‘Valorant’: Riot Games Details Rated Mode, Explains How To Rank Up

Riot Games’ highly anticipated multi-player first-person shooter game “Valorant” is ready to take the next step in its testing phase.

The game has started its closed beta test this April, but there has only been one mode playable in the game: Unrated. Fortunately, Riot is gearing up to add the Rated Mode in the next patch of the game that is expected to come within the week.

In preparation for the upcoming update, Riot made a detailed guide on their website explaining the Rated Mode and how players can rank up in the game.

Qualifying For Rated Mode

Before players can enter Rated Mode, however, they must first complete 20 Unrated matches. Riot noted that this could be considered as a warm-up mode for players or an opportunity to learn the basics and fundamentals of the game before jumping to the competitive ranked matches.

Rated Mode Levels

Upon entering Rated Mode, players will obviously have to aim to rank up. There are eight levels in the game, which are further divided into three tiers.

The rank starts with the lowest level which is Iron, followed by Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Immortal. The highest rank in the game is called "Valorant".

Ranking Up

Now, in order to rank up, players must continuously win games. Winning makes a player’s rank go up, and losing – in return – makes it go down. The mode also measures the decisiveness of the win, thereby discouraging players to throw matches.

In that regard, players must aim for the minimum number of losses to progress quicker. Put simply, a 13-4 match win gives more progress than a 13-8 victory.

However, winning is not the only factor to rank up. A player’s performance is also evaluated, so a player in a losing team can still earn a little progress or at least not lose much progress for the next tier if he or she performs well.

This is done for Riot to “detect smurfs” and to prevent rank boosting.

Matchmaking

Players and their friends can queue into competitive matchmaking with a group of up to five people. “Valorant” will then match the group to a party with the same size to ensure an even playing field.

However, for players to be in the same party in a Rated match, they must be within two ranks (or six tiers) between each other. This is to ensure that there is no huge skill disparity between players.

There is no specific release date yet for “Valorant,” but it has been set for launch for PC sometime in the summer of 2020.