Valorant players plead with Riot to show Bucky shotgun some love: “Make the Bucky great again”

Valorant players are pleading with Riot to show the Bucky some love and buff the gun, as it is currently sitting at the bottom of weapon usage in the game. 

Shotguns, as it currently stands in the meta of Valorant, is in an interesting place. In VCT, which is as competitive as the game gets, the shorty is frequently bought as a secondary to a Vandal or Phantom. We can thank DRX for pioneering it. 

And the Judge, although not as frequent as its smaller shotgun cousin, sees some play time as a high-risk high-reward gun to buy in eco or bonus rounds. 

However, a gun many may have been reminded exists, is the Bucky, which barely gets any play time, either in VCT matches or regular public lobbies. 

What guns in need of a nerf or a buff?
byu/Orbitat inVALORANT

The Bucky is the gun with the lowest usage rate. According to Valorbuff, it is at the lowest for ranked games, and according to Spike.gg, it is also at the lowest in competitive play. 

And in a Reddit thread asking Valorant players what gun they’d like to see, a frequently asked gun was the Bucky, with many pointing out the glaring problems with the gun. 

For one, its secondary fire, meant for long range targets, is close to useless since its massive nerf in 2021. And even for its price, for just a little bit more you can get a Stinger which is much more effective. 

The Bucky was once meta in Valorant back in 2020. Its secondary fire had amazing range with little bullet spread, and its primary essentially secured a kill close range no matter the situation.

“Make [the] Bucky great again” a commenter wrote. Harkening to early days of Valorant when the gun reign supreme. 

But the Bucky was not the only weapon for calls for a buff. The Ares also similarly sits at a dismal pick rate with the Bucky, all the way at the bottom, and for similar reasons.

The Ares also was once in the meta, however after several nerfs it made it a non-viable pick. At its price, you’re better off buying a Spectre, Stinger, Marshall or Judge, and as light machine guns go, you should always get the Odin. 

As a commentor surmised both weapons, “Ares is a nonexistent gun pretty much. Bucky [secondary fire] is useless. Otherwise guns are in a good shape, I guess.”

Despite two guns being absolutely forgotten in the meta, most other guns see a healthy amount of usage at either the top levels of play, or even the public lobbies. And unfortunately with every meta which comes, something else has to be forgotten.