The Economy Explained — When to Save and When to Buy

The economy is the half of Valorant that ranked players ignore and pros obsess over. Manage it well and you out-gun the enemy on the rounds that decide the game.

How credits come in

• Winning a round: +3000 credits.
• Losing a round: a scaling +1900 up to +3000 on a loss streak.
• Each kill: +200 credits.
• Planting / defusing the spike: bonus credits on top.

The three buy states

Full buy: rifle, shields and util — you have over ~3900 credits and intend to win. Eco / save: buy almost nothing so the next round is a guaranteed full buy. Half-buy / force: a calculated gamble on SMGs and light shields when a save would lose you the round anyway.

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You do not lose rounds because you were poor. You lose them because you bought when you should have saved.

Watch your team's total credits, not just your own, and the "should I buy?" question usually answers itself.