Vandal or Phantom: which should you buy?
Both rifles cost 2900 credits. Both have medium wall penetration. Both are bought every round by half the server. And the argument about which is better has been running since the closed beta.
Here is the short answer, then the numbers behind it.
The short answer
Buy the Vandal if you play long angles and back your aim. It kills with one head shot at any distance on the map, full shields or not. Nothing else in that price bracket does.
Buy the Phantom if your fights happen close, or if you spray more than you tap. It fires faster, holds five more rounds, is quieter, and inside 20 metres it kills just as dead — slightly quicker, in fact.
The dividing line is 20 metres. That is not a matter of taste; it is where the Phantom's damage drops and the whole argument turns.
Head damage is the entire argument
A player at full health with full shields has 150 effective HP.
| Head damage | Kills through full shields? | |
|---|---|---|
| Vandal, any range | 160 | Yes |
| Phantom, under 20 m | 156 | Yes |
| Phantom, over 20 m | 140 | No — leaves them at 10 HP |
That last row is the one that matters. Land a clean head shot with a Phantom across A Long on Ascent and your opponent survives with 10 HP and now knows exactly where you are. The Vandal does not have that failure mode anywhere on any map.
If you have ever been furious at the Phantom, that row is why.
Everything else favours the Phantom
| Vandal | Phantom | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 2900 | 2900 |
| Magazine | 25 | 30 |
| Fire rate | 9.75/sec | 11/sec |
| First shot spread (hip) | 0.25 | 0.20 |
| First shot spread (ADS) | 0.1575 | 0.11 |
| Silenced | No | Yes |
| Body damage | 40 at all ranges | 39 under 20 m, 35 over |
Five extra rounds, thirteen percent more fire rate, a tighter first shot, and no tracers giving away your position.
The silencer is underrated. A Phantom firing from across the map is harder to locate by ear and leaves no bright line pointing back at you. On a hold where you expect to be traded, that is worth real rounds.
Time to kill, body shots only
Against a full-shield opponent, hitting only the body:
- Vandal — 4 shots, about 0.31 seconds
- Phantom under 20 m — 4 shots, about 0.27 seconds
- Phantom over 20 m — 5 shots, about 0.36 seconds
So the Phantom is actually the faster killer in a close spray fight. It is only outside 20 metres that the extra bullet costs you the duel.
Against an opponent with no shields, both rifles need three body shots at any range. The difference disappears entirely.
So which one
If you are learning the game, take the Phantom. The wider magazine and the more forgiving spray cover mistakes you are still making. You will win close fights you would have lost, and at low ranks most fights are close.
Once your first bullet lands where you are looking, switch to the Vandal. The one-tap at any range changes what angles you can hold alone, and that is worth more than every advantage on the second table.
If you play a duelist who enters sites, the Phantom stays correct at any rank. Entry fights happen inside 20 metres, where it is strictly the better gun.
If you hold long angles — Breeze, Icebox, A Long on Ascent — take the Vandal, whatever your rank. Those are the fights the Phantom loses on paper.
There is no wrong answer here. Both rifles are bought at the top level, by players who have thought about this more than either of us. Pick the one that suits the fights you actually take, and stop rebuying the other one out of doubt halfway through a match.