Which VALORANT guns stop one-tapping, and exactly where
Every weapon whose headshot stops killing through a heavy shield at range, with the exact distance it happens.
A heavy shield puts an opponent on 150 effective health. Any weapon dealing 150 or more to the head kills in one shot; anything below it doesn't. Because several guns lose headshot damage at range, the same weapon can one-tap up close and fail to at distance — and the exact distance is rarely stated anywhere.
Guns that lose the one-tap through a heavy shield
Phantom — 156 headshot damage up to 20m, dropping to 140 beyond it. Past 20m it takes two.
Bandit — 152 headshot damage up to 10m, dropping to 112 beyond it. Past 10m it takes two.
Sheriff — 159.5 headshot damage up to 30m, dropping to 145 beyond it. Past 30m it takes two.
Guns with no falloff at all
6 weapons deal identical damage at every range: Vandal, Bulldog, Operator, Guardian, Outlaw, Marshal. There is no distance at which their behaviour changes, which is a large part of why the Vandal is picked over the Phantom at range.
Why this matters more than raw damage
Comparing headline damage numbers between two rifles tells you almost nothing, because both sit either side of the same 150 threshold depending on distance. What matters is whether a gun crosses that line within the range you're actually fighting at.
Every weapon page here carries the full shots-to-kill table against all three shield tiers, computed from the game's own damage values rather than typed by hand.