Riot Games just put out new stats claiming that American players in VALORANT prefer Phantom whereas Russian players love the Vandal.
Phantom and Vandal are two of the best weapon in VALORANT. Phantom has a higher fire rate which is suitable for middle to close-quarter battles whereas its counterpart Vandal is great for those long-range duels.
In the recent patch 1.07, Riot Games did show Vandal some extra love as in the pro scene almost all of the players were exclusively using the Phantom. Since Phantom was getting favored so much, Riot decided to increase the fire rate to even the playing field for Vandal players.
Riot reveals which region prefers which weapon:
In a recent tweet, Riot Games just confirmed that in ACT 2 the United States, Mexico, and Korea mostly used Phantom while Russia, Brazil, and Turkey mostly preferred the Vandal as the superior weapon.
Before the new Vandal buff, the VALORANT competitive scene was entirely comprised of Phantom players. Now after the Vandal buff the weapon is way more consistent at closer distances which in turn made it a great alternative to the Phantom.
The old debate over fire rate versus damage is always been a hot topic among the tactical shooter fan base. And in most scenarios, the weapon with a better fire rate would usually take the crown as the best weapon in its class. However, after the new changes, it seems like Riot’s weapon balancing team is actually doing something right as now there is more diversity in the game in terms of weapons.
