SMGs

Overview

Welcome to your hub for SMGs in VALORANT, where we’ve collected every shred of SMG-related content for your convenience.

Here you'll find things like...

• Where SMGs fit in your arsenal.
• What combat SMGs are best for.
• When it’s better to pick an SMG over a rifle.
• Pro tips for using both SMGs.
• Examples of bullet spread for both guns.
• Stats comparison for both of VALORANT’s SMGs.
• And absolutely nothing about Team SMG (Still Moving Under Gunfire).

Don't get shot. Human brains are hard to replace."

KAY/O

The lowdown on SMGs in VALORANT

Where SMGs fit in your arsenal

SMGs are one of the six types of weapons in VALORANT. Like all primary weapons except rifles, there are two SMGs to choose between.

Every weapon has its quirks and perks, and while SMGs are far from the most popular gun of choice among players, they have a role they’re best suited to.

Knowing the strengths of your weapons and the best choices for your economy is a key part of becoming a VALORANT champion and scoring the W.

What is an SMG?

The magazine-fed submachine gun (SMG) is an automatic carbine that fires handgun cartridges.

It’s a primary weapon in VALORANT, and has shown up in a bazillion first-person shooters over the years.

A light weapon best suited to short-to-medium-range combat, and a fast-paced run-and-gun style play. Think of SMGs like a lite rifle – they deal less damage, but are much cheaper.

Their blend of low price, largely dependable accuracy, and reasonable power makes SMGs a top choice for eco rounds, giving you just enough firepower to contend with enemy rifles.

VALORANT’s SMGs are the Spectre and the Stinger. Both have decent accuracy at close range and can dole out high damage with a rate of fire that even Sonic would be impressed by.

Balanced between price and power

SMGs in VALORANT live firmly in the sweet spot between price and power.

Sure, if you’ve got the creds for the Vandal or Phantom, chances are you’ll drop the SMG for one of the fan-favorite rifles. But that’s not to say SMGs aren’t deserving of your consideration.

Choosing an SMG over a rifle could mean the difference between entering the next round with full armor or none. It all comes down to preferences and priorities.

Given that a Phantom costs almost twice as much as the Spectre, and triple the Stinger’s humble price tag, you’ve got to weigh all your choices in the balance.

• Is the rifle worth taking a hit on your defense?
• Will the SMG this round get you enough for the Operator next round?

As with anything in VALORANT, it all comes down to team tactics.

Don’t mistake the SMGs as anything close to “mild-mannered” – they can rack up a kill count just as well as a rifle or machine gun.

Of course, it’s all for nothing if you don’t hone your skills with the SMG… (but we’ve got you covered there with some pro tips coming up).

Pro Tip

Want to get the most mileage out of your SMG next round? Then it’s all about the close range.

Get stuck in down-and-dirty with Rambo-style tactics. Both of VALORANT’s SMGs are at their best up close and personal.

VALORANT's sub-machine guns

Before we take a closer look at both SMGs in VALO, here’s a quick TL;DR for those with the fraying patience of a hungry writer waiting for the microwave to go ping.

• The biggest difference between the Spectre and Stinger is their rate-of-fire, bullet spread, and mag size.
• Both SMGs are most effective at point blank range, and can be easily overpowered by other, pricier weapons.
• The Spectre is most players’ SMG of choice.

Spectre

The Spectre isn’t just the best SMG in VALORANT, it’s a go-to gun of choice for many players, and a favorite of newbies.

Compared to the Stinger, it’s easy to see why this is the best SMG credits can buy, even at a glance.

The Spectre has…

• Superior accuracy.
• More manageable recoil.
• And a larger magazine with 10 more bullets.

The Stinger only tops it when it comes to rate-of-fire and a cheaper price.

This SMG enjoys excellent run, reload, and equip speeds. Combine this with its solid firepower and rare silencer, and you’ve got an absolute beast of a gun for flanking, ambushes, and run-and-gun tactics.

Thanks to that silencer, enemies won’t see your bullet tracers or hear your shots from over 40m (except in the direction the Spectre’s shooting in).

All this makes the Spectre a solid choice SMG for players who want a strong weapon to carry them through eco and force rounds until they can afford a rifle and shield combo.

When aiming down the sights (ADS), the Spectre stays fully automatic and drops its rate of fire slightly. And while it’s still going to lose in a long-ranged duel against a Vandal or Phantom, the high damage of this SMG at close range is surprisingly epic.

Given it’s only 500 credits more than the Stinger, if you’ve got the creds spare, the Spectre should always be your SMG of choice.

Best suited for

Often rated as an A-tier weapon, many top players consider the Spectre a more than suitable alternative for eco rounds when S-tier guns like rifles break the bank too much for comfort.

Spectres are a regular choice for full eco rounds as well as half-buy rounds, as they give your team a strong enough chance at winning the round without having to sacrifice the protection of a shield.

It’s best for early and eco rounds though, and will struggle to be effective in later rounds against enemies equipped with long-range rifles and heavy shields.

Shot spread

Each of these images shows the Spectre’s shot spread between 5m and 30m, after 2 to 3 seconds of automatic fire.

At 5m, the Spectre’s shot spread is minimal enough to make this SMG tough to miss with.

At 10m, the Spectre’s shot spread makes fully automatic fire far less accurate already.

The Spectre’s shot spread at 20m is only really accurate for the first few bullets, after that the recoil drags the spray pretty wild. Thankfully, a few precise hits to the head should take down even a fully armored enemy agent.

At 30m, the Spectre’s shot spread for automatic fire pulls too wide to be useful. At this range, your best bet is using this SMG with precise, controlled bursts.

Pro tips:

Use the Spectre in short and mid-range for maximum effectiveness. This SMG does solid damage at closer range, and is best used when fired in bursts.

Stinger

Though not the best SMG choice, the Stinger is still generally considered a fairly average C-tier weapon in VALORANT, even after its devastating early 2023 nerf.

It has a crazy high rate of fire, shelling out 5 more rounds per second than the Spectre, though it suffers from a few unforgivable drawbacks:

• A maddeningly wild and tough-to-handle spread.
• A fairly small magazine, with only 20 rounds.
• Low damage per bullet.
• Low wall penetration.

At 500 credits cheaper than the Spectre, the Stinger really is a prime example of “you get what you pay for”. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who’d recommend this SMG over the slightly more pricey Spectre.

While neither SMG is especially suited to long-range combat, the Stinger is all but useless at anything over 20 meters, where its accuracy plops down the toilet.

When aiming down the sights (ADS), the Stinger switches from fully automatic to burst-fire-only mode, where rate-of-fire increases slightly. This four-bullet-burst reduces the SMG’s recoil and tames the bullet spread as a result.

Like the Spectre, this SMG is absolutely best at close-range combat, run-and-gun style tactics, and ambushes.

Some suspect the Stinger has the lowest damage per shot in all VALORANT, though it’s still capable of dealing massive damage when unloaded point blank.

With a mag size of only 20 bullets and a truly monstrous rate of fire, the Stinger burns through each clip in the blink of an eye. You can empty an entire mag in under a second, literally. If you’re not careful with your ammo, you’ll find yourself hearing that dreaded dead man’s click far earlier than expected.

Best suited for

Use the Stinger in close-range combat like it’s a rapid-fire shotgun and you’ll maximize the effectiveness of this SMG. You’ll have pretty swifty mobility which counts for a lot when combo’d with an insane rate-of-fire and a spray-and-pray style attack.

The recoil is so obnoxious though that even at medium range, the Stinger becomes relatively useless. This makes point-blank executions the only scenario where the Stinger will truly serve you well.

Some swear by this SMG as one of the best choices for eco rounds.

If it’s all you can afford and you don’t fancy a shotgun or sidearm, that may be so. But we’d say the Spectre is far more worth the creds investment though (and most of the VALORANT community would agree!).

Even with its low price point, because of these limitations, there are plenty of better options for eco or half-buy rounds.

Shot spread

At 5m, the Spectre’s shot spread is just about manageable.

At 10m, we’re already seeing that untamable recoil throwing this SMG’s aim way off target. If firing full auto at this distance, spraying the chest/head should still just about cut it.

By 20m, the Stinger’s shot spread has flung so wide that only the first few bullets are even remotely accurate.

At 30m, the Stinger’s chaotic accuracy leaves a lot to be desired. Fully auto firing is off the cards entirely – burst fire or bust at this distance.

Pro tips

To get the most out of a Stinger, you need to get up close and personal and make every shot count – that’s the only way to control the wild spread from its heavy recoil, and make that small ammo clip go the distance.

Use controlled bursts of fire or a last-minute spray-and-pray right and you can absolutely shred any agent in close quarters.

ADS adds a lot of versatility, and many who choose (or are forced to use) the Stinger see trading some fire rate for less recoil and bullet spread a worthy exchange. Definitely consider ADS alt fire if you’re mad enough to even try using this SMG in anything other than close-range.

SMG stats comparison

Use this table to compare the stats of VALORANT’s two SMGs.