How effective has Outlaw been in Valorant to shake half armour meta?

Outlaw is the only weapon ever to be introduced in Valorant since its public release. It’s a sniper rifle that features two bullets in the magazine and ten as reserve ammo. On the surface, it might look like why would anyone want to buy a weapon, especially a sniper that requires a reload after firing two rounds?

However, the weapon brings a huge advantage to the table. The Outlaw can dish out heavy damage. It can easily kill opponents with a single bullet on the head and body if they are on light armour. It can also shoot both bullets in the magazine without scoping out. As a result, the opponents are forced to spend more credits to purchase full armour.

Competitive games generally have a well-balanced weapon selection and only ever do minimum changes. The weapon was aimed to bring a stop to the light armour meta, as players would usually ignore a full armour and save the credits for a better weapon. Doing that with simple weapon rebalance would have been impossible.

Did the introduction of Outlaw help?

There is no definitive answer for this, as usage will depend on how people want to play across different situations. However, if we go with the statistics, more and more players are starting to adopt the weapon in ranked (higher-rated lobbies) and professional/tournament settings.

Ranked

Looking at the ranked weapon of choice, Marshal is still a bit popular in lower-rank lobbies. Looking at the statistics from METAsrc, Iron to Gold lobbies combined have a 2.05% pick rate for Marshal in the latest patch, while Outlaw sits at 1.14%.

Moving on to higher-ranked lobbies, the difference starts to decline rapidly. From Platinum to Radiant lobbies, the use rate for Marshal is 1.31% while Outlaw is 0.80%. For immortal and Radiant ranks alone, the pick rate is at 1.02% and 0.90%.

Competitive

The competitive/esports scene saw Outlaw surpass Marshal in use rate. During the recent Masters Madrid, Outlaw stood at 0.66% in pick rate, while Marshal was at 0.47% as per rib.gg. Even the ongoing Champions Tour events across all regions have a better pick rate for Outlaw. Looking at the results, it can be said that the weapon has been quite effective.