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The Overlooked Meta: Stinger to receive nerfs in the upcoming Valorant 6.02 patch

The Overlooked Meta: Stinger to receive nerfs in the upcoming Valorant 6.02 patch

Valorant
6 Feb
Ganesh Jadhav

Valorant has had a fair share of broken weapons and agents throughout history. From Raze's double nade, Fast Operator, Overpowered Chamber, or Accurate Ares/Bucky/Stinger meta, Community exploited all of these. But a recent overpowered gun went under the radar for the longest time. Players only recently started noticing the Stinger's potence.

The weapon we are talking about is, ofcourse, Stinger, Valorant's economy-efficient SMG. Players only recently noticed how potent the weapon is. Especially with the Chamber meta, the community overlooked the Stinger. The weapon recently started gaining much traction, with people finding out how effective it is. Riot has already taken precautionary steps, nerfing the weapon before it becomes a major problem.

Why is the Stinger strong?

Costing a total of 950 Credits, Stinger is the second cheapest primary weapon in the game. At short range, the gun has a base damage of 27; at medium distance, the base damage falls to 25. The headshot damage for the gun is 67 and 65 for Short and medium distances. The weapon has the fastest fire rate, along with the second least movement penalty for an Auto-fire weapon.

The gun is designed for eco and anti-eco rounds, with the fastest time-to-kill no-shield and half-shield players. The time-to-kill for a full-armoured player is 0.313, comparable to Vandal and Phantom. With the low time-to-kill with movement accuracy, the Stinger shines in specific scenarios and fights.

(Note: Time-to-Kill calculated with Base damage and Fire rate)

Stinger's current change or state has been since Valorant Patch 5.06, released in September 2022. Despite the advantages, the gun did not see much action. Credits of this were because of the ongoing Chamber meta, and players ran into Chambers equipped with a headhunter, who'd get out without getting punished, making it hard to utilize the power of the Stinger. With Chamber gone, multiple professionals and casuals started seeing the power of the Stinger. The stinger anti-eco buy started becoming mainstream.

Before the meta solidifies itself, Riot has decided to nerf the Stinger to make it much less versatile and effective.

The Nerfs for the weapon will be as follows:

  • Cost Increases from 950 to 1100
  • Base Damage Decrease
    • 0-15m: 27
    • 15m+: 23
  • Previously
    • 0-20m: 27
    • 20m+: 25

The nerfs increase the cost of the Stinger but also reduce the weapon's effective range. The Stinger will still be an asset at Short distance fights, especially against side arms and short-range duels. This is a good balancing update to the gun, making the Stinger a situational weapon. Going forward, Stinger will still see the light, but it won't be as ubiquitous as it was in the current update. The Valorant update especially comes at a crucial time, as the first major event of the year, VCT LOCK//IN, is a week away, and professionals would've exploited the Stinger, leading to many players using the gun.

Credits: Riot Games

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