At last, Riot Games has offered Valorant fans a look at the game’s upcoming Competitive mode and its rank system. Furthermore, the studio has revealed that competitive play will indeed be coming to Valorant’s closed beta, meaning that players won’t need to wait until launch to give it a try.
Valorant Ranks and Competitive Mode Details
According to Riot, Valorant’s competitive mode will be very similar to normal play, but; “with a focus on higher-stakes competition”. For now, of course, the mode is subject to change, just like the rest of the game. As such, while it will be coming to the closed beta, Riot does warn that it may become unavailable from time to time as they work to make changes and improvements based on player feedback.
First of all, players will need to play at least 20 Unrated matches in Valorant in order to unlock Competitive mode. This mode will then feature 8 ranks total, each with 3 tiers, except for the top VALORANT rank. Players will be able to queue with up to 5 players, although they must be within 2 ranks of each other. Furthermore, player ranks won’t decay over time, although Riot has warned players that their beta rank won’t carry over to the game when it launches. If you don’t play a ranked match for 14 days, your rank will be hidden. However, it will display again once you play another ranked match.
The eight Valorant ranks, in order, are; Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Immortal, and VALORANT. Players can increase their rank by winning matches or performing well in matches, while losing matches or performing poorly will reduce your rank. Early on, your personal performance will have a bigger impact on how your rank improves. Interestingly, the game will also measure how “decisively,” that you win or lose, disincentivising players from throwing games. Once you reach VALORANT rank, the only factors which will affect your rank are wins and how decisively you win or lose.