Not long ago, Riot took the training wheels off Valorant and launched the game out into a fully-fledged release. While other gaming pioneers like Activision and Sony halted their title releases due to protests in the US, Valorant remained in beta for the time being.
The unobstructed grounds gave a much-needed opportunity to the game in the eSport gambit. It amassed an enormous audience on Twitch during that time, as many content creators started picking it up and renowned gamers began transitioning from rivaling titles like CS: GO.
It’s also free to play, unlike Overwatch, as Riot plans to make money selling skins and other in-game items without any upfront cost involved. Today, over 14 million players compete every month in the game as per Anna Donlon, the executive producer at Valorant.
Given such a cutthroat competition, it’s certain that everyone wants to achieve the ‘Radiant Agent’ title in the game, but Raid has reinforced their matchmaking system to only let the worthy combat in ranked matches, and keep the trolls away.
If you also want to emerge as a victorious agent in the game’s tiered ranking system, you should know certain things like the perquisites to play on competitive mode, the total number of ranks, and how is your rank determined to strategize better. Here’s what you need to get started:
What Makes You Eligible for Competitive Mode in Valorant?
Since the launch of Episode 4 Act 1, Riot has rolled out some major changes in requirements for playing the competitive mode. It requires a player to attain a minimum of ‘Account Level 20’ to access the competitive mode.
Moreover, you should also be unranked for the first five games in a particular act, which means even if your account level is below twenty but you’ve played at least one ranked match prior to Episode 4, you can still get to play in competitive mode.
Keep in mind that your rank will also reset after each act and you’ll have to play the first five placement matches with the release of each new episode.
The traditional prerequisite to winning 10 unrated matches is now obsolete and doesn’t grant you access to the competitive mode anymore.
Rank and Act Rank – What’s The Difference?
Valorant has quite a ubiquitous matchmaking system that devises certain different ways to assess your skills and maintain fair play in the game.
If you’ve been playing Valorant for a while, you might already know about its rank system and how accurately it determines your skills and rank in the game.
It’s divided into eight categories namely Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Immortal, and Radiant in increasing order.
Each rank is further divided into three tiers except the ‘Radiant’ tier, which is one exceptional title that players would die for.
Depending on your individual performance in the placement matches, the system will grant you a rating that determines your rank afterward, regardless of whether you win or lose those matches.
Talking about the Act Rank, it’s a measurement of your rank across an entire act, as the name suggests.
Your highest-ranked win is used to determine your Act Rank, which is why it’s also known as your ‘Proven Skill’ in the game.
Simply put, whenever a new episode takes place, you’ll have to play five placement matches, followed by one placement match for each consecutive act.
How To Measure Your Competitive Progress?
Popularly known as ‘Rank Rating’, Valorant provides a visual way to measure your competitive success in the game.
This metric is available for all the ranks, including Radiant and Immortal, but it works differently across tiers.
In the beginning, you receive a rank rating of 50 within your determined rank. As you progress through matches and attain a rank rating of 100, you’ll be promoted to a higher rank.
Similarly, when your rank rating reaches zero and you lose a match afterward, you’ll be demoted.
- Wins: 10 – 50 RR, 5+ RR for Diamond & above
- Losses: Negative 0 – 30 RR, 50 RR max drop for Diamond & above
- Draws: 20 RR (performance-based) for Iron to Diamond
The most common factor that impacts your rank rating is whether you win or lose at the end of the match. Although other factors that affect the score do exist, their impact is minimal enough to be neglected but your individual performance still matters a lot.
It’s worth knowing that players with matchmaking ratings higher than their rank will receive more rank ratings on wins and lose less on the losses.
Players with an even MMR and rank, on the other hand, have a quite equal proportion of gains and losses of RR on the wins and defeats.
In The End, Skills Are All That Matter
Valorant’s competitive mode has been praised a lot for its exceptionally fair matchmaking system and unprejudiced player rankings.
With the recent makeover it received, it’s now more important than ever to hone your skills to climb to the top of the leaderboard. We hope this guide helps you get familiar with the forthcoming changes.
