It seems the Shorty is slowly but surely becoming a gun too good for its price range, or so some pros think so at least.
Fans that have tuned in to enjoy some pro-Valorant to all three international leagues, VCT Americas, VCT Pacific, and VCT EMEA, have noticed a trend: the Shorty seems to be very strong, to the point where many consider it should be nerfed.
If you don't know about the Shorty, allow us to explain. The Shorty is a short-ranged sidearm, basically a shotgun, that's extremely lethal for its price, being the cheapest weapon to buy in the entire game coming in at 150 credits.
It's not even close too, with the second cheapest gun in Valorant being 300 credits more expensive (450 for the Frenzy, which is absolutely not worth it if you can get the Shorty for much less).
The Shorty also has a decent range, with damage falloff starting at seven meters, doing 24 damage per pellet at 16 per body shot, it's quite enough to wreck enemies who are fully decked out and could net you a powerful rifle on eco rounds if you play it right.
With no real updates since patch 3.0, why is the Shorty all of a sudden?
Why Is The Shorty OP In Valorant?
Well as we just mentioned, the Shorty does a lot of things right for its price range and it seems that most pro Valorant teams end up discovering its benefits.
Valorant pro player Shahzeb "ShahZam" Khan mentioned on Twitter that the Shorty should be nerfed in the future. He is currently playing in Valorant Challengers for G2 Esports after previously finding massive success with Sentinels.
The shorty is ridiculous haha, it's gotta be nerfed
— G2 ShahZaM (@ShahZaMk) May 18, 2023
A visual example of how insanely powerful the Shorty is during pro play is this play that occurred in VCT Pacific with Ilya "something" Petrov dashing in as Jett to stop the enemy team from defusing the spike. In a single moment the small shotgun obliterates his opponent.
Normal players: Wait for opponent to defuse bomb then peek or knows there is no time so they'll just run@smthlikeyou11: dashes into the spike, brings out the shorty then BANG HE IS SO FUN TO WATCH, DESERVES TO BE PART IN THE #WGaming SQUAD #VCTPacific #VCT #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/tR0q7VT4HW
— KJC eSports (@KJCeSports) May 6, 2023
Should The Shorty Be Banned?
According to the vast majority of the community it seems that way.
Twitter user Rohan made an excellent point after the current VCT meta seems to be focused on Shorty usage in tight corridors, explaining:
Hopefully the current VCT meta of pros jumping around with a $150 shotgun secondary instead of using their $3,000/$4,700 weapons will lead Riot to rework (or just delete) the Shorty from VALORANT lol
Of course, a game like Valorant which has become much more about crowd control and denying space with utility is prime to have short-ranged weapons dominate the meta. Why spend 2,900 credits on a rifle when you can smoke properly and camp it out?
M80 NiSMO's joined the choir petitioning for a Shorty nerf, urging Riot Games to act fast before it gets out of hand.
I actually don't understand how riot has not nerfed or removed the shorty from the game man makes no fucking sense
— M80 NiSMO (@NiSMO_VAL) May 17, 2023
The last big change to the Shorty was a price drop all the way back in patch 3.00. It seems enough time has passed to see that this decision might not have been the correct one all things considered, right?
Do you agree with the pros or do you simply consider this a skill issue?
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