Shooting: counter-strafe, spray, burst, first shot

The most important shooting rule in VALORANT is simple: your bullets are only accurate when you are still (or nearly still). Shoot while running and your bullets land in a wide area around your crosshair, even if it is right on the enemy's head. Walking reduces the inaccuracy, but it is still there. In the air it is huge.

This changes how you fight: a duel is not "run and shoot" but move, stop, shoot, move. Players who learn this rhythm win plenty of duels against opponents who seem to have better aim.

When you let go of a movement key, your agent does not stop at once: they slow down for an instant. To stop dead you tap the opposite key (if you were moving right with D, tap A). This is the counter-strafe.

The rhythm is: D (swing out), A (stop and shoot), A (back into cover). With practice it becomes one motion. It is the foundation of the peek: leave cover, stop exactly when you see the enemy, fire your accurate first shot.

One important detail: crouching also makes you slightly more accurate, but it makes you slow and predictable. Use it for longer sprays at close range, not as a habit in every duel.

The first bullet of almost every gun goes exactly where your crosshair points (if you are still). From the second onwards, recoil pushes your shots up and sideways.

That makes the first shot the most valuable: with a rifle like the Vandal, one headshot kills an armored enemy. If your crosshair is already at head height (crosshair placement) and you are still, the first shot is often all you need.

After firing, if you wait a moment without shooting, recoil resets and your next shot is as accurate as the first. That is the principle behind the tap and the burst.

There are three ways to shoot, and the choice depends mostly on distance.

For a long spray, each gun's recoil always follows the same pattern: first it climbs, then it drifts sideways. Controlling it means pulling your mouse down while you fire. You learn it in the range, spraying at a wall and watching where the bullets land.

What holds in general varies a bit from gun to gun, and it is worth knowing:

• SMGs are more forgiving on the move and fire fast: strong up close, weak at range;
• shotguns only work at very close range, where they are deadly;
• among rifles, some reward the precise single headshot even at range, others are easier to control in a spray;
• snipers demand that you stand still and hit your first shot.

The weapons and economy part has a page for every gun, with checked numbers and when to buy it. For now, the basic rule is the same for all of them: stop, then shoot.

There are a few cases where shooting on the move is acceptable:

• at very close range, where even inaccurate shots hit;
• with some guns designed for it, like SMGs and shotguns, which are penalized less on the move;
• when you have already been spotted and standing still means dying: sometimes moving and shooting is the only option.

In every other case, stop. One accurate shot half a second later beats five inaccurate shots right now.