Since its inception, Valorant has sported a rather robust ranking system, this hot-off-the-bat FPS game welcomes casuals and professionals alike but its ranking system sure does bring the meat of the play to most players.
Once the tier system has been mastered and Jett and Sage markers have been met and surpassed, then the player is certainly ready for the Valorant rank system.
The ranking system can be slightly confusing at times, especially for newcomers, so let’s take this journey together and work out, how exactly Valorant’s ranking system works…
How Does it Work?
First of all, let’s talk about the how we actually unlock the ranking system, after all, there is no real sense to be telling you how it works, what the ranks are etc, if you don’t actually know how to unlock it!
Unlike a large number of competitive player ranked modes, Valorant has some pretty strict rules about unlocking ranked, so if you thought you could just dive straight on in, well think again.
First thing you have to do is get your account to level 20, this is no easy feat, but it will give you all the time in the world to learn the maps, master mechanics and maybe even pick a favourite agent or who knows? Maybe a few!
What are the Ranks in Valorant?
So, now we have unlocked the ranking system, great!, but what exactly are the ranks? Essentially, they are a way of displaying your prowess throughout a season (more on that later).
- The act bridge triangles can be a little tricky to nail-down so here’s a ‘general’ guide.
- A new triangle fills your Rank Act badge everytime you play a match, this represents the rank you played in
- New triangles represent higher-ranked matches and as your progress these replace the lower-ranked matches
- Based on the number of wins you achieve, you will also notice that the border for the badge changes
- Colours change for all players, Radiant ranked players (we’ll get to that) will be solid gold, but for most, they will notice a flurry of colours adorning their badges (all about the little things)
- All current Act Rank Badges can be viewed at any time in the career page.
So, now we have explained what the ranking system, let’s see what ranks are at play here. We have:
- Iron (1-3)
- Bronze(1-3)
- Silver (1-3)
- Gold (1-3)
- Platinum (1-3)
- Diamond (1-3)
- Ascendant (1-3)
- Immortal (1-3)
- Radiant
Radiant is reserved for the top 500 players in any region and the majority of players usually sit with Gold, only 1% achieve Immortal.
Okay, now we know; how they work, what they look like and what they are called, but we don’t know yet HOW to track the progression
So how do we do that?
How do you track the Ranks?
Rank progression is tracked in ‘match history’.
Earning Valorant RR by playing matches allows progression.
Rank ratings don’t exist in a vacuum, every match loss and every match win equals a rank rating gain.
As with most competitive games, lower ranks allows your individual performance to shine through and help your progression quicker than later ranks.
So now we know; how they work, what they look like, what they’re called, so what’s next?
Translation of RR to wins, as we touched on before.
10-50 RR is up-for-grabs for a win, maximum of 20 for a draw (I guess that’s fair?)
When you’re between Diamond and Iron, your solo performance will be assessed when your RR is being calculated, which as we stated before, means your progression will be quicker as opposed to later ranks.
All players start at 10 Rank Rating (it’s not just you!) after being demoted to a new rank, a minimum of 80 is applied after each demotion. Rank Rewards can be found on each Episode’s ‘Rank Info’ page.
Now comes a small point of contention for many a Valorant player, yes, Ranked does allow premade teams.
Pre-Made Teams
Any five people of any rank can be queued in a team, five ‘stacks’ are able to play together – this usually results in fewer Rank Rating points so if you are grinding for those, this may be best to steer clear, if you do however decide to go down this route, here’s the breakdown:
All players are Diamond 2 or below:
- Longer queue times and able to match against another five-stack with a similar average MMR (Match Making Rating)
- The amount of RR you receive depends on the ranked disparity within your stack (people in your group) and these are calculated via loss and gains outside of RR rules.
One or more members are Diamond 3 or above:
- Much longer queue times will be expected as you’re going to need to wait for a five-stack of a similar average MMR
- Your RR reduction applied, starts at 50% and can rise to a whopping 90% depending on difference between skill of all players in the group
One or more members is Radiant:
- Again, much longer queue times as you’ll need to wait as before for a similar five-stack of similar average MMR
- A 75% RR reduction will be incurred and this is the minimum
- While playing with any player in this group below Radiant, your RR potential is reduced by a staggering 90%
Four-stacks are no longer allowed in a bid to tackle toxicity as stated by Blizzard in 2021. This was allegedly due to Discord players who ranked higher, refusing to work with solo players.
Summing Up
So there we have it, that is exactly what the Ranking system is in Valorant and how it works exactly. I hope this helps you understand the wonderful and, often, weird world of Valorant.
The shooter isn’t yet available on Playstation or Xbox, but can be played on PC now.
For anything else Valorant, check out these links below:
https://powerupgaming.co.uk/2020/06/04/valorants-closed-beta-had-some-ridiculous-stats/
https://powerupgaming.co.uk/2020/03/04/valorant-looks-like-a-very-interesting-5v5-shooter/
