadier, and better for teams still learning the map.
Most good teams blend both: contest early with roamers, then fall back into denial for the execute.
The roam game
The map’s size makes roaming viable — but also makes getting cut off easy. Roamers need an information role (report attacker positions; kills are a bonus) and a retreat plan (which staircase, and when). With no direct basement-to-second-floor stairs, vertical retreats take longer than expected — plan for it.
Intel denial
Attacker drones drive the map-control battle, so killing drones is defending. Keep drones out of key areas during setup and the early round, have roamers shoot them on sight, and the attackers’ clear slows dramatically.
Site setup specifics
The formula per site: reinforce critical walls, open rotates between site rooms, place utility to slow the execute, and assign someone to the vertical angle. On CCTV/Server, contest the rafters and connector. On Tank/Labs, watch the exterior-accessible wall. On the first-floor sites, crossfires matter more than hero positions.
Vertical Play: The Map’s Defining Feature
This may be the most vertical map in the ranked pool relative to its size. Breachable floors, three stacked levels, and a rooftop mean the fight for “above and below” is rarely optional.
Attackers: open the floor above the site and play angles down — devastating on the basement and first-floor sites. Soft breachers who open floors fast are premium picks. Defenders: the mirror — open the ceiling below an expected attack, hold from underneath, and deny the top floor in the first place.
Hatches are this map’s fast lanes; whichever team controls them controls the tempo. Our Buck operator guide covers a classic vertical-play operator tailor-made for maps like this.
The practical rule: before every execute, ask “who owns the floor above and below the site?” If the answer is “the enemy” on either, you are walking into an unseen crossfire.
The Rooftop and Exterior Game
The rooftop gives attackers access angles onto the second floor and a staging area for the top-down clear. Defenders should not ignore it — a runout or late flank through roof access punishes attackers who treat it as safe — but defending the roof itself wastes bodies. The right answer to roof pressure is holding the interior positions roof attackers want to enter through.
At ground level, the landscaped entry and helipad are where attackers organize. The breakable exterior walls near sites are the real story: they let attackers skip whole sections of the interior clear. Defenders must know which site walls are breachable from outside and have a plan — utility, a watch position, or denial — for each one.
Operator Picks: Roles, Not a Fixed Meta
Operator balance shifts every season, so treat specific “meta” lists with skepticism. What does not shift is the set of roles Nighthaven Labs demands:
- Hard breach (attacker): effectively mandatory. Thermite, Hibana, or Ace as the core, with Maverick as a strong complement for sightlines.
- Breach support (attacker): someone to protect the hard breacher and handle denial — the EMP-grenade carriers and their alternatives.
- Soft breach / vertical (attacker): premium on this map. Operators who open floors and hatches quickly multiply your execute options.
- Intel and entry (attacker): the roam-clear engine. Drones win the map-control battle; bring operators who gather or exploit information.
- Wall/utility denial (defender): Kaid, Bandit, and Mute are the classic answers to hard breach, and they are as important here as anywhere. Our Mute guide covers one of the most flexible denial operators.
- Intel denial (defender): keep attacker drones out of your setup.
- Roamers (defender): the map’s size rewards them, but only with a retreat plan.
The honest version: bring the roles, adjust the names to the current season. A banned Thermite just means the Hibana or Ace steps up. The map punishes missing roles far more than suboptimal picks within a role.
Common Mistakes on Nighthaven Labs
Treating the basement site like a basement site. Tank/Labs has an exterior-accessible wall — defenders who set up a tight interior hold get flanked from outside, and attackers who assume “basement = hard” miss a free avenue.
Ignoring the floor above (or below). The most common way to lose here is executing onto a site while the enemy owns the floor above it. The vertical check takes ten seconds. Do it every time.
Roaming without a retreat plan. If you do not know which staircase you are leaving through and when, you are not roaming — you are donating.
Under-droning. On smaller maps a quick drone phase works. Here, uncleared space kills. Budget the time.
Forgetting the exterior walls. Both teams should know which site walls are breachable from outside before every round. Attackers who never check leave free executes on the table; defenders who never check get surprised.
Playing it like Clubhouse. Tight angles and static setups fall apart here. This map rewards movement, information, and space.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nighthaven Labs attacker-sided or defender-sided?
It depends on the season and skill level. The breachability and exterior access favor organized attackers, but defenders who plan around map control and vertical denial hold it fine. At most ranks, the team with the better plan wins regardless of side.
What are the most important rooms to learn first?
The four site areas — CCTV/Server upstairs, Tank/Labs in the basement, Control/Storage and Kitchen on the first floor — then the staircases (which floors each connects), then the rafters and connector corridors up top. That covers most decisive fights.
Why do my callouts confuse my team on this map?
The map is newer and community callouts are still standardizing — two players can learn different names for the same room. Fix it with a two-minute pre-match conversation agreeing on names for sites, stairs, and key corridors. The map knowledge guide covers building shared callouts.
How many hard breachers do we need?
At least one reliable primary, ideally plus a secondary or Maverick. Too many reinforced surfaces around sites to go without. Have a backup plan for bans before the match starts.
Is roaming good on Nighthaven Labs?
Yes, with discipline. The size gives roamers room to gather intel, but retreats are long and vertical escapes need planning. Roam for information first, kills second, and always know your way home.
What is the single biggest key to winning on this map?
Map control. Own more of the building than the enemy, know what you own, and convert it into angles on the objective. Every section of this guide is just map control expressed differently.
The Bottom Line
Nighthaven Labs is a map-control exam disguised as a shooter map. Attackers win by droning thoroughly, clearing top-down, bringing the breach, and treating the roam clear as the real attack. Defenders win by reinforcing with intent, blending the press and the delay, roaming with a retreat plan, and never ignoring the vertical game.
Learn the four site areas first, then the stairs, then the rafters — and agree on callout names with your squad before you queue. Play for space instead of kills, and this map becomes the one where your team’s coordination actually shows.