With game updates for Valorant coming in every month, keeping track of the best guns to bring to firefights is essential to winning matches and climbing ranked.
With every patch, the meta on the competitive online shooter gradually shifts. Like adding spices to a dish, these consistent changes constantly keep its player base engaged, as should any game that has maintained such massive popularity after two years of its release. With the recent buffs for super aggressive operatives like Phoenix and Yoru, players in this meta have to put more thought into which guns to get for smarter engagements. Like Chamber says, “We should win big and look good doing it.”
Keeping pace with more than half a year of updates at this time of writing, knowing which guns you can depend on, can seem like a challenge of its own. It’s been one of the facets of the massive team-based shooter’s success.
Let’s examine the analysis behind where some firearms rank in the tier list and why before moving on to the actual tier list. The categories used are based on the typical level of play and the amount of value a gun can offer in the majority of circumstances. The tier list is pretty straightforward to understand; the higher a gun ranks on the list, the more potent it is across all skill tiers.
Here’s a quick and dirty explanation of each tier:
S – Guns you must absolutely go for to increase chances of winning a large percentage of your games. Versatile with reliable damage across the board.
A – These weapons are reliable/cheaper versions of some S-tier weaponry. They perform well but are not as good at handling extended fights across open maps.
B – Firearms that are variable in their success in drawn-out firefights; they hold a lot of value but are overshadowed by better options.
C – This tier holds weapons that usually lose against other similar guns. Without proper positioning, they are easily outshined by other higher-tiered guns.
D – Less optimized firearms that may still increase in value during the match; effectivity is highly dependent on the skill of the player. D-tier guns have highly situational value.
E – The options on this tier are limited by very specific playstyles that often hinder/limit. Not worth the credit cost in most scenarios.
F – In a team fight, these guns give obvious disadvantages, do not hold much value on average, and must be avoided when possible.
After looking at data on e-sports pro usage, information from recent patches, and thoughts from the fanbase at large, we’ve compiled the ultimate tiered list for the best guns to use in Valorant for 2022. A gun’s value on a tier is decided to take the three factors previously mentioned into account. This tier list may not take factors like agents, map, round, or quality of play into consideration.
THE S-TIER
As expected, the highest tier holds the Vandal, the Phantom, and the Operator. Throughout the seasons, the performance of these weapons in long/mid-range engagements has been known to be the best. Cost-effective and powerful, not only are they a big (wall)bang for your buck, but they can also take out an enemy combatant with a few body shots (excluding the Operator, which only needs one.) Take any one of these firearms to stand the best chance of winning the match.
THE A-TIER
Coming in close on the A-tier is the Bulldog, Sheriff, and Spectre. These weapons may perform well in a variety of circumstances and may even be argued to be S-tier in their own right. Players may effectively succeed with these firearms at any skill level. Despite the recent nerf to its fire rate, the Bulldog gets a spot on a higher tier because of its updated pricing and its undeniable ability to control mid-range spaces. With the level of use we’re seeing inside and outside the pro-scene, we feel at ease classifying these weapons as A-tier.
THE B-TIER
Among of the game’s most specialized but surprisingly effective weapons, B-tier guns in Valorant can still succeed in some ways. These wholly non-meta weapons include the Odin, Judge, Ares, Shorty, and Ghost on our tier list. The danger they pose can easily bump your KDA up whenever you succeed in flanking the enemy team. However, they all share a serious weakness: they are all terrible at long-range firefights. Most notable is the Operator, whose increased walking spray further detering player movement, and lessens its accuracy despite its sheer damage output. When employing these firearms, hiding behind a corner and maintaining a close angle are your best bets due to their varying precision.
THE C-TIER
The Guardian and Marshal find themselves in the middle of the fray as we move down to C-tier. Both of these weapons can perform excellently, given that they are in the right hands and circumstances. However, outside those two factors, they often play relatively poorly or, at most, with inconsistent outcomes. Albeit their last update which decreased their credit cost, their average performance in team play barely makes them worth the buy. There is far superior weaponry for fewer or only a small amount of credits.
THE D-TIER
The Stinger sits alone, taking D-tier on our list. With its most recent patch, it’s safe to assume that this gun was meant for fraggers that go in hot and loud. Granting better accuracy on the go, the Stinger is the best choice only when being used by select operatives that can easily go in and out of engagements. Its cost-efficiency is a plus for players who are low on the scoreboard, though. Entering combat armed with anything but a pistol can increase your survivability a fair amount.
THE E-TIER
Possessing a few redeeming qualities that save them from the lowest rank, we have the Frenzy and the Bucky on the E-tier. Despite the Bucky’s dependable damage output at point-blank, you’re as likely to get one-shot by a better gun during the time it takes to reload the chamber. Further, the Frenzy’s intense fire rate may be its only upside, being called “Classic, but faster” by some fans. These are the guns you can fall back on in case you’re in an early losing streak, and just want to camp in a corner to try your luck.
THE F-TIER
Suboptimal for any fight outside the starting match, the Classic stays low at an F-tier for this list. However balanced, it’s still a gun you get for free at the start of every game. It’s only good as a last resort to quickly finish off an enemy who’s 1 when your primary weapon is out of bullets. On top of this, as dependable as the alt-click scatter shot can be in heated, close-range engagements, it rarely finds any kills at mid-game.
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