There are many weapons in VALORANT, the tactical first-person shooter made by Riot Games. In order to become a master of the game, it's pivotal that you learn to master the weapons in it. That's why we've made a series of weapon guides for VALORANT weapons discussing the weapon cost, the weapon damage, and controlling the weapon's recoil. In this guide, we'll be talking about the Odin light machine gun.

Cost

The Odin is the second-most expensive weapon in VALORANT, costing 3200 credits in total. You need to have a big in-game bank account to afford it and pair it with shield and/or ability purchases. When you buy the Odin, you're making a commitment. Generally, it creates too big of a gap in your wallet to be bought with the idea that the weapon will win you one round. You're banking on the Odin doing more than that, and help your team through multiple rounds.

Damage

The Odin does a lot of damage. The bullets itself do damage comparable to the Vandal when it hits either the body or the leg of your target. Headshots do significantly less damage, but you're not buying the Odin for precise action. You're buying it to 'spray and pray' with a rain of bullets. The Odin fires extremely quickly, starting at 12 bullets per second and quickly scaling to firing 15.6 bullets per second. Its magazine holds 100 bullets, so you can hold down the fire button for a good while too, eliminating multiple players running towards you.

The table below shows the exact numbers for the damage the Odin does in VALORANT:

The Odin is meant for medium-range combat where you can reliably deal a lot of damage with its massive fire output. At longer ranges it becomes less effective, and the bullets deal quite a bit less damage.

Recoil

The recoil of LMGs works in a different way than that of other rifles in VALORANT. Normally, fully automatic rifles have two fire modes. There is a hipfire mode that fires rapidly but is less accurate, and there is an ADS (Aim Down Sight) mode which fires slower, but slightly reduces the recoil as compensation.

LMGs, Odin included, do have the hipfire mode and the ADS mode. But they have another trick up their sleeve: if you're crouching while firing, the vertical and horizontal recoil of the weapon is also reduced. This does combine with the ADS mode, drastically reducing the recoil of the Odin and making it far more precise.

A big upside to the Odin is that it doesn't lose its fire rate, even when you're in ADS mode. The main "downside" to using your visor is that you'll be zoomed in by a factor of 1.25, making it more difficult to notice enemies approaching you from the side. That zoomed function does help a bit with hitting enemies far away, however.

Though you can greatly reduce the recoil of the Odin, you still need to mitigate it if you're holding down the fire button. The best way to counter the recoil is to drag your mouse down as the Odin drags upward, effectively canceling the motion. Countering the left-to-right sway of the Odin is difficult, and does require a lot of practice as it's very unpredictable.

To summarize:

The Odin is a big, loud hurricane in the shape of a VALORANT weapon. It tears through enemies at the cost of precision, but that's exactly its purpose. Though expensive, the Odin can be of great use. If you suspect the enemies to rush to a single point, it can punish that strategy severely. In more direct 1v1 fights with an enemy, you generally would prefer a Vandal or Phantom, however, as they are more accurate and deal more damage with single bullets.

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For more VALORANT content including guides, patch notes, and news, check out our dedicated VALORANT section!

Images via Riot Games