Despite receiving several disheartening nerfs over its existence, the Spectre remains a crucial member of VALORANT’s diverse weaponry. In addition to mainly fueling definitive wins in anti-eco (post-pistol) rounds, it is one of the best low-cost weapons to pick when your economy is down the drain.
Since its last update, the Spectre has become almost unusable in long-range encounters, forcing players to selectively take close-quarter fights and engage in mid-range fights. To top it off, its rough base firing audio doesn’t make it easier to land accurate shots.
It’s impossible to avoid Spectre’s prominence in some scenarios: at 1,600 credits, it’s just bang for the buck for closely-spaced maps like Bind and Ascent. The good news is that you can slap on a skin to make the Spectre sound better in VALORANT: there’s a vast collection of pretty and sassy skins to spice up your close-range encounters.
Here are the best Spectre skins you can get in VALORANT.
The best Spectre skins in VALORANT
Neptune
The Neptune Spectre skin is part of the Neptune Collection released on the 25th of May in 2022. This collection features five skins that resemble an underwater or aquarium aesthetic. Also in the collection comes the melee anchor weapon Guardian, Shorty, Vandal, and the aforementioned Spectre. All weapons have two unlockable color variants, black and white.
RGX 11z Pro
The RGX 11z Pro collection brings the look and feel of modern, RGB-laden gaming PCs to your favorite weapons, including the Spectre. So, if glowing, colorful lamps rotating on the insides of a transparent, glossy weapon intrigues you, the RGX Spectre will give you the perfect dose of satisfaction and thrill.
From equipping the weapon to reloading it, the RGX Spectre’s fancy visual features will make gamers happy. The lamps even switch colors each time you inspect the gun. Some players even vouch that RGX 11z Pro’s animations and sound design enhance their aim in the game.
Not to forget, the RGX 11z Pro skins also have one of the best finisher animations, which suspends the last enemy killed between three electrically charged pillars. Another prominent RGX feature that draws in people is the kill counter, which appears right above the gun’s trigger. Like StatTrak weapons in CS: GO, the counter tracks the number of kills you rack up in a match with that particular skin.
Protocol 781-A
The Protocol 781-A Spectre packs in an assistive AI robot that likes giving you commands and announcing your feat as you score kills. Besides being a vocal gun, it is incredibly sleek and satisfying to fire: you’ll be popping heads with the SMG in no time.
Protocol 781-A skins react to specific actions and moments in a match, like when the player secures headshots, multi-kills, clutches, etc. To top it off, upon finishing the last enemy, these skins summon a massive mech that annihilates the victim with lasers and then patrols and scans the area.
Also, if you’re not a fan of male voices, you can switch to a sweeter female voice, available with the White-Pink and Green variants.
Reaver
The Reaver collection’s deep dark magic aura perfectly fits Spectre’s dull, speedy firing audio—something fans didn’t expect when Riot Games first announced a sequel to the Episode One skin line.
The Reaver Spectre sounds attractively resonating and comes in striking colors—the base Blue, Red, Black, and White—perfectly compatible with the collection’s corrupted and forbidden theme. The gun is delightfully designed, with sharp angular patterns protruding from the body and glowing alphabets representing dark spells of some sort.
The dark-themed audio that plays while handling the gun and its attention-seeking reload animations are mesmerizing but will give you the occasional creeps. And finally, the finisher is an all-time favorite, showcasing the dead enemy being pulled into the ground by several hands.
Singularity
With its peculiar sound effects and sleek, gleaming style representing an unknown world, the Singularity collection is designed to impress even the most formidable minds.
The Singularity Spectre is an exquisite skin for the popular SMG, applying a dark, fragmented look. When you equip it, the fragmented bits appear to come together, building an alien weapon with cosmic energy and highly advanced technology.
Whether it’s the miniature dark hole that appears whenever you fire the weapon, the web-like, vibrating reload animation, or the massive galaxy that pops up when the player gets the final kill of a round, this cosmetic is a sight to behold on the battlefield.
Prime
Deemed the most satisfying weapon collection in VALORANT and a community favorite, the Prime skin line offers skins for a bunch of weapons, and thankfully, the Spectre is one of them.
The Prime Spectre is the perfect example of “simple is best.” It doesn’t feature an overpowering design, offers a decent reload animation, and its firing audio is highly pleasing to hit heads with. Even body shots feel wondrous with this skin: there’s something undeniably attractive about the Prime’s feel and features.
If you’re looking for a modest skin to mask the Spectre’s gritty firing audio, the Prime Spectre may blow your mind, although its body design may not look as appealing as the other skins on the list.
Ion
The Ion Spectre skin was released on August 23, 2022, in Episode 05: Dimension and is from the Ion Collection. This Spectre skin is purchasable for 1775VP in-game or around $18.90 in U.S. dollars. This skin features a rich futuristic sound and a blue-colored energy core that pops.
BlastX
If you like the sound of wielding a toy-like Spectre, you shouldn’t miss out on adding the BlastX Spectre to your inventory. It’s loaded with suction darts, just like a kid-friendly Nerf gun, which you can use to blast your enemies or create patterns on the wall—your call.
Related: 10 best Phantom skins in VALORANT
The BlastX collection took inspiration from Nerf blasters, featuring a jolly color palette and a highly textured body built with blocks. Despite resembling a toy gun, the BlastX Spectre is, in no way, less potent. The distinct, punk-like firing audio makes wielding the weapon extraordinarily satisfying and fun; headshots are even more gratifying.
The finisher is just a cherry on top, gift-wrapping the last enemy killed in an enthusiastic animated setup.
Recon
Simple and clean, the Recon collection, upon its release, stole the hearts of many traditional first-person shooter fans.
Reminiscent of a classic submachine gun from games like Call of Duty, CS: GO, or Battlefield, you can’t go wrong with looking like a special ops member of VALORANT Protocol. Upon upgrading, the gun is equipped with a randomizer so that each time you purchase the gun from the buy menu, it’ll feature a random attachment, like laser sights, flashlights, a rail cover, and various grips.
While there’s no finisher animation, you’ll see a soldier’s adorable face pop up as the kill banner every time you score a kill with the Recon Spectre.
Magepunk
The electrifying, steampunk-themed Magepunk collection offers a great Spectre skin, featuring an advanced look and feel—an outcome of blending elegant ancient weaponry and technology with modernism.
With the Magepunk Spectre in your hand, you’ll witness vintage and future merge in the most perfect way possible. As charged bullets rapidly spray out of the gun’s barrel, don’t forget to notice the subtle, blue-ish charges on its mouth: a symbol of electrical power!
Right after the Magepunk Spectre’s laser-like bullets hit the last enemy, a streak of lightning strikes them, after which they are bottled up and electrocuted to ashes. Now that’s a glorious round win, especially over a toxic opposing team.
Ruination
The Ruination collection’s theme is somewhat similar to that of the Reaver: dark, mysterious, and eerie, yet beautiful and irresistible.
Unlike Reaver, Ruination was added to VALORANT as part of Riot’s Sentinels of Light event. Those familiar with League of Legends’ diverse lore will know the event was based on the Ruined King Viego’s return to Runterra and the Sentinels of Light, who grouped up to fight him.
The Ruination Spectre’s SFX design is inspired by Karma, the spiritual leader of Ionia, who was Ruined and came under Viego’s possession after the Ruination of Ionia. The skin has fascinating color options and a charming, mystical reload animation.
Ruination’s finisher animation deserves a special mention for its enchanting details: As Viego takes over their soul, the last enemy killed develops Viego’s chest mark and crown on them and hangs in the air. As a subtle touch, the dead enemy’s head will face the killer and move if the killer changes their location.
Forsaken (Sovereign)
The Forsaken collection is another excellent attempt from Riot to personify the dark, the otherworldly, and the corrupted. The Forsaken Spectre, alongside the other skins in the collection, draws their design inspiration from the Sovereign collection, another famous skin line in VALORANT.
According to the developers, Forsaken is a “corrupted version” of Sovereign without hurting the elegance. The gold Forsaken variant, the preferred one in most cases, comes with the same animations and audio design as the Sovereign collection.
Related: 10 best Vandal skins in VALORANT
The cracks on the Forsaken Spectre emit shining light (green in the case of the silver variant, blue in the case of gold) when you equip or reload it, and besides the sharp, angled shapes, you’ll also notice two gleaming stones on its sides. The finisher sends a powerful message by pulling the last enemy killed on their knees and turning them into dust, which flies away alongside a flock of ravens.
If you choose the Gold variant, however, the finisher echoes that of Sovereign’s—the enemy turns into golden ashes as a heavenly sword executes them.
