Basketball is ultimately a game of scoring. Make more buckets than the opponent and victory will be yours. To do that, more often than not, you will need reliable shooting. Shooting badges can and will improve your jump shots in NBA 2K23, however, not all badges are created equally.
Just like we did with playmaking badges, finishing badges, defensive and rebounding badges before, we will guide you toward the best shooting badges in NBA 2K23 for each build type. Before we move on to recommendations, let’s introduce ourselves to the 16 shooting badges available in the game.
All shooting badges in NBA 2K23
- Claymore – Increases the ability to knock down perimeter shots when spotting up patiently.
- Clutch Shooter – Snot attempts that occur during the final moments of the fourth quarter, or in any overtime period, receive a large boost.
- Comeback Kid – Boosts mid-range and three-point shooting while trailing in a game.
- Corner Specialist – Three-pointers taken from the corner spot, whether off the dribble or off a catch, receive a boost.
- Guard Up – Increases the ability to make jump shots when defenders fail to properly contest.
- Middy Magician – Boosts the effectiveness of pull-ups, spin shots, and fadeaways from the mid-range area.
- Slippery Off-Ball – When attempting to get open off screens, the player more effectively navigates through traffic.
- Volume Shooter – After a player has taken a small handful of shots, an additional boost to shot attributes is given for every subsequent shot, whether it is a make or a miss.
- Amped – Reduces the penalty that fatigue has on a player and their ability to make shots.
- Catch and Shoot – For a short time after receiving a pass, the receiver’s ability to knock down threes gets a significant boost.
- Green Machine – Gives an additional shot boost when consecutively achieving excellent releases on jump shots.
- Space Creator – Increases a player’s ability to both hit shots after creating space from the defender, as well as cross up an opponent on step-back moves.
- Blinders – Jump shots taken while a defender is contesting from the side or from the back suffer a lower accuracy penalty.
- Limitless Range – Extends the range from which a player can shoot three-pointers effectively.
- Agent 3 – Improves the ability to make pull-up and spin jumpers from three-point range.
- Deadeye – Improves the ability to make shots that are contested by a closing defender.
So far in our guide, we took height and position into account when proposing badges, but we have adopted a different approach for shooting badges. While these factors matter a lot for dribbling or rebounding, for example, they don’t hold nearly as much weight when it comes to shooting.
We’ve instead divided our badge recommendations between the two primary shooter types: ball handling/iso shooters and catch and shoot/spot up shooters. The natural differences between these playstyles make some badges very effective for one playstyle and bordering on useless for the other, and vice versa.
Best shooting badges for spot up shooters in NBA 2K23
We’ll begin with spot up shooters as their shooting badges are far more straightforward. What you want out of your NBA 2K23 shooting badges as a pure shooter is increased accuracy and a limiter on the opposing defense. The following badges provide precisely that:
- Catch and Shoot
- Claymore
- Deadeye
- Volume Shooter
Catch and Shoot and Claymore are the ultimate spot up badges. The former activates whenever you shoot the ball after receiving a pass. It achieves what we most love in a badge—high usage rate. Claymore is a bit more situational as it requires you to stand in one place for a few seconds, but its effect when it does activate is so good that we couldn’t exclude it.
Volume Shooter is tied to shooting a lot, obviously, but we would expect a dedicated shooter build to release more than enough shots to make use of this badge. The best part is that once Volume Shooter is in effect, all three of these badges stack whenever you happen to activate Claymore. If you pull off this combo, Stephen Curry would look like DeAndre Jordan next to you.
There are multiple shooting badges that deal with defenders. As a spot up shooter, the only one you should lay eyes on is Deadeye. It specifically targets closeouts, which is the sort of defense you’re most likely to face in your role. It is also a very good badge on its own, which is something we can’t say about all badges.
Best shooting badges for ball handlers in NBA 2K23
If you like to take your time before releasing a shot, your shooting badges need to provide a little more than accuracy and defense negation. You also need to create separation. These badges are the shortest route to achieving that:
- Agent three
- Limitless Range
- Blinders
- Amped
Agent three is a ball handling shooter’s dream. It enhances pull-up jumpers, spin jumpers, fade jumpers, and virtually any jumper that isn’t a catch-and-shoot. If you have the ball in your hands and you’re shooting it more times than not, Agent three is what you’d call a must-have.
Limitless Range has an obvious and not-so-obvious benefit to it. The obvious one is that it expands your range. The more subtle effect is that the increased range opens up your playbook exponentially. When the defender knows you can pull up from 30 feet, he’s much more prone to biting on a dribble move or pump fake. Not to mention how much Limitless Range opens up the court for your teammates. It’s a great badge all around.
Blinders is a defense negator, similar to Deadeye. Ball handlers tend to shoot from unorthodox positions and/or after receiving a screen. These situations result in a lot of contests coming from the side or the back, which is what Blinders clamps down on.
The final installment to our NBA 2K23 shooting badges recommendation is Amped. This badge’s significance is given a huge uplift by the new stamina and adrenaline system. Amped will reduce the grueling effect of stamina loss to your shots, thus giving you the best possible chance to save an otherwise lost possession.
This concludes our NBA 2K23 badges guides. You’re now ready to shoot, dunk, rebound, assist, and defend at the highest level. Good luck.
