Valorant’s competitive ranked mode is live along with the casual mode. However, you have to unlock the competitive mode, and after you play enough rounds in this mode, you will be allotted a rank that reflects your skill level and plays a major part in deciding with which skill level of players you get paired up in your ranked games. In this guide, we will breakdown all your questions regarding Valorant’s ranked system.
How to Unlock Competitive Ranked Mode?
After you have completed 20 unrated (unranked/casual) matches, your competitive mode will get unlocked!
How many Ranks are there in Valorant?
At the moment, there are a total of 8 ranks in Valorant, each rank has three tiers except “Valorant” which is the highest rank. This makes for a total of 22 possible skill badges. Ranks and their respective skill level badges are as follows:
- Iron 1
- Iron 2
- Iron 3
- Bronze 1
- Bronze 2
- Bronze 3
- Silver 1
- Silver 2
- Silver 3
- Gold 1
- Gold 2
- Gold 3
- Platinum 1
- Platinum 2
- Platinum 3
- Diamond 1
- Diamond 2
- Diamond 3
- Immortal 1
- Immortal 2
- Immortal 3
- Valorant (Highest)
How does Ranking Work in Valorant?
“Winning games is the most important factor in gaining rank”, Riot said. However, your personal performance also plays a major role. Performing well can help the players push their ranks faster, and if they fail to do then their rank may see a significant drop as well. While ranking, you will always get paired up with the players having the same rank as you (within two ranks of your current rank).
Riot mentioned that this rank system is built to combat rank boosting, smurfing and to ensure balanced matches for all the players. Although Riot did not mention anything about MMR in ranked games but we are sure they will shed light on it as well in the future.
Does The Rank Reset if You Don’t Play for a While?
Your rank won’t drop if you haven’t played for a few days but if you are inactive for 14 days, you rank will be “temporarily” hidden until you play a match. It means that if you’re inactive your rank will not be displayed to other players who are trying to see your rank until you become an active player once again.
Riot added, “We want to be confident that when others see your rank, it’s an accurate reflection of your skill.”
Does the Competitive Rank reached in Beta Carry Over to the Official Launch?
Sadly, when the official launch takes place, the rank gained by the players in the Beta will not get carried over as the ranks would get reset. To obtain a new rank in the official launch, certain instructions will have to be followed that Riot will share.
Differences in Competitive and Unrated Mode
Competitive mode was introduced shortly after patch 0.49 was pushed. It has a ranked system, and after playing certain number of rounds you will receive your first ranked badge and after that you will get paired with the players of the same rank. Matches played in unrated mode will have nothing to do with your badges that you have gained from playing the competitive mode.
Currently Valorant is still in closed beta, so chances are that the balance of ranked system is changed by Riot after the official launch.
