There are many weapons in VALORANT, the tactical first-person shooter made by Riot Games. In order to become a master of the game, it's pivotal that you learn to master the weapons in it. That's why we've made a series of weapon guides for VALORANT weapons discussing the weapon cost, the weapon damage, and controlling the weapon's recoil. In this guide, we'll be talking about the Phantom rifle.

Cost

At 2900 credits, the Phantom is tied for the most expensive assault rifle in VALORANT together with the Vandal. It's a main weapon, one you invest in banking on the hope that it'll carry you through multiple consecutive rounds to pay off its investment. It's best to buy the Phantom when you've got a sizeable amount of credits, ensuring that, even if you lose the round, you'll still be able to afford at least decent weaponry in the next round.

Damage

The Phantom's high price pays off in damage. The rifle instantly kills anyone with a headshot up to 15 meters away, and even beyond that, a headshot plus any other area of the target hit will take down even a fully shielded enemy. If you're aiming at the body of the enemy, perhaps because you don't trust your headshot precision quite yet, it'll take you around four to five bullets to take down an enemy.

The table below shows the exact numbers for the damage the Phantom does in VALORANT:

The Phantom does lose some of its power at medium and long ranges, contrary to the consistent damage of the Vandal. It's important to keep in mind, so you can determine what your strategy is as you approach combat with an enemy. That said, if you do hit a headshot with the Phantom (or any other weapon in VALORANT), "aim punch" is applied, meaning the enemy will lose accuracy for a short while.

Recoil

The Phantom suffers from a fair bit of recoil, which starts to be noticeable when you're shooting at targets further than 15 meters away. After the first three bullets, the weapon slowly moves upward just like any other rifle in VALORANT. Once it has reached its highest point, it starts swinging from left to right. The sway is unpredictable in its timing. Sometimes it fires multiple bullets at its outermost point, other times it fires just one and then swings back to the other side.

At short to medium-short ranges, it's perfectly valid to hold your left mouse button and try to spray the opponent down with a rain of bullets. You can mitigate the recoil by slowly dragging your mouse down. However, at medium to long distances, it's better to fire in short bursts. The first few bullets of the Phantom are precise, so you should hit the target far more reliably if you 'tap' instead of holding down the fire button.

Recoil when aiming down sight

Thankfully, the Phantom also has a toggled zoom function to help you be more precise. When you're in ADS (Aiming Down Sight) mode, the visor provides a 1.25x zoom. Additionally, the recoil of the Phantom is slightly reduced, further enhancing the precision of the weapon. This doesn't take away either the horizontal recoil or the vertical recoil completely, however.

The tradeoff you're making by shooting in ADS mode is the fire rate. Instead of shooting 11 bullets per second, as the Phantom does when you're shooting in hipfire mode, it shoots at a 9.9 bullets per second rate. Nevertheless, it's highly recommended to use the ADS mode if you're expecting medium to long-range combat.

To summarize:

Many VALORANT players will face the decision to either buy a Phantom or a Vandal. Both weapons have their upsides. The Vandal does consistent damage across all distances, but is louder and has a lower fire rate. The Phantom does less damage and suffers from damage falloff, but is quieter and fires faster. The fact that it's a silenced rifle is a big benefit, as it greatly increased the difficulty for enemies to trace the shots back to you. The best thing to do is to just try for yourself, and see which of the two rifles fit your playstyle better: the Phantom or the Vandal. They do have one thing in common: they require recoil control practice.

VALORANT weapon guides:

For more VALORANT content including guides, patch notes, and news, check out our dedicated VALORANT section!

Images via Riot Games