Every fresh round in Valorant starts off with a buy period. In this time, players have the opportunity to buy weaponry, shields, and abilities. However, it is crucial to know when to purchase what depending on the economic state of the team as, obviously, Valorant is a team game. Here is a guide on the basics of Valorant’s economy and how to buy right.

How to Make Money

Valoran’t economy is simple for the most part. Money received at the end of the round depends on how many enemies you have eliminated in the previous round and whether you have won or lost the round. Here is a simple breakdown:

• 200 credits for each kill on the last round. It is irrelevant which weapon was used to kill the enemy (knife included).
• 3000 credits for a round win.
• 1900 credits for the first round loss. This scales to a maximum of 2900 with subsequent round losses.

The Pistol Round

The first round, and the round after side switch at half time, commences with the pistol round. Each player on both sides starts out with 800 credits. Depending on one’s play style, skill, and perhaps agent choice, there are a few choices on what to buy on the pistol round. Usually, however, it is the norm to either keep the Classic, get the Light Shields, and some skills. The other choice is skipping the shields but getting the better pistol, Ghost, which allows a potent user to kill on a headshot even with Light Shields.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, but there is one crucial aspect to keep in mind. Some agents, such as Omen, can purchase all their abilities with a Classic+Light Shields combo. If that’s the case, it’s probably a good idea to skip the Ghost.

Full Buy

Firstly, let’s make it clear when you should full buy. That’s a choice that needs to be made in coordination with your team. It’s no use having one Vandal and four Ghosts on one team. To make things simple, a team should full buy only when each and every player has over 4000 credits. Ideally, around 4300-4500 or more, especially if there is a skilled Operator player. This amount will allow each player to purchase a Vandal or Phantom, Heavy Shields, and most, or all, of their skills.

If you have an uncommunicative team, it’s still no excuse to solo full buy. You are able to clearly see your teammates’ cash. Also, you have three prompts that are automated messages sent out by your character. Utilize them accordingly.

Eco Round

Alright, so what happens when your team doesn’t have over 4000 credits each? Oh, you have 3700? You can afford to buy that Guardian and Heavy Shields, right? Wrong! It’s time to have a save round, or commonly referred to as eco round. In this round the majority of players cannot afford buying a high-grade weapon, Heavy Shields, and abilities. Thus, the sensible thing to do is to save. So how exactly does an eco round look like?

Saving in Valorant is very simple, in fact. All you have to do is to look out at the “MIN NEXT ROUND” indicator in the upper left corner of the buy menu. If you’re saving, make sure that this indicator exceeds 4000 credits or more. This will guarantee you a full buy in the following round. Fingers crossed everyone on your team follows this rule, especially if you’ve decided to solo queue.

The only exception to this rule is if somebody is able to drop a high-grade weapon for another player that is unable to buy him/herself. If one player has 8000 credits and another 2900, then the rich can drop for the poor, resulting in a full buy round.

We hope that you’ve found this basic economy guide helpful. For more news and guides on Valorant, follow us at Run It Back.