How to Play Ranked in Valorant

You’ve logged countless hours during the beta release of Valorant. You learned the ins and outs of the gameplay and strategies and even assembled a team. Since the game’s full release in June of 2020, the developers at Riot Games have added a variety of features to enhance the gameplay.

And now it’s time to see how you rank against the rest of the world.

Gather your agents and get ready to enter the world competitive stage with the game’s ranked mode. Find out how to unlock ranked mode and how to climb the ranks to the status of Valorant.

How to Play Ranked in Valorant

First and foremost, to play Valorant’s ranked mode, you need to unlock it. Valorant rewards the bold players who faithfully take the time to get to know the weapons, character abilities, and map layouts of the game.

So, the magic number of completed matches you need to get to the next level is 20. Don’t worry about your performance affecting your competitive experience, though. Consider it as a “practice mode.”

Once you complete 20 matches in standard mode, you’ll receive a new banner in your main menu: “competitive”.

Even though you’ve unlocked competitive mode, you still need to earn your first rank. And you won’t do that until you complete five placement matches.

Keep in mind that in this game, personal performance doesn’t weigh higher than wins, especially as you rise through the ranks. As you compete, wins and losses factor more towards your ranking and progression, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that personal skill means nothing when you compete. Stomp your competitors in decisive wins and you’ll see your rankings rise higher and faster than those wins where you just barely scraped by.

Riot designed the ranking system to use personal performance and skill for match placement. This helps to cut down on smurfing from unscrupulous players, but it also helps ensure that you’re always on a relatively even playing field.

However, the system isn’t perfect yet.

You may see some problems dealing with tracking high-performance wins and matches by getting stuck in a tier for a long time. The developers are still refining this new system and working out the kinks.

How to Play Ranked in Valorant Fast

If you want to play competitive mode in Valorant, you’re going to have to complete 20 standard mode matches first. Once you get competitive mode or ranked mode unlocked, you need to finish five placement matches.

These five placement matches give you your initial rank and it’s all about your personal performance and, of course, winning. After that, if you want to rise through the ranks quickly, you’re going to have to win your matches. It’s as simple as that.

Wins get you moving up the ranks quicker while losses, and to a certain extent, bad performance can hurt your overall ranking.

How to Play Ranked in Valorant With Friends

To play in competitive mode, you need to unlock it with 20 standard mode match completions. That also means everybody in your party needs to unlock it, too.

Also, your party of up to five players needs to be within two rankings or six tiers of you as the host. This helps ensure that everybody in a match is relatively even in terms of rankings and no super players can invade and decimate the map.

So, what happens if everybody else in your party is two tiers above you?

The developers at Riot Games know that this is going to happen and takes this scenario into account when matchmaking. In their words, they “automatically optimize[s] your match to favor similar premade sizes on the opposing team.”

How to Play Ranked Games in Valorant

Before you can play Valorant competitively, you need to prove that you have what it takes to qualify. Namely, you need to complete 20 matches in standard mode before ranked games mode unlocks. Even when you unlock this mode, you need to finish five placement matches for your first rank.

Many players end up in the lower ranks at first. It’s perfectly normal. Unless you’re an exceptional player that has unusually high-performance scores in the placement matches, get used to the idea of starting from the bottom and working your way up.

How to Play Ranked in Valorant 1.02

Riot Games released its competitive mode for Valorant with the 1.02 update. With this new mode comes a new way to pit your skills against other players.

But before you can play ranked mode you need to unlock it.

Fortunately, unlocking competitive mode is simple if you’ve been taking the time to familiarize yourself with Valorant’s gameplay mechanics, weapons, and agents. You just need to finish 20 matches and this new mode becomes available to you automatically.

Once you get this new banner in your main menu, you need to complete five placement matches to get your first official rank. While high performance helps, you really want to focus on winning your matches because it can help you rise through the ranks faster.

How to Unlock Valorant Ranked Competitive Play

Competitive play or “ranked” mode is a new feature that came with Valorant’s 1.02 update. In it, players can pit themselves against other players in a 5vs5 FPS battle for top rankings.

Ranked competitive play is locked for new players, though.

To unlock this new system, players need to complete 20 matches in standard mode and then another 5 preplacement matches to receive their first rank.

Additional FAQs

When Is the Release Day for Valorant?

The full version for Riot Games’ Valorant was released on June 2, 2020.

How Many Unranked Games to Play Ranked in Valorant?

As illustrated, you need to complete 20 matches in standard mode to unlock Valorant’s new competitive feature. Additionally, you’ll also need to compete in five preplacement matches in the new system before receiving your first ranking.

What Are the Valorant Ranks?

The Valorant ranks include:

• Iron

• Bronze

• Silver

• Gold

• Platinum

• Diamond

• Immortal

• Valorant

Each level or rank has three tiers to work through before reaching the next level. For example, Iron tier contains Iron I, Iron II, and Iron III. After that, you go onto Bronze I. The exception to that rule is the final or top tier, Valorant, which has only one tier.

How Many People Can Play Valorant?

Valorant is a 5vs.5 FPS game. So, you can have up to four additional players in your party for a total number of five per match.

How Does the Valorant Ranking System Work?

Your first rank is awarded to you after completing the five requisite placement matches. Afterward, your rise in rankings depends on how many matches you win and your overall performance.

Wins are weighted a little higher than how you perform during matches, especially as you rise through the ranks. That’s not to say that personal skill isn’t important, though.

It can be a deciding factor when the system’s algorithms decide your new rank. And it helps the system decide who to match you up with.

Rankings also determine who you can have in your party since each member needs to be within six tiers or two rankings of the host player.

How Do I Track Rank Progression in Valorant?

If you want to know how close you are to the next rank, check out your Act Rank Badge. The triangles in the badge fill in with a new triangle that represents the rank you played in your last match. As you progress through the ranks, those lower-ranked matches get replaced with higher-ranked ones.

You may also notice that the border of the badge change color depending on how many wins you have under your belt for the rank. If you see a particularly colorful badge at the end of an Act, don’t worry; it’s supposed to look like that. Check out your Act Rank badge and progress on your career page.

Why Isn’t There Solo Queue in Valorant Ranked?

Simply put, Valorant wants you to play as a team and not rely on individual skills. They didn’t include solo queuing because they want you to get a party together and learn to cooperate to win a match.

Why Can’t I Play Ranked With Friends in Valorant?

There are a couple of reasons why you may not be able to play in ranked mode with friends:

• Mode not unlocked

• Players are not within 2 tiers or 6 rankings from the host

All players in a party have to unlock competitive mode on their own by completing 20 standard mode matches. Also, players have to be relatively close in rank and tier level to join a party. This helps to level the playing field and match parties accordingly.

Why Can’t I Play Ranked in Valorant?

Before you can play competitive mode in Valorant, you need to unlock it by completing 20 matches in standard mode. Once you have access to the new ranked feature, you also need to complete the requisite placement matches to receive your first rank.

Compete for Bragging Rights

As of update 1.02, players can climb the ranks to the coveted position of Valorant. You don’t, however, get any rewards for it. Riot Games doesn’t give you special equipment, access to exclusive agents, or anything like that.

But you do get exclusive bragging rights on the leaderboards. And sometimes, that’s all a gamer needs to motivate them to the top.

Do you find it difficult to rise with the current ranking system in Valorant? Tell us about it in the comments section below.