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VALORANT: Ranked And Competitive Modes

 

In just a couple of months of highly desired games searched and many twitch hours earned, VALORANT has gotten off to a pretty good start. This surely means it is now time to start playing ranked games. Are you excited?

VALORANT is a team-based first-person hero shooter game developed and published by the League of Legends' Studio - Riot Games. Since its closed beta launch in April 2020, VALORANT has brought a new fire, i.e., the ranked and competitive modes, to the first-person shooter genre, making them one of the most popular playlists in the game today. Players are enjoying testing their skills against closely matched opponents to climb to higher ranks.

But many players cannot figure out how the ranked mode functions and how it determines their skill level. This article has everything you need to know about VALORANT's ranked and competitive modes.

How to Unlock Ranked Mode in VALORANT

VALORANT has a tiered ranking system (quite similar to LoL) that rewards good team play. To gain access to the new ranked mode, you must participate in enough matches of unranked (standard) VALORANT to familiarize yourself with the weapons, map layouts, and character abilities. This will take 20 unranked matches.

Also, your performance in these matches will not affect any part of your gaming experience. You just need to complete them to unlock the chance to participate in placement matches and earn a starting rank.

Once you complete these 20 matches, you will get access to the ranked mode. Then you will get an option in the main menu, "Competitive."

How to Get Your First Rank?

Once you get into the ranked mode, you have to play five placement matches to get your first rank. As you play more, winning and losing will become more vital to determine your ranking and will be your primary path to progress.

What Are VALORANT Ranks?

Eight tiers exist in the ranking system, beginning with Iron and ending with Radiant. All the tiers (except Radiant and Immortal) contain three sub-ranks in them. Therefore, if you bar Unranked, there are 20 ranks to progress through.

The ranks (in descending order) are as follows:

•          VALORANT

•          Immortal III

•          Immortal II

•          Immortal I

•          Diamond III

•          Diamond II

•          Diamond I

•          Platinum III

•          Platinum II

•          Platinum I

•          Gold III

•          Gold II

•          Gold I

•          Silver III

•          Silver II

•          Silver I

•          Bronze III

•          Bronze II

•          Bronze I

•          Iron III

•          Iron II

•          Iron I

You have to work your way through all the game levels to reach the final rank of VALORANT.

Also, all these tiers hold associated badges to identify player level and skill instantly.

Note: If you do not play VALORANT for fourteen straight days, your rank will not be visible to others until you play a ranked match again.

How Does the MMR Ranking System Work?

The ranking system of VALORANT works similar to most competitive games like Riot's own League of Legends. You have to win 20 unrated matches to get the chance to play ranked. Once this mode is available, you can proceed to play VALORANT ranked. You must play five matches to get your first rank.

MMR

It is a matchmaking rating system that VALORANT uses to rate players in ranked. Every player gets a number linked to their account that keeps adjusting with time to place them in and out of ranks.

Note: However, the ranking system varies for players with the Radiant title. Here the game will only take into account how you win or lose your matches.

What Are the VALORANT Acts?

VALORANT Acts are seasons in the shooter-based game. Each VALORANT Act has a span of about two months, and during that time, you must work on your rank and track your overall progression.

Currently, we are in Episode 2, Act 3, while VALORANT Episode 3, Act 1, is reportedly set to kick off on June 22.

How Can I Track Rank Progression?

You can track your rank progress in Match History. However, to make things easier, Episode 2 brings in a leaderboard and progress bars. So instead of the arrows in Episode 1, now you can see the rank rating on a progress bar which shows your proximity to the next rank.

To earn Rank Rating, keep playing matches, the more your wins or losses, the higher impact on your ranks. Of course, you will always gain a Rank Rating with a win and lose Rank Rating with a loss - a simple fact. However, your performance will help you progress fast when you are in lower ranks.

You have the chance to gain between 10-50 Rank Rating for a win and a max of 20 for a draw. Between Diamond and Iron ranks, i.e., the lower ranks, the game will also take your performances into account to calculate your Rank Rating.

You will always start at a Rank Rating of 10 once you get promoted to a new rank and an 80 Rank Rating minimum after a demotion.

What is the Future of the VALORANT Ranked Mode?

All your ranks will only last till the end of the beta testing. The director of VALORANT, Joe Ziegler, had revealed last year that they are entirely analyzing the ranked mode. So, once the game launches officially, everything may or may not be reset.

Summary

Here is a glimpse of everything mentioned above (in case you do not have the time to read the entire article):

•          Complete all 20 Unrated matches to unlock the Competitive mode

•          The top rank is VALORANT

•          Eight ranks, three tiers each

•          Line with up to 5-player parties (within two ranks)

•          Rank is not displayed if you do not play the competitive matches in 14 days (no, your rank will not decay)

•          Closed beta rank does not carry over to the launch

Alright, that’s about it! Get playing and improve your ranks.