In order to be good in Valorant, you have to be familiar with all aspects of the game. Even though aim, movement, and strategizing are the pillars of this game, understanding how Valorant’s economy system works is equally important.
The economy in this game is pretty straightforward, and actually quite similar to CS:GO. For those of you who are familiar with CSGO, it’s easy to understand how to transition to Valorant’s economy. However, newcomers may find it a little challenging to manage their team’s money.
Why is Money Important in Valorant?
The in-game currency in Valorant, or just credits, plays an important role in the player’s success and can often decide the winning side. Credits are earned in-game and used to buy Valorant weapons, abilities, and armor.
Having a better set of weapons and abilities can often help you win duels, which eventually leads to more wins and higher ranks. It is important to always purchase all the necessary abilities, and use them only when needed. In other words, forget wasting abilities after the round ends, just for fun. You will have to repurchase them again and it will have a serious impact on the rest of the match and lead to bigger problems later on.
Keep in mind that the team must balance the economy as a whole. Don’t overspend and don’t underspend either. Neither one is good for your team! If you are not sure how it works, watch a couple of professional Valorant matches, and see how pros play and how they manage their economies.
When all players on one side have the same amount of money, constant buying is encouraged. This means that no player has more or less than the other, and the risk that a partner won’t be able to buy in important rounds is reduced. If you have more money than your teammates, drop a weapon to someone! There is no point in saving, as the maximum amount of credits is capped at 9000, so it is better to redistribute those spare credits to your team.
In addition, tracking the enemy’s economy allows the player to predict the purchase of the enemy team. Luckily, Valorant’s developers have made tracking the enemy’s economy relatively easy. Opening the game scoreboard shows the credits all players have before buying items.
Valorant’s Economy & Earning Credits
At the beginning of each pistol round, players default to having 800 bank credits. This is enough for a player to buy half armor (400 credits) and an upgraded pistol, half armor with abilities, or an upgraded pistol and one ability.
After each round, players receive a bonus for a loss or win. It’s pretty straightforward when it comes to round win, all players in the team receive 3000 credits at the start of the next round, and that’s it. However, when it comes to loss bonus, the amount of money the player will receive revolves around consecutive losses.
One round loss will reward you with 1900, two rounds in a row 2400, and 3 or more consecutive rounds 2900. The more consecutive rounds you lose, the more money you will receive. Therefore, it’s not always smart to go eco as you might have to repeat it in certain situations. It’s important to plan your full buy and eco rounds according to the money situation.
There is also a 200 credit reward for every kill. Kill rewards are not dependent on the weapon choice like in CSGO. So, killing an enemy with both a rifle and knife will reward you with the same amount of credits.
Credits per kill: 200 points
Lose Bonus (1-2-3): 1,900-2400-2900 credits
Bonus for winning a round: 3,000 credits
Managing Economy
When it comes to the economy, it is important to know what to buy and when to buy it. You should always buy all the abilities you can, because abilities carry on to the next round, no matter if you live or die. On the other hand, weapons carry on only if you stay alive at the end of the previous round. That’s why there are 3 main types of buy; full buy, eco, and force buy.
Full buy is a perfect scenario buy. It is a situation when you have enough money to buy everything you can, a rifle, armor, and a full set of abilities. On the other side, eco buy is when you only buy an upgraded pistol, Marshal, Ares, or something similar, depending on your money situation. It’s important to leave enough so you can have a full buy in the next round.
Sometimes an eco means that you buy absolutely nothing and play with only Classic. The last type of buy is the force buy. This type of buy is something in-between eco and full buy. You are basically acting like it is a full buy, and you buy whatever you can with the money you have at your disposal. Sometimes you will have enough for a weapon but not all abilities, sometimes you will have to go with a lower-tier weapon, it also mostly depends on the situation.
This type of buy is relatively useful in important rounds when you must win the next round no matter what. If you lose force buy, it typically means you will have to go eco next round because you spent all the money you had on that force.