Valorant Economy Guide
Hello amigo! I’m yaotziN. – your Valorant Coach
(currently Immortal Rank). In this guide, I want to focus on how Valorant Economy system works and why that knowledge will really help you to climb rank in Valorant. Are you ready? Let’s go!
Valorant economy system isn’t hard to grasp. Understanding how it works is basic knowledge that will really improve your gameplay. Anyway let’s start from the beginning.
HOW TO EARN CREDITS
- Starting money: 800
- Kill bonus: 200
- Spike plant: 300 (for the entire team, even after the round has ended)
- Spike defuse: 300
- Round win: 3,000
- Round loss (1st one): 1,900
- Round loss (2nd in a row): 2400 (+500 because of loss streak bonus)
- Round loss (3rd in a row): 2,900 (+500 because of loss streak bonus)
- Round loss (4th, 5th, 6th.. in a row): 2900 (you can’t gain more credits for losing)
Remember that winning a round will restart your round loss streak bonus! After you know how you can earn credits in Valorant, let’s talk about why it is important to understand Valorant Economy system.
WHY THE ECONOMY IS IMPORTANT
Winning in Valorant is not only dependent on your aiming skills. To be the best you have to remember about other key aspects like movement, gamesense, or ability to properly manage your economy during the game.
It is insanely important to track how much credits your and the enemy team have after every single round! Depending on how the economy of your or opponents looks like, you can make different decisions.
These decisions will be crucial when it comes to winning. In a game like Valorant you need to focus on everything if you want to win. Make sure then, that you fully understand how Valorant Economy system works.
It is also important to play the meta, so check out our new article about [Valorant Meta and Best Characters].
HOW TO SPEND YOUR CREDITS
In Valorant you can spend credits for necessary items like weapons, armor, and abilities. What you will buy will depend on what type of gun you prefer, how you want to play, or how much credits you will have.
It is very important to play as many rounds as possible with at least Spectre and Heavy Shields or in the best case scenario with Phanton or Vandal and Heavy Shields. Also you can’t forget about buying all abilities!
This “best case scenario” is called full buy and it’s giving you the biggest chance to win a round. Sometimes you will not have enough money for that and then you need to make crucial decision: play eco round, half buy or force buy.

WHAT IS ECO ROUND
During the eco round you most likely shouldn’t buy anything that might hit your economy. The reason behind it is to save credits for the next round – thanks to this you will be able to play full buy.
In the eco round your main goal isn’t to win a round – your main goal is to repair yours and damage enemy teams economy as much as possible. Therefore do everything that will give you extra credits: plant the spike, kill as many enemies as possible, and try to grab their weapons.
To do this try to catch your enemies off-guard: push one bombsite together (e.g. with Frenzy), camp in some weird place (e.g. with Shorty), or do some other unexpected thing.
WHAT IS HALF BUY ROUND
You can play half buy when for example some of your teammates can’t buy at least a Spectre with Heavy Shields. You do it when it allows you to save credits for full buy in next round.
The best setup for half buy round is Sheriff and Small Shields. Spending 1200 credits will not damage your economy as much, and will provide you with good enough equipment to win a round.
Play half buy round like a normal one. With Sheriff, you need only 1 hit to kill an enemy, so with good aiming skills you might win. You can also try to use Stinger or Bucky, but then you need to take only close-range fights.
WHAT IS A FORCE BUY ROUND
During a force buy round you want to spend as many credits as you can. It’s very risky because after losing force buy round you need to play eco round in the next one.
This is why you should force buy only when it’s the last round in the 1st half of the game (12th one) or last one of the whole game, when a risk doesn’t exist. Always play force buy when the enemy team already won 12 rounds!
Sometimes you can try to surprise your enemy and play like this in the middle of the game, but it’s way too risky. A very popular mistake is to play force buy right after losing pistol round.
HOW TO PLAY PISTOL ROUND
Pistol round is the most crucial round of every single game – because it might set the course for the next few rounds and sometimes the rest of the game. This is why you shouldn’t treat it like a “warm-up round”.
Every player starts with 800 credits which isn’t enough to buy Small Shields, extra pistol, and abilities. Depends on which Agent you are playing, you should spend these credits in different ways.
For example if you are playing Sage or Raze then you should invest in Small Shields and abilities (it’s hard to destroy Sage wall or Raze robot with pistols). But if you’re playing an Agent whose abilities aren’t that useful in the first round, then buy Small Shields and Frenzy, or if you think that your aim is enough good – buy only Ghost.
VALORANT ECONOMY SYSTEM – TIPS and TRICKS
- You can’t have over 9,000 credits so if you are approaching that limit offer to drop weapons for your teammates.
- Don’t use your abilities if you have no chance to win the round – they will stay with you even if you die, so you will boost your economy.
- Some abilities (e.g. Cypher’s Spycam or Viper’s Gas Emitter) can be collected again. Doing this before the end of the round you will save some credits.
- If losing multiple rounds, try to save 1,000 in each so you can afford at least rifle and armor next time.
- If you lost pistol round then play eco in the next one. You want to be sure that your economy will be good for the next round.
- When the enemy team has an eco round try to play as safe as possible to not let them grab any of your guns or repair their economy.
- If you are sure that planted Spike will explode then hold positions where enemies will most likely run away from the explosion and kill them to destroy their economy.
- If you are sure that you can’t win a round or it’s very risky (you are low HP, you don’t have a lot of credits) try to save your gun by hiding to build up your economy.

Examples of my Valorant Coaching: