Riot has attempted to make the ranking system behind their tactical shooter Valorant transparent to its players ever since its early days. Each rank in the game has been divided into three subdivisions. The ranks start from Iron and range all the way to Radiant, the highest rank attainable. Unlike other games of the genre like CS:GO, Valorant enables players to get an idea on their rank progression after each game, which helps them determine how close they are to the next skill group.
Riot devs had previously mentioned that the number of round wins in a match is the most significant factor in determining the impact on a player’s rank. This message informed players that winning rounds should be the top priority rather than netting kills.
However, in a recent Q&A posted by Riot on their blog, a Valorant dev states that non-damaging abilities have no impact on players’ ranks whatsoever.
In the blog, Ian Fielding, Senior Producer of Valorant explains that kills play a major role in determining the combat score of a player.
“Your combat score is not just based on kills, although that is a big factor in the score. We also look at damage inflicted, meaning that assists where you help kill an enemy are taken into account, as well as utility that does damage,” Fielding said. “There are some other factors that help inform your combat score, such as first bloods and streaks. These are called out on the combat score tool tip.”
However, the good news for players may lie in the fact that Riot is looking to take into account the non-damaging assists while calculating the combat scores in a future update.
“Longer term, we are looking into ways to incorporate non-damaging assists into your combat score as well,” Fielding reassured players.
