In Valorant you don’t pick a weapon based on which one is best, but on what you can afford with your credits and how many the team will have next round. The buy phase is half the tactics. Let’s go through the economy, the weapon categories, what gets bought most often and why knives, which add nothing to gameplay, are the most expensive item in the store.
How the economy works
Every round starts with a buy phase in which you spend credits. They have nothing to do with real money: the team earns them through performance in the match, and they reset at the end of each half.
- You go into the first round of each half with 800 credits. That’s not enough for a rifle, which is why it’s called the pistol round.
- For a round win, every player gets 3,000 credits.
- For a round loss you get 1,900, 2,400 for a second loss in a row and 2,900 from the third on. That keeps the losing team in the game.
- A kill is worth 200 credits, and for planting the spike the attacking team gets 300 per player, even if it loses the round.
- The cap is 9,000 credits; you can’t save up more.
The whole economic game follows from this: a full buy is a round where you can afford a rifle, a shield and abilities, an eco round is the opposite, and a force buy is the in-between step where you spend everything on cheaper gear. It’s a team decision: one player who buys a Vandal in an eco round costs the team a rifle next time.
Armor and shields
You buy a shield in the same phase as your weapon, and it takes a bigger bite out of your credits than beginners expect. There are three:
| Shield | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Light Armor | 400 | 66% damage, breaks after 25 |
| Regen Shield | 650 | 100%, regenerates, 50 in reserve |
| Heavy Armor | 1,000 | 66% damage, breaks after 50 |
Heavy Armor is standard in full buy rounds, and Light Armor is the choice for pistol and eco rounds, where an extra 400 credits decides whether you have a weapon at all. But be careful: a shield won’t save you from a rifle headshot; it only changes things for body shots.
Weapon categories and how they differ
| Category | Weapons and prices (credits) | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Sidearms (pistols) | Classic 0, Shorty 300, Frenzy 450, Ghost 500, Bandit 600, Sheriff 800 | Pistol and eco rounds |
| SMGs | Stinger 1,100, Spectre 1,600 | Force buys, close range and on the move |
| Shotguns | Bucky 850, Judge 1,850 | Corners and tight corridors, useless at range |
| Rifles | Bulldog 2,050, Guardian 2,250, Phantom 2,900, Vandal 2,900 | The backbone of full buy rounds |
| Sniper Rifles | Marshal 950, Outlaw 2,400, Operator 4,700 | Long angles and area control |
| Heavy Weapons | Ares 1,600, Odin 3,200 | Shooting through walls, holding corridors |
| Melee (knife) | free | Fastest movement, skins are cosmetic |
Apart from price, weapons differ in three things that get lost in tables: how much they slow you down (with the Operator or Odin you move noticeably slower than with a pistol), how well they penetrate walls (high for the Sheriff, Guardian and snipers, almost none for SMGs and shotguns) and how spread behaves while moving: at range you have to stand still when shooting.
What people actually buy
Vandal vs. Phantom
Both cost 2,900 credits, and most full buy rounds come down to choosing between them:
- The Vandal deals 160 to the head at any distance, so it kills in one shot even against full shields. The price is a lower fire rate (9.75 rounds/s) and less forgiving spread.
- The Phantom deals 156 to the head up to 20 meters and only 140 beyond that. In return it has a higher fire rate (11 rounds/s), a 30-round magazine and a suppressor, so nobody can spot you by your muzzle flash.
The Vandal is for long angles and players who rely on one-taps; the Phantom is for close fights and spraying through smoke. The map you’re on plays a part too.
Operator
The most expensive weapon in the game at 4,700 credits and the only one that kills in one shot to the body (150) and even to the legs (120). You buy it when you want to lock down a long angle and force the enemy to go another way. It slows you down a lot, its follow-up shots are slow and you’re defenseless with it up close. It’s a commitment to one position for the whole round.
Sheriff, Ghost and the new Bandit
In pistol and eco rounds, the question is whether you can kill someone holding a rifle with a few hundred credits. The Ghost at 500 is the most common choice: quiet, accurate, 105 to the head up to 30 meters. The Sheriff at 800 deals 159.5 to the head, which means a one-tap even against shields, but it has heavy recoil and six rounds.
In the 2026 season (patch 12.00), Riot slotted the Bandit in between them at 600 credits, the first new weapon in almost two years. This eight-round semi-automatic pistol deals 152 to the head up to 10 meters and has medium wall penetration. It’s a cheaper ticket to a one-tap than the Sheriff, at the cost of a smaller magazine and shorter range.
Knives: free in the game, the priciest thing in the store
Everyone has a knife from the start; you can’t drop it or buy it. The left mouse button deals 50 damage from the front and 100 from behind, the right button 75 and 150, so a hit in the back kills. Its main role is something else, though: with a knife in hand you run faster than with any other weapon, so you hold it while crossing open areas, not for fighting.
That’s why the interesting thing about knives isn’t the knives but knife skins, the most expensive item in the store, for three reasons:
- You see the knife all the time. You change weapons every round depending on the economy, but you have the knife the whole match.
- You can’t win or collect them. Valorant has no cases and no trading between players; the only way to get a knife is to buy it when its collection returns to the store.
- They have their own price tier. Prices range from roughly 1,750 VP for the simplest ones through the usual 3,550 VP to 4,350 and more for knives with their own animations and variants.
And here’s the main point: a knife skin has no effect on gameplay. It doesn’t change damage, range or running speed; people buy it for the effects, animation and sound.
Night Market and knives
The Night Market is a recurring offer of six random skins at a 10 to 49% discount that shows up roughly once per act. Knives can appear in it, but with limits: only skins that have been in the store for at least two acts qualify, and melee skins priced above 3,550 VP are excluded, as are Exclusive and Ultra editions. So you probably won’t find the knife you want most on sale. How VP work and how prices differ by edition is covered in our article on prices in Valorant.
FAQ
Neither one universally. The Vandal deals 160 to the head at any distance, so it always kills in one shot. The Phantom has a higher fire rate, a bigger magazine and more controllable spread, but beyond 20 meters it drops to 140 to the head.
The knife itself costs nothing, since everyone has it from the start. You only pay for skins, which range from roughly 1,750 VP to 4,350 VP and higher for knives with their own animations.
No. Skins change the look, animations and sounds, but not damage, accuracy or movement speed.
Yes, but not all of them. Only skins that have been in the store for at least two acts qualify; melee skins above 3,550 VP and Exclusive and Ultra editions are excluded.
In full buy rounds, Heavy Armor for 1,000 credits; in pistol and eco rounds, Light Armor for 400 so you have enough left for a pistol. Neither will save you from a rifle headshot.
Information verified as of 2 September 2026, patch 13.05. Prices and damage come from the game data of this version, and Riot tweaks them from time to time. Which agent benefits from which weapon is covered in our overview of agents, and playing long angles in the article on maps. If you’re only just installing the game, start with download and installation; the rest is in the Valorant section.