VALORANT weapon Guide: Sidearms - Classic, Shorty, Frenzy, Ghost, Sheriff

Different types of weapons have different roles in a VALORANT match. After giving information on rifles, it is time to talk about sidearms!

The most common usage of sidearms is in the first two rounds of each half. Players don’t really have other options other than using sidearms and skills in the pistol rounds. However, there are different areas to use these weapons, such as eco rounds. Sheriff is especially a great choice when you have a bad economy. Let’s dive deeper into the VALORANT sidearms!

Classic

As it is literally the name of the weapon, classic is the most basic and “classic” weapon of the game. It is free to use and players are given the weapon at the beginning of every round. Left click shoots single bullets towards wherever the crosshair is placed at. Right-click on the other hand has that little shotgun effect to it, shooting three bullets at once. Classic’s damage is not that high and it is harder when an opponent is far away from you. Let’s say your opponent has full armor and full hp, then you will need to shoot his head twice in order to get the kill. However, there are some scenarios in which Classic is a great choice, especially when you are close to the enemy and you use right-click.

Shorty

Shorty, the smallest shotgun of the game in other words. It is very powerful if you are very close to the enemy. It has two bullets in each magazine and it is almost impossible to kill an enemy from a long distance. It is 150 credits, the cheapest purchasable weapon in the game, and very useful if you want to set up an ambush, especially if it is your eco round. You can one-shot an enemy if you can take them by surprise.

Frenzy

It is an automatic pistol that costs 450 credits, placed in the middle of the sidearm credit chart. Frenzy is the sidearm version of SMGs and it has 13 bullets in each magazine. It is definitely a better option than Shorty in terms of mid-range but the best part about Frenzy is that it gives you the mobility to use effectively in short-range duels. However, due to its small magazine size, you can run out of bullets pretty quickly.

Ghost

One of the best choices for the pistol round is Ghost. It has a silencer that makes the firing noise unhearable at 40m+ distances, except in the direction of fire. It holds 15 bullets in a magazine and it comes with three extra mags. You can easily one-shot an enemy from the head if they don’t have any armor, and if they have armor it will take two bullets to the head to take them down. Ghost is listed at 500 credits and is a great pick for some agents, for example Sova as you can buy the sidearm and include two shock darts to have more impact.

Sheriff

Lastly, Sheriff is the most expensive sidearm that a player can equip in VALORANT. You can one-shot your enemies with a single bullet to the head even if they have full armor on. Of course, this stat depends on the distance. If the enemy is far away more than 30 meters then you will need two bullets, one to the head and one to wherever you can hit. Sheriff is listed at 800 credits and you need to spend all your money in the first round if you want to play the weapon. This will leave you without any skills or armor. It holds six bullets and has four extra magazines.

During VCT 2022 - Champions Istanbul, Classic was the most used sidearm 1553 times as it is given free. If we look at which sidearm the best players in the world have spent money on is Sheriff. It was chosen 989 times throughout the tournament and Ghost followed it with 923 buys. The least picked sidearm of the tournament was Shorty, which was only bought 75 times, and finally Frenzy was used 599 times.