Riot shortened one of Valorant's gun skins after learning that it was called a "losing item" by pro players due to a slight difference in barrel length.Spectrum Phantom (opens in new tab) is a Phantom A version of the rifle with modified visual and audio effects, it had a slightly more protruding nose than the other Phantom variants.

Now, this may sound like an almost imperceptible detail to people like you and me, but to Valorant professionals it can mean the difference between life and death. For an enemy approaching from a turn, a few milliseconds of warning can add valuable reaction time.

The issue came to light during a chance encounter between Valorant associate producer Robin Silk and pro-level player Mistic at the Valorant Champions Tour event in Istanbul. During their banter, Mistic happened to mention that he was avoiding Spectrum Phantom because it was "pay-to-lose," which puzzled Silk. To prove his point, Mistic interviewed several pro players passing by and confirmed that the skin was being avidly avoided by the pro community. Silk was surprised that the problem, although very well known, had not been reported to Riot at all, so he returned to LA and had the problem fixed.

"It's just funny to me that all these people knew about this and never reported it to anyone at Riot," Silk wrote on Twitter, adding, "I would like to encourage all VALORANT players to escalate the bugs they encounter to the appropriate channels. I encourage [...]. We really take these reports seriously."

The question arises as to whether these small bugs will be internalized and avoided by the community instead of being brought to the attention of the developers. How many of the metas in large multiplayer games are simply small mistakes noticed by the players rather than the developers?

Well, be that as it may, Valorant's pro players should no longer sidestep the Spectrum Phantom, as Riot has "shaved the length to match the Phantom's base weapon model" and is "ready for the pros to start using it again: ...... especially when peeking out of Haven's garage."