Philip ‘3kliksphilip’ Dyer has weighed into the CS:GO Desert Eagle debate, saying that the $800 hand-cannon doesn’t need a buff like players have suggested. Instead, the popular YouTuber believes the gun is well-balanced.

The Desert Eagle is one of Counter-Strike’s most iconic guns. Countless plays have been made with the hand-cannon, from Happy’s Play of the Decade Ace, to Xizt’s huge clutch way back in the 1.6 days for Fnatic.

However, recently players have gotten in an uproar over the gun feeling weaker than it ever has before. Dozens of posts have skyrocketed to the top of the /r/globaloffensive subreddit, all claiming the Deagle doesn’t live up to its former glory.

The Deagle has been put under the microscope by the community for being weaker than ever before, but 3kliksphilip believes the claims are baseless.

“The Desert Eagle is flawed. Not because it is overpowered or underpowered, but because its intention is missed by the developers. It is supposed to be a high skill, high reward type of gun. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case,” one post by Woody_S said.

However, YouTuber 3kliksphilip has debunked these claims, saying they’re not backed by facts. They’re reliant on nostalgia, which doesn’t even really exist, to base a point that the Deagle needs a buff.

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“I think it’s dangerous to see older games as to what CS:GO should aspire to imitate. Compared to any other game in existence, CS:GO’s weapons have been far more rigorously balanced to ensure they all serve some sort of purpose,” he said in a November 27 video.

“All those frags you’ve seen from pros are as much luck as anything else. There was one difference back then, and that was the second shot fired was just as precise as the first.”

He broke down the stats of the Deagle to prove his point. The gun is one of the most accurate in the game, beating out all other pistols, and even most of the rifles. While it’s never claimed to be the “most accurate,” it’s still “surprisingly accurate,” like the weapon’s description says.

“The gun has never claimed to be the most accurate in the game, not by a long shot. The Deagle does live up to its expectation of being surprisingly accurate though.”

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Valve did try to fill the community niche for a sniper-like hand cannon in the R8 Revolver, but that missed the mark due to the long wind-up. Now, the community wants that ideal gun to be the Deagle, which Philip says is illogical.

“For what people want from the Deagle, you’d be better off making an entirely new weapon to fulfil these criteria. But Valve did make a new weapon ⁠— they made the Revolver, which players can opt for instead of a Deagle, but don’t because it’s a bit rubbish.”

The R8 Revolver has failed to fill the void CS:GO players want.

There has been a decent patch proposed by community modders. The Weapon Balance Mod’s latest update, which 3kliksphilip highlighted, would decrease the Deagle’s high damage drop off, while reducing its base damage and armor penetration to reward headshots.

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While these changes won’t be making it into the game properly, at least for now, 3kliks wants the community to realise that the Deagle is in a better spot than ever before. He used a side-by-side of 1.6 vs CS:GO as a comparison, and the Deagle in the 2012 release is far more accurate.

“As far as competitive Counter-Strike goes, RNG has always had a part to play with the Deagle. Those wanting less of the random element should be praising the gun for the state that it’s in right now in CS:GO in 2020.”