As excited as I was to try the Outlaw sniper in VALORANT, minutes into the first game I queued in Episode Eight, I had players lamenting about the weapon being “bad and useless.” While I’m not surprised at the reaction, allow me to counter the haters’ arguments before you make your decision.
While having a preference is all right, it’s just outright wrong to think the Outlaw isn’t worth your consideration, especially if you’re a Jett/Chamber main or prefer sniping over taking head-on fights.
For starters, the Outlaw is a double-barrel sniper that lets you take two consecutive shots—like the Shorty. Imagine being able to hit two bullets featuring high damage potential through a scope with just a little delay. Yes, that’s a sniper with the feel of a shotgun right there.
A popular counterargument here is that players would rather choose the Marshal, which comes at just 900 credits and shoots accurate bullets without much effort. It’s not an invalid point, but here’s the thing: Shoot one Marshal bullet with ADS and the gun takes a few milliseconds to reactivate for the next shot. With Outlaw, you can fire two bullets at once without the scope shutting down. Miss one shot, and you get a second chance minus the delay. This is undoubtedly the biggest advantage the gun has to offer.
I can’t, however, skip on the fact that Outlaw has just two bullets in a magazine. This makes it very tricky to use if an enemy pushes on to you. But considering its sweet price point, you can always afford a sidearm for such situations. I’d prefer a Shorty or Frenzy, but you can always go for a Sheriff or a Ghost. As far as I have noticed in my games, players are combining the sniper with a Shorty or a Sheriff for a potent loadout and, unsurprisingly, finding a lot of success with it.
A greater part of VALORANT’s battles is about using assault rifles and the occasional Spectre, Bulldog, and pistols, but a good sniper on your team can be a game changer. I’ve had players turn a 3-11 scoreboard to a dreamy 13-11 just with tactical use of the Operator.
The Outlaw is, in no way, close to the high-cost Operator, but it can be incredibly impactful if you use it the way it’s meant to be. Most importantly, it’s not meant to replace any weapon in the arsenal, so if you’ve been doing so, stop comparing it to the assault rifles you usually use in full-buy rounds.
If you’ve always been a rifler in VALORANT, the Outlaw isn’t supposed to change that; it’s only a new piece of weaponry, added to diversify the sniper meta and how players approach full-buy rounds. So next time you feel the urge to scream “useless” after you fail to kill an enemy with the Outlaw, do me a favor and let the snipers do their thing, yeah?
