This discussion has probably been done many times over and over again, however they mostly complain about the Niche and Underpowered gun he Guardian is, rather than how the Guardian literally fits nowhere in the game. It's not good in the Meta since the very beginning, It is outclassed in every way no matter the Map or the Agent, and there is no situation at all where the Guardian could be better than the current meta rifles and snipers.

This is a very arguable claim, but I'm a Guardian main myself, so when I say I (think I) have a concise opinion on this topic, it's very hard for me to not act Biased and say the Guardian is great.
And yet, I still understand how horribly shit this weapon is.

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The Role.

First of all, we have to understand which weapons fit which scenario and works best in each area. Most of these can be easily identified and summarized by a person with any limited knowledge of FPS games, but I digress.
Let's go over them for clarity's sake.

The main draw of the Guardian is the fact that it can one-shot head-shot people at much longer ranges than rifles, however still gets usage at close-mid ranges due to it's accuracy and non-sniper behavior.

The problem is, who else can do this?
There's a whole list.

Sheriff - Has literally almost every attribute the exact same as the Guardian, except for the Price, Magazine size, Scope, and minimal damage reduction that doesn't matter since it's a long-range high-damage semi-auto weapon.

Vandal - Self Explanatory, can One-tap as well and also has a Automatic Mode. Only difference is the minimal price difference, the accuracy, and the scope. Mind you, the accuracy is pretty good even though it's commonly shamed on.

Phantom - Same as Vandal, but only works at close range. Still, almost any other shot or utility will finish off the opponent at long-ranges if you score a headshot. Which will almost always happen since the gun is Automatic.

Marshal & Operator - Snipers. Nothing else to say.

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Okay, so the Guardian is lacking in that area, what about it's other situational uses? For example, the Guardian may be good because it is able to kill many people in rapid succession in any range?
Anndddd, sorry buddy, others got it covered too.

Vandal - While it is true that the heavy recoil will severely damage the Vandal's ability to crowd control, any experienced player will be able to Spray transfer pretty easily. It also helps that the recoil constantly goes upwards, meaning 70% of the time while spraying at close range, you will hit the heads.
You may argue that the Vandal's spray does not work at close range, but the Guardian and Vandal have the exact same times to reset itself after spam-firing, meaning in both situations, the Automatic rifles will always be superior for that exact reason.

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Third, the Guardian has almost 0 potential to improve in the higher ranks. The entire playstyle relies on you hitting headshots, and that's kind of it. There is no room for error, and there is no potential to learn a new clever way to make a counter-attack if you DO miss a shot. It's aim-good or die, almost no Gamesense needed to actually be "good" at the weapon.

The worse part is, even if you do master the headshots and crosshair placement for the guardian, other players who let's say, use the Vandal or the Sheriff, have the exact same potential, if not more. After you perfected crosshair placement, there is nothing more to perfect in your aim, so you might as well be better using your skills for a better WEAPON.

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You could say that Riot simply needed a place to put a Semi-auto rifle in the game to make a (false?) sense of diversity between the weapons in the games such as the Vandal and Bulldog, but what's the point of making such a gun if it can't even master it's own category?

Unfortunately, Riot made the Guardian in such a way that buffing it would be near impossible to balance.

Increasing the damage would make it too much of a Marshal and lose the beauty of needing Headshots to be effective.

Increasing the range would make it too much of a sniper and delete the entire purpose of Diversity.

Increasing the mag size wouldn't do a thing for the dueling and DPS potential of the weapon.

Decreasing it's price would make it fall into Bulldog and/or "just an alternative Sheriff" territory even more than it already is.

Increasing the Fire rate would simply make it a less-spammable Vandal.

Making it silenced would do nothing for a long-range semi-auto rifle.

and while reducing the accuracy reset times would help the integrity of the weapon a little, the Guardian is already a pretty spammable weapon, it just matters whether you can hit your shots fast enough.

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Why does the Guardian even exist?

- frustrated guardian main