How to Get the Riot Gun Buddy in Valorant

The Riot Gun Buddy, which is also known as the Fist Bump Gun Buddy, is possibly the rarest cosmetic in all of Valorant. The cosmetic is awarded to players who interact with Riot Games and its employees in-game and leave a positive impression. If you show signs of good behavior and if a Riot employee is in your lobby, you may be rewarded the gun buddy. But asking directly or pestering Riot members is an easy way to get your request ignored.

Obtaining the Riot Gun Buddy in Valorant

The Riot gun buddy can be obtained only by interacting with Riot employees in-game. Players have shared their experiences detailing how they received the gun buddy since release but not many players know how exactly the system works. Riot Paddo, who is the Internal Events and Program Manager for Riot Games revealed how to get the gun buddy in a Reddit post.

Any player who shows signs of being a good sport and makes the game fun for their teammates is awarded the badge. Of course, a Riot employee will need to be in your game and notice your behavior ingame. Paddo revealed that having fun, hyping each other up and helping teammates are just some of the things Riot rewards by awarding the gun buddy.

Not all Riot employees have “Riot” in their names in-game which makes it possible that you could play with someone who works with the publisher without even knowing it. Asking directly about the gun buddy or messaging Riot employees does not work.

Paddo stated, “We often give them to players that are naturally being good sports and making the game fun for their teammates. The reason I gave all these folks gun buddies was that everyone was universally positive and having fun even though we were strangers. This is how I want all my lobbies to be but unfortunately, sometimes people are going through stuff or are immature and make things less fun for people.”

Positive interactions and being a good sport can help you get a gun buddy but the cosmetic should not be the driving factor for your good behavior. Riot Games has been trying to curb toxicity in-game and rewarding players is a good move.

Toxic behavior in Valorant continues to be a problem. Riot revealed in a blog post in February 2022 that when it surveyed players, the publisher noticed that the frequency with which players encounter harassment in the game hasn’t meaningfully gone down despite making changes to the game’s behavior detection systems.

Riot will continue to develop its detection systems throughout 2022 to improve the player experience for its audience. Real-time text moderation, harsher punishments, and voice moderation changes are in the works to improve player experience in Valorant.