How does the ranked system work in VALORANT?

As in any other competitive discipline, there is Valorant ranking system that allows you to follow the players’ current gaming level. Just like in other games, it also has its system of ranks that evaluates skills based on your success (victories and losses) and also personal performance.

Despite the game emerging less than three years ago, it has already changed significantly. At least, the developers have made some changes to its ranked system.

For example, starting from the Fourth episode of the First act, players have to have, at least, the 20th level of their accounts to get access to the competitive mode. However, all players who had played a match before the episode was released were allowed to compete in the matchmaking. Besides, players had to play 10 unranked matches before the release of the Fourth episode to get access to competitive matches.

But now, requirements have become a bit loyal to the newcomers. The game is still becoming popular rapidly, so it is worth knowing how the ranked system works in VALORANT.

How many Valorant ranking system titles?

There are nine ranks of Valorant ranking system in total, eight of which have their titles. Let’s list them in ascending order (from the lowest one to the biggest one):

1. Iron (from 1 to 3)
2. Bronze (from 1 to 3)
3. Silver (from 1 to 3)
4. Gold (from 1 to 3)
5. Platinum (from 1 to 3)
6. Diamond (from 1 to 3)
7. Ascendant (from 1 to 3)
8. Immortal (from 1 to 3)
9. Radiant — a standalone rank that is received by the top 500 players of the region

However, a player has to play five matches in the ranked mode to get the first rank. Instead, if a player has not played VALORANT for two weeks due to any reason, his rank will be hidden. To return it, it is required to play just one match.

After every “played” Act, the developers assign a title to players

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• Delving into Tekken Ranks – An Insight into the Game's Rating Mechanism;
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The principle of work of the ranked system

The RR/MM system works in VALORANT where a victory adds ranked points and a loss, instead, takes it away. Also, it is important for the Valorant ranking system how you play in terms of the kill/death ratio (K/D). If you lost but your K/D was higher than one, you will lose fewer points. Instead, a victory with a negative K/D ratio will bring you fewer points. However, if you receive the Radiant rank, the number of points will be affected only by the outcome of a match.

The approximate distribution of ranking points:

• A victory — +10-50 RR points
• A loss — -30-10 RR points

A little explanation:

• RR is a current ranked rating, which points can be earned after competitive matches. You need to earn 100 RR points to make it to the next rank.
• MMR is a big ladder of players, in which the number of these points reflects your step. In other words, it is a more complicated ranging system, which analyzes the performance of every player directly.

Why does the rank reset after every Act/ Episode?

To determine the gaming level of players, VALORANT resets your current rank after the end of every act/episode.

At the end of every Act, a soft reset is done. The leaderboard resets and everyone’s ranked rating is dropped by 10% in it. It makes RR fair for everyone and guarantees that no one will stay on the leaderboard. The rest of the players who are not a part of the leaderboard will have to play one match to return to their previous rank.

At the end of every episode, every player’s rank resets. To get the initial rank in the new episode, you will need to play five calibration matches. The highest rank that can be received after calibration is Diamond 1.

What are the restrictions for playing in parties?

Parties of 2 or 3 players can queue within certain ranked disparity restrictions:

Parties of 5 people can ignore the above-mentioned chart because they are not bound by any ranked restrictions.

What is the future of the Valorant ranking system?

The developers are unlikely to refuse the current model. However, Riot Games has plans to integrate the competitive mode with semi-professional tournaments to continue the path for players to esports.

In autumn, the developers announced the imminent appearance of in-game tournaments as a Premier mode.

Players will be able to create a team and register for tournaments — matches will be carried out according to a predetermined schedule. Every season will last for a few weeks and the best teams will compete for the championship title in the final.

Perhaps, this is the next stage in the development of the system that has proven itself nicely in VALORANT over the past two and half years. For example, you will not see a significant difference in ranks here, as it is a common thing for CS:GO. The standalone rank for the best players of the region allows you to reduce the chances to get in one match against a player with 3,000 ELO in simple matchmaking.