Valorant Competitive Mode Revealed

Riot Game‘s Valorant has revealed when its competitive mode will come out. They sent out a tweet saying, “We’ve heard your requests to find out where you rank on the VALORANT ladder. Competitive mode is coming! Senior Producer Ian “Brighteyz” Fielding and Senior Designer Sean “Drevarius” Szopinski are here to guide you through it.”

We’ve heard your requests to find out where you rank on the VALORANT ladder. Competitive mode is coming! Senior Producer Ian “Brighteyz” Fielding and Senior Designer Sean “Drevarius” Szopinski are here to guide you through it. https://t.co/EDnuMAT3cM
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) April 24, 2020

They revealed in the article that they will add the competitive ranked mode after the 0.49 patch. Ian “Brighteyz” Fielding said, “VALORANT’s Competitive mode uses the same in-game rules and format as the Unrated mode, but with a focus on higher-stakes competition.” He also revealed that their competitive system is still in its early stages and they will evolve it over time. He also said, “While we plan to keep Unrated mode always available, Competitive matchmaking may be disabled for short periods throughout the closed beta as we work to refine the mode and incorporate your feedback.” He revealed that they will take “personal skill” into account when ranking you. They revealed a bite-size summary with more details to come.

Complete 20 Unrated matches to unlock Competitive mode
8 ranks, 3 tiers each, except the top rank, VALORANT
Queue with up to 5-player parties, must be within 2 ranks
Rank isn’t displayed if competitive matches aren’t played within 14 days, but your rank doesn’t decay behind the scenes.
Closed beta rank does not carry over to launch

They also revealed the ranks. They will have eight ranks with three tiers each. They said, “There are eight levels of rank, each divided into three tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Immortal, and our highest rank — VALORANT. Winning games is the most important factor in gaining rank, but if you perform exceptionally well, your rank can go up faster. Inversely, losing games and performing well below expectations (deduced from your previous matches) will reduce your rank.” For those that reach the top rank of Valorant they said, “winning and how decisive games are won or lost will be the only factor we measure.” Here is the images of the ranks:

They also talked about their competitive integrity. They said, “Our rank and competitive matchmaking system is meant to deliver a balanced fight and keep the disruption to a minimum.” They continued to say, “Factoring in your total performance also helps us better detect smurfs, prevent rank boosting, and get to an accurate display of your skill (rank) much quicker. This way you’ll have more trust that you’re playing in balanced matches with players that have actually earned their ranks.”

They also talked about queuing up with a group of five. They said, “Planting the Spike can be more fun with friends, so you can queue into competitive matchmaking with a party of up to 5 people. We want players to feel supported when playing in a team of up to 5, because we see it as a key part of competitive play in VALORANT. But whoever you party with must be within 2 ranks (6 tiers) from you. This requirement is to help ensure that there isn’t a huge skill disparity in games where one player is clearly above or below the average skill of other players in the match.” They continued to say, “We’ve also taken steps to ensure that you’re on a level playing field regardless of your queue size. Our competitive matchmaking takes into account your pre-made party size, and automatically optimizes your match to favor similar premade sizes on the opposing team.”

They also talked about being inactive in the competitive mode by saying, “Rank inactivity will also be tracked. If you haven’t played a competitive match in 14 days, then your account will be considered “inactive” and your rank will be hidden. Don’t worry, your rank will be displayed again after your first match back. We want to be confident that when others see your rank, it’s an accurate reflection of your skill. After 14 inactive days, we don’t have as high of confidence in displaying your rank. However, we won’t decay your rank artificially in the background, so don’t sweat it if you’re one of those players that is always on top of their game.”

They also showed interest in keeping an overall rank to showcase other players by saying, “The VALORANT community will lead the way on how our team evolves competitive mode and the rank systems during closed beta and especially after launch. We’re currently tinkering with how to add an element of persistent rank progression that recognizes your competitive accomplishments for all ranks outside of just the match rank display.”

Source(s): Valorant, Riot Games