Act II Ranks and Competitive Changes

As we near the end of VALORANT Act I, we want to lay out our plans for the Competitive experience at the end of an Act, and discuss new features starting in Act II.

Currently in our Competitive system, your matchmaking rank is very closely tied to your skill (MMR) and it can move up or down fluidly depending on if you are having a good or bad day of competitive play. We want you to have an accurate representation of your current skill in matches. We also want to build a ranked system that promotes growth and engagement over ‘peaking’ at a top rank, getting anxious about losing it, and stuffing it in the fridge.

Let’s talk about our next steps!

Competitive Act II Update & Act Ranks

The takeaway: After an Act, all that matters for your Act Rank are your 9 best ranked wins of the act, and how many wins you’ve gotten in the act. So if you peak at Diamond but drop down to Gold, your act rank will only remember the good times. Take another run at Immortal, push those lower rank games out!

Your matchmaking rank will still be a close reflection of your current rating

We are now introducing “ Act Ranks ,” which track your ‘proven skill’ (this is new!), highest ranked win, and # of competitive wins in the Act

,” which track your ‘proven skill’ (this is new!), highest ranked win, and # of competitive wins in the Act At the end of the act, your Act Rank will be preserved as a badge on your player card in Competitive Games (and in your career history)

of the act, your Act Rank will be preserved as a badge on your player card in Competitive Games (and in your career history) Your ‘ proven skill ’ is your 9th best ranked win of the Act, to demonstrate you can consistently win at that level

’ is your ranked win of the Act, to demonstrate you can consistently win at that level Your highest ranked win is self-explanatory: It’s the highest ranked win you’ve achieved in the act (right at the top of that triangle)

Your Act Rank border is the surrounding border that evolves based on your number of competitive wins in the Act

is the surrounding border that evolves based on your number of competitive wins in the Act You’ll also be able to review past Act Rank info in your Career Tab

As you play, your Act Rank fills with smaller triangles. Each triangle represents your ranked match wins (Gold, Immortal, etc.) over the course of an Act based on the rank you entered the game with (hence your rank for that match).

Wins at higher ranks visually replace your lowest wins to display the best of your Competitive games. For example, more wins at Radiant will push out your earliest wins at Bronze (very aspirational!).

The border also changes as you hit these win thresholds: 9, 25, 50, 75, and 100.

Starting in Act II, your friends will be able to inspect your Match History, including both your matchmaking rank and overall Act Rank progress.

You can view your progress toward your Act Rank Badge anytime in the career page.

Your Act Rank Badge shows off your proven skill (best ranked match wins) for that Act. This is based on your top nine ranked wins. Remember, you will have to prove your skill at that rank if you want to finalize it as your Act Rank.

For Act I, we’ve decided to not award an Act Rank Badge because we figure you want to know what you’re getting into before commemorating it with a badge. Again, for Act II, you’ll be able to earn that Act Rank Badge, which memorializes your Act II competitive skill and will display on your player card during Act III Competitive games.

While we always plan to allow you to view your prior Act Rank progress in your Career Tab, your Act Rank Badge will represent your latest Act Rank and proven skill, so other players have a good indication of how you’ve been playing in the past two months.

With each VALORANT Act, we plan to deliver a host of fresh content as well as balance changes. As the game evolves, we want to give both new and returning players an opportunity to jump back in and see how their skills stack up in the new Act.

Here’s what happens at the end of an Act for Competitive:

Your prior Act Rank will be saved and locked in your Career tab Act 1 Competitive data will be saved

You will be put back into abridged placements. It will take 3 games to display your matchmaking rank instead of the initial 5 These placements are quicker as we will reference your MMR from the prior Act, so we can quickly assess your skill for the current Act.

Your rank will be a conservative placement where we are confident you are able to compete at that skill level—or higher. Typically, your Match Rank will land a couple of tiers below where you ended the prior Act, but we’ll be increasing how heavily we weigh performance in your early games so you can quickly improve your matchmaking rank if you play well and win

where we are confident you are able to compete at that skill level—or higher. Placement games don’t count toward earning your Act Rank.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on Competitive and Act Ranks.

As we get closer to the end of Act II, we’ll share another update on our next steps for evolving the Competitive experience. Right now a couple of the top priority areas we are looking at is improving transparency and clarity into your matchmaking rank changes, along with solving some pain points for high rank players. We also always welcome hearing from you all other features and improvements you want to see.