G2 ShahZam says Valorant’s OP Stinger is ‘broken’ [UPDATED]

Sports

A sh*t, here we go again!

Valorant’s cheapest SMG is back in the meta after updates towards the end of last year that not only improved its accuracy, but also hurt the Spectre’s accuracy. The shift in power between these two weapons wasn’t immediately apparent, but it’s becoming clear now in both professional and ranked play that the Stinger may be a bit too powerful. It’s something pro gamer and popular streamer ShahZam believes Riot Games should look into.

UPDATE 2/4/2023: Riot Games has announced plans to nerf the Stinger for patch 6.02. A tweet from the development team explains that the cost will increase by 150 credits and that the damage falloff will increase, making the weapon less powerful at range.

The original story continues below.

Speaking to his stream after G2’s victory over Faze during the opening game of the North American challengers, ShahZam said, “The stinger is broken. I don’t care what anyone says, this shit is so freaking bad,” clarifying that he didn’t think it was a good thing that the Stinger was so absurdly powerful.

He later explained that after being shot in the head, “you can melt people and they don’t stand a chance,” which he felt “the Stinger needs a change,” though he admitted he wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like .

The Stinger was already revamped in patch 5.06 from September last year with the following changes:

• Adjusted primary firing error from 1.6 error after 7 bullets to 1.3 error after 6 bullets
• Adjusted alt-fire first shot error from 0.5 to 0.35

These changes weren’t immediately recognized as overly impactful, but after a nerf to the Spectre, they add up to a much more impactful swing in the meta. Given that the Stinger only costs 950 credits compared to the Specter at 1600, it’s a weapon that offers a lot more bang for the buck. In fact, it’s so cheap that it’s now much more common for teams to “force buy” (buy despite losing the previous round) with greater chances of success.

Of course, this isn’t the first time the Stinger has been a meta-weapon. Infamously, it was so powerful in the early days of Valorant that it was sometimes bought in place of rifles and low armor due to its ridiculous performance. Nobody wants a return to those dark days! To be clear, the current meta’s Stinger isn’t nearly as powerful, but even its current strength sounds like it’s too much for the likes of Shahzam. We’ll just have to wait and see what Riot Games does about the situation.

You can catch up on the incredible viewership of Shazham’s opening Challengers match against FaZe here.