Neon, Reyna, and Killjoy from VALORANT.
Image via Riot Games

Do skins make you better at VALORANT? Some players claim to have proof

It's a common theory.

Some casual VALORANT players are sure that Riot Games employs RNG in the game mechanics of the FPS or straight out benefits players who purchase weapon skins, even though there’s no way to prove it, and quite unlikely as well, as it would tarnish Riot’s name in gaming forever.

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All sorts of conspiracy theories started being shared after one Redditor said they dominate games sometimes but also have games where the shots never connected.

“Some days, I can be running sideways with a vandal and always hit the headshot even though I feel like I don’t deserve the kill,” the Redditor said. “Other days, I can’t hit a head to save my life even though I swear the cross is on the head. I’m currently D1 so not the best at the game, but not the worst.”

Although the Redditor admitted this issue is probably caused by inconsistency, it could be related to the peekers’ advantage granted to players with higher ping, an issue that Riot is aware of and recently pushed an update to mitigate the frustration of players playing versus high ping opponents.

But what casual VALORANT players talked about the most in the Reddit post is the supposed advantage afforded to players with skins. “Skins make guns more accurate (in every way you’d define accurate),” one Redditor said. “Some days I can aim with prime vandal and some days I’m feeling glitchpoppy,” another Redditor replied.

The correlation between skins and skills has existed for quite a while in multiple shooters in addition to VALORANT like CS:GO and Call of Duty, but nobody ever proved that weapons equipped with skins are better than the default version. It’s more likely that some players feel more confident when they have a skin for their favorite weapon, which makes them hit some difficult shots they otherwise likely wouldn’t.

If you’re somehow bothered with your recent VALORANT games, you can learn how to get better at Riot’s FPS through our agents’ guides or guides that will teach you how to mimic professional plays in your own lobbies.


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Author
Leonardo Biazzi
Staff writer and CS:GO lead. Leonardo has been passionate about games since he was a kid and graduated in Journalism in 2018. Before Leonardo joined Dot Esports in 2019, he worked for Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte. Leonardo also worked for HLTV.org between 2020 and 2021 as a senior writer, until he returned to Dot Esports and became part of the staff team.