The Guardian is a Valorant gun in the "Rifles" class of weapons. It costs 2700 CREDS and we've ranked it in the A-Tier (Middle Tier) in the current meta.
This weapon has "Medium" wall penetration and a 12-round magazine capacity.
Check out the Guardian stats table and read our guide below for more information.
Price | Class | ADS |
---|---|---|
2700 | Rifles | 1.5x |
Capacity | Wall Penetration | Fire Type |
12 | Med | Semi-Automatic |
Fire Rds/Sec | Alt. Fire Type | Alt. Rds/Sec |
6.5 | Zoom Mode (1.5x) (slightly reduces spread) | 6.5 |
Head Damage | Body Damage | Leg Damage |
-195 (0-50m) | -65 (0-50m) | -49 (0-50m) |
The Guardian is the only semi-automatic Rifle in the game. All of the other Valorant weapons in this class (Bulldog, Phantom, and Vandal) are full-automatic.
Whether hip-firing or aiming down the Guardian's sights (1.5X zoom), you'll find that you need to limit how fast you shoot by a bit to maintain accuracy. This is especially important to remember at longer ranges.
The Guardian is the most powerful Rifle in Valorant by a fairly significant margin. At all distances, it does 195 damage from headshots, 65 damage from shots to the body, and 49 damage if you hit your opponent's legs.
You can one-shot headshot full health opponents with heavy shields and even kill a full health enemy with light shields by shooting them twice to the body.
We've seen a lot of talk, especially from people new to first-person shooters, that they love the Guardian. Many of these players find it easier to use than full-automatic rifles because you don't have to worry as much adjusting for bullet spread.
To these players, we'd argue the rate of fire of the Guardian (max of 6.5 rounds per second) really hurts this gun's potential. If you don't hit your first shot against an opponent with a Phantom or Vandal, especially when fighting at close ranges, you'll likely come out on the losing side.
For this reason, we'd always opt for the Phantom or Vandal when you can afford them. We'd only consider the Guardian when it's all you can afford after purchasing the Shields and Agent Abilities that you want for the round.
If you do have the Guardian, try to take long-range fights to maximize its advantages as it's the easiest Rifle to tap with.