Valorant Pistol Round Guide - Ghost or Classic Dilemma

Hey guys, I get asked this a lot by my clients when doing a Valorant boost, so I’ve decided to make a short and informative guide on it.

Do you buy Ghost or Classic on the pistol round? How do you play the pistol round?

Below, I will explain everything you need to know, so let’s dive right in.

Ghost or Classic in Pistol Round?

Let’s start by explaining what is a pistol round anyway in case someone doesn’t know already. The pistol round is the first round in the match, and the first round of the second half, where you start with 800 credits only.

The pistol round is extremely important because it sets the tone for the following 2 rounds due to the Valorant’s economy. I’m going to talk about whether you should buy Classic or Ghost on the pistol round.

When it comes to high-level play, pro players usually go with Classic + Shields / Abilities. The ghost costs too much and you can buy a few of your abilities only. The shield will simply give you better survivability and generally make you more useful.

While Ghost players like the one-tap in the head against other ghost players, it’s worth noting that it only works against other Ghost players. A player with a classic and a shield won’t get one shot in the head by a Ghost.

If you really like Ghost, make sure you play a duelist such as Reyna or Phoenix.

Attacking on Pistol Round

Now that you’ve purchased either Classic or Ghost, let’s show how to play as an attacker, and afterward, as a defender.

Since both sides don’t really have all of their abilities but only the most crucial one, one of the main strategies is a 5 man rush into one of the sites. Since the defenders won’t have 5 people on one site, and the defenders on the site that’s being attacked don’t have access to all abilities in order to slow down the push.

The goal is to hard rush the site and pick up kills before the defenders from the other site can rotate. Planting is also extremely important because of the 300 credits bonus for a spike plant. So as soon as you have an opportunity to plant, do so.

If the push didn’t go well, and you’re down 2 or more players, defenders have already rotated in, forcing it further is not a good idea. Stop the push, go back, and reconsider.

In many circumstances, the defenders will send one to actually flank you and not just rotate throughout the CT, try to pick that kill and try the other site.

Alternatively, spread out around the map and try to win the round by picking off defenders that are now probably pretty cocky and aggressive.

Read more: Valorant Tier List - Best Agents In Valorant

Defending on Pistol Round

Many players go the safe way and just spread on the sites, hold an angle, and wait for attackers to do something. This may seem safe, but if a 5 man push happens like I explained above, you won’t have enough time to rotate and you’ll lose the round in most cases.

Instead, try to hold important angles where you can actually hear a 5 man push on time and call it to your team, listening is the most important, don’t just stand on the back of the site and wait for them to swarm the site. By the time a swarm happens your chances are down the drain.

If you don’t hear anything for a reasonable amount of time, an educated guess is that one of the other sites are going to get attacked and you can already prepare a rotation and get in position to rotate there as fast as possible.

If a 5 man push happens on the site you’re defending, you’re most likely outnumbered. Don’t fight them, back off, and call the push immediately. Use any utility you have to slow them down such as Sage’s slows and wall, Omen’s smokes, Brimstone’s smokes, etc. and do not die!

It’s always the best idea to just regroup and have a 5v5 retake of the site, rather than risk dying 2v5 defending the site and then having a 3v5 retake.

Wrapping it up

Thank you for reading my Pistol round guide! I hope you learned something and now know what to buy and how to play the round.

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Good luck with your pistol rounds!