VALORANT weapon comparison
Pick two weapons, a distance, a shield and where you are hitting. Everything below is computed from the game’s damage tables rather than typed in, so it stays correct through balance patches.
Phantom kills faster at 10m.
35ms faster, with 4 shots against 4.
| At 10m | Vandal | Phantom |
|---|---|---|
| Damage per shot | 40 | 39 |
| Shots to kill | 4 | 4 |
| Time to kill | 0.31s | 0.27s |
| Fire rate | 9.75/s | 11/s |
| Magazine | 25 | 30 |
| Reload | 2.5s | 2.5s |
| Cost | 2,900 | 2,900 |
| Wall penetration | Medium | Medium |
Time to kill measures from the first bullet landing to the last, so a one-shot kill is 0.00s and a two-shot kill is one firing interval. It assumes every shot hits the selected area — real time-to-kill is worse for everyone, and worse by more for the faster-firing gun.
Reading the result properly
Time to kill is the number people quote and the one that misleads most. It assumes every shot lands on the part of the body you selected, which is a much stronger assumption for a two-shot weapon than a five-shot one — the faster gun’s advantage exists only if you hit everything.
Shots to kill is the more honest number for deciding what to buy. The difference between one and two shots is a threshold you either clear or do not, and it does not degrade with your aim the way a fractional TTK advantage does.
Distance matters more than most players expect. Set the slider to 25 metres and compare the Phantom against the Vandal on headshots: the Vandal one-taps through a heavy shield and the Phantom needs two, which is a different weapon entirely from the same comparison at 10 metres.
Full per-range tables and every skin for each gun are on the individual weapon pages.
Common questions
Is the Vandal or Phantom better?
The Vandal kills with one headshot through a heavy shield at any range; the Phantom does not past 20 metres. The Phantom fires faster and is easier to control, so it forgives a miss better. Neither is strictly better — set the tool above to 25 metres and compare headshots to see the split clearly.
How is time to kill calculated?
From the first bullet landing to the last: shots to kill minus one, divided by fire rate. A one-shot kill is therefore 0.00s. Every figure is derived from the game's damage tables rather than typed in, so it stays correct when Riot rebalances a weapon.
Does this account for armour?
Yes. Heavy armour gives 150 effective health, light gives 125, and no shield leaves 100 — the standard model, which matches Riot's own description of armour absorbing 66% of damage until it has soaked its capacity.
Why does damage drop at longer range?
Most weapons have damage falloff bands defined in the game files. The Phantom drops from 156 to 140 on headshots past 20 metres, the Spectre falls twice. The Vandal has no falloff at all, which is the single most important thing about it.
Is a faster time to kill always better?
No. It assumes every shot hits, which flatters high fire-rate weapons — they miss more in practice, and a gun that needs two headshots at 0.09s apart is only faster than a one-shot weapon if you land both. Read it alongside shots to kill rather than on its own.