Working towards your Valorant Economy is good, but it's not always the right decision.
Understanding Valorant's Economy
There are tons of "Buy" strategies in Valorant, and today we will be explaining the "Force" buy strategy. Before going in-depth about it, you can check these guides that are directly correlated with the force buy:
- What Is An Eco Round In Valorant
- Ultimate Guide On Eco Rounds In Valorant
- What Is A Bonus Round In Valorant?
Similar to CS:GO, Valorant also has the Economy factor, and the chance of winning a round can be calculated from Loadout Values for a particular round. If you don't know what Loadout Value means, we will try to explain it in shorter terms. Loadout value is the total value of Weapons, Abilities, and Shield that a certain team has represented in Credits. Basically, if Team A has a Loadout Value of 16.000, and Team B has a value of 8.000, based on the fact that Team A has a better value it gives them a better chance of winning that round.
What Is a Force Buy Round
Force Buy, as the name suggests is a call that people can make to buy in the round regardless of what their economy is like at the given moment. It can be described as a round that has to be won, and saving is not an option, but there are cases when this reasoning is not present and other factors influence the decision.
Moments when a Force Buy Call is usually made:
- Last round before Half-Time
- The enemy team is one round win away from closing out the game
- One of your teammates is "feeling it", has full buy, and want's your assistance to win the round
- You have all of your ultimates up
In a force buy situation, you will always have less Loudout value than the enemy team, and you are hoping that with whatever you can afford you will manage to take the round win. From the moments listed above, the first two are rounds where you always force-buy and there is no reasoning or excuse not to. The half-time round is the last round in which you can spend your credits, and after it whatever you had left will be lost. In the second case of the enemy having 12 round wins, it's pointless to save if the enemy wins the round and closes the game out.
the start of valorant games are so fun right now. 5v5 frenzy only pistol rounds followed by a nice 5v5 stinger only force buy.
— SR moose (@mooseloff) February 3, 2021
The situation in which your ally is "feeling it" is when he's got his lucky day and is one-tapping the enemies all of a sudden. It's fair of him to ask the others to not save and buy whatever they can since he feels your chances of a round win are decently high. Your ultimate being up isn't a good reason to force-buy, but you might get it from your teammates on a rare occasion.
Suggested Force-Buy Combinations
There are tons of force-buy tactics, and they mainly have an SMG in them. People love to buy the Stinger since it's cheap and can kill an enemy when unnoticed. It will also allow you to buy a full shield which should always be a priority when committing to a "buy" round. The other SMG that is always available is the Spectre, with the difference that you might have to settle with a light shield depending on how many credits you have left.
The general opinion about going Vandal or Phantom without a shield is overly negative, and you might get some bad words directed at you if you decide to commit to it. If you're struggling with toxic behavior make sure to visit our How to Avoid Tilting in Valorant guide. SMGs are the most logical option when committing to the force-buy rounds and if you are in doubt about what to buy in the round, the Spectre or Stinger will be your best friend.
That is all for this guide about Force-Buy in Valorant. If you want to read more guides like this one, make sure to visit our Valorfeed Guides Sections where guides like these and much more are published regularly.