Total Shorty Kills
Best pistol round buys guide: Brimstone, Jett, Phoenix, Sage, Sova
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
07/14/2020
The pistol round is a crucial round that may propel a team to a win. The pistol round occurs after every side switch and is much different than most rounds, as both sides only have enough credits to play with pistols (or the Shorty shotgun). Winning a pistol round, almost guarantees the winning team to pick up the following round due to the opponents high likeliness of committing to an eco round because of low credits. This can lead to the assumption that winning both pistol rounds in a match, almost guarantees picking up four rounds. That is a huge number as 13 are needed to secure a win.
This guide is designed to suggest best buys for the pistol round depending on the agent picked. The agent’s kit, alongside his or her role, is taken into account to justify why we suggest the following buy. Also, we believe that whether you are playing on the attacking or defending side may also have an effect on which utility to skip or buy on the pistol round.
For pistol rounds, we almost always recommend either sticking with the Classic pistol, or buying the Ghost pistol. Other sidearms are very situational, and are usually just not worth their price tag apart from being unreliable in a lot of scenarios.
Also, remember to check out our pistol round buys guide for the unlockable agents.
Brimstone
Brimstone’s main utility are the Sky Smokes. The buy for the pistol round should be centered around this ability. On the defense we suggest getting three smokes and either the Ghost pistol or Light Armor. On the attacking side, we also suggest sticking with the three smokes. However, in a post plant situation, the Incendiary may come in handy, especially if you know the lineups for post plant situations. If not, stick with the Ghost or Light Armor.
- Offense: Sky Smoke x3 + Light Armor/Ghost
- Defense: Sky Smoke x3 + Incendiary/Ghost
Jett
Jett’s pistol round buys are a little more tricky. On offense, we suggest buying three Cloudburst smokes alongside a Ghost for opening duels. You can also switch out one Cloudburst for Updraft if you have a plan going forward to surprise the defenders on some elevated off angles. On defense, this highly depends on the map that you’re playing and the bombsite. We still suggest going with the Ghost due to Jett being a duelist. To that, if you’re going to be playing on a bombsite where Jett can utilize her Updraft in many areas, you should probably get at least one Updraft to surprise the attackers and pair it with one or two Cloudburst. However, some bombsites don’t have many boost spots. If that’s where you’ll be playing, you should predominantly focus on getting those smokes and stalling the attackers so that you buy time for your teammates to rotate.
- Offense: Ghost + Cloudburst x3/Cloudburst x2 + Updraft x1
- Defense: Ghost + Updraft x1 + Cloudburst x2
Phoenix
Given Phoenix’s nature of being the one to seek initial contact on Offense, it’s key that this agent uses the Ghost, especially for long-range battles. To that, we suggest adding one Curveball (flash) for an entry. On defense, it depends on your style. However, we still think that Ghost is a must for Phoenix. To that, we advise picking up either one Curveball or one Blaze (flame wall), depending on whether you’d like to peek more on defense, or stall the attackers.
- Offense: Ghost + Curveball
- Defense: Ghost + Curveball/Blaze
Sage
Being one of the most frequently picked agents, it is Sage’s slowing utility paired with healing and resurrecting skills that make her an obvious pick for most teams. For the defensive side, we suggest going full utility and saving the remaining 200 credits. The Slow Orb and Barrier Orb are just too important to trade on the defense. However, on the offense, we think that taking Light Armor is key for surviving a site push, and staying alive to heal teammates. Use the rest to get the Barrier Orb which can be used either to boost yourself or your teammates, or to close off a location when defending the bombsite.
- Offense: Light Armor + Barrier Orb
- Defense: Barrier Orb + Slow Orb x2
Sova
A competent Sova player is a great asset to any side on pistol rounds. On the defense, Sova’s Shock Bolt can be a great tool to use after using Recon Bolt that revealed grouped attackers. Well aimed Shock Bolts can deal significant damage on the pistol round. On the offense, however, we suggest picking up the Ghost alongside the Owl Drone. Paired with Recon Bolt, these two abilities can be great for gathering that precious intel on enemy positioning and entering the bombsite with confidence.
- Offense: Light Armor/Ghost + Owl Drone
- Defense: Light Armor/Ghost + Shock Bolt x2
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