Pt. 2 of my Marshal versus Operator Discussion that 4 People actually cared about

Posted by Steve

Wednesday, June 2, 2021 2:55 AM

Seeing the responses of the 4 people that actually cared enough to respond to my post, I'd like to open some extra statements about what I thought about the Marshal's skill requirements and place in the competitive meta.
Now, I'm obviously definitely not qualified to debate against Diamond players and commentate over Professional gameplay, but I think that a lot of people can still benefit from seeing different viewpoints against this specific weapon.
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Most of the points brought up in that last comment was about how the Marshal is often underestimated by people like me, who don't actually take in the time to review the gameplay sense of the weapon rather than pure statistics. Although I stick with my original statement, I believe that the Marshal is ONLY deadly in rounds when the enemy clearly has a disadvantageous position, usually forced by Utility or Flanks. The Operator, in contrast, rarely needs to force the enemy into such a position due to its versatility and insta-kill capabilities.
On paper, both snipers seem the same, the only difference is the Marshal sacrificing that firepower for pure speed and cut costs, which is fair. So, without thought, it would seem pretty unlogical to compare these 2 guns based on their effective requirements to kill, which are near identical. But the fact that an Operator One-Trick will almost always have better positioning simply because of different sniper playstyles, forces the Marshal to rely on teammates or utility to not only be effective in Open sites but also be reliable against other meta weapons such as the Phantom.

Another point of mine comes in the recent Iceland Masters Grand Finals, which Spoiler, was won by Sentinels against Fnatic in the Final Bracket.
I reviewed the Livestream over and over again, constantly thinking about how the Marshal would fit in the competitive league.
Although, predicted, the rounds were mostly ruled by Phantoms and Vandals, with the usually Classics on Eco-round, there were a few times when the Operator ruled the battlefield, mostly with TenZ and Shazam taking the backline role. As expected, it proved very effective during Defence rounds to SEN's Favor, such as many deaths taken in Icebox, but while watching that footage, I was thinking to myself on how the Marshal could fit the Operator role in those matches and if it would prove to be even better than the Op in certain situations. At a low cost and long-range priority, it would definitely have better consistency rates than most other weapons, and the Op's unreliability at close-range battles would cause heavy damage to the Economy. In most of the clips where users died with the Op in hand, it was usually due to an overly chaotic/crowded site which almost no Short-range reliability, the Op's Hipfire Accuracy is shit, even for a Sniper. Obviously, the Marshal could never compete with an Assault Rifle, but that extra safety net that the accurate-at-all-ranges Marshal provides is very important when fighting against said Rifles.

And If you can hit Heads just like Tenz did with his constant Marshal Flanks he did on Haven, the Marshal would seem like the same as the Operator with just a tiny bit more effort.

So, this Poll is here because I want to see what the majority thinks of the Marshal's Potential. Keep in mind, I am not measuring if the Marshal is a better weapon than the Operator, vice versa. If I was, it would be a pretty unfair fight, since everyone knows that if you can't aim, that extra speed with the Marshal is nothing to the Point-and-Click playstyle of the Op.
What I AM comparing, is the potential of the Marshal in Competitive Leagues, and where it can replace the Operator in certain scenarios. Personally, I still believe in Operator Supremacy, but the Marshal is one of the best guns overall to practice, simply for the worth it can provide as a backliner during Eco-rounds, or when you're simply too poor to buy anything due to a damaged economy.
What do you guys think?

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References

  • https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/nq2wfu/pt_2_of_my_marshal_versus_operator_discussion/
  • https://reddit.com/nq2wfu

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