Valve is a company known for thinking outside the box. Their biggest strides came from pioneering narrative-driven first-person shooters and the digital distribution of video games. They’re a company that’s not afraid to take risks.
But sometimes they get it wrong. Really wrong.
A Christmas Disaster
Counter-Strike adding new weaponry is quite rare. Since the inception of the mod 25 years ago, we’ve had the same, safe, consistent lineup of weapons, and it has hardly changed between game versions. Source had the same guns as 1.6, and Global Offensive sprinkled in some variety within the SMG and Shotgun department, but nothing significantly altered the core experience.
Early in CS:GO’s lifecycle, Valve saw an opportunity to freshen up the weapon lineup. Maybe players needed a new pistol. Maybe the AK and M4s are far too good and used far too much. Maybe things are getting a bit stale. You know what hadn’t ever graced the screens of Counter-Strike players? A revolver.
On December 8th, Valve added the R8 Revolver, and Counter-Strike would never be the same. That is, for about 2 days.
The R8 was incredibly overpowered. For $850, you got an 8-round capacity revolver with 8 rounds in reserve, equipped in place of the Deagle. It also had a slight delay (of 0.33 seconds) on the trigger pull. Not so bad, what’s the big deal? Well, it could kill an opponent with one shot. In the chest. Through armor. The base damage of the gun was 115, meaning it was essentially an AWP with a delay. And we haven’t even got to the hilarious bugs that came with its release, like being able to shoot it in freeze time.
The ramifications of such a weapon being added to the game are obvious; there was no need to buy anything else under any circumstances. For every PUG you played, the big iron was purchased by everyone. Some players chose to be fundamentalists and stuck to their trusty AK and M4 out of principle, but everyone else was doing their best Clint Eastwood impression. In retrospect, it was a lot of fun. It was as if a railgun were added to Counter-Strike, but everyone was reciting lines from Dirty Harry, and the skill gap was reduced to a minuscule size.
Valve quickly backpedaled, and reduced the R8’s base damage to 85 two days later, where it still resides today. They further increased the trigger pull delay (up to 0.4s), and even took it out of Competitive matchmaking to facilitate its revision process. Besides some pretty minor updates with its reintroduction to Competitive modes, that’s where we stand today. The R8 was placed on the shelf, collecting dust like a neglected collectible.
I can safely assume that you, the reader, assume that the R8 is a giant meme. After all, why would anyone use a worse version of the Deagle?
It’s a little more complicated than that. Allow me to explain.
Revisiting the R8 in 2024
As of the time of writing, the R8 Revolver costs $600, and can be equipped in place of any pistol. Its base damage has been tweaked slightly since CS2’s release. It can kill with a headshot, does 74 damage to the torso of armored opponents, and does 93 damage to the pelvis/stomach area.
Oh wait, sorry, I got my numbers mixed up. Those are the stats for the SSG 08, aka the Scout.
The R8 Revolver actually does more damage than the Scout. It kills with a headshot, but does 80 damage (+6) to an armored torso, and can do 100 (+7) to the pelvis/stomach area. Yes. One hundred damage. To be fair, this is only possible while barrel-stuffing the opponent, but this is the base damage. There is a higher damage falloff as you move further away from your target, but that’s to be expected with a pistol.
The R8 holds by far the highest damage-to-price ratio in the game, something that, warrants a serious look at it for competitive play. There are three glaring downsides to using the Revolver, but I’ll explain why both of them are overblown.
First, the secondary fire, where you “fan the hammer” and fire the gun rapidly. It’s so wildly inaccurate, you should just forget about it entirely.
Second, magazine size and reserve ammo. You only have 16 total shots. In comparison, the Deagle holds 7 shots with 35 in reserve. At first glance, this seems like a huge advantage, but I bet you can’t tell me the last time you ran out of ammo with the Deagle. It just doesn’t happen. You either live long enough to get a few frags and pick up a better gun, or you die trying. You could use this extra reserve ammo to spam smokes, but Deagle spam is not as effective as it once was. 16 shots is more than enough 80% of the time, especially if you’re up against a full buy.
Third, and more importantly, is the trigger pull. This is the true reason nobody uses the R8. The slight delay in firing a shot means you have to learn to time your shots and peeks differently. It’s a completely separate technique, but, like with any technique, you can practice it and improve on it. I’m not a pro by any means, but I like to think I have above-average aim and mechanics. Even against FACEIT Level 10 opposition, I will frequently bring out the revolver and find success. By no means am I making a case for this gun to be your go-to. It’s still a weapon that should be viewed as more of a utility rather than on-meta. But it’s still a pocket Scout with a slight trigger delay and, at $600, is astoundingly cheap for a gun that can tag people for more than 50 damage. ADR farmers rejoice.
Will we see the R8 in pro play? Probably not. I do think there’s a competitive advantage to be had by using it, but the stigma surrounding using it will probably deter any serious usage. Don’t be mistaken; this article was written with a wry smile and tongue firmly in cheek. But there is still a part of me that truly believes the R8 is viable. I wish to remove the stigma and bring back the swagger that was bestowed upon revolvers in the world of spaghetti westerns. The revolver deserves respect, at least a little more than it currently has in Counter-Strike 2.
So next time you pick up the big iron or buy it for yourself, ignore the cries of your teammates claiming you’re trolling their game and throwing their Elo.
In the words of Eli Wallach in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:
“When you’re gonna shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”
