How to Utilize LMGs in Valorant
How to use LMGs to their fullest extent.
Light Machine Guns and the value they bring to a competitive Valorant match, whether it is high or low ranks, is not something that can be ignored. With the way that Riot has balanced maps and crafted certain areas around bullet penetration, for most in-game situations LMGs are not a bad option.
The two LMGs in Valorant, the Odin and Ares, are decently strong in the current meta and should be utilized to their full extent. The Ares is a decently priced weapon that is best utilized as an anti-eco gun or as in-between gun, purchasing it when other players are grabbing SMGs. While the Odin is the most expensive gun in the game and is often used as more of a troll weapon to piss off the enemy team, or as a legitimate way to hold down sightlines against an aggressive team. Here is how to fully utilize these LMGs.
Managing Recoil
With any gun in the game, mastering its specific recoil is the most important thing to learn before pulling it out in a ranked match. Both LMGs have similar spray patterns that can easily be mastered in Training Mode.
Both guns have spray patterns that fly straight up as they are shot and sway side to side after their initial 15-20 bullets. The Ares has less bullets in each magazine so the amount of kick is significantly less than the Odin when fired constantly. LMGs can have their recoil mitigated significantly by crouching and scoping in. These two mechanics help so much that players should crouch and scope in almost every time they shoot the weapon.
LMGs are not precise weapons and should not be expected to get long range kills, especially with their bullet spread. The guns also take two headshots to kill so mastering their spray is more about managing how many body shots a player can get on an enemy.
Pre-firing and burst firing is the most optimal way to use these weapons. While this can be said about most weapons in the game, it is especially useful with a gun that can use a lot of bullets per burst and has a high penetration value.
Bullet Penetration
High bullet penetration is the bread and butter of the LMG class. The Ares and Odin can shoot through any penetrable wall or box with ease and can take Sage walls down in seconds.
A lot of the value that comes from LMGs is their ability to stall enemy pushes by shooting through walls or corners. This is made much easier in a game like Valorant that has a lot of scouting tools that can help pinpoint an enemy push that an LMG can slow down. With the number of bullets that both guns have, shooting one clip into a wall to stall a push could take up to 30 seconds.
Tagging enemies through walls is another added value to high bullet penetration. Getting a kill on an enemy through a wall is satisfying, and also a good reason to buy LMGs, but it is not an as reliable mechanic as taking some health or shields off an enemy through a wall. In a game where health and shields are static on most characters, and with healing being nerfed on others, taking even 10 health off of an enemy is impactful.
Holding Down Sightlines
In a meta that seems to be defined by the Operator, holding down sightlines with abilities or guns is important to counter the oppressiveness of the gun. Instead of getting in an aim battle with another Operator user or trying to one-tap the same player with a rifle, an LMG could be used to stop that player from even rounding the corner.
This may not be as useful on long sightlines, LMGs are midrange weapons, but pre-firing and burst firing a corner or area when encountering an Operator user is an effective way of countering it. By using the LMG in this way, it forces the enemy players to risk a peak around the corner only to be shot several times while exposed or once they retreat behind penetrable cover.
Holding sightlines is also made easier when an LMG is paired with Brimstone and his Stem Beacon. The ability is still considered niche in its uses, mainly to breach barriers and take down Sage's wall, but is also a deadly combo with LMGs because of the weapon’s already high fire rate.
The Odin and Ares are two weapons that can be utilized in high and low ranks to great results. They offer high penetration and bullet magazines with a manageable bullet spray pattern. Both weapons may be a little pricey, but when used multiple rounds in a row offer great value to players. When dominating with an LMG, players can spend more money on abilities while keeping a gun that can go toe-to-toe with an Operator or any rifle.
