What are the Valorant ranks? From the first mouse click of the game’s closed beta, Valorant has rapidly ascended to being one of the best shooters on the market. Sporting a robust ranked system, those at the top of the Valorant ranks can even stake their claim for a spot on a top team in the Valorant Champions Tour.
Like any number of the multitude of competitive FPS games out there, Valorant does also offer players a chance to play about in a casual mode, but its ranked mode is where you’ll most likely spend the most time on the Valorant maps. If you’ve mastered Valorant tier list staples like Jett or Sage, then the Valorant ranks is the place to be.
What are the Valorant ranks?
There are 25 Valorant ranks split into nine different tiers:
- 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
The majority of players sit in Gold and about 1% of the player base will achieve Immortal. Radiant is for the top 500 players of each region.
How to unlock Valorant ranked
If you’re looking to dive straight into Valorant’s ranked mode as soon as your game is finished installing, then we’ve got bad news for you: you can’t.
You’ll have to unlock access to Valorant’s competitive modes by first reaching account level 20. This should give players ample time to get used to a couple of agents, learn the maps, and master some gameplay mechanics.
How do the Valorant ranks work?
Valorant’s ranking system works like most competitive games out there. Once ranked mode is unlocked by reaching account level 20, you’ll need to play five placement matches to determine your starting rank and your skill level.
Alongside your visual rank, Valorant uses a hidden matchmaking rating system, known as MMR, to rate players in ranked. Every player will have a number associated with their account that adjusts over time, placing them against other players of a similar value.
So what does this look like in practice? Well, a player whose visual rank is Silver could get matched into Platinum lobbies because their MMR is so high. As a result of this, they will be rewarded more RR for a win, and less for a loss as the system tries to bring their visual rank back up to where their actual skill level is.
At the start of a new Episode it’ll only take you five games to get a rank, but be aware: your MMR from the previous rank will be taken into account, so expect a more conservative placement at first where you can work your way back up the ranks. In other words, expect to be placed a few tiers below where you were in the previous act.
Fortunately, for Acts 2 and 3 in an episode, only one placement game needs to be played. Additionally, you’re unlikely to drop down in rank unless you have an absolute horror of a game.
What are Valorant Acts and Episodes?
Acts are basically seasons in Valorant. Every Valorant Act will span about two months, and during that time, you’ll be able to work on your rank and track your overall progression. Three Acts make up an Episode, meaning Episodes last around six months.
What are Valorant Act ranks?
Valorant Act Ranks are a way of showing off your proven skill during and at the end of a season.
If you’re not sure how the Act Rank Badge triangles work, here’s a rough outline:
- Every time you play a match in an Act, your Rank Act badge will be filled with a new triangle representing the rank you played in.
- As you progress up the ranks, new triangles representing higher-ranked matches will replace the lower-ranked matches.
- The border for the badge will also change based on the number of wins you achieve in that rank.
- For some, their badge at the end of an act will look pretty colourful, but for those at the top dominating Radiant, expect to see a solid gold triangle.
You can view your Act Rank badge at any time in the career page.
How do I track rank progression in Valorant?
Your rank progress can be tracked in Match History, using the leaderboard and progress bar.
To progress your rank, earn Valorant RR by playing matches. You will always gain Rank Rating in a win, and always lose Rank Rating in a loss. However, at lower ranks your individual performance can help you progress quicker.
You will gain between 10-50 Rank Rating for a win, and a max of 20 for a draw. Between Iron and Diamond ranks, individual performance will be taken into account when calculating your Rank Rating.
You will always start at 10 Rank Rating after being promoted to a new rank, and a minimum of 80 after a demotion. You can find each Episode’s rank rewards on the rank info page.
Why does Valorant ranked allow premade teams?
Currently, Valorant allows parties of up to five people of any ranks to queue together. Five stacks can play together, regardless of their ranks – albeit for less rank rating points. Here’s how it works:
If everyone in your group is Diamond 2 and below:
- Expect longer queue times as you’ll only match against another five stack of a similar average MMR
- Rank Rating gains and losses will be reduced when playing in a five stack outside of rank restriction rules. The amount of RR you recieve depends on the ranked disparity in the group.
If one or more members of your group is Diamond 3 and above:
- Expect much longer queue times as you’ll wait indefinitely until another five stack of a similar average MMR
- At a minimum, a 50% RR reduction will be applied and this can increase to 90% depending on the skill disparity
If one or more members of your group is Radiant:
- Expect much longer queue times as you’ll wait indefinitely until another five stack of a similar average MMR
- At a minimum, a 75% RR reduction will be applied.
- Playing with any player below Radiant reduces your potential RR by 90%
As a result of the five-stack changes, four-stacks are no longer permitted in a bid to tackle toxicity towards solo queue players.
That’s all we have on the Valorant maps. If you’re a console player looking for details on a Valorant console release date, then we’ve got a guide for that too. Hopefully, it won’t be long until you can play the hit shooter on PlayStation or Xbox.
