Economy: when to buy, when to force and when to save

01The team buys, not the player

Every round starts in the buy phase, and the most important decision in it is not which gun you take but whether the five of you buy the same kind of round. Five players with rifles and heavy armor beat five players with a mix of rifles, pistols and half shields far more often than their aim would suggest, because the half buy loses its duels and the rifle players are left outnumbered. Before you open the shop, look at your teammates' credits and agree on the round type out loud.

• Full buy: rifle plus heavy armor plus your abilities, for everyone.
• Eco: nobody buys a primary weapon; you save so the next round is a full buy.
• Force: the team spends everything because the round cannot be given away (the enemy is about to win the half, or the score is on match point).

02The pistol round

The first round of each half starts with 800 credits for everyone, so nobody can afford a rifle. The usual choices are a Ghost or a Sheriff with little else, or the free Classic plus Light Armor (400 credits) and your abilities. The pistol round matters twice: the winners snowball into the next rounds with better weapons, and the losers usually have to save straight after.

• Ghost (500): silenced and accurate, the default for most players.
• Sheriff (800): the heaviest single shot of the sidearms; it takes all your credits.
• Classic + Light Armor: the choice when your abilities are worth more than a better pistol.

03Ecos and bonus rounds

After losing the pistol round, the usual plan is to save one round so the whole team can afford a full buy on the third. Saving does not mean giving up: stack a site, play for one pick and take the enemy's weapons if you win a fight. The team that wins the pistol round plays the second one as a bonus: it keeps its pistols, adds a cheap weapon like the Spectre (1,600) or the Marshal (950), and knows that losing it costs little.

• On an eco, buy abilities first: they cost less than a gun and still win fights.
• Do not die with a rifle on a lost round: saving the weapon is worth almost a full buy.
• The Regen Shield (650) sits between the light and heavy armor for half buys.

04The full buy

A full buy is a Vandal or a Phantom (2,900 each) with Heavy Armor (1,000) and every ability charge you use: close to 4,500 credits per player once abilities are counted. The Vandal does the same damage at any distance and rewards holding long angles; the Phantom fires faster, is silenced and its damage drops a little with distance, which suits close sites and spraying through smokes. The Operator (4,700) is a luxury: buy it when the team can still afford everything else.

05Reading the enemy's economy

What the enemy can afford matters as much as what you can. If they just lost the pistol round, expect a save: play for picks and do not over-commit utility. If they lost two in a row and the score is close, expect a force buy with cheap rifles and shotguns: hold longer angles where their weapons are weaker. The scoreboard shows every player's weapon from the previous round, and the kill feed tells you what they are carrying now.